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SANNE has appointed David Fowler to the role of Country Head − Singapore with immediate effect.
Based in SANNE’s Singapore office, Fowler will be taking over the role from Valérie Mantot who will be focusing on the role of Head of Business Development, Asia Pacific & Mauritius with responsibility for exploring new strategic business development opportunities throughout each of the seven location SANNE operate in to raise brand profile across Asia including India, Dubai and Mauritius.
Taking up the role officially in May 2019, Fowler will be responsible for continuing to drive SANNE’s alternatives and corporate offering in Singapore and
Quantum computing software developer Riverlane has raised GBP3.25 million in seed funding, led by venture capital investors Cambridge Innovation Capital and Amadeus Capital Partners, with the participation of Cambridge Enterprise.
Riverlane is building a simulation engine for microscopic systems to replace expensive laboratory tests with computer simulation. Riverlane’s software leverages the capabilities of the quantum computer, which operates using the principles of quantum mechanics. In the same way that graphics processing units (GPUs) accelerate machine learning workloads, Riverlane uses quantum computers to accelerate the simulation of quantum systems.
The company is working with leading academics and companies on critical early
Old Mutual Private Equity (OMPE), the direct private equity investing arm of Old Mutual Alternative Investments, has acquired a majority interest in Footgear, a South African retailer of branded footwear.
The transaction was finalised on 3 June 2019 and is pending approval from the Competition Commission.
Founded in 2001, Footgear is a retailer of branded footwear with 63 stores nationwide. Footgear’s footwear offering is family orientated, catering across categories, gender and age-groups, servicing men, women and kids underpinned by high levels of customer service, in a unique shop setting delivered by an energetic and motivated staff complement. Its offering includes an array of sports performance footwear, sports-inspired lifestyle, casual and leisure
O’Melveny has advised Kayne Partners on a USD25 million minority investment in executive search firm Riviera Partners. Private equity firm ROCA Partners joined Kayne in the investment, which was announced on 4 June, 2019.
Kayne Partners is the growth equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, a provider of capital and connections to privately held, high growth, enterprise software and tech-enabled service businesses in North America. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Kayne has invested more than USD500 million in platform investments and add-on acquisitions together across four funds.
The O’Melveny team advising Kayne Partners was led by partners David Smith and
Browne Jacobson has advised Mobeus Equity Partners on its GBP3 million capital growth investment in Parsley Box.
The investment will be used to accelerate product development, customer acquisition and recruitment in the Edinburgh based business which was established in 2017 by Adrienne and Gordon Macaulay to provide nutritionally balanced meals for the UK’s growing elderly population.
The business currently offers a choice of over 70 ambient meals and has to date completed 130,000 orders for over 75,000 customers.
Mobeus Equity is a leading lower mid-market UK private equity investor and venture capital firm, specialising in management buyouts, growth capital and
UK Private equity firm Maven Capital Partners (Maven) has invested a further GBP750,000, in car insurance platform, Honcho Markets (honcho).
The funding has been provided by Maven VCTs (GBP322,500), North East Development Capital Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund (GBP322,500) and the Finance Durham Fund, established by Durham County Council (GBP105,000). The follow-on investment will support the business as it enters its next phase of development to launch the product nationally, add new insurance product lines and make significant enhancements to its platform. The investment will also support the creation of 10 jobs over the next 12 months,
Keensight Capital, a private equity managers dedicated to pan-European Growth Buyout investments, has appointed Christophe Lavigne as Operating Partner.
Founder, chairman and CEO of LDR Medical, a former portfolio company, Lavigne led the strong growth of the company from its creation in 2000 and its establishment in the United Sates to the successful IPO on the Nasdaq, followed by its sale for USD1.1 billion. Supported by Keensight Capital throughout this remarkable journey, he is very close to the teams and has perfect knowledge of Keensight Capital’s growth buyout strategy and the portfolio companies’ challenges.
Based in the US, Lavigne will
Inzura.ai, a UK-based global insurtech, has raised a further GBP1 million in a pre-A funding round. This follows a seed investment round in early 2018 and rapid growth in the UK and South East Asian markets.
Inzura works with brokers and insurers to deliver enhanced digital versions of their insurance products through smartphone apps, leveraging telematics, integrated dashcams and artificial intelligence (AI). With some customers already achieving over 30 per cent improvements in loss ratio, Inzura’s digital products are customer focused, cost significantly less to operate, reduce fraud, and enable greater pricing accuracy.
Inzura’s revenue growth of over 65
Family Office Exchange (FOX), a membership organisation for families, family office executives, and advisers, recently published the results of the 2019 FOX Global Investment Survey.
Family offices are continuing move into private investments with a third of overall portfolios allocated to private equity (17 per cent) and real assets (16 per cent), according to the Family Office Exchange’s (FOX) 2019 FOX Global Investment Survey.
The report says that this allocation away from the traditional asset classes of equities and fixed income improved overall performance in a challenging year for stocks and bonds.
Another significant trend highlighted by the report across the average allocations of the past four
A total of USD2.891 billion was invested in the data and insights industry last year, either through venture capital or private equity. Market research is now receiving funding comparable to sectors such as Energy and IT Hardware, with recorded VC investment of USD1.75 billion and USD2.28 billion respectively according to PitchBook data VC investment.
The average transaction size was USD43.1 million – an increase of 63 per cent after a corresponding 69 per cent jump the year before. Of the 173 investors who invested in market research and insights in 2018, over 90 of them are completely new to the sector. There
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