Planet Smart City, a London headquartered specialist in smart affordable housing, has launched a EUR60 million capital raise to accelerate the Group’s ambitious business plans. Since its establishment in 2015, Planet Smart City, which specialises in large-scale projects that create smart neighbourhoods and affordable homes – has raised more than EUR160 million, from 390 institutional and private investors. In 2021, the Group recorded revenues of approximately USD105 million dollars (EUR93 million), doubling the result of 2020 which had been USD52 million dollars. The EUR60 million capital increase is aimed at accelerating the implementation of Planet’s ambitious business plan that includes

Semarion Ltd, a University of Cambridge spin-out company from the Cavendish Laboratory combining materials engineering and cell biology to tackle unmet drug screening needs, has closed a GBP2.14 million seed funding round led by Parkwalk Advisors. University of Cambridge Seed Funds, Martlet Capital, and angel investors also contributed to the fundraise.   The funding will support the commercial development of Semarion’s SemaCyte cell assaying platform. It will also enable further expansion of the team, as Semarion recruits scientists and engineers, and establishes additional research partnerships with biopharma partners for bespoke solutions to cell screening challenges.

Jeito Capital (Jeito), an independent private equity firm dedicated to biotech and biopharma, has co-led a USD65 million Series A financing round in EyeBiotech Limited (EyeBio), a privately held ophthalmology biotechnology company working to deliver a new generation of therapies for eye diseases.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) provider Beyond Identity has closed a USD100 million Series C funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners. Existing investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Jim Clark also participated in the round, which brings the company’s total funding to date to USD205 million and propels its valuation to USD1.1 billion, along with newcomers Potentum Partners, Expanding Capital, and HBAM.  The new funding will be used to further expand Beyond Identity’s research and development and extend the company’s footprint and resources into Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Additionally, the “Father of SSL” and 2019 Marconi Prize recipient Taher Elgamal of

MarketForce (MarketForce360.com), a Nairobi-headquartered B2B platform for retail distribution of consumer goods and digital financial services in Africa, has closed a USD40 million Series A round led by V8 Capital Partners. The raise, the largest Series A round of its kind in East and Central Africa, comes seven months after the closing of a pre-Series A round. Ten13 VC, SOSV Select Fund, Vu Ventures, Vastly Valuable Ventures and Uncovered Fund, along a number of existing investors; Reflect Ventures, Greenhouse Capital, Century Oak Capital and Remapped Ventures also participated in the round, as did Ken Njoroge, Cofounder and former CEO of

Urbanmetry, an AI-driven city and property data company, has closed a pre-Series A round of USD2 million led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. The funding will be used for developing its intelligent data products and platforms to serve end consumers in the property and mortgage markets; and for building out its product, technology, data, and business development teams. In addition to providing data and insight to institutional clients, Urbanmetry also offers products for the homeowner. To assist homebuyers in making their mortgage commitment, Urbanmetry has launched Nowcast, an AI-driven service that helps homebuyers forecast the value of their homes based on

Trident Energy and Warburg Pincus have closed a new investment in Trident Energy by Quantum Energy Partners (Quantum). Under the terms of the transaction, Quantum is now a significant investor in Trident and has committed to participate in a USD400 million Line of Equity (LOE) alongside Warburg Pincus and Trident’s existing minority shareholders. Trident expects to use the LOE to fund additional growth opportunities in its existing assets and new opportunities.    Trident was founded in 2016 with a focus on acquiring, operating and redeveloping mid-life oil and gas assets.  Quantum is a provider of private capital across the energy

Solvay Ventures, the venture capital fund of Solvay, is investing in the Zurich-based startup 9T Labs to bring additive manufacturing of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) parts to mass production. 9T Labs’ hybrid manufacturing technology enables complex, high-performance structural parts to be produced in carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites in volumes up to thousands of parts per year. It provides a cost-competitive solution for manufacturing that will allow structural CFRP parts to replace metals at a much faster rate in demanding applications in many sectors such as aerospace, automotive and healthcare. This technology complements Solvay’s unmatched portfolio of high-performance thermoplastic polymers and deep

Oral Surgery Partners (OSP), an oral surgery group backed by Sheridan Capital Partners, has completed the acquisitions of  Oral and Facial Surgery Associates, West Texas Oral and Facial Surgery, William Paul DDS, Valley Oral & Facial Surgery, Show-Me Oral Surgery & Dental Implants, Piedmont Oral Surgery, and Summerville Oral Surgery. OSP now provides services in seven states. The business has also appointed John Cline as CEO. Cline most recently worked with New Capital Partners and served as Executive Chairman of Hospice Partners of America. Prior to that, he served as CEO of STX Healthcare Management Services before and after its

Nordstjernan is to acquire the Finnish in-vitro diagnostics company Aidian from funds that are managed by the Nordic private equity firm Axcel. Aidian is a global player in the growing market for point-of-care diagnostics. The company develops, manufactures and sells instruments and tests that are used in such fields as primary care to provide quick and accurate test results. Aidian’s offering of tests addresses several global health problems such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), diabetes and colorectal cancer. Aidian has tests that are intended to reduce unnecessary prescriptions of antibiotics, which is a driver behind the growing threat from AMR and