Deals
Picsart has raised USD130 million in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with participation from new investors G Squared and Tribe Capital, as well as existing investors Sequoia, DCM, Graph Ventures, and Siguler Guf & Company.
With over USD100 million in annual revenue run rate, Picsart is now valued at over USD1 billion. The company has raised a total of USD195 million in capital since its founding.
“Picsart is powering visual culture and breaking barriers between inspiration and creativity,” says Hovhannes Avoyan, Picsart’s founder and CEO. “We want to make the world more creative and
Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE-STC) is to acquire Informative Research (IR), a specialist in providing credit, consumer, and real estate data and technology services.
IR serves more than 3,000 customers across the United States and offers a wide range of mission critical solutions through its proprietary platform to streamline the loan cycle.
“Stewart continues to invest in the creation of an end-to-end, customer-focused real estate services and technology platform,” says Fred Eppinger, Stewart Chief Executive Officer. “By bringing IR into the Stewart family of companies, we further reflect that commitment and advance our data and analytics capabilities. I’m excited about
BGF, the UK & Ireland’s most active investor, has invested more than GBP316 million across nearly 80 businesses in the first six months of 2021. Exit activity reached record levels during the same period, with 15 exits generating an average money multiple of 2.5x.
Successful exits in H1 include Alnwick-based pharmaceutical company, Arcinova; independent provider of dialysis services, Renal Services; ATM sector services provider, Cennox; Nottingham-based life sciences incubation business, BioCity; sustainable e-commerce returns tech platform ReBOUND; and data security and compliance solutions provider, Semafone.
In addition to its GBP2.5 billion balance sheet, BGF also started making investments alongside
Serrala, a global financial automation and B2B payments software company, has secured a majority investment from Hg, a leading global software and services investor.
Following the transaction, Serrala’s CEO Sven Lindemann and existing investor, Waterland, will continue to support the business and remain as significant minority shareholders in the business.
Founded in 1984 and based in Hamburg, Germany, Serrala provides software solutions for financial automation and B2B payments to medium-sized to large Enterprise customers globally, with a strong footprint across Europe and the US.
Serrala enables the ‘Office of the CFO’ to automate and optimise all processes for
Livingbridge, a UK mid-market private equity investor, has invested in RealVNC, a vendor of remote access and remote support software.
Beringea, a transatlantic venture capital firm, has led a GBP2 million investment in LITTA, a rapidly growing online platform for rubbish removals and waste collection.
LITTA was founded in London in 2017 by Aaron Georgiou, later being joined by Alexie Crassas, and Chris Yiannopoulos. LITTA provides a digital, cost-effective, on-demand platform for ethical bulky waste removal. LITTA’s online platform places jobs with approved suppliers and provides a speedy, seamless, and transparent user experience in an industry that has lacked digital solutions.
The process for disposing of cumbersome rubbish and waste has traditionally been painstaking, with few digital
North west based multi-family investment office, Arete, has led a private investment into business solutions group, Leonard Curtis, in a deal which values the business at GBP40 million.
The deal, which saw a GBP15 million investment into the professional services firm, was a venture led by Arete in partnership with Svella.
Arete and Svella will utilise their combined resource and expertise, working alongside the Leonard Curtis management team to enable the LC Group to enter its next phase of growth.
With 239 employees working across its 18 offices in the UK and the Channel Islands, the Leonard Curtis Business
MetLife Investment Management (MIM), the institutional asset management business of MetLife, originated USD6.4 billion in private placement debt and private structured credit for the first half of 2021 across 107 transactions.
This included USD1.2 billion of investments originated on behalf of unaffiliated institutional clients. MIM’s total private placement debt and private structured credit assets under management stood at USD102.0 billion as of 30 June, 2021.
Nancy Mueller Handal, head of Private Fixed Income & Alternatives at MetLife Investment Management, says: “Market activity through the first half of the year was strong as issuers bolstered their financial position and institutional investors
Waterland Private Equity (Waterland) portfolio company Enreach, a fast-growing provider of Unified Communications Solutions (UCaaS) active throughout Europe, has acquired Dutch cloud software provider and Microsoft partner DSD Europe and its sister company CloudLand (DSD), thereby continuing its long-term buy-&-build strategy.
Through the partnership, Enreach acquires additional expertise and reach for equipping digital workplaces with Microsoft software solutions.
DSD, founded in 2009, is a fast-growing provider of IT, security and other cloud products and services. Through its market-leading cloud marketplace, DSD’s services enable more than 5,000 active re-sellers in Europe to easily and quickly acquire, activate and manage various cloud
Vision Ridge Partners, an alternative asset manager focused on sustainable real assets, and Havila Holding have completed the privatisation of Fjord1, the owner and operator of a fleet of Norwegian ferries utilising low or zero emission propulsion.
Going forward, Fjord1 will be jointly owned by Vision Ridge Partners and Havila Holding, an investment company owned by the Sævik family in Norway, with each party holding 50 per cent ownership stakes.
Allianz Global Investors partially financed the acquisition and refinancing of the existing debt by providing approximately NOK 3 billion financing at the holding company level. This bespoke financing platform resulted
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
