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UK West Midlands, High Tech Firms to Explore Business Opportunities in Canada

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UK Trade & Investment’s Coventry & Warwickshire international trade team is organising a market visit to Toronto, which takes place from 5-9 October.
The visit is aimed at demonstrating the expertise of the ICT West Midlands cluster, allowing 11 companies to gain new clients and developing partner relationships.
Participants will have the opportunity to be able to meet with multinational giants such as Research in Motion, Google, IBM and Rogers Telecommunications.
UK Trade & Investment is also organising two Meet the Buyer events with Canada’s Technology Triangle in the Waterloo region.
Companies joining the visit will also benefit from the support from UK Trade & Investment:
– Pre-visit and in market briefing by UK Trade & Investment staff;
– Excellent networking opportunities through the support of the British Consulate in Toronto;
– New contacts and shared intelligence within the market visit group;
– Reduced costs through group travel and financial package.
FinSMEs
22/09/2009

UK, North West Businesses Receive £650,000 in Transitional Loans

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Approximately £650,000 has been awarded in the latest round of the Northwest Transitional Loan Fund (TLF), the programme aime at helping businesses from across the region obtain finance in the absence of conventional commercial sources.
The £10m TLF programme, which is co-funded from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), agrees Loans of £50,000 to £250,000 to established small and medium enterprises (SMEs) facing a temporary shortfall in their working capital due to the credit crunch and the global economic downturn.
The Seven companies, which have been awarded loans in the latest round of funding include:
• Wolfe Designs Ltd, Leyland – £95,000
• Nurock Ltd, Knowsley – £75,000
• Merseyside Metalworks Ltd, Liverpool – £150,000
• Siltint Industries Ltd, Manchester – £75,000
• A1 Doors, trading as Mandor, Ashton-Under-Lyne – £80,000
• Jaftextil Soft Furnishings Ltd, Bolton, £100,000
According to a NWDA statement, an additional £75,000 has been provided to a Stockport-based company.
For further information, visit the website www.businesslink.gov.uk/northwest
FinSMEs
22/09/2009

Crédit Agricole Private Equity Invests in German Company Turtle Entertainment

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Crédit Agricole Private Equity is acting as lead manager in Cologne, Germany-based Turtle Entertainment GmbH’s second round of financing alongside Corporate Finance Partners CFP & Founders Investments and longstanding shareholder EKK Unternehmensbeteiligungen.
The aim of this round of financing is to develop Turtle Entertainment at an international level and enhance its technological platform.
Founded in 2000, the company is an European market provider in electronic sports (eSports) and founder of the Electronic Sports League (ESL), which operates all over the world via 12 licensed partners in 35 countries.
Commenting on the investment, Christian Claussen, Senior Partner within Crédit Agricole Private Equity’s Venture Capital Team in charge of business development in Germany and Northern Europe, comments, said: “We are delighted to be working with such an innovative and fast-growing company as an active investor providing the capital needed to support its expansion”.
As stated by Jens Hilgers, CEO of Turtle Entertainment, “Crédit Agricole Private Equity’s involvement as a new investor will enable us to promote this community based culture and develop our operations, particularly outside Europe”.
According to an official statement, the investment reflects Crédit Agricole Private Equity’s strategic desire to boost its position in the German venture capital market, with the aim of investing €8-12m a year in innovative German companies.
FinSMEs
22/09/2009

Spain, ERA Biotech Closes €3,75m Funding Round

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ERA Biotech, a Spanish bioproductivity company developing proprietary tools that improve the performance of cell‐based factories, closed its €3,75m Second Financing Round led by Crédit Agricole Private Equity with participation from exixiting investors bcnHighgrowth, Axis and Uninvest.
Founded in 2002, ERA Biotech employs 22 scientists and managers in Barcelona, Spain.
As explained by Christian Fernandez from BcnHighgrowth, “This investment will strengthen ERA’s international R&D and commercial endeavours”.
According to ERA’s CEO, François Arcand, the development of product prototypes for selected indications and markets will be the main use of the funds.
FinSMEs
22/09/2009

Italy, BlueGem and MPS Venture Invest in Neomobile

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Neomobile SpA, an Italian mobile entertainment group, BlueGem L.P., a UK-based private equity fund and MPS Venture 2, the Italian Fund managed by MPS Venture SGR SpA, closed a transaction that makes BlueGem a key shareholder of Neomobile.
BlueGem and MPS Venture 2 have replaced Teleunit SpA, the previous controlling shareholder which supported Neomobile’s start-up and its first successful years. In particular, MPS Venture 2, which became a shareholder in 2008, decided to increase its investment in Neomobile with the purpose of supporting the further development of the company.
Rome-based Neomobile designs, develops, markets and distributes digital content and interactive services for mobile users in partnership with Mobile Network Operators such as Vodafone, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, America Movil ,Turkcell.
It has offices in offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, London, Istanbul, Casablanca, Mumbai, Dhaka, Shanghai, Tokyo, São Paulo, Mexico City and Miami.
The new shareholders base will support Neomobile in the launch of an ambitious growth plan in the emerging Mobile Marketing industry.
Commenting on the transaction, Gianluca D’Agostino of Neomobile CEO, said: “I am very pleased to welcome BlueGem to our Board, and I am sure that with them and their network of contacts we will boost our growth and improve the way we lead the company to an exciting future”.
FinSMEs
22/09/2009

Vuclip Closes $6M Series B Funding Round

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Vuclip, a cloud-based, real-time transcoding service delivering videos to mobile users,  today announced a $6m Series B funding round led by Jafco Ventures with the participation of existing investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA).
Milpitas, CA.-based Vuclip delivers more than one million mobile videos every day on more than 3,000 unique mobile handsets in 150 countries around the world, including India, China and the United States. 
Nick Sturiale, General Partner at Jafco, will join the company’s Board along with Kittu Kolluri, General Partner at NEA.

FinSMEs

22/09/2009

Iowa Investors Buy Domain of AreaRugs.com

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A group of investors from Iowa bought the domain of AreaRugs.com for $405,000.
AreaRugs.com currently serves as a domain for consumers to learn more about area rugs, providing expert advice, tips and information on the rug industry.
Randy Ward, new President and CEO of AreaRugs.com Inc., says, “Our goal is to be the number one shopping destination online for area rugs. We feel we have assembled a great team to accomplish that”.
According to an official statement, Ward and his team are confident that the domain will become a big success.
Commenting on the investment, Lee Weber, Head of Marketing of AreaRugs.com. said: “It is very rare to have the opportunity to buy a premium ‘.com’ domain name in a proven online consumer category.
“In economic times like this you have to think outside the box for ways to get the most out of money and our investors feel that we should have no problem getting a decent, if not exceptional, return out of this investment”.
Ward and his team plan to provide information and expertise on area rugs and to build an e-commerce store, which will be launched in several months.
FinSMEs
22/09/2009

USA, Micell Receives $15 Million Equity Investment

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Raleigh, NC.-based Micell Technologies, a development-stage biomedical company dedicated to developing innovative interventional cardiology systems, announced today that St. Jude Medical, Inc. has made a $15m equity investment in the company.
Commenting on the deal, Arthur J. Benvenuto, chairman and chief executive officer of Micell, said, “We are excited to have a company of St. Jude Medical’s stature make an investment in Micell.
“We look forward to collaborating with them to expand the use of our coating technology into potentially new applications for medical device products”.
FinSMEs
21/09/2009

SMEs receive Bank Loans But Report a Deterioration in Conditions, ECB Survey Says

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Of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that had applied for bank loans in the first half of 2009 77% of them had received all or part of the amount requested, a survey by European Central Bank (ECB) says.
The survey, which was conducted by ECB in cooperation with the European Commission between 17 June and 23 July 2009 and covered 6,000 SMEs and large firms, provided data on access to finance in the euro area in the first half of 2009.
The report published today, which contains the results of the first wave of the survey, shows that 12% of SMEs said that their application had been rejected.
Regarding the respondents’ assessment of changes in access to bank loans, a percentage of 33% of SMEs reported a deterioration in the conditions. When asked about the main reasons for their assessment, 54% highlighted the deterioration in the economic outlook, 33% the increase in non-interest rate costs and 32% the rise of collateral requirements.
Looking ahead to the following six months, the majority of entrepreneurs expected their ability to obtain financing to remain unchanged. At the same time, the proportion of SMEs that expected the availability of financing to deteriorate was larger than the proportion expecting an improvement.
The ECB will repeat part of this survey every six months while a more comprehensive survey will be conducted every two years.
FinSMEs
21/09/2009

23/09/2009, Officials to Show Economic Relief to Minnesota Small Businesses

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SBA Administrator Karen Mills will join Michael Zenk, President of Venture Bank and JoLynn Johnson, of Crystal Kitchen Center, at a news conference, which is aimed at recognizing the positive impact the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is having on local small businesses’ ability to secure financing.
At the event, which takes place on Wednesday, September 23rd 2009, at the Crystal Kitchen Center, Crystal, MN, the speakers will talk about the American Recovery Capital (ARC) loan, the financing helping businesses facing economic challenges to meet operating costs. The ARC loan provides no interest, deferred repayment loans of up to $35,000.
Since the signing of ARRA, in Minnesota, the SBA has supported 1,000 small businesses lending $337.4m.
FinSMEs
21/09/2009

UK, Octopus Ventures Backs GetOptics

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Octopus Ventures Ltd, an early-stage investor, annunced to have closed a £1.355m investment into GetOptics Ltd.
The investment will facilitate the acquisition of GetLenses and PostOptics creating GetOptics, the UK’s largest online contact lens and eye care product business.
The funding was provided by the Octopus Titan 1, 2 and 3 VCTs, Eureka EIS, and the Octopus Investor Group.
Commenting on the deal, Alex Macpherson, Chief Executive of Octopus Ventures, said: “We look forward to providing GetOptics not only with the capital that they need but the strategic support to help them achieve their ambitious expansion plans”.
FinSMEs
21/09/2009

Germany, Sloning Closes Financing Round Led by LBBW Venture

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Sloning BioTechnology GmbH, the worldwide supplier of combinatorial gene libraries, received additional investments from all of its institutional shareholders including HBM BioVentures, LBBW Venture, DEWB and KfW.
Proceeds will be used to finance the company’s ongoing commercial growth strategy in the field of protein engineering.
Commenting on the funding, Sloning’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Heinz Schwer was reported as saying: “Now, that our technology has proven its superior enabling capabilities in the marketplace, the financial resources are required to further support our growth strategy and consolidate Sloning’s leading market position”.
Established in 2001 the company is based in Puchheim, near Munich in Germany.
FinSMEs
21/09/2009

UK, eCommera Secures £5M in Second Round of Financing

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eCommera, a London-based provider of e-commerce services to the retail industry, secured £5m in a second funding round led by growth capital investor Frog Capital with participation from existing shareholder West Coast Capital.

The funds will be used to expand the geographical reach of services eCommera offers to retailers who are improving their e-commerce capability.

eCommera today serves over 20 major retailers and has over 70 staff.

The shareholders of eCommera are West Coast Capital, Frog Capital, GP Bullhound and management.

FinSMEs

21/09/2009

East of England, Innovation Vouchers Help SMEs To Receive Support From Universities

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The East of England Development Agency’s (EEDA) launched “Innovation Vouchers” scheme, which provides small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with £3,000 of dedicated support and advice.
In particular, businesses developing innovative products and services can get a voucher offering them up to 7 days of collaboration with academics and researchers. The idea is to help entrepreneirs to enhance their products and turn innovative ideas into real commercial success through the support of top-class researchers.
Vouchers are offered under the “Solutions for Business” programme, which is part of the UK Government’s policy to simplify the support for businesses across the country.
The deadline to apply for a voucher is Monday 12 October (until 5pm).
For further information on how to apply, visit the website www.eeda.org.uk/innovationvouchers.
FinSMEs
21/09/2009

New York-Based Ensequence Secured Additional $20M in Funding

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Ensequence, an interactive television company, announced it has secured an additional $20m in financing in a round led by Clay Mathile, CEO of CYMI Technologies. 
 
The new funds will be used to allow the New York-based company to continue providing solutions that mitigates the technical complexities of interactive TV implementation and enables its customers to deliver a high volume of interactive TV experiences across cable, satellite and IPTV.
 
Ensequence has appointed Peter Low, former President and Chief operating officer (COO), to the position of President and CEO. Dalen Harrison, former CEO, will remain on the board of directors and will continue to develop new business opportunities for the company. 
 
Peter Low was reporting as saying: “We’ve made significant strides to position ourselves at the forefront of the interactive television industry.
“The latest round of funding allows us to build on our strong momentum – enabling us to continue offering programmers, distributors and advertisers the most compelling interactive experiences available. This funding represents an extreme vote of confidence in Ensequence in a challenging business environment”.
 
FinSMEs
21/09/2009
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