Seraphim Capital, a £30m Enterprise Capital Fund, has led a £2m investment in a Chippenham, UK-based business that specializes in artificial-intelligence software for the telecoms sector. Aria Networks was founded in October 2005 and is led by one of the founders Tony Fallows to provide telecommunication carriers with an operational support system as they transfer […]
The committee set-up to tackle the problem of small and medium-sized UK enterprises (SMEs) failing to secure public sector contracts has called on businesses, public purchasers and industry groups to submit evidence of their experiences of doing business across both central government and local authorities. A webpage has been set-up by the Office of Government […]
Germany is the home of clean technology in Europe according to the world’s venture capitalists. In a study by business consultants Deloitte and the US National Venture Capital Association, 43% of the almost 400 VC respondents named Germany as the second best country in the world, behind the US, in advancing the field of cleantech […]
UK venture capital firm Eden Ventures has teamed up with enterprise software company salesforce.com to find the next generation of online software. Early-stage companies will compete for prize of up to £1m, in the form of an investment from Eden, which launched the Force.com Investment Challenge in May. Winners will be announced in November at […]
Helsinki-headquartered private equity firm CapMan has sold its investment in Staffpoint, Finland’s market-leading recruitment agency. The company has been acquired by GW Sohlberg, an Espoo-based plastics manufacturer. The deal value was not disclosed but the sale of the firm’s 66% stake has earned CapMan €4m. The buyouts specialist invested in Staffpoint in 2002 through two […]
UK telecoms giant Vodafone has paid €31.5m for a Danish software company that specialises in making software for mobile phone address books. The business, ZYB, is based in Copenhagen and was founded in 2005. In late 2006, Nordic Venture Partners invested in the company and over the course of the last 18 months invested a […]
The limit to annual investment under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and other tax-based venture capital schemes could be raised above £2m according to the UK government. At the EIS Association’s spring seminar, David Halliday of the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) announced that the government was negotiating with Brussels to up the state aid […]
In this busy world it can be tough to find that someone special, especially if you’re a business angel sitting on a pile of cash itching to invest in some promising entrepreneur if only you can find one. Angels Den, a company that specialises in putting investors together with start-ups, has come up with a […]
Buyouts group Advent International has sold Polish insulation business Bolix to Berger Paints, one of India’s largest paint manufacturers, for US$38.6m. It is Advent’s first Central & Eastern European exit since June 2007 when it sold its stake in the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) to AIG Capital Partners for €1.08bn. Advent closed its fourth fund […]
In the span of one week, the $244 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System dropped two bombshells, announcing that both CEO Fred Buenrostro and CIO Russell Read are leaving. But because of the size of the pension fund, the way it sets its policies, and the enormous investment returns it has generated in recent years, […]