Jenson Funding Partners has announced an investment in Col8 Ltd, a technology company that provides video management services through its proprietary platform. Their solution allows users to intuitively navigate video footage to quickly find points of interest.

Deepbridge, the Chester-based tax-efficient investment manager, has announced a further increase in its yearly funding to an increased range of companies based in the North West.

Over the course of 2018, the growth capital provided over £12.5 million in funding to 33 companies, in addition to £12 million provided to 22 companies in the previous year, via its Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed EIS (SEIS) funds.

Idinvest Partners, a leading investor in SMEs across Europe, has today announced the final closing of its second capital growth fund (Idinvest Growth Fund II) at €340m, surpassing its initial target of €300m. Idinvest Growth Fund II brings together a panel of renowned investors, of whom more than 75% are based outside France.

Graham Bishop, Investment Director at Heartwood Investment Management comments on whether the UK is stockpiling ahead of Brexit. 

ChargedUp, the UK’s first mobile charging network, is applying the bike-sharing model to mobile device charging, after closing a £1.2 million seed investment led by Sir John Hegarty’s fund The Garage and ex-Innocent Smoothie founders fund JamJar.

Addressing consumer frustrations of being caught out with a dying phone battery and nowhere to charge it, ChargedUp has built the UK’s first mobile phone charging network.  For 50p, users can rent a power bank to charge devices while on the move and return it at a different location.

Idinvest Partners, a leading investor in SMEs across Europe, today announces the appointment of Bao Dinh as Investment Director in the Venture Capital team. In this position, Bao will be involved in sourcing, analysing and executing investments for the Venture Capital team, both in France and in Europe.

Angel-backed peer-to-peer tasking app Pinga has announced its expansion across Central London, following a successful launch in Hackney last year. 

Jenson has made it's latest investment in VANUSE Ltd, an on-demand mobile marketplace app designed for the courier, removals and man-and-van sectors. The app allows customers to book deliveries instantly and get the appropriate driver based on location and the size of the package to be delivered.

The company enables individual delivery providers of all sizes from small, medium and large vans to accept jobs based on the size of package and location. The platform has a unique pricing algorithm that prices jobs that work both for the customer and the driver. The company's differentiation from its competitors, by being both customer and driver focused. Also, Vanuse’s focus is on the underserved 'larger items' space, the ability to 'instantly' book a service and the ability to collect items within an hour of booking.

Vala Capital, the UK venture capital firm, has appointed Jane Holland, ex-Financial Director at investment company The Ingenious Group, as the firm’s new COO.

The latest British Bank Business Report^[i] paints a worrying picture of the risks small businesses take to secure finance for their business.  Purbeck Insurance Services, the UK’s only provider of Personal Guarantee Insurance is urging the owners and directors of small businesses to seek professional advice before committing to a finance arrangement for their business and to make maximum use of the insurance protection available to owners of SMEs should their business fail.

General Motors is taking a 35% stake in wejo, a Chester based 'connected car' start-up, originally backed by regional SME specialist, Seneca Partners.

The investment from GM makes wejo the most valuable British start-up in the connected car space. The landmark deal with GM includes a $25 million cash injection in addition to a long-term data-sharing agreement between the two companies. In total, the deal values wejo at $275 million.

Praetura Asset Finance Group (PAF Group), an asset finance lender based in Manchester, today announces it has closed a £75m securitisation facility with NatWest Markets. The rated facility will allow PAF Group to expand its origination capacity, enabling growth in its loan book to provide up to £200m to SMEs across the UK.