The British Business Bank has welcomed Edward O’Hara as its new Chief Risk Officer.

Edward joins the Bank from The Commonwealth Trade Bank Plc, where he served as Chief Risk Officer from early 2017. He has had an extensive career in Risk and strategic leadership positions in a wide variety of international banking and finance institutions, including in the UK, USA, Poland and Bulgaria.

Venture capital firms with a track record of working together by investing in the same venture are more likely to produce a successful venture, but working together repeatedly will eventually have a negative impact, new research from the UCL School of Management finds.

Token, the turnkey open banking platform, has completed a $16.5m strategic investment from a pool of investors, including Opera Tech Ventures, the venture arm of BNP Paribas - one of the world’s largest banks and two other visionary banks headquartered in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.  

Swoop, a FinTech solution that supports SMEs to access funding, has been awarded £5 million (€5.6 million) by the UK’s Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) – an independent body working on behalf of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). BCR aims to ensure RBS is continually promoting competition within banking, and fair access for SMEs to the banking services market, with funds becoming available when an alternative body can better deliver this goal.

In his latest article, James Murdoch discusses the importance of regular company reporting and post investment communication for equity crowdfunding investors.

Augnet, a London-based technology start-up set to revolutionise the SMS and messaging space, has announced it has been selected to receive much sought after funding from the European Innovation Council.

BlockClaim, the first hybrid artificial intelligence and blockchain technology solution developed for the insurance industry, has successfully completed its seed funding round with a £500,000 investment.

In recent years, Alternative Finance funding channels that exist outside of the traditional finance system have revolutionised how small and medium enterprises are able to operate. The rapid growth of the Alternative Finance industry, in areas such as Crowdfunding, is making it increasingly less ‘alternative’, but where is this development seen the most? 

Technology advisory and investment firm GP Bullhound’s Fund IV holds its final close at EUR113 million, continuing its successful strategy of investing in some of the best technology entrepreneurs, with a focus on growth stage businesses in the Software, Entertainment, Digital Services, Marketplaces and Fintech sectors. Recent investments include Slack, Unity, Tradeshift, Glovo and LendInvest.  In addition to independent deal sourcing, the fund benefits from a unique deal flow through GP Bullhound's merchant bank organisation with 110 professionals across nine offices on three continents. 

If the crowdfunding market in Europe is to continue to develop, it needs an EU-wide framework, says Jörg Rocholl, President and Professor of Finance at ESMT Berlin.

Read Beauhurst's SaaS Brief which gives an overview of Software-as-a-Service companies in the UK, who the top companies are and the latest funding trends.

London-based investment manager Downing LLP has appointed Richard Lamb to its growing Property Finance investment team.