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BlueVine, a leading online provider of everyday financing to small businesses, has secured a strategic investment from Citi Ventures. Financial terms of the investment have not been disclosed.
Citi Ventures' investment will support BlueVine’s growth as it continues to scale its cloud-based working capital financing platform for small businesses and expand into new market segments. Citi Ventures makes strategic investments in dynamic startups and partners with its portfolio companies and Citi's global businesses to accelerate their growth and ability to scale. This represents a follow-on investment to BlueVine’s USD40 million Series C financing in January 2016.
“With a portfolio that
BGF (Business Growth Fund) continues to grow its investment team covering the North of England with the appointment of Ben Barker, who will be based across BGF’s offices in Manchester and Leeds.
Barker has more than 13 years’ experience of equity funding gained, most recently, as a director at Caird Capital where he worked on a number of transactions including the sale of Tuffnells to Connect Group plc and the investment in and subsequent IPO of McColl’s Retail Group. Barker began his career at HSBC and held senior roles at Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance, where he worked for eight
PRA Group, a specialist in acquiring and collecting nonperforming loans, has completed its public tender offer to purchase shares of Warsaw-based DTP SA (DTP) on 26 April, 2016.
Some 99.73 per cent of the shares in DTP have been tendered at PLN 4.90 per share (approximately USD1.26 per share), for an aggregate purchase price of PLN 174.5 million (approximately USD45.0 million). PRA has received all approvals and has filed all notices required for the completion of the tender.
“The DTP acquisition further strengthens PRA Group’s position within the competitive marketplace and provides a fully integrated platform for continued growth in
Merz Pharma has made a strategic venture investment in Cytrellis Biosystems, a US based company developing a new class of non-surgical products to combat sagging skin associated with ageing.
Merz has joined a growing set of industry investors to back Boston-based Cytrellis Biosystems. The investment emphasizes Merz’ strategy to allocate venture investment focused on the areas of anti-ageing, skin rejuvenation and body shaping. And it’s the latest example of Cytrellis’ strategy to selectively attract investors who bring specific aesthetic industry expertise.
“As a young and innovative company with an experienced team, Cytrellis has the potential for a successful market launch
Venture capital firm Menlo Ventures has held the closing of the USD250 million Menlo Opportunity Fund, which will invest in early growth companies, typically Series B and C rounds, when the companies are at their initial inflection point.
This is the first time Menlo Ventures has created a fund solely targeting these types of investments.
The fund, which was raised in six weeks and oversubscribed by existing limited partners, was formed to take advantage of early growth stage opportunities at a time when funding in this stage is declining. Menlo Ventures intends to help fill the "Venture Valley" by focusing
European Buy & Build activity in 2015 reached its highest level since the first half of 2011, according to Silverfleet Capital’s annual European Buy & Build Monitor.
The Buy & Build Monitor, which tracks global add-on activity undertaken by European headquartered companies backed by private equity, identified a provisional total of 404 add-ons in 2015 compared to 393 in 20141.
In Q3 2015 there were 125 add-ons reported, the highest total recorded in a single quarter since Q2 2008 with 143 transactions. The average disclosed value of add-ons in 2015 was GBP40.5 million. The largest add-on by a considerable
NorthEdge Capital, a private equity house that invests in businesses in the North of England, has hired Ben Wildsmith as Portfolio Director to manage the firm’s existing portfolio and to help deliver new deals across the North of England.
Wildsmith has over 15 years of corporate finance experience. He joins NorthEdge from EY where he was Corporate Finance Director responsible for leading the regional debt advisory business. Prior to that he specialised in business reorganisations and operational change gaining expertise in advising family and owner managed businesses. Prior to EY, Ben was at accountancy firm, Andersen.
This appointment follows the
Mid-market private equity firm LDC has invested over GBP8 million in the management buyout of Vital Ingredient, a leading healthy food-to-go retailer, to support the roll-out of the group both within London and throughout the UK.
Santander will provide a further GBP4 million of funding to support the expansion.
Founder, Alex Heynes, opened its first store in London’s West End 15 years ago, and the business now operates 17 stores in the capital which offer a range of fresh, healthy, natural and responsibly-sourced ingredients for consumers to create their own food-to-go meals. Its offer includes salads that are tossed to
AnaCap Financial Partners, the specialist European financial services private equity firm, is in exclusive negotiations to acquire Barclays plc’s French retail banking and wealth businesses.
Barclays will continue to operate its corporate and investment banking operations in France.
Barclays’ French retail banking and wealth business operations are focused on the affluent segment, offering banking services such as current accounts, deposits and mortgages, as well as a variety of products including life insurance and wealth management. The business has a network of 74 branches across France.
AnaCap’s banking investments comprise Aldermore in the UK, which is now publicly listed
Health and hygiene company RayVio Corp has closed new funding rounds of in USD26 million in total led by IPV Capital and Tsing Capital.
RayVio will use the new funding to scale production to meet global consumer demand for protection against germs in water and environments. RayVio’s powerful Ultraviolet (UV) LED technology enables compelling new health and hygiene products, such as point-of-use water disinfection, and creates new markets and revenue streams for original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners around the world.
“Consumers in too many countries lack control over major environmental health risks that lurk in everything from drinking water to
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