Puma Private Equity, the private equity division of Puma Investments, has closed an investment of £3.6 million into Dymag Group, the British designer and manufacturer of carbon hybrid automotive wheels. Established in 1974, Dymag is a pioneer in carbon wheel technology and expects a record 2019, with the investment fuelling its global growth plans. Tommy O’Sullivan, Managing Director at Puma Private Equity, commented: “Dymag is positively disrupting the automotive wheel market with its new carbon wheel products.

BGF has announced the exit of its minority investment in Petrotechnics, a global leader of software solutions for hazardous industries, following its acquisition by US-based Sphera Solutions Inc.

BGF invested £6m in the Aberdeen-based company in 2013 to support the development of Proscient – the first software enterprise platform for operational excellence in hazardous industries.

The funding was also used for geographical expansion, with the company’s software now being used by more than 80,000 people from some of the biggest businesses in the oil and gas, rail and petrochemical sectors, across 22 countries. Since BGF’s investment, the company has invested over £15m in creating and bringing to market the broadest and most insightful operational excellence software package in the sector.

Red Industries, the hazardous and non-hazardous waste management business, has secured a £39m funding package from BGF, the UK’s most active investor in growing businesses, and HSBC. 

YFM Equity Partners has exited its investment in GTK Limited for £14.3m, to Volex Plc, generating a return of 3.4x original cost to its funds and a 36% IRR.

FM supported the incumbent management team in the primary buyout of GTK from its founder in October 2013. During the past five years, YFM has seen invested revenues grow over 60% and profits have more than doubled. The growth has been driven by continued investment in the UK sales team; the opening of a new sales office in Germany; a near doubling of manufacturing capacity in the UK; and the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Romania in 2016.

Foresight Group has made a substantial investment into Caphan Trading Limited, trading as The Children’s Furniture Company, on behalf of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund.

Based in Milton Keynes, The Children’s Furniture Company designs, manufactures and sells a wide range of children’s furniture.

After developing its own e-commerce store, the firm now supplies several national retailers - offering durable furniture at an affordable price point compared to its competitors. 

MEIF Maven Debt Finance has provided Automotive MacIiver Limited, the designer of the only multiple car seats for children with a £150,000 debt funding package. The funding will enable the business to invest in its product range, improving efficiencies in its batch manufacturing process, increase stock to meet growing sales and support the appointment of two new business development roles in the Birmingham area.

Multimac, invented by Automotive Macliver, is a unique, multi-child car seat which delivers a completely new concept in child car seat safety. By allowing three to four children to be seated in a row, Multimac removes the dangers associated with a seven-seater vehicle, which places children in the boot space of the car, commonly known as the ‘crumple zone’. The Multimac enables up to four children from 0-12 years to be seated in a row of even the smallest cars and is approved for adult use. 

The Development Bank of Wales has confirmed a £200,000 investment in Dafen based DRL Partitions Limited, a new manufacturing business specialising in movable wall systems.

Established by Managing Director Dennis Lewis, DRL manufactures sliding folding walls, expanding walls, operable walls and glass partitions for the education, health, leisure, community and commercial markets. Opportunities in the Middle East and India mean that the business is already exporting around 10% of products with this figure set to grow to 40% within the next two years.

Maven Capital Partners and the Development Bank of Wales have confirmed a £3 million equity investment in Motokiki, Britain’s first truly independent vehicle tyre comparison website.

The investment of £1.5 million by each funder will support Motokiki’s drive to develop new strategic partners, and fund sales and marketing initiatives to raise awareness of the brand and grow its customer base.

Motokiki’s unique comparison engine will provide a whole of market solution, comparing the price of tyres from a large range of manufacturers and suppliers, providing consumers with an impartial comparison across a wide range of retailers. Existing UK websites that provide tyre pricing information, in practice only list prices based on their own stock.

IW Capital has announced senior loan funding of £1.1 million to assist in the acquisition of Troika Systems Ltd, a global leader and specialist supplier to the printing and packaging industry.

Troika Systems Ltd is a long-established and award-winning UK manufacturer and distributor of 2D and 3D microscope scanning and management systems. Fresh Equity Limited, the Midlands-based SME investor, will be working with the management team to further grow the sector profile of Wiltshire-based Troika and its presence in the global marketplace.

London-based investment fund, Fuel Ventures, has invested £500,000 in Manufacturingsource.com, an on-demand manufacturing platform, which connects design and production engineers with suitable and trusted manufacturers to create custom parts. The site, which has attracted a global network of engineers and manufacturers, allows customers to get instant quotes and place orders, from prototypes to full scale production, on a single platform.

LIGNIA Wood Company, a producer of sustainable modified wood based in Barry, Wales, has secured £3 million funding from London-based investment manager Downing LLP, to support the construction of its first commercial production facility.

The company is helping tackle issues relating to lack of supply of legal and sustainable hardwoods. It is doing this by modifying the properties of sustainably-sourced, plantation-grown softwoods under the brand name LIGNIA®.

Phytoponics, a multi-award winning start-up specialising in the development of hydroponic deep-water culture technology for sustainable agriculture has secured £300,000 in new funding following on from the £200,000 it raised earlier this year. The funding comes from existing investors and a number of new angel investors lead by Smart Anchor Capital.

The company based in Aberystwyth was co-founded by Adam Dixon and Luke Parkin during Adam’s studies at Cardiff University with the aim of delivering highly optimised hydroponic systems designed to produce better crop yields than traditional systems and with the potential to meet global food demand with sustainability in mind. Phytoponic’s patented Hydrosac technology is ready for high volume commercial growing having proven itself by producing two tonnes of high quality tomatoes through a pilot project housed at the company’s glasshouse facility at Aberystwyth University.