Private equity investor Next Wave Partners has funded the merger of market research consultancies SPA and Future Thinking, formerly known as The Oxford Research Agency. The newly formed agency will boast a GBP13m+ turnover and an international network of offices in London, Paris, New York and Oxford. As part of the integration process, a single company brand will be developed with a new management board made up of SPA and Future Thinking personnel. The new combined entity will be run by Jon Priest as group chief executive.  The deal has been funded by growth capital private equity investor Next Wave

DN Capital, a media and technology early stage and growth capital investor, has led a EUR7m growth investment in Mister Spex, Germany’s largest online retailer of eyewear. French investment company Xange Capital also participated in the round together with existing investors Grazia Equity, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Team Europe Ventures and Astutia.   Mister Spex will use the capital from this investment to strengthen its growth in Germany and support international expansion.   Nenad Marovac, managing partner of DN Capital, says: "We have been very impressed with the performance of Mister Spex to date as well as the dynamic management team. We

Endomagnetics, a medical device company that helps surgeons track the spread of breast cancer, has raised GBP770,000 from a syndicate led by UCL Business and Sussex Place Ventures.  The financing coincides with the appointment of Dr Eric Mayes as chief executive of this recent spin-out from University College London and builds upon a previous seed round of GBP350,000 that was secured in June 2009.   Endomagnetics uses magnetic tracers and a highly sensitive magnetic sensing device to help breast cancer surgeons detect the extent that breast cancer has spread during an operation.  “The SentiMag solution allows surgeons in many more

Red Bend Software, a provider of mobile software management, has acquired VirtualLogix, a provider of real-time virtualisation technology for mobile handsets in which DFJ Esprit was a significant minority shareholder.   The addition of VirtualLogix’s products and team enables Red Bend to enter the high-growth mobile virtualisation market and broaden its management solutions for device manufacturers, semiconductor vendors, software developers and service. Terms were not disclosed. The sale represents venture capital firm DFJ Esprit’s second exit this year. "Today marks the beginning of a new era for Red Bend Software and a preview of what’s to come in the mobile

Alethia Biotherapeutics, a Montreal-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of monoclonal antibodies, has closed a CAD9.6m series A round of financing. Alethia will use the proceeds to advance its lead pre-clinical programmes into clinical development over the next 18 months. Co-led by AgeChem Venture Fund and existing investor BDC Venture Capital with GO Capital, the financing also included participation from Epicentre Technologies of Wisconsin, a long term partner and shareholder of the company. "We are very pleased to welcome AgeChem Venture to our investor syndicate. Along with our current shareholders, AgeChem’s support provides us with the necessary financial resources

Mountain Hawk Energy, a company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of coal bed methane in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, has acquired a 50 per cent share of the Clabaugh coal bed gas field from Marathon Oil.  Mountain Hawk Energy is wholly-owned indirectly by Yorkville Advisors’ managed fund, YA Global Investments. With the acquisition and operational changes, Mountain Hawk expects to triple the daily production from 750,000 to 2.0 to 3.0 million cubic feet a day, and has doubled its total proved gas reserves from 8.8 billion cubic feet to 16.6 billion cubic feet in Clabaugh. Les Garrett, managing

Venture capitalists in Canada expect their industry to contract further while those in emerging markets, including China, India and Brazil, expect to see theirs expand over the next five years, according to a survey by Deloitte, Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and several other industry associations. According to the survey results, two thirds (66 per cent) of Canadian survey respondents expect the number of venture firms to decrease between now and 2015, while a great majority of venture capitalists in China, India and Brazil anticipate adding more venture firms in their country during the same time frame. Venture

Graphite Capital, a UK mid-market private equity firm, has completed the GBP130m management buy-out of U-POL, a provider of automotive refinish products, from private equity investor AAC Capital Partners. This is the second time that Graphite has invested in U-POL after backing a management buy-out in 2002, growing the business and selling it to AAC three years later. Graphite Capital partner John O’Neill says: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to invest in U-POL again. This is a first class business which manufactures and sells, under its own brands, high quality, innovative products and has substantial growth potential in