Intelligence
Latest
BGF has exited its investment in Setfords, a tech-enabled legal services provider, following its acquisition by private equity firm, Phoenix Equity Partners.
Setfords, an award-winning top 200 law firm based in Guildford, Surrey, was set up to disrupt the legal services sector with its consultancy network model, which brings together independent lawyers under a unified brand. The company was founded by Chris Setford and Guy Setford in 2006 and has since expanded rapidly, delivering 50 per cent compound annual revenue growth over the past 11 years.
BGF invested GBP3.75 million of growth capital into Setfords in 2016, to support
NEWS
Verdane has sold half of its majority investment in Desenio, a global wall art online retailer, through a private placement followed by a listing of the company’s shares on the NASDAQ First North Growth Market, valuing the company at SEK11 billion.
Verdane will retain half of its shareholding in Desenio, which amounted to 60 percent prior to the private placement, and remain the company’s largest shareholder.
Verdane is a growth equity investment firm and one of Europe’s most active specialist e-commerce investors. The firm first partnered with Desenio in 2016 via Verdane Capital IX, a SEK3.1bn 2016-vintage fund, to support
Q&A
Originally from Oman, Huda al Lawati (pictured) has earned degrees in both Business Economics and Neuroscience from US-based Brown University. Having joined Saudi-listed consumer conglomerate Savola as chief investment officer in 2015, she was responsible for portfolio management, M&A, investor relations and strategy there.
GUEST ARTICLE
By Alex Di Santo (pictured), group head of private equity at Crestbridge – Despite Covid, venture capital activity across the globe remained robust throughout 2020 and deal activity, thus far in 2021, suggests venture capital will continue to fly high this year.
Below we outline Covid winners, challenges and opportunities in ESG within the VC space and discuss what managers can do to thrive in this new financial environment.
The winners
• Healthcare and life sciences. Unsurprisingly, healthcare and life sciences have done particularly well. According to Rock Health, 2020 has seen more digital health funding than any other year
RESEARCH
According to Investec’s latest secondaries research report, more than three-quarters, or 77 per cent, of secondary fund managers expect a return to 2018 deal flow levels within the next 12 months.
GUEST ARTICLE
By Joseph Lee, Head of Asia, Atwater Capital – From Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” to “American Pyscho” and “The Wolf of Wall Street”, the history of Hollywood is littered with unsympathetic portrayals of the financial industry.
NEWS
On-demand laundry and dry-cleaning platform Laundryheap has raised USD3.5 million as part of Series A round led by Sova VC, the firm’s second deal since launch following its investment of USD2.5 million in the Series B round of translation platform Smartcat.
LEGISLATION
A new Irish financial services bill, which has been in the works for over five years, is expected to create 3,000 jobs by 2025, while attracting up to EUR20 billion per annum in global private capital, says Irish Funds.
GUEST ARTICLE
By Charlotte Seward (pictured), private banker at Investec – As anyone working in financial services will know, ESG is here to stay, and this is certainly clear from speaking with my clients in the private equity space.
PODCAST
In this week’s Private Equity Wire podcast Karin Wasteson interviews Joe Stringer, partner at Octopus Ventures, who shares his views on trends in the healthtech space during the past year, and some of the sector’s key challenges and opportunities moving forward.
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
