Managers
Crypta Labs has completed a GBP2.7 million (USD3.4m) funding round led by Bloc Ventures and includes GBP1,000,000 (USD1.3m) debt finance from Innovate UK.
Crypta Labs is a quantum cybersecurity company which develops IP, hardware and related software using the quantum properties of light to secure highly critical data and communication devices embedded in critical infrastructure for the aerospace, communication, medical, military, and transport sectors.
The investment will allow Crypta Labs to further the development of its Quantum Random Number Generation (QRNG) IP portfolio and to bring to market the first Quantum-enabled Hardware Security Module (QHSM) ensuring critical infrastructure remains secure
Digital Assets Data, a financial technology and data company focused on the burgeoning cryptoasset industry, has closed its first equity funding round, led by North Island, the investment firm of prominent technology investor and Silver Lake co-founder Glenn Hutchins, along with his son, James Hutchins.
After launching the Digital Assets Data platform with a USD6 million raise in its seed round earlier this year, this new injection of capital is an extension to the seed foundation and brings the total funds raised by the company to USD9.2 million.
The Digital Assets Data platform provides asset managers and other market participants
Macfarlanes has advised a fund managed by secondary private equity firm Glendower Capital on the acquisition of a circa 40 per cent stake in the famous London department store Liberty in a deal valuing the business at around GBP300 million.
Liberty, which was founded in 1875, is a world-renowned store focusing on luxury items such as fabrics, jewellery and perfume.
Glendower Capital is leading the private equity-led consortium purchasing this stake from Bluegem Capital who invested in Liberty in 2010.
The Macfarlanes team was led by corporate and M&A partners Luke Powell and Stephen Pike with assistance from senior
Keensight Capital is to acquire a majority stake in Smile, a European specialist in digital and open source.
Keensight Capital, which has built a strong partnership with Smile over the years having first invested in the company from 2013 to 2017, will replace Eurazeo PME as majority shareholder. Eurazeo PME will also be reinvesting in the company, alongside the management team and the employees.
Founded in 1991, Smile has been a technology pioneer and is now the European market leader in digital based projects on open source technologies. The company combines technical and business expertise in areas ranging from digital technology,
Eurazeo has held the final closing of the EUR2.5 billion Eurazeo Capital IV investment programme, with Investment partners providing circa EUR700 million in funds, close to 40 per cent more than for the previous fund, Eurazeo Capital III.
In line with previous programmes, Eurazeo Capital IV enables Eurazeo to invest in mid-cap companies with strong growth potential both in Europe and the United States. Under this programme, Eurazeo Capital has already completed major investments in Europe (Iberchem, Albingia and DORC) as well as in the United States (Trader Interactive and Worldstrides).
This fundraising was subscribed by blue-chip international institutional
Mid-market private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe (Equistone) is to acquire Heras, a Netherlands-based provider of perimeter protection solutions.
The company’s management team will also acquire a minority stake in the business. Heras will continue to be led by Gilles Rabot, who joined the business in 2015. The financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed and the acquisition remains subject to clearance from the relevant competition authorities.
Founded in 1952, Heras provides mobile and permanent perimeter protection systems and products including fencing systems, manual and automated gates, hostile vehicle mitigation barriers and electronic perimeter detection products.
The company’s
Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants, an lifestyle brand centred around food and wine, has secured an investment by a fund managed by the Private Equity Group of Ares Management Corporation (ARES). Terms of the investment have not been disclosed.
Since its founding in 2005, Cooper’s Hawk has built the world’s largest wine club and a highly differentiated and experiential restaurant concept. Today, the company has nearly 400,000 wine club members across its 36 restaurants and tasting rooms. The concept was created with a vision to create memorable moments that enrich lives by bringing a wine country experience to local communities,
Audax Private Equity (Audax), in partnership with management, has completed the sale of Preferred Compounding Corporation (Preferred Compounding) to HEXPOL (STO:HPOL-B).
Headquartered in Copley, OH, Preferred is a leading provider of proprietary and custom mixed rubber compounds, including strips, slabs, pellets, and calendered sheet end forms. The Company maintains relationships with a broad set of blue-chip customers across several end markets, such as automotive, general industrial, and infrastructure. Under Audax ownership, Preferred completed three add-on acquisitions and significantly increased sales volume.
Jay Mitchell, Managing Director at Audax Group, says: “We are proud to have partnered with Ken Bloom and the
Inverness Graham Investments, a lower middle market private investment firm, has raised USD415 million for Inverness Graham Investments IV (IGI-IV), eclipsing its USD300 million target and meeting its hard cap in less than four months. The firm did not use a placement agent.
IGI-IV will continue its strategy of acquiring high growth, technology enabled businesses with a buy and build approach leveraging the 50-year operating history of the Graham Group. The firm typically invests in companies with enterprise values of less than USD100 million and EBITDA between USD3 and USD10 million. The firm has completed 57 transactions, including 21 platform companies,
Maven Capital Partners (Maven), has led a GBP900,000 investment in supercomputing technology specialist, ebb3 Limited (ebb3’).
A total of GBP750,000 was invested by NPIF – Maven Equity Finance (NPIF), managed by Maven and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, with a further GBP150,000 provided by the Maven VCTs.
The funding will enable ebb3 to further scale the business, double its headcount and support the growing demand for the company’s complete high-performance virtual workspace.
ebb3 redefine the concept of VDI for organisations that rely on data-intensive applications. Unlike any other service provider, ebb3 securely bring virtual desktops and high-performance
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
