Investment Archives - 老九品茶Cloud /news/category/topics/investment/ Tech insight with bite Fri, 01 May 2026 07:24:45 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2020/07/bc-logo.png Investment Archives - 老九品茶Cloud /news/category/topics/investment/ 32 32 SME lender Praetura secures 拢150m NatWest facility /news/sme-lender-praetura-secures-150m-natwest-facility/ Fri, 01 May 2026 07:24:45 +0000 /?p=195304 Specialist SME lender Praetura has secured a 拢150 million back-to-back asset-based lending facility with NatWest. The facility empowers Praetura to increase the funding capacity of its sales finance division, which backs businesses with a range of products including invoice discounting, asset-based lending and cash flow loans. Praetura鈥檚 latest announcement builds on an existing relationship with […]

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Specialist SME lender Praetura has secured a 拢150 million back-to-back asset-based lending facility with NatWest.

The facility empowers Praetura to increase the funding capacity of its sales finance division, which backs businesses with a range of products including invoice discounting, asset-based lending and cash flow loans.

Praetura鈥檚 latest announcement builds on an existing relationship with NatWest, which was the inaugural funder in Praetura鈥檚 sales finance division – first launched as Praetura Commercial Finance in 2016.

The business has trebled its loan book to 拢600m in the past five years, including support for more than 1,500 UK SMEs in 2025, with 拢328m worth of funding.

Its 150-strong team has offices across the North West, with additional presence in London, the Midlands, the South and the North East.

Peadar O鈥橰eilly, chief executive at Praetura, said: 鈥淐losing this facility with a renowned and respected institution reflects the quality of the whole Praetura business, and empowers us to offer more extensive funding support to UK SMEs as they continue to navigate both the challenges and opportunities created by the current economic outlook.

鈥淭he entire organisation remains committed to a common goal of supporting the sustainable growth of these businesses and we are grateful for NatWest鈥檚 backing to help us do exactly that.鈥

鈥楲osing our dads at a young age is what drives incentifi鈥

Andrew Barraclough, head of ABL origination at NatWest, added: 鈥淲e are delighted to support Praetura with this significant facility. The business has an experienced management team, strong credit discipline and an excellent track record in supporting UK SMEs.

鈥淣atWest has a long history of backing specialist and alternative lenders through structured ABL and back鈥憈o鈥慴ack solutions, helping extend funding safely and responsibly across the UK economy.鈥

Last year Praetura鈥檚 venture capital division Praetura Ventures announced a merger with Par Equity, creating PXN Group.

老九品茶Cloud marks 10 years with biggest month yet

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Midlands firm StudentCrowd backed with 拢7m /news/midlands-firm-studentcrowd-backed-with-7m/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 08:58:19 +0000 /?p=195205 StudentCrowd has completed a 拢7 million series A funding round led by YFM Equity Partners. Based in Wolverhampton, the firm is a data and insights platform serving the top 30 operators in the purpose-built student accommodation sector. It has helped over 14 million students find accommodation to date. The round was also backed by the […]

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StudentCrowd has completed a 拢7 million series A funding round led by YFM Equity Partners.

Based in Wolverhampton, the firm is a data and insights platform serving the top 30 operators in the purpose-built student accommodation sector. It has helped over 14 million students find accommodation to date.

The round was also backed by the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, through fund manager Mercia Ventures.

Founded by Paul Humphreys and Pete Sisson, StudentCrowd provides a vertically focused platform combining sector data with verified student insight. The business supports operators, investors, developers and advisers across the PBSA market with tools designed to inform pricing strategy, competitive benchmarking, market availability, letting incentives and asset-level decision making.

StudentCrowd鈥檚 platform combines two complementary product lines. Its subscription data products provide pricing, incentives, availability and benchmarking data for the purpose-built accommodation sector, delivered through dashboards, portfolio analytics and structured data feeds.

Covering 770,000+ PBSA beds across 457 cities in nine countries and drawing on over 200,000 reviews and 4.3 billion data points, these tools help operators, investors, developers and advisers make informed decisions on pricing strategy, competitive benchmarking, market availability, letting incentives and asset performance.

Alongside this, marketing profiles enable student accommodation operators to host verified student reviews and manage feedback through public-facing property pages. These profiles help drive student engagement while capturing valuable sentiment data at asset level, further strengthening the underlying dataset.

Since launching its data platform, StudentCrowd has evolved from its origins as a verified student review platform into a fast-growing B2B subscription data business. Underpinned by 4.3 billion data points, the company has built 100% coverage of the UK PBSA market and is now focused on expanding its dataset and commercial footprint internationally.

The investment will support its next phase of growth, including continued product development and expansion into new markets as the business scales its data platform across Europe and the US.

fu3e appoints ex-Gleeds CEO to board

Oliver Wheatley, investment manager at YFM Equity Partners, said: 鈥淲hat has really stood out to us is that Paul, Pete and the team consistently deliver on what they say they will do.

鈥淭hey have built a genuinely impressive business on limited capital, and the quality of the product shows in the way customers talk about it and the impressive company metrics. The international expansion is not a speculative bet 鈥 existing customers are already pulling them into new markets, which tells you everything about the strength of the underlying proposition.

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to partner with the management team and Mercia to support the next chapter of that journey.鈥

Paul Humphreys, co-founder of StudentCrowd, said: 鈥淥ur mission has always been to bring transparency to the student accommodation market 鈥 both for the students and for the sector.

鈥淥n the student side, we want every student to be able to choose where they study and live with confidence, powered by authentic, verified reviews from people with real experience.

鈥淥n the industry side, we have built a dataset that gives operators, investors and advisers the independent, accurate data they need to make optimal decisions.

鈥淲hile researching mainland Europe and the US, we discovered similar challenges and are working with launch partners to expand the platform into these geographies. In the UK, we are further innovating the platform to enhance data-driven decision making.鈥

Bethan Bannister, senior investment manager at the British 老九品茶 Bank, said: 鈥淭he Midlands Engine Investment Fund II supports innovative businesses across the Midlands, and this investment in StudentCrowd will help accelerate the company鈥檚 expansion into international markets across Europe and the USA.

鈥淪ince the first round of funding in 2023, the business has made significant progress in its growth journey, and we look forward to seeing it achieve even greater success in the years ahead.鈥

Rafael Joseph of Mercia Ventures said: 鈥淲e first backed StudentCrowd in 2023 and the team have impressed us at every stage since. They have delivered consistently against their targets, bolstered the business with some important hires, and grown the platform into something the sector genuinely relies on. We are delighted to be continuing the journey alongside YFM.鈥

Deadline extension for 老九品茶Cloud鈥檚 Founder 250 list

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Female angel investing programme launched in York /news/female-angel-investing-programme-launched-in-york/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 08:57:58 +0000 /?p=195211 The University of York, in partnership with Lifted Ventures, is launching a new initiative to support women across the region to become angel investors and back the next generation of female entrepreneurs. 鈥楢 New Era for Women Angels in York & North Yorkshire鈥 is a funded programme designed to equip women with the knowledge, confidence, […]

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The University of York, in partnership with Lifted Ventures, is launching a new initiative to support women across the region to become angel investors and back the next generation of female entrepreneurs.

鈥楢 New Era for Women Angels in York & North Yorkshire鈥 is a funded programme designed to equip women with the knowledge, confidence, and networks needed to begin investing in high-potential businesses across the region.

The programme responds to a significant regional opportunity. Research by the University of York and the Federation of Small 老九品茶es shows that investing in female entrepreneurs could add 拢2.6 billion to the local economy and create 165,000 jobs. Yet, current investment levels remain disproportionately low, with female founders receiving only a fraction of available equity funding.

Delivered through Lifted Ventures鈥 Angel Academy, the initiative will bring together a cohort of 15 aspiring women investors and guide them from initial interest through to confident, informed investment activity.

Open to women across a wide range of professional backgrounds, the programme is particularly suited to senior leaders, professionals and exited founders who are interested in building an investment portfolio, supporting regional innovation, and sharing their expertise with emerging businesses.

Participants will take part in a series of workshops combining expert-led sessions, practical insights, and peer learning. The programme will launch with a high-profile event at York Guildhall on 20th May, followed by primarily online delivery and a final in-person celebration in September 2026.

Importantly, the initiative aims to break down common misconceptions around angel investing. Participants will learn that investing is accessible, with opportunities to start from relatively modest amounts and to collaborate with other investors to reduce risk.

Sam Gardner, Director of Enterprise Works at the University of York, said: 鈥淵ork and North Yorkshire has an incredible pipeline of female entrepreneurial talent, but access to investment remains a barrier. This programme is about changing that; giving more women the tools and confidence to invest locally and drive meaningful economic growth.鈥

Helen Oldham, Co Founder of Lifted Ventures said: “We are delighted to be working with the University of York to increase the number of active women angels looking to back a growing number of female founders in the region. Angel investors bring smart capital, opening up networks and support systems beyond capital, which strengthens the entrepreneurial ecosystem in an underserved but crucial part of the market.”

Jordan Dargue, Co Founder of Lifted Ventures said: 鈥淥ur signature Angel Education programme has already been delivered to over 150 women and we鈥檙e excited to develop more angel capacity in York and North Yorkshire to serve the growing need. numbers of female founders building high-growth businesses.鈥

. While the programme is heavily subsidised, successful applicants will be asked to make a 拢100 commitment to secure their place.

Women do not need to be based in North Yorkshire to apply, but should have a genuine interest in supporting businesses in the region and be considering investing within the next 12鈥24 months.

Participants will gain practical knowledge of angel investing and how to get started; build confidence to make informed investment decisions; connect with a network of like-minded women and regional entrepreneurs; and play a direct role in supporting the growth of female-led businesses.

Deadline extension for 老九品茶Cloud鈥檚 Founder 250 list

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Forest reveals 拢40m funding deal /news/forest-reveals-40m-funding-deal/ Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:58:23 +0000 /?p=195102 London e-bike operator Forest has secured a further 拢27 million in funding, taking its total Series B round to 拢40m. The investment comes at a time of significant growth for the business, which has cemented its position as a market leader in London鈥檚 shared e-bike sector – the largest in the world.听 Forest, which entered […]

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London e-bike operator Forest has secured a further 拢27 million in funding, taking its total Series B round to 拢40m.

The investment comes at a time of significant growth for the business, which has cemented its position as a market leader in London鈥檚 shared e-bike sector – the largest in the world.听

Forest, which entered London鈥檚 bike share market in 2020, has scaled its user base to 1.5m – representing 100% year-on-year growth – and now completes 2m rides per month across 18 boroughs in the capital.听

The announcement follows a series of recent landmark tender wins – notably in Richmond where Forest was appointed sole operator – which means the company now operates the largest continuous operating area of any shared e-bike provider in London.听

The company has invested in 2,600 parking bays and says the fresh funding will enable further investment in the city鈥檚 cycling infrastructure, as well as continued technology and app developments to drive ongoing improvements in parking compliance and safety features.听

Forest is the only operator to power all its e-bikes and service vehicles with zero emissions energy. The company also offers users up to 30 free cycling minutes a day; in total, it says it has gifted 110m free cycling minutes to Londoners since 2021.听

The funding round sees Forest鈥檚 e-bike manufacturer take a minority stake in the company. The strategic partnership with OKAI, a sector first, gives Forest direct input into the design and build of its fleet.听

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OKAI and several existing investors – B8 Venture Partners, Fen Ventures and G眉il Mobility Ventures, among others – have contributed 拢17m in fresh equity, building on the 拢3m equity announced last year.听

A further 拢10m in asset-backed finance is being made available by existing lender Fintex Capital, building on its earlier 拢10m facility and bringing the total available up to 拢20m.听

‘I still think about my late business partner every day’

鈥淭his has been a period of exceptional growth for Forest,鈥 said Jose Eluchans, CFO of Forest and a member of the founding team.听

鈥淲e鈥檝e built one of the largest e-bike platforms in Europe by maintaining a disciplined focus on capital efficiency and sustainable operations.听

鈥淭his latest investment reflects our shareholders鈥 confidence in our ability to scale responsibly while delivering real value to London. Our objective is that every Forest e-bike should generate more trips than any other shared bike on the street. That level of utilisation isn鈥檛 just a business metric – it鈥檚 how we justify our existence in a city with competing uses for public space.听

鈥淎s a single-city operator, we鈥檙e able reinvest directly into our home city London – expanding access to cycling, supporting the shift to cleaner, smarter transport.鈥

Jiangtao Lu, CEO of OKAI, said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted to invest in Forest and become more than a supplier: we鈥檙e collaborators, investors and co-creators. We have been impressed with Forest鈥檚 rigorous approach to maintenance, servicing and the management of their e-bike fleet.

“Forest鈥檚 input into the bike design and manufacturing process, based upon what they鈥檙e seeing on the ground in London, will help set new standards for e-bike quality and performance, as well as the rider experience.鈥

FinTech LemFi to invest 拢100m in UK as it opens global HQ

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Neutonic raises $6m at $60m valuation /news/neutonic-raises-6m-at-60m-valuation/ Tue, 28 Apr 2026 09:00:13 +0000 /?p=195051 Functional drinks and supplements brand Neutonic has raised $6m at a $60m valuation, as it accelerates global expansion across the UK, US and new international markets. The round includes backing from Alan Barrett, alongside investors including Ollie Marchon and Ross Edgley in the UK, and Dan Martell, Codie Sanchez, Nomit Shah and Zach Ranen in […]

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Functional drinks and supplements brand Neutonic has raised $6m at a $60m valuation, as it accelerates global expansion across the UK, US and new international markets.

The round includes backing from Alan Barrett, alongside investors including Ollie Marchon and Ross Edgley in the UK, and Dan Martell, Codie Sanchez, Nomit Shah and Zach Ranen in the US.

Gym King founder Jay Parker also joins the company as a special advisor.

Social media stars raise 拢2.7m for ‘nootropics’ brand Neutonic

The round is further supported by a broader group of operators and early-stage backers, with existing investors increasing their positions, reflecting continued confidence in Neutonic鈥檚 growth trajectory.

Neutonic was founded in 2023 by Chris Williamson, host of the globally ranked Modern Wisdom podcast and James Smith, one of the UK鈥檚 most recognised fitness entrepreneurs, alongside Luke Betts and Shan Hanif.

Since launch, the business has scaled rapidly, selling over 7.5 million cans to date.

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It is on track to exceed $25m in revenue this year, having doubled revenue from 2024 to 2025 and forecasting a further 3x increase into 2026, supported by strong performance across both direct-to-consumer and retail channels.

The brand is now stocked in more than 10,000 retail doors globally, spanning grocery, specialist retail and fitness environments.

In the UK, Neutonic is rolling out into 500 Sainsbury鈥檚 stores this month as part of the retailer鈥檚 meal deal, marking a significant step into mainstream retail.

This builds on existing listings including Ocado, Morrisons Daily, Booths and more than 1,200 Motor Fuel Group forecourts, as well as gym chains including Fitness First and Everlast.

In the US, the brand is stocked in GNC, The Vitamin Shoppe and Central Market, with further national grocery expansion expected this summer.

An Australian launch is also planned as part of the company鈥檚 next phase of international growth.

James Smith, co-founder of Neutonic, said:鈥淭his raise gives us the firepower to keep building Neutonic across both the UK and US whilst also launching in Australia.

鈥淲e have seen strong momentum in retail and this next phase is about scaling distribution, strengthening the team and continuing to meet growing consumer demand.鈥

ICT Reverse hits record 拢11.8m turnover

Chris Williamson, co-founder of Neutonic, added:听鈥淲e have always felt there was space for a product that better reflects how people want to perform today.

鈥淩etail appetite has been incredibly encouraging and this funding allows us to accelerate from a strong base.鈥

 

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$1.1 BILLION – UK鈥檚 Ineffable Intelligence raises largest European seed round in history /news/1-1-billion-uks-ineffable-intelligence-raises-largest-european-seed-round-in-history/ Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:47:53 +0000 /?p=195035 A UK-headquartered AI superintelligence company has raised $1.1 billion in seed funding. Ineffable Intelligence has been backed by the Government鈥檚 Sovereign AI Fund and the British 老九品茶 Bank – the latter of which invested 拢15 million – as well as Sequioa, Lightspeed, NVIDIA, Index, Google, EQT, Evantic, Flying Fish, DST Global and BOND.听 The round […]

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A UK-headquartered AI superintelligence company has raised $1.1 billion in seed funding.

Ineffable Intelligence has been backed by the Government鈥檚 Sovereign AI Fund and the British 老九品茶 Bank – the latter of which invested 拢15 million – as well as Sequioa, Lightspeed, NVIDIA, Index, Google, EQT, Evantic, Flying Fish, DST Global and BOND.听

The round represents the largest European seed round in history.

Ineffable Intelligence is led by David Silver, one of the world鈥檚 most prominent AI researchers and a professor at University College London. Silver is considered a global expert in reinforcement learning within AI, with extraordinary contributions including his role in AlphaGo, AlphaZero, AlphaFold and AlphaProof and when he led the reinforcement learning team at Google Deepmind.听

Silver launched Ineffable Intelligence to develop 鈥榮uperintelligence鈥 by building a superlearner that can discover all knowledge from its own experience.

Who is Ineffable Intelligence founder David Silver?

鈥淰ery few founders in the world could credibly set out to build a superlearner – a system that discovers new knowledge from its own experience, rather than ours,鈥 said Josephine Kant, head of ventures at Sovereign AI.听

鈥淒avid is one of them.听

鈥淔rom AlphaGo to AlphaZero to AlphaProof, he has spent nearly two decades turning reinforcement learning from a research idea into the results the rest of the field builds on.听

鈥淚neffable is being built in the UK – and that matters.鈥

Why are Molten Ventures shares up 100% in a year?

The investment builds on the British 老九品茶 Bank鈥檚 AI portfolio with nine investments made in AI in the last 12 months including recent investments in Wayve and PolyAI. It has also played a significant role in supporting the commercialisation of cutting-edge scientific research, having supported almost a quarter (24%) of university spinout deals between 2022-2024.

Charlotte Lawrence, managing director of direct equity, British 老九品茶 Bank, said, 鈥淒avid Silver is a generational talent who has consistently been on the cutting edge of AI development.

鈥淚neffable Intelligence has the potential to produce a paradigm shift in our scientific and technology landscape, and we are incredibly excited to be supporting him and his team in this endeavour.鈥

Only three days left to enter Founder 250 list

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Who is Ineffable Intelligence founder David Silver? /news/who-is-ineffable-intelligence-founder-david-silver/ Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:46:08 +0000 /?p=195041 A UK startup founded by one of the world鈥檚 most prominent AI researchers has raised a European record $1.1 billion seed funding. Ineffable Intelligence is led by David Silver, a professor at University College London who is considered a global expert in reinforcement learning within AI. He left Google DeepMind earlier this year to launch […]

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A UK startup founded by one of the world鈥檚 most prominent AI researchers has raised a European record $1.1 billion seed funding.

Ineffable Intelligence is led by David Silver, a professor at University College London who is considered a global expert in reinforcement learning within AI.

He left Google DeepMind earlier this year to launch Ineffable Intelligence – a London firm developing 鈥榮uperintelligence鈥 by building a superlearner that can discover all knowledge from its own experience.

But what came before that?

Videogames

Silver became friends with DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis after they reportedly met during a chess tournament while Silver was studying at Christ’s College, Cambridge.

Hassabis, a former developer at Lionhead Studios, co-founded videogames company Elixir Studios with Silver, who served as CTO and lead programmer.

After signing a publishing deal with Eidos Interactive, the studio released two titleswhich were ambitious in scope.

Republic: The Revolution attempted to simulate a functioning society with thousands of individual citizens and complex AI systems.

Evil Genius was more humorous in tone and presented players with the opportunity to become an over-the-top villain in the 1960s.

Despite planning sequels to both games and a pair of further titles, the studio closed in 2005 due to the cancellation of a major project and difficulties in securing continued support in ‘an increasingly risk-averse industry’.

Elixir IP was later acquired by Rebellion Developments.

DeepMind

Hassabis would co-found artificial intelligence leader DeepMind Technologies in 2010 – and Silver acted as a consultant for its first three years.

He听joined DeepMind full-time in 2013 and Google acquired the company a year later.

At Google DeepMind, Silver鈥檚 work focused on artificially intelligent agents based on reinforcement learning. David co-led the project that combined deep learning and reinforcement learning to play Atari games directly from pixels (Nature 2015).

He also led the AlphaGo project, culminating in the first program to defeat a top professional player in the full-size game of Go (Nature 2016), and the AlphaZero project, which learned by itself to defeat the world鈥檚 strongest chess, shogi and Go programs (Nature 2017, Science 2018) –听even without knowledge of the rules (Science 2020).

He then co-led the AlphaStar project, which led to the world鈥檚 first grandmaster level StarCraft player (Nature 2019).

He also contributed to AlphaFold, the program that solved the protein folding problem (Nature 2020, Nature 2021), and AlphaProof, which achieved a medal in the international mathematics olympiad (2024).

His work has been recognised by the ACM Prize in Computing, Marvin Minsky award, Mensa Foundation Prize, Royal Academy of Engineering (aka Princess Royal) Silver Medal, ACM Fellowship, Royal Society Fellowship, and Academy of the Mathematical Sciences Fellowship.

Silver left Google DeepMind earlier this year to launch Ineffable Intelligence – a London firm developing 鈥榮uperintelligence鈥 by building a superlearner that can discover all knowledge from its own experience.

He says large language models such as ChatGPT and Claude are fast-tracked intelligence but flawed as they rely upon human knowledge, rather than computers learning from computers.

Testimonials

鈥淰ery few founders in the world could credibly set out to build a superlearner – a system that discovers new knowledge from its own experience, rather than ours,鈥 said Josephine Kant, head of ventures at Sovereign AI.听

鈥淒avid is one of them.听

鈥淔rom AlphaGo to AlphaZero to AlphaProof, he has spent nearly two decades turning reinforcement learning from a research idea into the results the rest of the field builds on.”

Charlotte Lawrence, managing director of direct equity, British 老九品茶 Bank, said: 鈥淒avid Silver is a generational talent who has consistently been on the cutting edge of AI development.

鈥淚neffable Intelligence has the potential to produce a paradigm shift in our scientific and technology landscape, and we are incredibly excited to be supporting him and his team in this endeavour.鈥

George Mills, investment director at the British 老九品茶 Bank, said: 鈥淚neffable Intelligence is aiming to address one of the most significant opportunities within AI, superintelligence, which has the potential to open new frontier applications including in advanced problem solving and new product development with relevance across sectors.

“The UK produces world-class AI talent, and we are pleased to back strategically important businesses to scale and stay in the UK.鈥

Ineffable Intelligence has been backed by the Government鈥檚 Sovereign AI Fund and the British 老九品茶 Bank – the latter of which invested 拢15 million – as well as Sequioa, Lightspeed, NVIDIA, Index, Google, EQT, Evantic, Flying Fish, DST Global and BOND.听

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Why are Molten Ventures shares up 100% in a year? /news/why-are-molten-ventures-shares-up-100-in-a-year/ Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:10:21 +0000 /?p=195020 Molten Ventures shares are up more than 100% in the last 12 months. The investor saw its share price rise 5% today to 560p (writing at 2.45pm) after issuing a trading update which pointed to strong growth in net asset value and gross portfolio value. For the 12 months ended 31st March 2026, the company […]

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Molten Ventures shares are up more than 100% in the last 12 months.

The investor saw its share price rise 5% today to 560p (writing at 2.45pm) after issuing a trading update which pointed to strong growth in net asset value and gross portfolio value.

For the 12 months ended 31st March 2026, the company delivered 11% growth in GPV (to 拢1.5 billion) and a 13% rise in NAV per share (to 760p). This was supported by a combination of positive performance in key assets, active portfolio management, and its ongoing share buyback programme.

During the period realisations totalled 拢120 million and were delivered at an average multiple of 3x on invested capital.

These included partial realisations of Revolut (21x) and ICEYE (12.9x) together with full realisations of Freetrade (1.5x) and Lyst (0.7x), all at or above holding values, reflecting active portfolio management at higher valuations with significant upside still to be realised.

Listed Molten deployed 拢89m into investments (FY25: 拢73m), plus a further 拢22m from its managed EIS and VCT funds, to support ongoing portfolio development.听

New investments included General Index, Polymodels, MAIA, and Duel, with follow-on Series B investments in Modo Energy and Manna to support their continued growth, and a secondary investment in Speedinvest Continuation Fund I.

It also pointed to 拢38m of shareholder returns via its share buyback programme.

Inside Cubbi sisters鈥 Dragons鈥 Den pitch after Susie Ma backing

鈥淲e achieved a significant amount in FY26, with clear progress and good momentum in terms of performance, execution against our strategic priorities, and strengthening our team,鈥 said CEO Ben Wilkinson.听

鈥淥ur clear focus now is on scaling the business and expanding our third-party co-investment structures.

鈥淭he quality and maturity of the portfolio continue to provide Molten with a number of realisation opportunities. Our well-constructed and actively managed portfolio offers exposure to multiple technology themes, including the fast-developing areas of space and AI, which are at the forefront of innovation.听

鈥淭his, along with European sovereignty, the resilient, high-growth nature of technology, and positive industry initiatives, positions us well to deliver long-term growth.鈥

Revealing 老九品茶Cloud’s MarTech 50 for 2026

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Cloudsmith raises 拢53m to capitalise on era of agentic AI /news/cloudsmith-raises-53m-to-capitalise-on-era-of-agentic-ai/ Fri, 24 Apr 2026 07:19:15 +0000 /?p=194862 Belfast tech firm Cloudsmith has raised 拢53 million in Series C funding. Cloudsmith has built a platform for the era of AI-driven software development and is used by some of the world’s leading enterprises. It only raised Series B funding a year ago and both rounds were led by TCV. Cloudsmith says it is seeing […]

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Belfast tech firm Cloudsmith has raised 拢53 million in Series C funding.

Cloudsmith has built a platform for the era of AI-driven software development and is used by some of the world’s leading enterprises.

It only raised Series B funding a year ago and both rounds were led by TCV.

Cloudsmith says it is seeing increasing numbers of existing customers, including Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, replacing legacy tools and upgrading to its cloud-native platform.听

According to the firm, enterprises that adopt AI-coding agents are also turning to it to provide the guardrails and governance their software supply chains require.

The fresh financing included participation from Insight Partners and other existing investors.

“Cloudsmith is the only platform built for the way software is being developed today 鈥 by AI agents. We’re never going back to hand-crafted software,鈥 said Glenn Weinstein, CEO of Cloudsmith.

鈥淎I agents generate so much software, so fast, it’s nearly impossible for humans to carefully review it all. Cloudsmith has the scale, and the broad view across the open-source ecosystem, to protect enterprises against the new kinds of threats that AI-driven development introduces.听

鈥淭CV and Insight Partners both recognise this profound shift, and their backing is helping Cloudsmith scale up for the massive wave of adoption of AI agents across enterprise software teams.”

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Morgan Gerlak, partner at TCV, said: 鈥淗aving led Cloudsmith鈥檚 Series B and now its Series C, TCV is proud to deepen our partnership with a company we see as defining artifact management for the AI era.

鈥淎s AI shapes the software supply chain, we believe Cloudsmith is uniquely positioned to become a platform enterprises rely on for compliance, control, and security at global scale.鈥

Thomas Krane, managing director at Insight Partners, added: 鈥淚n an era increasingly defined by AI-driven development, securing the software supply chain is critical.听

鈥淎s a cloud-native offering, Cloudsmith is well positioned to do this 鈥 providing the scale and reliability needed to help power enterprise and AI-driven builds and mitigate emerging risks.听

鈥淲e believe in Cloudsmith鈥檚 vision to secure the software supply chain by serving as a curated, AI-ready solution for enterprises of all sizes.鈥

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Arm subsidiary invests 拢50m into Raspberry Pi /news/arm-subsidiary-invests-50m-into-raspberry-pi/ Thu, 23 Apr 2026 06:00:50 +0000 /?p=194816 A subsidiary of chipmaking giant Arm has invested a further 拢50 million into Raspberry Pi. A secondary share sale saw the Raspberry Pi Foundation divest shares in the listed Cambridge success story, amounting to 5.6% of the firm鈥檚 issued share capital, for 拢60m at a price of 550 pence per share. It continues to hold […]

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A subsidiary of chipmaking giant Arm has invested a further 拢50 million into Raspberry Pi.

A secondary share sale saw the Raspberry Pi Foundation divest shares in the listed Cambridge success story, amounting to 5.6% of the firm鈥檚 issued share capital, for 拢60m at a price of 550 pence per share.

It continues to hold 41% of Raspberry Pi鈥檚 shares.

Strategic shareholder Arm Technology Investments 2 Limited – an investment vehicle within the Arm Holdings group, also headquartered in Cambridge and owned by SoftBank Group – invested 拢50m in the placing, which included a retail offer.

Raspberry Pi is behind low-cost miniature computers which were initially used extensively in education before becoming a favourite among hobbyists.

The company, which listed in 2024, is now 鈥済raduating from maker culture and hobbyist fan fave to something more mature鈥.

Shares in Raspberry Pi are currently priced at 587.5p (writing at 8.45am) after dropping 2.5% in early trading today. They have lost 10% of value since Friday after it announced bonuses for three leadership figures at the start of the week.

Its share price remains 96% in the year to date while it revealed a juicy set of 2025 financial results at the end of last month.

Its offer price at IPO was 280p, while it peaked at 766p in early 2025.

The firm currently has a market cap of around 拢1.14 billion.

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