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The Imperial College Innovation Fund (ICIF) has led a GBP1 million seed investment round for UK energy storage startup, Cheesecake Energy Ltd (CEL).
The round, which includes Perivoli Innovations, and prominent business angels, will fund the development of CEL’s’s manufacturing capabilities and its lead eTanker storage system.
ICIF, which invested GBP300,000 in this round, is an early-stage investment fund launched at Imperial in early 2020. It invests in startup companies with a strong connection to Imperial College London, such as those founded by students, members of staff or alumni, or companies which have engaged extensively with Imperial’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
CEL
Hercules Capital (Hercules), a specialty financing provider to innovative venture, growth and established stage companies backed by venture capital and private equity firms, together with external funds managed by its adviser subsidiary, has originated more than USD1.5 billion year-to-date in annual total gross debt and equity commitments, breaking its previous one-year record of USD1.47 billion.
“This record-breaking achievement is a testament to the quality of our team and the market-leading position the Hercules platform has established over its 17-year history,” says Scott Bluestein, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of Hercules Capital. “More importantly, this performance, in just the
CBRE Investment Management, through its Private Infrastructure team, is to acquire the bus division of Torghatten AS (Torghatten Land), which comprises Norgesbuss AS, Trønderbilene AS, Torghatten Buss AS, Sørlandsruta AS, Fosen Verkstedservice AS and TTS Bil-og, Dekksenter AS.
This investment is in keeping with the firm’s commitment to delivering sustainable real assets solutions.
CBRE Investment Management is making the investment on behalf of one of its funds as well as some of its separately managed accounts. It represents CBRE Investment Management’s third infrastructure investment completed in the Nordics since 2019.
Torghatten Land is one of Norway’s largest bus
Bestport and ThinCats have provided debt and equity funding of GBP19 million to help support continued growth of Energy Saving Lighting (ESL).
David Hall, previously CEO of Polypipe and non-executive Chairman of Aspen Pumps, will join the board as Chairman.
Paul Daly, Founder and CEO of ESL, says: “We are delighted to partner with Bestport and recognise that they will bring expertise and funding to help deliver the next phase of growth for the business. It is an exciting time to be delivering energy efficient solutions to both the public and private sectors.”
James Stoddart, Managing Partner of
Amro Partners has invested in Proportunity, an equity loan provider enabling buyers to purchase homes with a 5 per cent deposit, as part of a Series A funding round.
The fintech start-up, launched in 2016 by founders Vadim Toader and Stefan Boronea, helps homebuyers afford homes worth up to GBP150 thousand more by boosting their deposit with an equity loan, similar to the Government’s Help to Buy scheme which is set to end in 2023 and is limited to the new build market only. Proportunity has helped buyers acquire GBP50 million-plus worth of homes so far, helping hundreds of people access
Aglaia Therapeutics, a biotechnology startup developing new therapies that can overcome resistance to current targeted therapies in cancer patients, has completed a EUR4 million (USD4.7 million) seed funding round.
Advent France Biotechnology (AFB) led the round, with the participation of Crédit Mutuel Innovation and Pierre Fabre. AFB also acted as co-founder, with Alejo Chorny, current operating partner at AFB, now appointed chief operating officer (COO) of Aglaia Tx. Leading European cancer centres Institut Curie and Gustave Roussy participated in the creation of the company.
The proceeds of the funding will be used to prepare the preclinical development program required
Enreach, a pan-European unified communications (UC) brand and portfolio company of Waterland Private Equity (Waterland), is acquiring OSS Networks.
The new partnership will enable Enreach to further expand its international market presence: OSS Networks is regarded as one of the leading established providers in the cloud-based UC services sector in the Baltic region. The three founding partners of OSS Networks (Armands Meinarts, Juris Breicis, Mārtiņš Gailītis) will remain with the company in their present roles.
Founded in 2010, OSS Networks is a fast-growing technology company with headquarters in Riga, Latvia. The company offers a broad portfolio of services in the
The Cyberdyne Tech Exchange (CTX) has released and sold the first tranche of a new asset-backed Carbon Neutrality Token (CNT) which resolves one of the most challenging aspects of the Paris Agreement (COP21) – the ability to properly account for and track carbon credits using its proprietary protocols and blockchain technologies.
With the COP26 in Glasgow approaching, the failure to resolve the complexities of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement has led to delays in financing green projects, accelerating the climate crisis.
COP21 required nations reduce their emissions every five years. By creating nationally determined contributions (NDCs) for cutting
Funds managed by YFM Equity Partners (YFM) have completed a multi-million pound investment into London-based planning and forecasting software and services business Vuealta from its managed VCTs, British Smaller Companies and British Smaller Companies 2, and Growth Fund III to enable further growth and overseas expansion.
Vuealta was founded in 2017 and delivers scenario planning and forecasting solutions for supply chain, finance and operations. The business has grown rapidly to a team of 70 staff, with offices in four countries spanning the EMEA, North America and APAC regions.
Vuealta works with customers across a wide range of sectors including
Winston & Strawn has appointed seven new leaders to key firm offices in Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, and Paris.
“Winston is committed to delivering exceptional service to our clients worldwide,” says Tom Fitzgerald, Winston’s chairman. “This new and accomplished team of managing partners will anchor seven important markets that are key to our global strategy. We congratulate them on this assignment and thank our outgoing office managing partners for their outstanding leadership.”
Winston & Strawn’s Executive Committee periodically realigns management and leadership. The new office managing partners will focus on continuing the firm’s recent growth and
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