Validient , a Newport-based tech business that is helping the professional services sector to keep up with increasing regulatory compliance, has secured a second investment of £200,000 from the Development Bank of Wales and £100,000 from Wesley Clover.

Graide, a University of Birmingham spinout whose assistive AI-based platform helps teachers mark student homework, has raised £1.65m to expand in the UK and target new markets in the US and Canada.  The funding has come from XTX Ventures alongside existing investors Mercia Ventures, the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), SFC Capital and private investors.

HACE: Data Changing Child Labour, has raised £450,000 in its pre-seed funding round, beating its initial target by 20%. The funding was led by Manchester Angels and includes co-investments from GC Angels, Ada Ventures, Found Capital and individual angel investors.

Coenseo Ventures has announced the launch of FundIQ, a groundbreaking platform designed to transform the early-stage investment market in the UK. FundIQ emerges from the successful acquisition of Capital Pilot by Coenseo Ventures, bringing with it a legacy of innovation and a commitment to enhancing the investability of startup companies.

Clue Software, a provider of software for investigations and intelligence management, has raised £4 million led by Frog Capital, with £1 million coming from angel investors and employees, supported by investment advisor ScaleUp Group. Founded by Clare Elford (CEO), and Thomas Drohan (CCO), the tech for good platform has grown exponentially despite challenging UK market conditions for tech investment.

London-based startup AudioStack has raised a £2.5 million pre-Series A round led by Quadri Ventures to revolutionize large scale audio production for enterprises through Artificial Intelligence.

SQCDP, a Newcastle-based SaaS startup, has successfully raised £200k to increase manufacturing efficiencies and support workforce engagement by removing problem paper systems in factories. The £200k funding is part of a wider pre-seed funding round which is still being raised.

The second co-founder of GaN Systems, Girvan Patterson, has joined his fellow co-founder, Geoff Haynes, as an advisor at QPT, an independent power electronics company which recently launched its first funding round on Crowdcube, targeting £1 million of investment.

Sheep producers will be able to improve their flock’s efficiency thanks to Innovate UK and Defra funding towards developing a field based automated system to monitor lamb growth and in turn, provide data to make advanced and accurate predictions of time to reach target finished weight.

Angel-backed spinout About:Energy, a world-leading innovator in battery development software is launching ‘Formula Student: Drive to Recharge’, a new initiative to help address the UK's battery skills gap and support the development of 1,500 battery engineers by 2030.

About:Energy span out of the University of Birmingham and Imperial College London in 2022, and the sponsorship, which covers five Formula Student teams in the UK, includes teams from both.

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.

Spotta, the smart pest detection tech company, has raised a £3 million growth investment round led by The Yield Lab, STIHL Ventures, and ACF Investors. The latest investment will be used to drive the global growth of Spotta’s products, in particular the breakout success of the Bed Pod detectors for bed bugs.