Allocations
UK private equity house Maven Capital Partners (Maven) has led a GBP2.7 million investment in intranet software specialists Orchidsoft Limited (Orchid).
A total of GBP2.2 million has been provided by Maven funds, which includes a GBP700,000 investment from the Finance Durham Fund, in addition to a GBP500,000 follow-on investment from existing backers Northstar Ventures, from the recently launched North East Fund supported by the European Regional Development Fund. The funding will enable the business to expand its sales and marketing efforts across the UK and US and to grow its team of 45 employees to over 100 by 2022. The
Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) of Abu Dhabi is to create a USD400 million fund to invest in leading European technology companies. The fund will be managed by Mubadala Ventures, the venture capital arm of Mubadala.
SoftBank Group will participate as a strategic investor via its SIMI US Holdings I, investment subsidiary. The fund will target founder-led, high growth technology companies with global scale and impact.
The announcement was made during London Tech Week, a week-long festival of technology and innovation focused on creating new innovative investment opportunities in the UK. The fund will work closely with early-stage UK and
Ironwood Capital has made a subordinated debt and minority equity investment in Bush Industries, which is headquartered in Jamestown, New York.
Funding was provided by Ironwood Mezzanine Fund IV LP and its affiliated funds. Bush Industries is a leading manufacturer and distributor of high quality, affordably priced “ready to assemble” and fully assembled commercial and home office furniture.
“Bush’s product offerings, manufacturing process and delivery capabilities appeal to both traditional and on-line retailers,” says Ironwood Capital president and chief investment officer Carolyn Galiette.
“Bush Industries has a strong competitive advantage given its breadth of product offerings and significant distribution
Blackstone has held its final close on its first Asian private equity fund, Blackstone Capital Partners Asia (BCP Asia), reaching its hard cap.
Together with commitments from Blackstone and its affiliates, BCP Asia has approximately USD2.3 billion of capital commitments. This, coupled with associated commitments from Blackstone’s global buyout fund, gives the firm a minimum of USD3.8 billion of equity to invest in Asia.
Joe Baratta, Blackstone’s Global Head of Private Equity, says: “We are thankful for our investors’ support and believe we are well-positioned to seize the ongoing opportunities in Asia. The region continues to experience strong growth
Alta Partners, a specialist in healthcare venture capital, has closed a new USD130 million fund – Alta Partners NextGen Fund I.
This is the ninth fund in Alta Partners’ history and it will focus on the development of novel biotherapeutics and technology-enabled healthcare services. With the new fund’s closing, Alta Partners is reestablishing its position in the healthcare venture industry. Peter Hudson, MD, and Bob More joined Dan Janney as new managing directors at Alta in 2016 to raise this new fund.
“For more than 20 years, Alta Partners has invested in leading healthcare companies driving innovation and improving
Agorai, an integrated marketplace for Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and data assets, has committed to invest GBP20 million in the UK AI market.
The company says the investment will help accelerate the economic benefits that can be generated by leveraging the power of AI and its ability to transform society and positively impact the UK economy. The multi-year investment announced today will be distributed over the next five years. It will span the AI ecosystem by focusing on three key areas: education, empowerment, and entrepreneurship.
“This is a vote of confidence in the UK. AI has the potential to
Monroe Capital has acted as sole lead arranger and administrative agent on the funding of a USD21 million senior credit facility to support the acquisition of RedZone Robotics (RedZone), led by private equity sponsor, Milestone Partners.
Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, RedZone is a technology-enabled solutions business that uses proprietary robots and software tools to provide inspection, data collection, and asset management services primarily for wastewater pipeline systems. RedZone’s products and services enable data-driven maintenance and capital expenditure decisions that maximise return on investment and avoid costly and dangerous system failures.
The company’s end-to-end solutions include robotic hardware platforms, inspection
Inflexion has supported CloserStill Media’s acquisition of Learning 2018, learning conference in the US.
CloserStill was founded in 2008 and partnered with Inflexion in 2015. The business operates content-led exhibitions throughout the UK, Europe, the US and the Far East and has been ranked in The Sunday Times HSBC International FastTrack 200 for three years running.
The acquisition of Learning 2018 expands CloserStill’s presence in the US, following the successful launch of its New York Vet conference in 2017. Inflexion has previously supported CloserStill’s international expansion through its 2017 acquisition of iLearning Forum in France.
Simon Turner, Managing
A highways technology company which has amassed a huge library of data about the UK’s road network has secured a GBP2.7 million investment from BGF to further expand its ground-breaking ‘roadscape’ services.
Gaist captures and analyses continuous, high-definition imagery – 900 times the detail of Google Maps – about road conditions and the highways network. The company has developed this into revolutionary and IP-rich proprietary software, which can be imported into the asset management systems of highways network operators, local authorities, mapping companies, major utilities and other blue-chip firms.
The company has been working closely with the Department of
Total assets under management for the alternative assets industry in Europe reached a record EUR1.48 trillion as of September 2017, according to a new report from Amundi and Preqin.
Growth has been driven by strong inflows of capital: Europe-focused private capital funds – including private equity, private debt, real estate and real assets – secured a record EUR184bn in 2017, having seen annual totals increase every year since 2011. At the same time, 52 per cent of Europe-based hedge fund managers saw net inflows in 2017 – the highest proportion of any region – as the industry recorded EUR27 billion
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
