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Pantheon, a global private markets investor, has made a key new hire within its private equity investment team, as Amyn Hassanally joins the firm as Partner and Global Head of Private Equity Secondaries.
The appointment comes at a key juncture for Pantheon’s private equity secondaries platform, which invests across the full range of both LP and GP-led secondaries transactions globally. Last year, Pantheon expanded the strategy with the closing of its first program dedicated to GP solutions, Pantheon Secondary Opportunities Fund.
Amyn brings considerable experience to the role from a formidable career in private equity forged over the past 23
Innovid, an independent connected TV (CTV) advertising delivery and measurement platform, has completed its cquisition of TVSquared, an independent global measurement and attribution platform for converged TV.
The transaction unlocks a new independent currency-grade standard for cross-platform TV measurement, powered by the scale and automation of a global ad server. Combining Innovid’s expansive ad serving footprint of more than 95 million connected homes, with TVSquared’s TV measurement and attribution platform, inclusive of TV viewing and ad occurrence data across millions of households globally, creates an independent, single source of truth for advertisers.
Ontra, a provider of contract automation and intelligence for the world’s most prominent asset management firms, has reported 91 per cent revenue growth and 72 per cent customer growth in 2021.
2021 also marked significant growth for Ontra’s global business with its European leg growiung by 137 per cent and its Asia Pacific business by 192 per cent.
Ontra’s momentum is fuelled by last October’s USD200 million Series B funding round led by Blackstone Growth (BXG) and Battery Ventures. The company is leveraging the funds to increase investment in the artificial intelligence that powers Insight, its newest offering for
Five Star Parks & Attractions, backed by Fruition Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm, has completed the acquisition of two separate companies that operate family entertainment centres (FEC’s) in a move that significantly expands its offerings throughout the Midwest and southern United States.
The transactions combine a portfolio of five locations from Dubby’s Attractions and five from Celebration Station.
Five Star recently acquired five Dubby’s attractions in two of the country’s leading vacation destinations.
John Dunlap, who most recently served as president of SeaWorld and Aquatica in San Diego, is leading the efforts at Five Star Parks & Attractions
Alan Howard founder of hedge fund Brevan Howard has led a USD7.5 million Series A funding round in Nested, a social trading platform that enables users to create and invest in “financial NFTs”, according to a report by CoinBase.
Growth capital investor VGC Partners is launching a GBP10m specialist EIS fund that will invest in early-stage businesses working with the next generation of technology and consumers.
The fund will focus on businesses at Series A stage in consumer technology, digital media and gaming. The businesses selected will have proven products and markets plus the potential for rapid user or customer adoption and scalability.
VGC Partners manages over £100m of growth capital, and over the last 10 years has established deep networks with industry executives, corporate partners and funds across its target sectors. The firm will leverage its expansive network
Loyal Guru, a B2B SaaS company that operates the world’s only customer data platform with integrated loyalty capabilities built specifically with retailers in mind, has secured EUR8 million in the Series A round led by Nauta Capital.
Existing investors include Greycroft and THCap.
Loyal Guru provides a state-of-the-art cloud-based solution that disrupts the retail space with hyper-personalised, omnichannel loyalty and engagement solutions. Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain and with customers spanning 12 countries, Loyal Guru drives transformational change for customers including Mango, Dia Group, Cencosud, and Spar.
The latest round of investment will enable Loyal Guru to further its growth
Alchemy Machinesm an AI startup using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) to transcribe, analyse, and summarise legal-specific web meetings and phone calls, has raised USD400,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by SFC Capital.
The funding – which includes Innovate UK grant funding – will support further development of the platform and growth of the team.
Alchemy Machines’ software produces transcriptions that capture not only the words spoken but also the emotion and sentiment behind them. Founder and CEO, Dia Thanki and her team, developed the platform with the aim of reducing transcription costs for law
Silico, an AI-powered decision making platform, has completed a GBP3.4 million seed round led by Join Capital.
Existing investors Forward Partners and high-profile angel investors from the B2B and Enterprise Automation space, also particpated.
Silico empowers organisations to continuously test the impact of different outcomes in a ‘risk-free’ simulation environment before they make changes in the real world.
Using simulation technology, Silico enables businesses to explore different scenarios to ultimately make better decisions. The AI-powered, no-code platform is often used to support businesses through digital or change transformations or to streamline financial planning, demand forecasting and margin optimisation.
Praetura Ventures has invested GBP1.5 million into a Manchester-based start-up that uses AI and in-depth data to help big brand merchandising teams make better stock buying and pricing decisions.
Sparkbox’s solution, which is trusted by River Island and Matchesfashion.com, enables retailers to forecast demand, optimise their pricing and promotions and plan inventory to reduce waste and the need for big discounts.
Sparkbox will use Praetura Ventures’ investment to double its team and onboard further fashion, home and seasonal retailers, where deadstock is a constant challenge.
In line with Praetura Ventures’ commitment to providing more than money support
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