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. 

Investors have rewarded the commercial success of Spotta’s smart pest systems with a $1.18 million seed funding round.  This investment reflects Spotta’s huge potential in global markets in farming, forestry, hospitality, and other sectors to solve the £320 bn ($400 bn) problem of insect pests while dramatically reducing pesticide use.  Representatives of Cambridge Angels and REMUS, a US-based VC firm, will join Spotta’s board as part of the £934,000 ($1,184,287*) investment deal. Other major investors include Martlet Capital, Wren Capital, and the Angel CoFund. 

Cowboy, a leading manufacturer of the beautifully-designed, connected electric bike, has completed its Series B funding round, totalling €23M. Leading the round is Exor Seeds, the early stage investment arm of Exor, controlling shareholder of Ferrari and FCA, HCVC, and Isomer Capital, joined by Future Positive Capital and Index Ventures, each of whom are known to support entrepreneurship and impact innovation in Europe

Zedify, the network of first and last mile delivery operations across the UK, have recently raised over £300,000 from a group of private investors led by Green Angel Syndicate (GAS). 

The investment signals the confidence investors have placed in Zedify, and the huge market potential for efficient, consolidated first and last-mile urban deliveries. Antoine Pradayrol, who joins the board as investment director noted the pioneering work Zedify has done to demonstrate the business case for using cargo bikes in the burgeoning urban delivery market.

Draper Esprit has participated in the latest £25m Series C funding round in Cazoo, the UK's leading online car retailer. Cazoo allows customers to buy a used car entirely online and have it delivered to their door in as little as 72 hours.

Luxury homeware wholesaler, Fifty One Percent Limited, has received a £250k finance package from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund Debt Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners.  The funding will allow the Leicestershire-based business to hire four additional staff, while expanding its product line and sales and marketing function.

Loopster, the online platform which closes the loop between the use and reuse of second-hand clothes, has secured a six-figure seed equity funding round led by the Development Bank of Wales.

Investing alongside the Development Bank is business angel Jim Lewcock, who owns the internet-focused venture capital Blue14, and experienced non-executive director and angel investor Kate Methuen-Ley. The funding will help Loopster to further develop and commercialise their technology, enabling their platform to catalogue second-hand clothes faster. The Newport-based company will also use the funding to recruit six members of staff. This process is currently underway.

Stained Glass artists Cariad Glass have seen a boost in online sales during lockdown after developing a fun make at home glass mosaic kit to give crafty customers a creative fix. The Llandysul business received a micro loan from the Development Bank of Wales to support their growth plans and give them working capital shortly before lockdown.

BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, has invested in Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists.

BGF’s investment will be used to support the independent opticians and audiologists group’s organic growth – including further roll-out of its audiology services – as well as its acquisition strategy to double the number of sites over the next four years.