A trio of Oxfordshire day nurseries have been acquired by a fast-growing independent education provider. Chatsworth Schools, which is itself headquartered in Oxfordshire, has purchased Tiny Toes Day Nurseries in a deal arranged by the childcare business transfer specialist Abacus Day Nursery Sales, a specialist division of Blacks Business Brokers.

Purple Dot, the ‘worth-the-wait’ payment option for fashion brands, today announces its seed round of £1.35 million, led by Connect Ventures, with support from, AI Seed, Moxxie Ventures, Andy Chung and Philipp Moehring from AngelList, Vijay Pandurangan (ex-Twitter), Alex Roetter former SVP of Engineering at Twitter and the family office of Paul Forster, co-founder of Indeed.com.

ArmaUrto, an innovative provider of protective cycle wear, has secured a £150k equity investment from the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF), as part of a larger £300k funding round. The investment round was led by The FSE Group, the appointed fund manager of CIOSIF.

Interest in road cycling has long been on an upward trend and during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic cycling activity has been propelled higher by as much as 100%. Whilst overall the activity is extremely beneficial for health and fitness, unfortunately accidents involving bikes in the UK have also risen to more than 25,000 a year.

The North East Development Capital Fund (NEDCF), supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Maven Capital Partners, has invested £750,000 in the product sampling platform, SoPost. The business, which helps brand partners run highly effective product sampling campaigns online, will utilise the funding to accelerate its product roadmap, extend its publisher, retail and agency partnerships, as well as fund its expansion into new markets.

Iventis, a company whose events software platform is used by organisers of international sports competitions has raised £400,000 to support its further growth.

Iventis has secured investment from the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), and the government’s Future Fund. The Lincoln-based company, which has been bucking the industry trend, is planning to use the funding to create seven new jobs.

The Running Channel, the YouTube channel and content brand for a global audience of runners, has raised over £1 million in a private investment fundraise to help capitalise on international growth opportunities.

Fit Cloud Technology Ltd, trading as Membr, a fitness focused management software platform that operates in 23 countries worldwide has secured significant investment from NPIF - Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, to fuel the next phase of its global expansion.  Membr is a full function cloud-based fitness software solution that has produced a simple and efficient digital platform that allows gym owners to manage their members whilst their personal training staff can actively support customers on their fitness journey.

YourParkingSpace, the UK’s leading provider of peer to peer parking and intelligent parking solutions, has secured investment from Pelican Capital to support the next phase of its growth strategy, advised by Cavendish Corporate Finance.

Booking.com CEO Kees Koolen has invested more than €4 million in Holidu, one of the fastest-growing travel tech companies worldwide, from his personal fund as part of a €5 million extension to the €40 million Series C round of the previous year.

Premium crafting company, Stitch & Story, has received an additional £1 million investment from Pembroke VCT less than a year after its first institutional fund raise in November 2019. The company successfully ‘unlocked the artisan’ in thousands of new customers during lockdown, as people sought creative and meaningful ways to fill their time at home – achieving record sales, including an 800% increase year on year during March, followed by a 1,100% increase in April. 

BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, invested £15m into Yorkshire Wildlife Park (YWP) just before lockdown.  Despite the well-documented challenges facing the business and wider sector, BGF has supported the Park and enabled the expansion development to continue. Based on visitor reviews, this week YWP was ranked within the top 10% of visitor attractions globally by the Travellers’ Choice Awards.  

Moteefe, the ecommerce platform providing infrastructure, customisation and global fulfilment for retailers of all sizes, has successfully completed an $11M funding round. New investor BGF led the round with participation from existing investors including Gresham House Ventures and Force Over Mass Capital.