Northstar Ventures has launched its first EIS fund, the Northstar EIS Growth Fund, which is now open for subscriptions. The first close of the fund is targeted for 31st March 2024, with investment then being made into a diverse portfolio of technology companies during the 2024/5 tax year. The fund will invest in the North East's highest potential technology scale-up companies, focusing on the clean tech and healthy ageing sectors, where the region has global competitive advantage.

BULGARIA: Nasekomo, the European scale-up focused on insect bioconversion for sustainable high-quality protein production, has raised €8 million in growth capital.

NumberEight, a London-based startup using on-device AI to deliver ‘privacy-first’ identity solutions for the advertising industry, has raised $2.7 million in Pre-Series A funding led by ACF Investors. The investment will be used to drive commercial growth, bolster product development, and expedite US expansion following significant inbound market interest.

Recraft, the professional AI graphic design generator, has closed a $12 million in Series A funding in a round led by Khosla Ventures and former GitHub CEO, Nat Friedman, with participation from RTP Global, Abstract VC, Basis Set Ventures, Elad Gil and other angel investors.

MADRID: Harbiz, the leading technology platform for fitness professionals, has closed a €5 million funding led by Octopus Ventures.

As markets hope for interest rate reductions in 2024, some investors may well be considering how to invest for income and capital growth over the long term. The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has published a list of the 48 investment trusts that invest in equities and yield at least 4%.

HutanBio, a bio-tech company founded by scientists from Cambridge University, based in Cambridge (UK) and in Malaysia, has secured a £2.25m investment from Clean Growth Fund, a leading UK clean-tech venture capital fund to accelerate the commercial use of its HBx bio-fuel oil and so reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Having raised circa £500k from Angels in late 2022 and the first half of 2023, further angel investment was also made in this latest round.

Calculus, a leading provider of tax efficient investments, has announced the launch of its HMRC-approved Knowledge Intensive Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Fund 2. The new offering follows the first successful Knowledge Intensive EIS Fund, which closed in April 2023 and is on track for full investment within the coming weeks.

Turquoise, the UK merchant bank specialising in energy, environment and efficiency, has announced an investment by Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2) in Weeding Technologies. This forms part of a £800,000 second-closing of a capital raising to be completed over the coming months.

Mesenbio, a University of York spin-out that is developing a novel treatment for arthritis created from engineered human stem cells, has raised £1.4m in an investment round co-led by DSW Ventures and NG Bio alongside grant funding from Innovate UK.

The treatment will initially target rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that impacts nearly half a million adults and children in the UK alone, causing debilitating joint pain and inflammation of the hands, knees, elbows, ankles, and wrists.

Oxford Innovation EIS Growth Fund 3 and the OION Angel Network have invested in Deep Planet, an Agri-tech start-up using AI technology to help winemakers and growers tackle the challenges of climate change.

SFC Capital and the University of Birmingham's Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA) have agreed a landmark investment partnership to support promising HealthTech and MedTech companies.