Allocations
Crane Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage intelligent enterprise startups, has closed Crane I, its first institutional fund. Crane Venture Partners is thematically focused on the pervasive impact of data and data driven solutions on the enterprise.
Crane’s founders, Scott Sage and Krishna Visvanathan, have been investing as a team since 2010, previously backing Icera, H2O.ai, Netronome, Onfido and Trustpilot, amongst others. Crane Partner Andy Leaver has spent the last 20 years scaling Silicon Valley enterprises from startup through to IPO including Ariba, HortonWorks, SuccessFactors and Workday.
“We are truly excited to be at the forefront of
Asoko Insight, an African corporate data platform, and Neu Capital Africa, which discreetly matches global institutional investors with mid-market African businesses, has announced a strategic partnership to enhance their respective offerings.
The partnership will see Asoko combine their unique data acquisition model and corporate database of over 50,000 private African companies, with Neu Capital’s professional investor and corporate finance community in a confidential and curated on-line setting regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.
The initial phase of the partnership will leverage their complementary business models to bring added value to both mid-market companies from East and Southern Africa who
Prestige Funds, one of the leading providers of private finance to the UK’s agriculture, clean energy and SME markets, has agreed a GBP 22.7 million funding deal for the construction of a 3 MW gas to grid anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in the North East of England.
The plant will be powered by feedstock waste from farms in the area of Newcastle, Sunderland and Gateshead.
The new plant is the latest in a series of AD plants that have been financed by Prestige Funds. Biogas plants like this play an important role in converting ‘on farm’ organic waste into green
US middle market private equity firm MidOcean Partners (MidOcean) has exited its remaining investment in Freshpet, a manufacturer and marketer of fresh, refrigerated foods for dogs and cats.
Freshpet distributes these products through a network of proprietary Freshpet branded refrigeration units installed in store aisles.
MidOcean initially invested in Freshpet in 2010, when the MidOcean consumer team identified Freshpet as a “category changer”, introducing “fresh” pet food as a new concept succeeding dry and canned products, and an opportunity for outsized growth. Throughout its ownership, MidOcean provided support in building a new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant to meaningfully expand production, and
UK private equity fund Elaghmore has acquired SFD, a creative organisation that offers a complete visual needs solution to the retail industry.
SFD collaborates with exclusive global brands and retailers, helping them to realise their unique visions to create the ultimate customer experience. The SFD offering includes a suite of display solutions for in-store and front of store, including innovative window displays and a market-leading mannequin proposition. Elaghmore has purchased SFD from its management who will remain with the company.
Based in Watford and employing more than 60 people globally, SFD has an unrivalled manufacturing and sourcing capability. This
Funds advised by private equity fund manager YFM Equity Partners (YFM) have backed a GBP3.6 million investment in video agency Wooshii. YFM’s investment comes from its two advised VCTs, British Smaller Companies VCT plc and British Smaller Companies VCT2 plc.
Wooshii, founded and led by Fergus Dyer-Smith, was built to capitalise on the increasing demand for fast-turnaround digital content, offering clients the convenience and quality of a traditional video marketing agency paired with a decentralised, global creative network. The result is the ability to provide clients with a video content solution that scales with their needs, with feet on the
An affiliate of private equity investment firm HIG Capital has completed the acquisition of Cardinal Logistics (Cardinal), a provider of dedicated transportation and logistics services in North America.
Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Concord, NC, Cardinal provides fully outsourced transportation and logistics solutions to customers across diverse end markets. The Company’s dedicated contract carriage offering allows customers to lock in dedicated fleet and drivers, servicing complex route structures with scheduled pick-ups and deliveries across distribution centres, suppliers, and stores. Cardinal is able to enhance operating efficiencies and deliver exceptional service to its customer base.
“Partnering with HIG enables Cardinal
YFM Equity Partners (YFM), a specialist private equity fund manager has backed the MBO of The Protein Works from B&B Investment Partners.
Dan Freed and Andy Thomas lead the investment for YFM and this announcement marks the 8th investment from YFM’s Buyout Fund I taking it past 70 per cent invested.
Founded in 2012, The Protein Works is a direct-to-consumer sports nutrition business that sells a wide range of protein powders, snacks, supplements, and foods, manufactured at their 34,000 square foot facility in Runcorn, Cheshire. The business has won several awards including New Business of the Year 2014 at
INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund is investing up to EUR30 million into Grigeo cardboard business, a leading paper and wood industry company for the Baltic region.
Under this agreement, up to 49.99 per cent of Grigeo Investicijų Valdymas shares, a company owned by Grigeo, will be acquired by BSGF Salvus, a subsidiary of the fund, in two phases. The transaction is to be completed upon the fulfillment of contractual terms and conditions, subject to the permission issued by the Competition Council.
In the first phase, BSGF Salvus, a subsidiary of the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund, will acquire a new
Corsica Technologies, the managed IT services platform of private investment firm Inverness Graham Investments, has acquired EDTS and EDTS Cyber (EDTS), a full-service, Managed IT Solutions Provider (MSP) serving small to medium-sized organisations.
EDTS also operates as a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) delivering critical security services to help clients protect their data.
“Corsica’s acquisition of EDTS allows us to strategically expand our geographic footprint into markets with similar size and maturity characteristics,” says Trey Sykes, Managing Principal of Inverness Graham. “EDTS broadens our platform service capabilities and strengthens our operations and technical know-how in the areas of security, automation,
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
