The University of Strathclyde's Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation has a new name and a newly appointed Director.

Formerly The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, the addition of Strategy and Innovation to the name reflects its expanded focus, scope and alignment with the University's successful and distinctive strategy. The Centre also has a new Director, Professor Niall MacKenzie.

A syndicate of 20 business angels led by lead investor Simon Bell has invested £250,000 in Menna.ai, the first small business finance assistant powered by Gen AI.

The equity investment has been match-funded with a further £250,000 from the Development Bank of Wales' Wales Angel Co-investment Fund.

PlantSea, an emerging biotech start-up from St Asaph is turning the tide on plastic pollution having successfully closed a significant funding round totalling over £800,000. The pre-seed round includes an equity investment of £220,000 from the Development Bank of Wales, alongside Innovate UK Investor Partnerships funding, Sustainable Ventures and SFC Capital.

Viability, a pioneering PropTech startup, formerly known as Hesti LTD, has raised £535,000 in funding. This significant investment comes from a consortium of notable backers, including co-founder Paul Higgs, SFC Capital, and Clearance Venture Partners, as well as grants from HM Land Registry (through the Geovation accelerator) and Innovate UK. The funds will be instrumental in advancing Viability's mission to address the housing crisis leveraging AI to deliver Sustainable Development Optimised.

Fundmypitch has supported a successful £350k pre-seed fundraise for Stratiphy, an AI-powered investment platform transforming wealth management.  Stratiphy leverages AI to provide personalised investment strategies at scale, enabling users to optimise their wealth management efforts. 

Northern Ireland science and technology hub, Catalyst has opened applications for its Co-Founders programme where ambitious and innovative people will collaborate to create start-up businesses that could change the world.

Sustainability startup Signol, which uses behavioural science to reduce emissions in shipping and aviation, has raised £2.5m from leading industry-focused investors.

Dorset Business Angels will hold its next pitching event on 30th September, its fourth such event this year. It has confirmed the five companies who will be pitching to investors at the event.   

MILAN: HR tech startup Skillvue has announced a $2.8m funding round for its AI platform to boost better talent allocation, higher capability to anticipate job market shirts and increaseretention of high-performers.

EBAN has revealed details of the interactive roundtables which will be part of the Past, Present, and Future of Angel Investing discussions taking place at the European Angel Investment Summit on October 15.

USA: SWAN Impact Network, which is focused on uniting angel investors and visionary entrepreneurs, has published its first report.

MONTREAL: ReliON, a pioneering provider of management and maintenance (O&M) solutions for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure based in Montreal and Ottawa, has announced that it has closed a $3 million funding round led by Diagram Ventures, with participation from MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF), AQC Capital, Anges Québec and Cycle Momentum.