Pembroke VCT plc, the venture capital trust focused on backing early-stage businesses led by exceptional founders and management teams, has today invested £2.5 million into ethical glasses company Bloobloom as part of a £3.7 million fundraise. Investing alongside Pembroke VCT are DMG Ventures and several angel investors. 

Bloobloom successfully launched two London stores in November and December 2021 (based in Carnaby Street and Marylebone High Street) and plans to grow this store network firstly in London before looking nationwide.

Lisburn-based engineering company, Rock Extraction has secured £500,000 in funding to further develop the Volt 100K, an innovative rock-breaking tool offering a cleantech alternative to explosives for the global mining industry.

Signum Surgical, the medical technology company developing innovative solutions to treat colorectal diseases, announces it has successfully raised a further €2.9 million to support its ongoing regulatory and clinical programs. The financing round was led by Halo Business Angel Network’s MedTech Syndicate, a joint initiative by Enterprise Ireland, InterTrade Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland. Additional investment was secured from the Western Development Commission and other angel investors in the medical device industry.

Ronspot has raised €1.1 million in investment funding. The news follows the recent dramatic growth in the hybrid working and space management market. This investment includes the HBAN Angel Network and Enterprise Ireland as well as being led by Dublin-based Furthr VC (formally DBIC Ventures).

Capital Pilot's Boost Fund 1, the first automated, high-volume fund for UK-based startups, has now reached its halfway milestone by completing the first 50 investments out of the £5m fund in just three months.  

TRIB3, the fast-growing global boutique fitness franchise, has seen significant further investment from its board-level backers to expedite its expansion across the world. Non-Executive Director, Jordy Kool, has considerably increased his stake in the organisation through his investment house, Iron Asset Management, after partnering with the brand in summer 2021 and joining the group board in an advisor capacity.

Investor James Muroch shares some thoughts on how the mini Budget this week is likely to affect seed funding in thre UK.

HBAN (Halo Business Angel Network) angels have participated in an oversubscribed €1.3M funding round in agri-tech start-up, CropBiome. 

White Motorcycle Concepts (WMC), a Northampton start-up that has designed a unique hybrid motorcycle and is already grabbing the attention of UK police forces, has just secured a £150K investment from British Design Fund, along with a further £150k from angel investors.

Aegiq, a start-up developing solutions to enable wide-scale adoption of quantum technologies around the world, today announces that it has received grant funding from Innovate UK, part of UK Research & Innovation, to develop a field-deployable high-performance quantum light source integrated solution in partnership with Fraunhofer CAP.

Kaiko Systems, a Berlin-based software startup digitizing maritime shipping, has completed a seed financing round of € 2 million. Investors participating in the funding round include Schoeller Holdings, Vineta Ventures, A Round Capital, and Flagship Founders, as well as industry experts such as Clasen Rickmers and Justus Kniffka.

Catalyst has announced a new partnership with global IT service provider Fujitsu, which has become its latest Platinum Partner. The two organisations plan to collaborate on projects aimed at growing the innovation ecosystem in Northern Ireland.