MKD Electric (MKD), a full-service industrial automation and electrical service platform and portfolio company of Hastings Equity Partners, has made an investment in Bachelor Controls. This is the fourth investment MKD has completed since Hastings Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on investing in lower middle market businesses, acquired MKD in January 2021. Bachelor Controls provides mission critical control and systems integration solutions for Fortune 500 clients primarily in the food and beverage, pet food, and specialty pharmaceutical industries.

Barings has acted as sole lender of secured credit facilities to Xeinadin Group (Xeinadin), a portfolio company of Exponent Private Equity (Exponent). Exponent recently commenced its significant partnership with Xeinadin, a network of business advisory and accountancy practices in the UK and Ireland. Across more than 100 locations, Xeinadin provides more than 40 service lines to a base of more than 50,000 clients, predominately small and medium sized businesses and their owner-managers.    The partnership with Exponent will support the Group’s ambitions to grow significantly, both organically and through acquisitions, and allow it to make further investments in innovative data-driven

Oxbridge Associates, an international procurement consultancy specialising in the FMCG and healthcare sectors, has secured a significant investment from the alternative finance provider Growth Lending. The Winchester-based business obtained an initial working capital facility from the lender in February this year, but has now secured further investment for its Dutch subsidiary, Oxbridge Associates BV. The funding will be used to support the firm’s international expansion, enabling it to establish a presence in more European countries.

Downing Ventures has provided a follow-on investment for portfolio company Upp Technolgies ltd (Upp). Founded in 2019, Upp enables brands and retailers to thrive by connecting Google’s Ads data with product performance data. This enables the delivery of automated retail performance with performance insights, optimisations and improvements that are automatically executed. Upp includes high profile retailers such as nkuku, Charles Tyrwhitt and Poundshop.com as its clients.  Downing Ventures first invested in Upp in 2016 and will continue to support the company as it continues on its growth journey.

BetterCloud, an SaaS Management Platform provider, has secured a strategic growth investment from Vista Equity Partners (Vista). The partnership will enable BetterCloud to continue to accelerate growth and product innovation, expand into new geographic markets and continue to build best-in-class capabilities for its global customer base.  BetterCloud’s existing investors, including Accel, Bain Capital Ventures, Warburg Pincus and others, will continue as minority investors.

DigiCert, a global provider of Digital Trust, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, Crosspoint Capital Partners, and TA Associates (TA), has acquired DNS Made Easy, a provider of enterprise-grade managed Domain Name System (DNS) services, as well as affiliated brands, including Constellix. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.    The acquisition of DNS Made Easy expands DigiCert’s digital trust portfolio to include managed DNS services with one of the fastest DNS response times and global availability. 

Salford-based start-up B-B-L Protect, has raised a six-figure investment from SFC Capital following a successful pitch with non-profit angel investment organisation NorthInvest. Founded in 2020, B-B-L Protect has created a range of isolation devices, known as Aeropods, which are designed for the safe transport and movement of patients with infectious diseases, such as Covid 19, Lassa Fever and Ebola.  Their Aeropod 15 is the only isolation device in the world with full aviation compliance.     BBL Protect will use the funds secured in this round to begin commercialisation of their AeroPod range of products, as well as recruiting a