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Alternative investment fund (AIF) manager Olymp Capital has launched what it says is the first European investment fund to cover the entire blockchain and crypto asset ecosystem.
The fund will include blockchain-related private equity, initial coin offering (ICO) activity, and fund-of-fund activity centred on crypto hedge funds. The fund accepts investment both in fiat and cryptocurrencies (eg bitcoin, ether).
The Olymp Capital leadership team is led by experts in both traditional finance and in the blockchain ecosystem who have drawn on the best features of traditional venture capital, updated for the world of crypto investment. They include serial technology entrepreneur Christophe
Prescient Fund Services (Ireland) Limited, an independent provider of Management Company, UCITS and AIFMD Platform and Fund Administration services, has appointed Emily Davy as Head of Legal and Compliance in Dublin.
The appointment follows a period of strong growth in new business and continued demand by UK and global asset managers for Prescient’s utsourcing solutions for Irish and other EU regulated traditional and alternative investment funds.
Davy joins from Walkers Global where she was an Of Counsel in the Investment Funds Group. She previously spent a number of years in the Investment Funds Department at Matheson, another Irish law
Augmentum Fintech, a fintech venture capital investor, has made an investment of GBP5.3 million in UK based fast-growing mobile-only current account provider Monese.
Augmentum is participating in this GBP46 million Series B fundraising alongside Kinnevik, PayPal and Avios, all of whom are investing in Monese for the first time.
Monese (www.monese.com) launched in September 2015 as the first mobile-only current account in the UK and serves the increasingly mobile European labour market. The majority of its nearly 600,000 customers use Monese as their primary bank account, with 75 per cent of all incoming funds being regular salary payments.
ByBox, a specialist in smart locker technology and field service solutions has secured a strategic investment from Francisco Partners that values the company at GBP221 million.
The private equity firm backs ambitious technology-enabled businesses and will support ByBox’s expansion of its UK infrastructure and global deployment of its ‘Konnect’ app-locker solution.
“ByBox is a great company with a clear and increasingly critical proposition. Its success comes down to great leadership, outstanding customer service and relentless development of its solutions. Listening closely to customers and really understanding market trends has made ByBox an extremely investible business,” says Deep Shah,
Agilitas, a pan-European mid-market private equity firm, has appointed Michael Jennings as Chief Executive of its latest portfolio company, Hydro International.
Jennings became Chief Executive with effect from 1 September 2018, having been non-executive Chairman since Agilitas announced its investment in Hydro International in February 2018. Jennings was previously Chief Executive of Hydro International plc from July 2013 until its takeover by its previous owners in late 2016, having spent his career in industrial products, services and technology-led businesses in the automotive, electronics and pharmaceutical sectors.
Martin Calderbank, Managing Partner at Agilitas, says: “We are delighted that Michael has
ACORN OakNorth Holdings has secured USD100 million from the EDBI of Singapore, NIBC Bank, Clermont Group, GIC, and Coltrane Asset Management.
The USD100 million, which represents 4.3 per cent of the company, will be used to accelerate the growth of ACORN machine and enable OakNorth to continue scaling its lending efforts in the UK.
Since the start of 2018, OakNorth has doubled its loan book from USD1.1 billion to USD2.2 billion and expects to lend a further USD600 million this year. Its loans have directly helped with the creation of over 8,500 new homes and 8,000 new jobs in
Council Capital, a healthcare-focused private equity firm based in Nashville, has sold Adva-Net, the first investment by Council Capital III, to Paradigm Outcomes.
Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Adva-Net, the nation’s leading ancillary network for high-acuity workers’ compensation claims for pain management, post-acute care and addiction recovery, has experienced exponential growth since its launch in 2012. Since Council Capital’s investment in 2015, Adva-Net has grown revenue annually by 166 per cent, landing a spot as the fastest growing Health Sector company on the Inc 5000 list in 2017 (and No13 Overall).
Council invested in Adva-Net
Fave, Southeast Asia’s fastest growing mobile O2O (online to offline) platform, has raised over USD20 million in a Series B round from strategic and existing investors including Sequoia India, SIG Asia Investment and Venturra Capital.
Over the last two years, Fave has evolved into Southeast Asia’s largest mobile loyalty and rewards platform, helping retail businesses reach out to millions of customers with special offers, bookings, and cashback solutions. Its FavePay product offers a cashless mobile payment experience and has proven to be very popular with customers due to its convenience and cashback reward.
Fave has already helped tens of
Holland & Knight has launched HK Deal Flow, a new program designed to facilitate deal leads by matching acquisition or capital raising opportunities with buyers and investors.
HK Deal Flow utilises the firm’s network of more than 1,300 lawyers and advisors to leverage their deep knowledge of markets and industries to find acquisition and investment opportunities. Over the past year, Holland & Knight informally conducted the deal flow program and based on the positive feedback, the firm is formalising the process to bring access to the program to a wider group.
A key differentiator of the program is
Walker Morris has advised Real Good Food plc on the sale of Haydens Bakery Limited to a subsidiary of Bakkavor Group plc for GBP12 million.
Real Good Food focuses on three main markets including: cake decoration (Renshaw and Rainbox Dust Colours), food ingredients (R W Scott and Brighter Foods) and premium bakery (Chantilly Patisserie). Haydens Bakery has been part of Real Good Food since the Group’s inception in 2003 and produces premium tarts, pies and crumbles, Danish pastries, sweet buns, yum yums and doughnuts and sells principally to major retail customers.
Specialist lawyers from the Walker Morris Food &
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