Managers
Oxwash, a laundry and dry-cleaning startup aiming to disrupt the traditional laundry service sector, has secured a GBP1.4 million investment from TrueSight Ventures, Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter), Paul Forster (founder of Indeed.com), Founders Factory and other angel investors. Oxwash’s service is taking medical-grade laundry technology typically used in spaceship and hospital sterilisation and making it accessible to all. The new investment will be used to expand Oxwash’s reach across South East England and scale the team
Oxwash, founded by former NASA engineer Kyle Grant, uses ozone generation technology and delivery to provide coronavirus (Covid-19) disinfection for customers. Oxwash combines ozone disinfection
KPS Capital Partners (KPS) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Lufkin rod lift solutions business (Lufkin) from Baker Hughes (NYSE: BKR). Lufkin was founded in 1902 and acquired in 2013 by General Electric’s (NYSE: GE) Oil & Gas division. The division subsequently merged with Baker Hughes, Inc in 2017.
Lufkin, headquartered in Missouri City, Texas, is a leading global provider of rod lift products, technologies, services and solutions, including automated control and optimisation equipment and software for rod lift equipment to the oil and gas industry. With over 100 years of industry leadership, Lufkin manufactures a complete line
A majority (83 per cent) of private equity GPs do not expect to make a portfolio exit within the next 12 months in the Covid-19 environment, a new report by Investec reveals.
Verso Capital, a growth stage buyout investor with a special focus on carve-out situations, has launched a new EUR100 million sector agnostic fund.
The first investors in Verso Fund III are KRR III, Tesi, pension funds Ilmarinen, Varma and Elo, as well as Nokia, Valeado AB and Etrisk Oy, with a total investment commitment of EUR66 million.
The fund’s target size is EUR100 million and fundraising will continue until the end of 2020.
The fund acquires businesses within the EUR5-50 million revenue bracket but suffers from growth or profitability bottlenecks.
“The shift in the world economy forces companies to focus
The number of private equity (PE) backed deals for AIM companies has trebled in the last 12 months and the Covid-19 driven stock market fall could see this trend continue if AIM’s valuation gap with the main market grows, says accountancy and business advisory firm, BDO LLP.12 companies from AIM were acquired and taken private by PE funds in 2019/20, up from just four deals in 2018/19 (year end March 31).
BDO says that if the Covid-19 crisis impacts on share prices, AIM companies could see a repeat of previous cycles, when low AIM company valuations saw PE funds
By Mini vandePol, Asia Pacific Head of the Compliance and Investigations Practice, Anna Lamut, Registered Foreign Lawyer (New York, USA), and Claire Chen, Associate, Baker McKenzie – India is forecast to be the fastest growing economy among the G20 countries in 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Foreign companies and private equity funds, particularly those that hold a long-term view, will still find ample opportunities when this pandemic recedes, particularly in sectors such as health care, FMCG and financial services that are likely to withstand economic and social uncertainties over the long term.
However, India, like many emerging economies, presents a
More than 80 per cent of equity funding for UK blockchain startups has taken place since 2017, according to a new report by MMC Ventures, with bitcoin’s recent price rises reflecting increased adoption.
MMC’s newly released report on blockchain and crypto revealed that 60 per cent of UK blockchain companies have raised less than USD2 million in capital so far. Moreover, the UK has five times fewer blockchain companies than the US, and the equity investment has been 10 times lower overall.
“The current COVID-19 pandemic is likely to impact funding activity for all early-stage companies, Asen Kostadinov, the author of the
Appentra, a spin-off of La Coruña University, has raised EUR1.8 million in a new investment round led by Armilar Venture Partners and K Fund, also joined by Caixa Capital Risc, Xesgalicia and Unirisco, the investors that had already trusted the company since its very early stages. The new investors will bring a strong expertise as international VCs specialised in B2B software companies, and will help to fully realise Appentra’s vision.
Since its foundation, Appentra has become a reliable partner and software supplier among its customers in the United States, Saudi Arabia and Europe. Closing this round of investment successfully contributes to
TransFICC, a specialist provider of low-latency connectivity and workflow services for Fixed Income and Derivatives Markets, has closed its Series A investment round for GBP5.75 million.
Led by AlbionVC, it included new strategic investments from ING Ventures and HSBC.

The new investors join existing shareholders, Citi, Illuminate Financial, Main Incubator (the R&D unit of Commerzbank Group) and The FinLab.

The investment will be used to extend product and market coverage for existing and new clients. TransFICC’s current clients include five global investment banks and one global market data vendor.


TransFICC resolves the issue of market fragmentation by providing banks and
World Green Building Council, a global network of around 70 Green Building Councils, has announced a collaboration with GRESB, the leading global sustainability benchmark for real estate portfolios, to recognise companies that make a Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment.The Commitment, which recognises businesses committed to ensuring their portfolio of buildings operate at net zero carbon by 2030, and advocate for all buildings to be net zero carbon by 2050, is supported by Green Building Councils’ asset level net zero standards in 15 countries and counting, which all adhere to WorldGBC’s global principles for net zero carbon buildings and provide third party
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
