CEO of Private investment house IW Capital, Luke Davis, comments on the introduction of a new EIS fund that focuses on knowledge intensive SMEs.

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.

Braham and Murray Good Hemp, the plant based food and drink consumer brand which manufactures consumer brand products from hemp seed, including an allergen free milk alternative, has announced the appointment of Jeremy Schwartz as Chairman of its Board of Directors.

Montezuma’s, a company founded by Helen and Simon Pattinson in 2000, has received investment from Edinburgh-based private equity firm Inverleith LLP. The specialist consumer brands investor has acquired a majority in the Company from the founders.

Montezuma’s has established itself as one of the largest leading independent British manufacturers of premium artisanal chocolate. Montezuma’s manufactures chocolate bars, truffles and gifting products, runs a subscription ‘Chocolate Club’ and has retail stores in the south-east of England and London. Founded by husband and wife team, Helen and Simon Pattinson, with a chocolate shop in Brighton eighteen years ago, the Company has grown into a leading independent player in the premium UK chocolate market.

A constant stream of funding success stories in the media, and the rise of more down to earth and approachable crowdfunding platforms, suggests it has never been easier to raise investment for your business. However, a recent report from the HM Treasury revealed that only 1 in 10 businesses secure seed funding in the UK and, despite shaking up the market, crowdfunding is not much easier with around a 63 percent success rate.

The term resilience has become synonymous for SMEs that can weather Brexit - but what does this actually mean in the context of one of the most seismic events to effect the UK economy and private sector? Jenny Tooth, CEO of the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) comments.

Mercia Technologies portfolio company nDreams, the award-winning virtual reality (VR) developer and publisher, has set up a dedicated team to create VR games and experiences for the fast-growing location-based entertainment (LBE) market. The first two titles, Shooty Fruity Arcade and Perfect Balloon Flight, will hit arcades in the coming months.

Shooty Fruity Arcade sees the critically acclaimed home VR game tailored specifically for an over-the-top arcade experience, giving even more people the chance to prove their skills as a mutant fruit-shooting checkout assistant! nDreams has joined forces with the likes of Ctrl V, VR Junkies, SynthesisVR and SpringboardVR as key arcade partners, with the game launching this winter.

Beauhurst highlights the UK’s fastest growing tech startups in 2018.

GTR Ventures, the world’s first investment and venture-building platform specialised in trade and supply chain, has announced three new deals with Lucidity, iLoan and RM-Tech. These three investments, representing an expanded pivot towards markets in China and South Asia, were announced on the first day of the Singapore Fintech Festival, the world’s largest fintech gathering.

Helping people to find a co-founder would unlock the potential of UK entrepreneurship with millions more people likely to become entrepreneurs if they had someone to set up business with, new research from Octopus Group reveals.

One in three (33%) Britons have considered becoming an entrepreneur and a higher proportion (40%) agreed that having a co-founder would allow them to take the leap and start a business.

Those who are currently considering starting a business in the near future were even more positive about the impact a co-founder could make. Seven in ten (70%) prospective entrepreneurs agreed that a co-founder would allow them to take the leap and set up their own business.

Kernel Capital and Suir Valley Ventures have invested €2.25 million in Dundalk based Nova Leah Ltd. The round was led by the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund (RoI), with a €1.5M investment. Nova Leah has developed a pioneering cybersecurity compliance solution for medical device manufacturers and healthcare providers. It has been designed to improve the security of connected medical devices, improve patient safety and reduce associated regulatory costs. The platform has global deployments with a blue chip customer base.

Arthur Krebbers reveals new research by a team of American and Chinese business academics* which shows that bribe-giving can be an entrepreneurial underdog’s plan B.