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A partnership of North East universities that is already translating world-class research into sustainable commercial enterprises is to launch a new seed investment fund for spin-out companies, through a novel partnership with venture capitalist, Northstar Ventures.
Northern Accelerator is a collaboration between Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria and Sunderland Universities. Since its inception in 2016 it has increased the number of spin-out businesses from its partner universities from an average of under 2 per year, to 10 businesses in the 2018-19 academic year alone. The collaboration is cultivating a pipeline of high quality businesses and credible investment opportunities.
Northern Accelerator is now
Middle market private equity firm Pamlico Capital (Pamlico) has sold its portfolio company, Service Express, to funds managed by Harvest Partners (Harvest).
The Company’s management team, led by CEO Ron Alvesteffer, will continue to lead Service Express, and remain significant owners of the business. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Service Express, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a leading provider of post-warranty data centre equipment maintenance services to more than 4,000 customers. Service Express has a strong value proposition as it provides services that maintain and extend the life of mission-critical data centre equipment at quicker response
Independent fund administrator Opus Fund Services has acquired the fund administration unit of Advanced Fund Administration (AFA), which has offices in the Cayman Islands and New Jersey.
Robin Bedford (pictured), CEO of Opus Fund Services, says: “This is the result of many months of hard work by both parties. We are excited to have the opportunity to work with the AFA client base as they become part of the award-winning Opus proprietary platform.”
Prior to today’s announcement, Advanced Fund Administration provided multiple lines of business to its hedge fund clients consisting of legal, advisory and compliance services. Peter Young,
Private equity firm NextGen Growth Partners (NGP), has invested in Record Connect, a provider of release of information services for hospitals, clinics, and physician offices across the Midwest.
NGP has also named Entrepreneur-in-Residence Drew Daum as CEO of Record Connect.
Daum says: “The partnership between NGP and Record Connect is one based on shared core values and vision. Record Connect has developed a strong reputation for its service, and we are committed to advancing its core capabilities with a patient-centric approach. We will be investing heavily in our foundational technology to maintain our high-touch service model even while we
Kirchner Asset Management, the division of Kirchner Group that specialises in the management of high-potential mid-life venture capital and private equity funds through the balance of their terms, has assumed management of New Acres Capital Ag & Food Limited Partnership (the New Acres Fund).
The New Acres Fund is an agriculture and food-focused venture capital fund with over USD90 million of invested capital. Its investments are located across Canada and the US, ranging from health-oriented challenger brands to advanced production and ingredient developers to innovative farm-centric software companies. The Fund’s companies are addressing the global challenges of nutritional deficiencies, food
Private equity investment firm HIG Capital’s (HIG) portfolio company, Vision Integrated Graphics Group (Vision), has acquired SourceLink Acquisition (SourceLink).
Headquartered in suburban Chicago, SourceLink provides personalised, turnkey marketing solutions which generate high returns on investment for businesses across several industries, including financial services, healthcare, and insurance. SourceLink’s comprehensive suite of data-driven, omnichannel marketing solutions leverage data modelling capabilities in conjunction with digital marketing expertise to reach a client’s best prospects while driving higher responses rates and lowering customer acquisition costs.
“SourceLink is a highly strategic and complementary investment that will accelerate our evolution into a fully-integrated, omnichannel marketing solutions provider,
Inflexion Private Equity has invested in managed IT and communication services business Ridgewall Group and backed the simultaneous acquisition of QDOS SBL, a specialist provider of managed IT and communications to the hospitality industry.
The investment is being made by Inflexion Enterprise Fund V, Inflexion’s dedicated lower mid‐market fund.
Ridgewall was created in 2011 and provides business critical services in IT, communication and cyber security to small and medium sized enterprises (“SMEs”). QDOS SBL is Ridgewall’s fourth acquisition in the last twelve months and enhances the company’s technical capability and international footprint as well as diversifying the client base.
NEM Ventures, the venture capital and investment arm of the NEM blockchain ecosystem, has made a strategic investment in Cyclebit, a provider of tools for retailers to accept cryptocurrencies and fiat for in-store, online and on-the-go purchases.
Dave Hodgson, Director and Co-founder of NEM Ventures, says: “Cyclebit is already an established player in the crypto and fiat payments space, and we are thrilled to make a strategic investment in this project at a time of major growth for the organisation. With an existing global presence and the potential to help bring crypto to the mainstream, we are aligned in our
Digital marketing agency Croud has secured a GBP30 million minority investment from mid-market private equity house LDC.
The deal will support Croud to further accelerate global growth via its innovative service delivery that combines its proprietary technology with Croud’s worldwide network of on-demand digital experts.
The Croud model is unique. Operating from its offices in London, New York, Sydney and Shrewsbury, Croud uses its proprietary technology to support planning, automation and execution of digital marketing campaigns – and then scales this capability via its unique global network of 2,400 on-demand digital marketing specialists, working with a diverse client portfolio including Vans,
Shenzen-based DB Investment Management Ltd (DBI) has joined the Crayfish.io Accelerator as the second Anchor Investor opening up further opportunities for UK and European semiconductor and IoT companies to join the programme and get ‘China-ready’.
Started in September 2019 with original anchor investor UK-China Enterprise Fund, DBI now add a USD3 million contribution to the accelerator.
Ting Zhang, founder and CEO of Crayfish.io, says: “We are very honoured to have DBI engaged in the Crayfish.io Accelerator – they are allocating USD3 million of a USD10 million fund to our programme which shows the trust and belief they have in us
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