Latest News
Newcastle-based, Luminous Group, a mixed-reality company, has raised over GBP400,000 to support the launch of a new software to reduce hygiene risks in food processing plants.
The investment round was led by the North Eat Venture Fund (NEVF), which is supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Mercia. Luminous Group is planning to create 28 new jobs over the next three years as it expands it management and technical teams.
The software, traXR, will help prevent outbreaks of pathogens in food manufacturing plants by using artificial intelligence to identify high risk areas where dangerous bacteria could
Manulife Investment Management (Manulife) has launched a new secondary investment business within its Private Markets with Jeff Hammer and Paul Sanabria appointed as Global Co-Heads.
The Secondaries capability is part of Manulife’s strategy to expand its comprehensive Private Markets platform, which includes Private Equity and Credit, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Timber and Agriculture.
Hammer and Sanabria are expected to build a global secondary investment capability that focuses on general partner-led and special situation transactions, and partners with private equity, private credit and secondary fund sponsors. The new business will serve the increasingly complex liquidity needs of private capital markets, and
Joonhyung (Jay) Rhim is to join Indianapolis-based HKW, a middle-market private equity firm focused on growth-oriented companies, as a Vice President in the firm’s transaction team.
Rhim will focus on the business services sector.
Luke Phenicie, Lead Transaction Partner, HKW, says: “We are excited to have Jay join the HKW team.
“Jay’s experience advising on technology-focused mergers and acquisitions, along with his transaction and portfolio company private equity experience, will be a significant asset as we continue our focus on investing in growth-oriented technology companies.”
Rhim has experience in the investment industry. Prior to joining HKW, Rhim
Alpha Private Equity (Alpha), an investor in the European mid-market segment, has entered in exclusive negotiations with Naxicap Partners to acquire a majority stake in Vervent Audio Group, the holding company of Focal JMLab and Naim Audio, two providers working in high-end acoustics and electronics markets.
Vervent Audio Group is a manufacturer and distributor of high-end and luxury audio equipment. The group has over 40 years of experience in the design and manufacture of audio equipment such as home or professional studio speakers, headphones and car speakers. The group has three production sites located in France and the United Kingdom
Neotas, a provider of online due diligence for private equity firms and other investors, and University of Essex engineers are to develop an AI screening solution to aid investors with due diligence and mitigate risk.
Neotas has been awarded a GBP200,000 grant from Innovate UK towards the first stage of the project.
Neotas uses search techniques to analyse a company or individual’s ‘digital footprint’. It provides advanced insights without invading their privacy. The project aims to make the screening process less labour intensive and automatically identify warning signs without creating false alarms. The incorporation of AI will enable the
Speechmatics, a specialist in machine learning and automatic speech recognition, has raised GBP6.35m in Series A funding led by AlbionVC; IQ Capital followed on in this round along with several angel investors.
Speechmatics has built one of the most accurate speech recognition technology engines in the world. The technology is currently available in 29 languages, either in the cloud or, crucially, on-premises – a critical feature for businesses who do not wish or are unable to share data in the cloud. The diversity of languages and accuracy of the technology sets Speechmatics apart from other global brands in speech
EV Private Equity (EVPE) has appointed two new Advisory Board members, Bettina Bachmann and Carl Stjernfeldt, who bring decades of experience and valuable knowledge in venture capital to the firm.
Bachmann spent 35 years at Shell, latterly as Vice President of Subsurface & Wells Software and now sits on several boards in non-executive roles, while Stjernfeldt leads the Corporate Development Group in Americas for Shell New Energies.
Bachmann has held a variety of business, technical and leadership roles in exploration and development, working in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. She has led senior leadership development programmes and strategy
London-based asset management consultancy MJ Hudson is to acquire the Jersey administrator, Anglo Saxon Trust (AST), subject to Jersey Financial Services Commission regulatory approval and certain other conditions.
AST is an established provider of company and trust formation, registrar and administration services and is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
The acquisition follows the purchase by MJ Hudson of the Dutch ESG business of Spring Associates in July and US/UK benchmarking and analytics business Amaces at the end of 2018. It adds to MJ Hudson’s existing operations in Jersey and helps consolidate a growing pan-Channel Islands business for
Maven Capital Partners (Maven), one of the UK’s most active private equity houses, has led a GBP5.3 million funding round in E-Fundamentals, a leading eCommerce insights platform.
London and Edinburgh-based e.fundamentals is a market-leading ecommerce analytics platform that helps many of the world’s largest brand owners rigorously improve the sales and profit performance of their products on retailers’ and wholesalers’ websites.
The investment will give e.fundamentals, which already operates in 10 countries, the ability to deliver services in more key ecommerce regions and globally. This will include a launch in the US with a version of the e.fundamentals platform
DC Advisory has doubled its team in Northern England with the addition of eight new hires in the last 12 months into its Manchester office.
New hires include Anthony Greensmith as Vice Chairman (previously of Montagu Private Equity), Andrew Claymore as Managing Director of Financial Services in the UK, Rob Jones joins to head up the Capital Advisory offering across the North of England and Ben Jones as Origination Lead for the Manchester office. This is in addition to four junior members joining the team including Luka Hennin, Charlie Tuttle, Tom Street and Jimmy Warburton.
These hires are unsurprising
Special Reports
Featured
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
