Willa, the fintech startup dedicated to helping freelancers get paid on time without the associated admin and hassle, has raised a $3 million seed round led by the EQT Ventures fund. With the investment, Willa is set to launch Willa Pay to provide its community of creative freelancers with an easier way to get paid with no paperwork or risk. The Willa team is on a mission to ensure these creative communities can optimise their working conditions, spend less time on paperwork and - most importantly - get paid for the work they have done.

Specialist technology investor Par Equity has led a consortium that has invested £800k in Publisher Discovery, a provider of services for online advertisers.

Publisher Discovery supports the growing performance or “affiliate” marketing space by helping companies that advertise online target potential customers more accurately. It uses AI technology to monitor millions of websites, ranking them by relevance and traffic to increase efficiency for advertisers and reduce frustration for browsers. Publisher Discovery holds two patents for its AI technology and is currently applying for a third.

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Wales have been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the second annual report published by Economic Intelligence Wales (EIW).

The report highlights the initial effects of the pandemic on the Welsh economy and details subsequent mitigation policies from both UK and Welsh Governments as the UK prepares for a recession in 2020.

Nanotechnology business, MIP Diagnostics, has completed a £5.1m funding round to accelerate its global expansion. The co-investment has come from Mercia Asset Management, a founding investor and the largest shareholder in the company, and was led by Downing Ventures (£1.4m), BGF (£2m) and Calculus Capital.

Growth capital investor VGC Partners has promoted Andrew Lister to partner. This promotion further strengthens VGC’s leadership team in order to support investment of its main £50m fund, which backs high-growth consumer, media and technology businesses.

Maven Capital Partners has led a further investment in Bright Network, a media technology recruitment platform which connects leading employers with the high quality graduate workforce of tomorrow. The transaction also includes investment from private equity firm Seneca Partners.

Maven originally invested in Bright Network in July 2018, alongside existing and angel investors, to support the launch of its new Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, and the company has since generated 50% Year on Year revenue growth.

Envestors has secured £2m in funding to grow its digital marketplace for start-up investment, The marketplace, powered by Envestors’ white-label investment platform Envestry, facilitates the investment process for all parties, making it easier for start-ups to raise investment and for investors to build diverse portfolios.

Partnering with networks, accelerators and incubators, Envestors provides a branded site where they can engage investors, promote deals and uniquely connect to other networks.

6 Bit Education, a company spun out of the University of Birmingham, has received investment to pilot an AI-based marking system that learns how maths, physics and statistics teachers give feedback, so they never have to mark the same answer twice.

The British Business Bank has approved six new lenders for accreditation under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), 

The Future Fund is being expanded to accommodate businesses that contribute significantly to the UK economy, but do not have their parent company based in the UK.

The Angel CoFund has appointed Dr Olivia Nicoletti to the team as Senior Investment Associate. Joining from Cambridge Enterprise, where she worked on technology transfer for innovations from Cambridge University, Olivia will focus on deep tech investments for the fund.

Unicorn AIM VCT has closed its latest offer having raised the full £25m of available capacity including an overallotment facility of £10m.  Unicorn has been one of the leading institutional investors in the AIM market since its inception in 2000. The VCT, managed by Chris Hutchinson, is the largest AIM-focused VCT in the market with net assets of £229.10 million (as at 12 June 2020).