Konstantin Sidorov, a long-time angel investor and the Founder and Chief Exec of the London Technology Club (LTC), talks to us about his experience as an entrepreneur and an investor.

Guy Rigby and David Murray will shortly attempt to become the oldest pair ever to row across any ocean as they prepare for their Atlantic crossing in this year’s Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. They will leave the Canaries on 12th December in their 24-foot ocean rowing boat, “The Entrepreneur Ship”, hoping to reach Antigua sometime in February 2022.

The call for public nominations will soon close for this year’s prestigious Bold Woman Awards, celebrating incredible British female entrepreneurs.

Independent think-tank, 2° Investing Initiative (2DII), has launched its retail investment platform, MyFairMoney, which aims to provide transparent, impartial information for retail investors looking to marry their sustainability preferences with personal investment decisions. MyFairMoney becomes the only UK solution incorporating multi-data inputs into its analysis of the 3,000 funds on the platform whilst remaining 100% non-profit.

Honeycomb Network, an Imperial College London spinout developing smart charging and storage infrastructure for e-scooters and e-bikes to accelerate micromobility adoption in the UK, has secured £127,000 in pre-seed funding from SFC Capital, the UK’s most active seed stage investor. The funding will support the development of prototypes of the company’s storage and charging pods and rollout of a pilot scheme. 

Global co-investment platform Shojin Property Partners has secured the junior funding element of a £7m student accommodation scheme in Leicester.

TrustedHousesitters, the world’s largest pet-sitting network, has secured $10m in Series A funding to continue expanding into the US market and, despite travel restrictions over the last 18 months, is already seeing revenue at twice pre-pandemic levels.

A crowdfunding bond in partnership between leading rewilding charity Trees for Life and Triodos Bank UK has raised £2 million in less than 48 hours. It will be used to part-fund the world’s first rewilding centre in the Scottish Highlands.  The bond offer was launched on the evening of Monday 13 September and reached its target on Wednesday – making it Triodos Bank’s fastest ever crowdfunding raise to reach £2 million. The average investment size was £4,800, with 8% of investors based in Scotland.

Independent advisory firm Dow Schofield Watts has expanded its debt fundraising arm with the launch of a new operation covering London and the South East. 

Two of the UK’s most well-respected business brains – Guy Rigby and David Murray – will row across the Atlantic Ocean 

Tulipshare is a brand new activist investment platform that empowers individuals to make a positive change within some of the biggest household-name companies in the world. Launching in the UK in July 2021, the platform will enable people to rethink the way they invest in businesses. Essentially allowing people to vote with their money, Tulipshare endeavours to play a tangible role in promoting ethical change in the boardrooms of global companies. 

Fast growing facilities management company, Westgrove Group has secured funding £6 million from Independent Growth Finance (IGF). The funds will be used to provide working capital and support the growth of the business.

Based in Warrington, Cheshire, Westgrove Group has grown steadily since its formation in 1998, and provides security, cleaning, maintenance, customer service and operational support across some of the UK’s largest regional shopping centres, mixed-use destinations, corporate offices, business parks and airports.