The Riverside Company has signed a definitive agreement to sell its investment in Euromed Botanicals S.A. to Dermapharm Holding SE. Barcelona-based Euromed provides standardized herbal extracts and natural active substances for the pharmaceutical, dietary supplement and cosmetic industries. The transaction is expected to close in the next few months upon receipt of antitrust approval. 

Gohenry, the company behind the gohenry financial tool which is enabling a generation of kids and teens to take part in the digital economy and learn about money, has successfully raised £6.2m via Crowdcube, the world’s first and largest equity crowdfunding platform. The funds raised will be invested in products and marketing, as well as expanding gohenry’s operations in the US.

Gohenry’s raise on Crowdcube launched in September with a target of £2m, which it has exceeded by 3x. Over 3,000 investors have taken part in the raise, which is gohenry’s third on Crowdcube. Gohenry’s previous raises on Crowdcube were in 2016 and 2017, and the total amount gohenry has raised on the platform now stands at over £10m. This latest raise makes gohenry one of the first companies to take advantage of the newly-raised prospectus threshold – previously regulations permitted companies only to raise up to €5m without issuing a prospectus, but in July this figure rose to €8m.

The Development Bank of Wales’ latest fund, the Wales Angel Co-investment Fund, will provide its first £90,000 of match funding to a syndicate of five business angels investing in Drone Evolution.

Lead investor, Andrew Diplock is former MD of UES Energy, a company formed in Caerphilly which he grew to a successful exit in late 2015. Andrew invests solely in Welsh rooted businesses and is also a member of the Welsh Government’s Valleys Taskforce in addition to being a Governor at Coleg y Cymoedd.

Cardiff-based online learning platform, Careercake, has secured over £300,000 in its latest funding round. The round has been led by existing investor the Development Bank of Wales, with additional funding from a consortium of angels including Sunnybarn Investments founded by entrepreneur Phil Buck.

Careercake aims to help organisations who want to help their staff build confidence in their careers and the challenges they may face in their working lives.

Following a year of steady growth that includes working with over 70 of Wales’ largest brands, Business News Wales has announced new investment from The Development Bank.

Led by Managing Director, Mark Powney, Business News Wales has secured a six figure investment to enable the business to recruit a new editor, sales team and expand on the services it currently offers to clients, including the ability to provide a new add-on product suite.

The deal was put together by Verde Corporate Finance (finance) and Greenaway Scott (legal). Both advisory businesses are part of the multi-discipline Greenaway Scott Group.

Angel Investor and Real World Group Chair Rachel Hannan has made the list of 100 progressive business leaders.

RED Capital Partners, a new venture capital firm with offices in Madrid and Tel Aviv, has announced that it will launch RED Ventures Fund I, EMEA’s largest VC fund investing exclusively in high-growth tech companies founded or co-founded by women.

RED Ventures Fund I channels the exchange of technology between Israeli and European companies and opens opportunities for Israeli companies to enter the European market. The fund also invests in European technology companies, with a particular focus on Spain, looking to expand internationally, or to access Israeli innovative technology.

With a target size of €50m, the fund will back up to 10 portfolio companies. RED invests in previously funded companies with strong and differential technological components and sustainable competitive advantages. RED assumes the role of lead, co-lead or sole investor in all investment rounds writing equity tickets of up to €10 million from RED Ventures Fund I, plus the possibility of channeling additional capital with co-investments from its LPs.

By Damien Lane, Episode 1 Ventures

A lot of founders that pitch to us miss a fundamental point of venture funding – VCs are all about trying to find really big outcomes. They want to discover the startups that will grow into 200million, 300million, 500million, billion dollar companies. Such companies are – to borrow a phrase from current political discourse – the few, not the many. 

And so, as a founder, perhaps the most important part of the pitching process is convincing the investor that there is a chance that the idea you’ve got, the business you’re running, can get to that size. That’s difficult, especially as you might not yet have any revenues to speak of. But some entrepreneurs we see don’t talk at all about how big the opportunity could be.

Comment from UKBAA's Jenny Tooth

As of this week, the UK has been placed on the world's centre stage as Parliament discusses whether to agree upon the proposed Brexit deal. Succeeding resignations of key cabinet ministers, the pound has dropped and shares in UK companies have been negatively impacted. Whilst this can be expected in times of political uncertainty, it is important to question if UK SMEs are prepared for Brexit - whatever the end result.

By Belinda Thomas, Triple Point

Making the journey from start-up to scale up can be one of the most precarious and unpredictable times in the life of any firm.  Causes of failure are plenty, but research indicates there are three major factors that account for forty percent of early-stage business failures.

Inovus Medical, a leading designer and manufacturer of medical and surgical simulators, has announced the successful completion of a £500,000 investment from NPIF - Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia Fund Managers and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

The investment is part of a £700,000 investment round alongside an angel investor and will help to create four new jobs, accelerating the growth of Inovus Medical’s commercial operations in the domestic and international markets.

The company also plans to utilise the funding to add a suite of new 3D printing technologies to its manufacturing processes and introduce new software additions to its existing product offering.

WestBridge Capital has appointed a new Investment Manager as growth continues.