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NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners (Maven) and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, has invested GBP200,000 as part of a GBP700,000 funding round in Biorelate, a technology platform using artificial intelligence (AI) to efficiently curate data in biomedicine.
Existing investors, Catapult Ventures via the Greater Manchester and Cheshire Life Sciences Fund, provided GBP150,000 and the Manchester Tech Trust Angels (MTTA) provided GBP350,000. The funding will be used to expand the team, and to develop its product offering, including three new SaaS products.
Founded in 2014, Biorelate uses existing knowledge to help scientists solve
Nosto, a specialist in ecommerce personalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) tools for retail, has closed a new round of funding totalling USD7.4 million led by European investment companies Tesi, Open Ocean and Idinvest.
The new funds will be used towards investments in Nosto’s machine learning core, omni-channel personalisation and continued international expansion.
Nosto’s innovative retail personalisation solutions have fuelled a three-year growth rate of 260 per cent in North America driven by deep relationships with 2,500 of the world’s fastest growing retail brands. To date, Nosto has raised more than USD25 million from investors to further expand its leadership
ThinCats, a fintech lender to SMEs has launched a new programme for up to GBP300 million with global asset manager Insight Investment to fund UK SMEs with commercial loans.
On top of GBP300 million from existing investors, ThinCats now has a potential GBP600 million to fund UK SMEs across the full risk spectrum in all regions and sectors from GBP100,000 to GBP10 million. ThinCats’ lending focus remains on meeting borrowers’ ambitions through funding of up to five years to companies with asset backing or reliable cashflows for working capital, acquisition, refinance or growth.
Damon Walford, Chief Development Officer, ThinCats,
LBO France has widened its fund range, usually reserved for institutional investors, with the launch of the FCPR White Caps Sélection, a private equity fund for high net worth clients with a minimum investment amount of EUR25,000.
The FCPR White Caps Sélection fund will invest directly or via funds managed by LBO France in profitable and growing unlisted French or European small or midcap companies within the framework of expansion capital or buyout capital transactions. To ensure additional diversification, the fund will also be able to invest in real estate.
Investors in the FCPR White Caps Sélection fund will
Mariana Enevoldsen (pictured), Director at Estera, explains how the recent IPO of music investment fund Hipgnosis demonstrates how Guernsey continues to be popular and trusted by advisers and investors, and highlights the attractiveness of the island for alternative asset classes…
This summer Merck Mercuriadis, a former manager of Sir Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden and Morrissey, floated his new music investment fund on the London Stock Exchange. Hipgnosis Songs Fund raised GBP202 million to invest in music royalties. Shortly after the IPO, Hipgnosis announced the acquisition of its first catalogue of hits from The-Dream, which includes hit songs
Joseph N Sacca, a long-time commercial and securities litigator with a top tier roster of clients and trial experience, has joined BakerHostetler’s Litigation Group as a partner in the firm’s New York office.
Sacca comes to BakerHostetler from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Sacca represents clients around the world in complex corporate, commercial, and securities litigation in federal courts, state courts, and in arbitration proceedings. He also has extensive experience advising public companies and private equity firms in litigation involving mergers and acquisitions.
His arrival follows other key additions to BakerHostetler’s litigation roster this year, including
Crown Agents Bank has appointed Susanne Chishti to its board as a non-executive director. Chishti brings more than 20 years of financial expertise, board-level experience focused on organisational governance, and a strong understanding of the small and medium size enterprise market.
Her experience draws on 14 years in banking, with senior positions held at Morgan Stanley, Lloyds Banking Group and Deutsche Bank. In 2014, Chishti founded FINTECH Circle – a global fintech community which enables emerging financial technology firms to expand their businesses and provides educational courses via the FINTECH Circle Institute and the bestselling FINTECH Book Series. Chishti is
ForeVest Capital Partners (ForeVest), a private equity fund manager operating primarily in Central and Eastern Europe, has closed a general partner-led secondary transaction of a fund it advises, PineBridge New Europe Partners II (NEP II).
In the transaction, a new investment fund advised by ForeVest acquired portfolio companies from NEP II. The new fund also obtained commitments from new and existing LPs for new capital to support and develop the acquired portfolio. Park Hill advised NEP II on the transaction.
Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) Strategic Equity team led the transaction from the buyer’s side and became the largest investor
EnTrustPermal, an affiliate of Legg Mason, is to launch a USD250m direct lending investment trust to capitalise on the shipping industry’s USD80 billion debt requirements.
The Blue Ocean Maritime Income investment trust will target a yield of 7 per cent a year by providing debt finance to high quality shipping companies. The trust will seek to exploit the dislocation between the shipping industry’s significant capital requirements, and the shortfall caused by a significant reduction in the financing provided by banks since 2008.
Svein Engh, Portfolio Manager, Blue Ocean Maritime Income, says: “Shipping is a large and diverse industry, which
Perpetual Corporate Trust, an independent provider of corporate trustee services to the managed funds industry and debt markets in Australia, has formed a strategic partnership with FundRock Management Company (FundRock).
The collaboration will enable clients of both firms to leverage the expertise and services offered in their respective core markets.
FundRock is an independent European fund management company employing over 100 industry professionals with presence in Ireland, UK, Luxembourg and Singapore. Established in 2004 as part of RBS, FundRock is a full-service host Authorised Corporate Director (ACD), Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) and ManCo, and now services over 300
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