Managers
London-based venture capital firm, Luminous Ventures has made a GBP1million investment in Optellum, the developer of the world’s first AI clinical diagnosis support software for personalised early lung cancer diagnosis and treatment.
When applied to CT scans, Optellum’s AI software platform enables doctors to diagnose, treat and cure patients at the earliest stages of the disease. It has been shown that 85 per cent of lung cancer patients could survive for more than five years, if their disease was treated at such an early stage (Stage 1A).
As well as identifying at-risk patients, the software may also minimise over-diagnosis
Crown Capital Partners (Crown), a capital partner to entrepreneurs and growth businesses, is to acquire WireIE Holdings International (WireIE), an Ontario-based network operator that specialises in the deployment and management of carrier-grade data networks across Canada and internationally to underserved communities.
Pursuant to the Transaction, Crown has acquired all the debt and equity of WireIE for a nominal amount on closing and a performance-based earn-out payment of up to CAD5 million. Crown had previously provided an income streaming facility to WireIE in July 2018 to support the company’s expansion. Crown has invested CAD7.6 million to date and will provide additional
A fast growing manufacturing firm based in Merseyside has secured an initial investment of GBP7.5 million from BGF to support its expansion. This deal marks BGF’s commitment of a total of GBP2 billion into UK and Irish SMEs, including GBP280 million for companies based in the North West.
Headquartered in Speke in Merseyside, Joloda International designs and manufactures loading technology systems that improve or automate the process of loading and unloading cargo into vehicles. The business, which employs 140 people, has a strong heritage of innovation and has invested heavily to develop its product suite in response to an increasingly
MPB, a European technology platform for trading high-end photography and filmmaking kit, has raised growth capital to further expand in Europe and the US.
Less than 18 months after closing its Series B, the company has announced a GBP9 million Series C funding round, led by growth VC firm Acton Capital and with participation from existing investors Mobeus and Beringea.
MPB is a scale-up transforming how photographers and videographers access and sell photography and filmmaking gear. The MPB platform offers the world’s largest curated and verified selection of second-hand equipment. Thanks to data-driven automatisation of the vetting process and a
Recipe box company Gousto has secured an additional GBP30 million funding round, led by Perwyn. The investment takes the total funds raised by Gousto to over GBP100 million.
With the UK recipe box market expected to exceed GBP1.5 billion by 2022, Gousto is in pole position to take advantage and the additional funding will accelerate its investment into its customer obsession. Perwyn, a family-backed private equity investment firm, joins existing investors including BGF Ventures, MMC Ventures, Canaccord Genuity, Unilever Ventures and Joe Wicks.
Gousto will use the investment to evolve its technology proposition, so it can continue to lead
Tyk Technologies Ltd, creators of an API gateway and management platform, has secured GBP4 million in Series A funding, led by MMC Ventures to accelerate its business securing, simplifying and scaling organisations’ API programmes.
The MMC Ventures-led Series A funding will be used to accelerate Tyk’s presence in rapidly-growing markets, specifically the US, where the company has established itself as the key challenger brand in the API space against competitors like Google’s Apigee, CA Technologies, and IBM. Tyk will be opening an office in Atlanta this summer to add to the Singapore office opened in 2017.
Tyk’s API gateway
O’Melveny has represented Mesmer, a Palo Alto, California-based Robotics Process Automation for Development (RPAD) company, in a USD15 million Series A round of funding.
The funding round was led by Intel Capital with participation from True Ventures.
Mesmer is founded by the Zenprise team that built and sold its leading mobile device management solution to Citrix for USD355 million in 2012. O’Melveny also represented Zenprise in that transaction and all of its venture financings over its ten-year lifecycle. Mesmer will use the funding to market the USD40-billion testing market’s first and only Robotic Process Automation for Development (RPAD).
Mesmer uses
KP Capital Partners’ portfolio company Autokiniton Global Group (AGG), a North American supplier of metal-formed components and assemblies to the automotive industry, is to acquire Tower International, a manufacturer of engineered automotive structural metal components and assemblies, tor USD31 per share in cash.
The all-cash transaction represents a 70 per cent premium to Tower’s closing stock price on 11 July, 2019. Including Tower’s debt and pension related liabilities, the total value of the transaction is approximately USD900 million.
“We are extremely pleased to reach agreement with AGG on a mutually beneficial transaction that creates substantial value for Tower stockholders,
Sovereign Capital Partners’ portfolio company Arachas Corporate Brokers (Arachas), an insurance brokerage operating in Ireland, has acquired Murray & Spelman.
This is the fourth acquisition Arachas has made since Sovereign backed the management buy-out of the business in July 2017, and secures Arachas’ position as the largest independent broking group in Ireland. Completion is subject to regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Ireland.
Murray & Spelman is a long-established broker of high-quality commercial and personal insurance. The acquisition of the Galway-based broker brings substantial additional scale to the Arachas Group and expands its geographical footprint in the West
The latest research from eFront shows that reaching the hurdle rate – traditionally set at 8 per cent – remains a significant challenge for venture capital funds and, to a lesser extent, LBO funds.
Looking at the distribution of historical internal rates of return (IRRs) delivered by LBO and VC funds of all vintage years, more than 60 per cent of LBO funds managed to beat the hurdle rate, while only 38 per cent of VC funds exceeded the 8 per cent threshold . This confirms that shorter holding periods characteristic of buyout investments work in favour of LBO fund
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
