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Ciphrex Corp, a software company in the emerging field of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, has appointed venture capitalist Alyse Killeen to its board of advisers.
Killeen, now managing partner at StillMark Co, an investment advisory and venture investment group, is an advocate of decentralised consensus network technologies that enable transactions in digital assets.
She is a recognised and sought-after adviser to start-ups in the cryptotech space, including Netki and Factom. She is a board director of BitGive – the first Bitcoin non-profit – and her prominence in blockchain-related venture funding was featured in a recent Forbes magazine article.
Socially responsible lender LendUp has closed another USD100 million credit facility with investment firm Victory Park Capital (VPC) to fund future loan growth.
The facility brings LendUp’s total equity and debt financing to USD325 million.
The firm has also now originated more than 3.3 million loans and surpassed USD1 billion in loan originations since its inception in 2012.
“This is an important milestone for LendUp because it proves the viability and sustainability of the market opportunity for socially responsible lending,” says Sasha Orloff, LendUp CEO and co-founder. “I’m proud that our business growth and customer loyalty, combined
Venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners has held the first closing of Sofinnova Industrial Biotech I at EUR106 million.
The fund, dedicated to renewable chemistry, follows a series of nine investments in the sector since 2009.
Sofinnova IB I will be invested in start-ups along the value chain from the transformation of renewable raw materials, like agricultural waste or C02, to renewable end-products such as bio-plastics and other bio-sourced materials. It will equally look at technologies coming from advances in synthetic biology and alike.
The investment thesis is based on growing market demand for innovative, renewable products leveraging non-fossil raw
Private equity firm Sentinel Capital Partners has acquired cabi, a direct seller of women’s apparel in the US, Canada and the UK.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2002, cabi sells high-quality, accessibly-priced designer clothing to a broad, female demographic via a proprietary network of approximately 3,500 independent stylists who conduct private shows in the homes of more than 78,000 hostesses.
cabi’s stylists provide a personalised shopping experience to the more than one million prospective clients who attend its shows annually. cabi also offers a career opportunity for entrepreneurial women seeking a meaningful income
Private equity firm Quad-C Management has completed the sale of its portfolio investment Curvature, an IT services company and provider of new and pre-owned network hardware and IT infrastructure services.
Through the deal, Curvature merged with Partners Group portfolio company SMS Systems Maintenance Services to form SMS | Curvature. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Quad-C invested in Curvature (FKA: Network Hardware Resale) in 2012 in partnership with the company’s management team. Since that time, Curvature has grown significantly by adding new service offerings, expanding geographically and integrating a strategic acquisition.
"Over the course of our
The private equity (PE) sector displays a similar risk-reward profile to major equity indices, US real estate investment trusts (REITS) as well as other equity classes over the longer term, according to Edison’s latest report on listed private equity (LPE).
LPE also continues to trade at a 14 per cent discount to NAV despite achieving double-digit annual returns over the last five years. Despite these findings, public market investors still tend to treat LPE with caution, citing leverage and investment commitments, lack of disclosure, high valuations and discount volatility as issues.
The view that LPE is considered more risky
Dukosi, a specialist in battery management systems, has secured a further GBP2 million in funding, led by IP Group.
Global demand for batteries is growing rapidly, and the demands of complex, high voltage, multi-cell applications are pushing traditional battery pack management technologies to their limits.
Analysts predict that the battery sector for electric vehicles alone will rise to a USD10 billion market by 2020.
Dukosi has developed a unique battery management system that collects, processes and stores data directly at the cell. Using novel wireless technology the system transmits real-time information on cell performance to support master level
London-based alternatives investment manager Astarte Capital Partners has formed a partnership with BlueLake Associates, a Zug-based investment consultancy and asset allocation specialist.
Through this partnership, Astarte will act as the private equity and real assets adviser to BlueLake, while BlueLake will contribute macroeconomic, asset allocation and risk management advisory services to Astarte.
“We believe that this cross-fertilisation of skill sets will strengthen each company’s respective research infrastructure, resulting in added value for our clients,” says Stavros Siokos, managing partner for Astarte. “The goal is to strengthen our respective offerings and provide innovative financial solutions to our clients.”
Astarte
Henkel has entered into exclusive negotiations with GCP Applied Technologies to acquire its global Darex Packaging Technologies business for USD1.05 million (EUR995 million) on a cash and debt free basis.
Darex is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and supplies high-performance sealants and coatings for the metal packaging industry around the world. It serves various global customers producing beverage, food or aerosol cans, ensuring with its solutions the highest quality standards for many best-known brands.
In fiscal 2016, Darex Packaging Technologies generated sales of around USD300 million (around EUR285 million). Darex has about 700 employees and 20 sites in 19 countries.
The risks posed to the UK private equity industry by recent political events have been grossly exaggerated, according to Matthew Hudson, chief executive of MJ Hudson, the alternative assets consultancy.
Hudson (pictured) sees the emergence of passive private equity funds and the trillion-user base of large retail platforms, such as Snap and Facebook, as potentially the greatest threat to the traditional private equity fund manager.
Speaking at SuperReturn International in Berlin, the world's largest private equity event, he dismissed concerns around Trump's election and the Brexit vote, arguing that investors should look to both the US and the UK to buy assets.
”The UK
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