Success stories

Business Growth Fund (BGF), established to help the UK’s growing small and medium sized businesses, has announced a £6m investment in Petrotechnics, the global leader of software solutions to improve frontline operational performance and risk management in hazardous industries.

Octopus today announced that it has led a £2.95 million investment round into Conversocial, a market leader in social customer service solutions that has already created an impressive client list including Tesco, Waitrose, Barclaycard, Groupon, Hertz and Net-A-Porter.

Three-time entrepreneur Ed Bussey today announces the successful closure of £1 million investment in Quill, the pioneering content creation platform he founded in 2011.

Hyperoptic, the UK’s leading provider of fibre-to-the-home broadband technology, today announced that it has received an equity investment commitment of £50 million led by Quantum Strategic Partners Ltd.

BankToTheFuture.com, the crowdfunding platform that allows people to invest in start-ups and mature businesses, has announced that it is providing an investment platform for Fabfob, the latest venture by Wowcher founder, Nick Brummitt, who has chosen cowdfunding over traditional venture capital funding.

Software developer Beyond Verbal has launched a patented technology that can extract, decode, and measure a full spectrum of human emotions from a person’s raw voice which saw a $2.8 million round of funding led by prominent angel investor Kenges Rakishev, and new VC, Genesis Angels.

The Manchester based disruptive online recruitment company Hiring-Hub.com is celebrating triple-digit growth during the first quarter of 2013 with month-on-month revenues leaping 260% from January to March.

Zalando was founded in 2008 as a shoe retailer for the German fashion market. One year later, they began to ship their goods to Austria, and they have continued to expand across Europe.

An app created by Seventeen-year-old Nick D’Aloisio who took time off school to develop the Summly smartphone app has been acquired by web giant Yahoo in a deal understood to be worth just under £18 million pounds.

Key Capital Partners has confirmed that it has invested £2 million for a minority stake inspecialist recruitment firm EarthStream, which supplies specialist staff to the global energy & resources sectors.

Early stage, Cambridge based, life science company, Sphere Fluidics, has closed a £1.6m funding round which included a £133,000 investment by a syndicate of London Business Angels and its EIS Approved Roundtable Syndicate Fund 2012.

A tidal energy platform specialist, Sustainable Marine Energy (SME), working closely with Cranfield University, has completed a £150k SEIS eligible funding round which was corner-stoned by a £133k investment by a London Business Angels (LBA) syndicate, including a £40k investment by the LBA SEIS Roundtable Syndicate Fund 2012.

Manchester-based online recruitment technology company Hiring-Hub.com has secured a “significant investment of over £500k” from John Laithwaite Partners LLP, placing a seven-figure valuation on the business.

NewVoiceMedia, the provider of Cloud contact centre services, has announced that it has secured $20m funding from new investors Highland Capital Partners Europe and MMC Ventures, as well as existing shareholders Notion Capital and Eden Ventures.

ClickSlide has successfully closed its seed funding round, securing an undisclosed investment from Ariadne Capital Entrepreneurs (ACE) fund and three angel investors.

Instant, which provides flexible office solutions for companies all over the world, has attracted £16m capital from private equity house MML to support ambitious growth plans.

The Business Growth Fund (BGF), established to help the UK’s fast growing smaller and medium sized businesses, has announced a £2.5 million investment for a minority stake in Manchester-based Boost Juice Bars UK (Boost) a growing chain of retail stores specialising in the sale of freshly made smoothies and juices.

Rangespan, the e-commerce start-up that is already working with Tesco, Argos and Asda, secures investment as it launches an innovative market data service for retailers

Mark Pearson, CEO of the leading discount network Markco Media, has continued his 2012 investments by injecting £1m into the parent company of 3 month old global discount website MyDeals.com. The funding will be used to develop a publisher monetisation platform.

The Silicon Roundabout-based social data analytics provider Likely has announced the completion of a £1million equity investment led by growth capital specialists New World Private Equity together with seed and early stage specialists Charlotte Street Capital.

YPlan, the world’s first mobile-only event booking app, has gained backing by two of Europe’s leading investors, Wellington Partners and Octopus Investments.

Last Second Ticket has secured a second round of funding from discount network Markco Media, parent company to leading discount website MyVoucherCodes.

Octopus Investments has confirmed that it has invested in IOVOX, the provider of telephony analytics. Octopus’ investment will support IOVOX’s plans for further expansion into Europe.

Envestors has announced that it has closed an equity fundraising for Capablue, the provider of solutions for broadcasters and brands.

online printers moo.com is to purchase Flavors.me, a design-led personal identity site known as Œthe digital you with over half a million members in 200 countries, from HiiDef Inc.