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BGF’s total H1 investment stands at GBP177 million, including GBP128 million into new portfolio companies and GBP49 million into existing portfolio companies.
BGF backed 24 new companies in the first half of 2020, while completing eight exits. Some of its latest deals include British ceramics manufacturing company Emma Bridgewater, Bayfield and AIM-listed The City Pub Group in London.
“Covid-19 is already having a dramatic impact on the economy with growing unemployment and real concern about rising insolvencies as furlough ends and recessionary conditions hold sway,” said Stephen Welton, executive chairman at BGF.
“BGF as a business has maintained full employment
CORE Industrial Partners (CORE), a Chicago-based private equity firm, has formed a new platform called Incodema Holdings and completed the acquisitions of Incodema, a precision sheet metal engineering solutions provider, and Newchem (Newcut), a photo chemical etching manufacturer. The Company specialises in micro, intricate parts and serves customers from prototype through high-volume production.
Founded in 2001, Incodema offers a broad array of internal sheet metal cutting and forming solutions, including laser, micro waterjet, specialty stamping, multislide and welding, among others, that allow Incodema to generate typical turnaround times of 6-8 days for complex, tight tolerance parts. Further, with the capability to
HKW, an Indianapolis-based middle-market private equity firm, has appointed Lilly Green as Vice President of Deal Generation. Green will serve as part of HKW’s shared sourcing effort covering business services, health & wellness, and technology. Prior to joining HKW, she most recently served as business development manager for the technology group at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.
“The time and effort we put into our sourcing infrastructure has always been at the core of our business,” says Ted Kramer, President & CEO of HKW. “Lilly’s experience in originating deals and managing relationships in conjunction with understanding the strategic priorities of
Behrman Capital, a private equity investment firm based in New York and San Francisco, has appointed Vincent M Buffa as Chief Executive Officer of its portfolio company Micross Components (Micross), a global supplier of high-reliability microelectronic services and products for the defence, space, commercial aerospace, medical and severe-duty industrial applications. Buffa currently serves as Chairman of Micross and is a Behrman Capital Operating Partner.
Behrman andcBuffa have a successful history of collaboration in the defense and aerospace industry and, in particular, the high-reliability electronic components sector. Buffa served for seven years as the CEO and President of Data Device Corporation
The Riverside Company, a private equity firm focused on the smaller end of the middle market, has invested in GSB & Associates(GSB), a flavour house specialising in custom flavour development. The company has a diverse portfolio of liquid and powdered flavours, as well as complementary products such as masking agents and flavour enhancers. The company will be the first add-on to one of Riverside’s most recent portfolio companies, National flavours (NF).
“Combining NF and GSB will broaden both companies’ product portfolios, providing customers with access to additional flavour development capabilities,” says Riverside Managing Partner Loren Schlachet. “During our hold period, we
transportation and logistics, has appointed Jerome Lorrain as an Executive Board Member. Lorrain has over 20 years of supply chain, logistics and transportation industry experience in the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.
“We are excited to have Jerome on board,” says Kirby Fine, a Principal at ATL Partners. “His successful leadership experience at several major logistics companies globally, and his expansive network within the sector, make him a valuable addition to our Executive Board at ATL. We look forward to drawing on his expertise driving growth and operational improvements as we identify new logistics investment opportunities and develop
PROfounders Capital and Calm/Storm Ventures have invested GBP1 million into sex therapy app Blueheart.
The fresh capital will be used to expand the available suite of therapy sessions and advance therapeutic research, as well as improving the app’s AI capabilities.
The app provides sex and relationship therapy based on the latest scientific research via sessions designed by sex therapist Dr Katherine Hertlein, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy. Dr Hertlein is joining Blueheart as their expert advisor.
The Blueheart app deals with three main areas: thought sessions that focus on sexual fears and anxieties; body sessions,
European venture capital (VC) deal value registered the third largest quarterly figure on record in Q2, an incredible achievement amid widespread economic uncertainty, according to data released by PitchBook.Pitchbook’s Q2 2020 European Venture Report reveals that, across Europe, investment in sectors brought to the forefront by the coronavirus pandemic such as food delivery, mobility, software and biotech remained particularly strong even as companies were forced to adapt operations or shift to remote workforces. Corporations, seeing opportunity in tech-focused businesses like cybersecurity, helped VC deals with CVC participation in H1 2020 keep pace with the tear away record set in 2019.
Humanloop, a UCL spinout, has attracted investment from UCL’s Technology Fund (UCLTF). Based on the world-leading research of two notable academics at UCL’s AI Centre Humanloop is teaching AI to improve performance with 10 times less human training than existing systems.The UCLTF has invested in Humanloop to help the team, which includes Professors David Barber and Emine Yilmaz, to build software that can train AI models to reach high levels of accuracy while using smaller datasets through better interaction with their human users.
The potential of AI is still far from being realised. Current AI performance is severely limited
Peru & Partners, an expert fund services provider dedicated to the French private equity market, is expanding and strengthening its leadership team with the appointment of two new departmental heads: Christophe Pasquier will lead the firm’s CFO Secondment offering, while Lucie Bouard will head up its Fund Administration practice.Pasquier has over 25 years of finance industry experience with particular expertise in group financial management and private equity. Before joining Peru & Partners, he spent 11 years as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of NextStage AM, a management company that specialises in growing French SMEs through private equity funds. Most recently, Pasquier
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