Allocations
Venture capital firm Venrex has chosen to host its new GBP1 million fundraising on Seedrs, the European crowdfunding platform that focuses solely on equity investments.
The aim of the Venrex VII fund [the fund] is to open up equity investment in early-stage businesses to more investors, effectively democratising the traditional venture capital business by making it possible for more investors to take part in the potential success of startups raising VC investment.
Venrex is a London-based, FCA-regulated, venture capital firm with a strong 12 year track record of early-stage investments in fast-growing businesses including: Just-Eat, Notonthehighstreet.com, Orlebar Brown, Lyst,
EPAM Systems has acquired NavigationArts, a digital strategy and experience design firm. The acquisition will enhance EPAM's ability to provide digital consulting, architecture and content solutions to customers in North America and beyond.
Headquartered in McLean, VA, NavigationArts combines business and customer experience consulting with a strong content management systems practice to lead digital initiatives for marquee clients including Ernst & Young, Marriot International, General Dynamics, Time Warner Cable and Mary Kay Inc. With locations in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, NavigationArts has a strong northeast regional presence.
"Experience platforms have become the backbone of our customers' multi-channel engagement
Bluestem Group has completed its acquisition of Orchard Brands Corporation for USD410 million in cash, subject to customary purchase price adjustments.
The transaction will broaden and diversify the customer base and retail capabilities of Bluestem Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Bluestem Brands, Inc.
The acquisition was funded with a combination of cash on-hand, a new term debt syndication, and a new asset-based lending facility. The term debt was underwritten by Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., while Credit Suisse and U.S. Bank National Association led the asset based lending facility. Bluestem Group was advised by its
Providence Equity Partners has closed its first fund with USD315 million of equity commitments. The fund was oversubscribed, exceeded its target of USD250 million, and hit its hard cap.
The fund received commitments from many existing and new Providence investors, including corporate pensions, family offices and high net worth individuals.
PSG targets investments in lower middle market technology-enabled service companies primarily in North America. PSG has a dedicated team of highly experienced growth equity investment professionals led by Mark Hastings (pictured), a Managing Director. Prior to joining Providence, Hastings served as managing partner and founder of Garvin Hill Capital Partners
Rakuten has acquired a 100 per cent stake in fit preference specialist Fits.me.
Rakuten expects the tech startup to further strengthen its e-commerce offerings and marketing solutions by providing a greater personalisation of the retail experience for shoppers while driving operational insights and efficiencies for retailers. Fits.me will operate as a stand-alone business within Rakuten, Inc. and continue to support and grow current and future clients.
Since its founding in 2010, Fits.me’s pioneering virtual fitting room technology has been changing how top brands, such as Thomas Pink, QVC and Pretty Green sell clothing online. The virtual fitting room helps
It was once again a decisive week for the EU with market participants granting an ever rising probability of Grexit. European assets experienced sizeable pressure during the period under review, though there has been a respite towards the end of the week following the conciliatory tone of the Greek government.
The former team of Plymouth Exploration has formed Triumph Energy Partners with a USD100 million equity commitment from Kayne Anderson Energy Funds and members of the management team.
Triumph is a private exploration and production company formed to pursue the acquisition and development of oil and natural gas assets with a focus towards historically productive reservoirs with identifiable upside through modern drilling and completion techniques. The Company will focus on opportunities in the Mid-Continent region. The Triumph management team is led by Jack Kueser, Joel Blake, Kyle Hill and Kerby Hunt who were previously the core senior management team of
Exceptional Innovation has completed the acquisition of Quadriga Worldwide Limited and its subsidiaries (Quadriga), an international provider of managed guest services for the hospitality industry and The SmarTV Company (SmarTV), an developer of interactive entertainment solutions for commercial and consumer markets.
The combined companies will form a global technology service provider that maximises guest engagement and satisfaction, enhances the entertainment experience, and increases revenue while delivering operational efficiencies for hotels. The group will have its headquarters in the Netherlands and significant operating subsidiaries located in England and the United States, as well as regional offices in Europe, Africa and the
Crowd analytics specialist Crowd Vision has completed a combined funding round which brings on-board significant US investment, providing a partial exit for the business’ early stage angel investors, including the Angel CoFund.
This partial exit will allow the Angel CoFund to re-invest the funds back into more high-growth British businesses.
Crowd Vision’s core offering enables a wide range of customers to perform live crowd analytics, tracking the movement and concentration of people from a standard video feed. This funding will be used to support Crowd Vision, as the business eyes up the next growth stage.
The company was set up
Partners Group is to acquire Knowledge Universe's US early-childhood education business, KUE LLC, on behalf of its clients.
KUE LLC is the largest for-profit provider of early childhood education in the US and the parent company of KinderCare Learning Centers, as well as the brands Children’s Creative Learning Centers (CCLC) and Champions. The transaction is expected to close later this year.
KinderCare Learning Centers has been educating and caring for children for over 45 years and has a strong reputation for delivering high-quality educational programs through approximately 1,400 centres in 38 states. KinderCare is on track to achieve 100 per
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
