Newton, an operational and financial improvement specialist in Europe, believes current market conditions have created an opportunity for private equity portfolio companies to deliver value and efficiencies. During the depths of a recession, some companies go under and this sets up a new marketplace dynamic that only really reveals itself when things start to improve. At this point, fewer companies find themselves trying to respond to unplanned order levels. The result is the worst of all possible worlds: companies that, after a long period of dismal trading, need desperately to be able to exploit growth opportunities, find themselves unable to

LLR Partners, a middle market private equity firm with over USD1.4bn under management, has provided over USD35m of growth equity to IOD of Green Bay, Wisconsin. IOD is a provider of release of information, scanning and imaging, EMR conversion, and other information services to hospitals and medical clinics across the country. LLR is partnering with IOD’s existing management team in the transaction and will be a minority investor in the company. Mike Wickman, chief executive of IOD, says: "We have known LLR for several years and are excited to be partnering with them to continue the rapid growth of the

E-Trader Group, founded by serial entrepreneur Harvey Sinclair and ex net-a-porter finance director Murray Salmon, has secured second round funding from its existing backer MMC Ventures to support the growth of the business. E-Trader has also appointed John Morris as chief operating officer. Morris joins with a wealth of online experience having formerly been a director at lastminute.com and chief operating officer at viagogo. E-Trader operates two online marketplaces. Stockshifters.com is the first trade marketplace for secondary goods, providing retailers and manufacturers with a dedicated online facility to sell overstock, end of line/clearance stock and returns to trade buyers. The

Nogales Investors, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, has made a USD6m follow-on investment in its portfolio company Naartjie Kids, a branded retailer for children’s clothing. This follows Nogales’ USD15m growth equity investment made in 2008 to expand the company’s store base beyond the western US and capitalise on the downturn in commercial real estate. In addition to Nogales’ USD6m investment, Naartjie Kids raised an additional USD2m from other shareholders. Naartjie Kids’ initial US store growth was focused primarily in California, Utah and Arizona. Over the past two years Naartjie has expanded its store footprint into the Northwest, New England,

A Russian venture capital fund, Runa Capital, has been launched by Serguei Beloussov (pictured), chairman of Parallels who also serves on the board of directors of Acronis, and Alexander Galitsky, founder of Almaz Capital Partners. The fund will offer approximately USD30m in seed financing to early-stage internet and software companies. Runa Capital will focus its investments in rapid-growth sectors including cloud computing, machine learning, virtualization, mobile and internet applications. “These teams face a number of challenges as they transform from technology concepts to successful businesses. Given our background and expertise, we’re able to proactively set them up for success by

GE has launched a USD200m open innovation challenge that seeks breakthrough ideas to create a smarter, cleaner and more efficient electric grid, and accelerate the adoption of more efficient grid technologies. The challenge invites technologists, entrepreneurs and start-ups to share their best ideas and come together to take on one of the world’s toughest challenges – building the next-generation power grid to meet the needs of the 21st century. "Innovation is the engine of the global effort to transform the way we create, connect and use power," says GE chairman and chief executive Jeff Immelt. "At GE we have invested

Viola Private Equity will invest USD17m in Adsmarket, a media performance and internet advertising company valued at USD75m, and will hold 21 per cent of the company shares. Of the full investment amount, USD12m will be used to acquire shares from current shareholders and USD5m will be invested in the company. At the completion of the investment, the value of Adsmarket will be USD80m and the new ownership structure will be: Ilan Shiloach, the company’s chairman will hold 29 per cent, Viola Private Equity will hold 21 per cent, the Druker-Orzel Group will hold 16 per cent, the Tarlovsky Group