Family-owned Kids Planet has received a further £6.5m investment from BGF as it plans to double the number of nurseries within the group in the next five years.  

Since BGF’s initial investment, the Greater Manchester-headquartered business has expanded from 17 to 23 sites across the North of England, including most recently in Preston, Stockport, Billinge and Swinton. Last year, it was awarded the top spot in the Nursery World Childcare League Table - a compilation of Ofsted ratings for the 20 largest nursery groups in Britain.

Zilingo has raised $54 million in a Series C, to grow further and expand internationally. This takes total funding raised by the company to USD 82 million. 

Three Hills Capital Partners has announced its investment in Sigma Retail Solutions. Sigma is a leading provider of outsourced solutions to blue chip retailers across the UK, Europe and Australia. The Company offers a wide range of services from procurement to project delivery and supply chain solutions of various specialist fixtures and fittings.

The Duncan & Todd Group, the leading optical provider in Scotland, has secured a £15m investment from the Scottish office of LDC, the UK’s leading mid-market private equity investor, to accelerate its growth strategy. As part of the deal, Duncan & Todd’s existing backer, BGF, will exit its minority stake.

Founded in 1972, the business operates through three divisions – retail, manufacturing and corporate – and employs more than 250 people across its national branch network and at its state-of-the-art ophthalmic lens laboratory, Caledonian Optical in Aberdeen. It also provides outsourced corporate eye care services to more than 200 public and private sector customers, through its Smart Employee Eyecare brand.

Airsorted, the world’s largest hosting management service, has announced the successful 

NVM has led a £5 million growth capital minority investment into Manchester-based Currentbody, an online retailer for home-use beauty devices. Having achieved exceptional sales growth in the last year, the investment will help support its next phase of expansion, allowing the company to accelerate its strategic initiatives and support working capital requirements. 

Co-Founded by Laurence Newman and Andrew Showman, CURRENTBODY.com is the only website specialising in beauty devices for home use.

Labrador Ltd has announced its latest high-profile investor as Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT) who are backing the company with a hybrid package of £500,000 in cash and media investment, in exchange for a subscription of ordinary shares as part of Labrador’s current funding round.

The UK’s leading multi-site crêperie brand has secured investment from BGF to accelerate its new site rollout. 

Busbud, the online marketplace that enables global travellers to shop for and book intercity bus tickets on over 1.4 million bus routes worldwide, today announced the close of US$11 million in series B funding.

GloveboxDirect.com, a pre-launch online automotive marketplace that will give consumers access to a wider range of car and bike parts, has completed its first round of fundraising – raising more than £180,000 from 119 investors in just three days - on leading equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

A UK games studio which has developed a unique real-time football game has closed a £600,000 funding round from Mercia Fund Managers and a leading global mobile games developer.

UFL is the first real-time fantasy soccer game that allows fans worldwide to connect simultaneously to a live soccer match. Unlike typical fantasy games, the action happens as the match unfolds and every player’s move on the pitch is mirrored in a real-time game. Launched in 2016, it now has over 1 million registered users worldwide.

Foresight Group has invested £3m of growth capital into 200 Degrees a Nottingham-based specialty coffee roaster with six coffee shops across the UK and a thriving wholesale business.