By Rob Toms
Rob Toms shares his insights on how growth investor Smedvig Capital backs companies, and tells the story of portfolio company Tusker – from investment to exit.
Investment firm Worth Capital has launched the Future Gadget 2015 business competition to find Britain’s next great gadgets and top entrepreneurial inventors, while Channel 5’s The Gadget Show has signed up as a partner.
It was widely expected that 2015 was the year that election uncertainty in the UK would hold back the UK equity market and stall corporate investment. So far this has yet to transpire, despite recent polls suggesting the two main parties remain locked in a state of non-majority limbo.
On the back of Virgin Media announcing that it will be spending £3bn over the next five years to upgrade the British internet infrastructure, we quiz Virgin Media Business managing director Peter Kelly on what the announcement really means.
Arguably, Dragons’ Den is all about pitching. Each pitch can take as long as necessary to seal a deal, or as quickly as possible for the Dragons to say “I’m out”. But wouldn’t it help if you knew which dragon you had the most chances of impressing Merchant Money tried to answer that question by analysing the investment patterns of Dragons both past and present.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson is hoping to see more collaboration between the US and the UK, as new figures have revealed that American investors are funding more of London and UK technology businesses than ever before.
Britain is open for business to foreign investors. But faced with a complex matrix of regulations and cultural sensitivities, overseas businesses seeking to internationalise their business to the UK need strong professional advice to ensure the journey – for both the business and its migrant employees – goes inwards and upwards.
As international investors regain their confidence in the UK’s retail industry, investment in shopping centres not only soar, but reach its highest level in nearly ten years, suggests CBRE research.
London-headquartered mobile business Shazam has secured a $30m investment, which takes the company value to more than $1bn.
Video-based learning app for children, Hopster, has secured a multi-million funding round to expand growth of the British operation internationally.
