News
Lassie has now raised €23 million in Series B funding led by Balderton Capital. Previous investors including Felix Capital, Inventure, Passion Capital and Philian (H&M chair Karl-Johan Persson) also participated in the round. That means Lassie has now raised a total of €36.5 million.
The funding will be used to develop Lassie’s team and products, such as its in-app sale of health products for pets, and expand beyond its core bases of Germany and Sweden. The app features online courses, and other information on preventative health for pets. Owners who complete the courses receive rewards every insurance year, from lower premiums to loyalty points for its online store.
OQC, a Reading, UK-based quantum compute-as-a-service (QCaaS) company, raised $100M in funding.
The round was led by SBI Investment with participation from Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC), Lansdowne Partners, and OTIF, acted by manager Oxford Investment Consultants (OIC).
The company intends to use the funds to further enhance its R&D sector and its ability to bring enterprise ready quantum to businesses globally.
Online luxury retailer Farfetch's founder José Neves is looking to take the company private after a troubled New York Stock Exchange listing, the Telegraph reported on Tuesday.
Neves is said to be working with advisers at JPMorgan, the report said, adding that he retains a 15% stake but holds 77% of the voting rights through a dual-class share structure.
Shares of the company edged 20% higher following the news. The stock has fallen about 64% so far this year.
Global Content Operations Strategy and Services leader ICP has announced its acquisition of Team 6ix, a UK-based Martech and Content Operations consulting firm. The move joins Team 6ix's highly respected team of martech strategists, consultants and experts with ICP's resources and expertise.
"This marks the start of ICP's next exciting phase of growth," said ICP CEO Christopher Grakal. "The addition of Team 6ix strengthens us at a key moment: global businesses increasingly recognize new opportunities to unlock the full value of their marketing and commerce assets, across their content ecosystem. That means more than just delivering creative martech strategies and solutions. It means dedicating the right people to serve as their partners, as well as the right automation and AI solutions. ICP's people, joined by Team 6ix's, form a world-class team of experts, strategists and solution-builders."
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YFM Equity Partners (YFM) has held the final close of its Buyout Fund III, with £95.5 million of committed funds and a high percentage of new entrepreneurial investors in place.
The fund exceeded its original £80 million target and achieved a first time YFM investor rate of 33%. This close also marks the highest amount raised to-date by a YFM Buyout Fund.
Buyout Fund III will typically invest between £5m and £15m per transaction into businesses with strong growth potential located across the UK regions.
YFM’s latest fundraise success comes during a significant period of growth for the PE firm. The firm now manages funds in excess of £630m.
Black Friday e-commerce spending popped 7.5% from a year earlier, reaching a record $9.8 billion in the U.S., according to an Adobe Analytics report, a further indication that price-conscious consumers want to spend on the best deals and are hunting for those deals online.
“We’ve seen a very strategic consumer emerge over the past year where they’re really trying to take advantage of these marquee days, so that they can maximize on discounts,” said Vivek Pandya, a lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights.
Black Friday’s spending spike reflects a consumer who is more willing to spend than in 2022, when gas and food prices were painfully high.
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Founded in 2021 by James Kirimy, who previously helped launch Uber’s expansion into the UK and ran its electrification department, DoorFeed aggregates residential properties into portfolios backed by market data for institutional investors.
The DoorFeed platform analyses large volumes of sources to provide insights on things like market value and energy performances to build out property portfolios.
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Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) closed Morgan Stanley Next Level Fund, L.P., at $50m.
Investors in the strategy include the inaugural corporate partners Hearst, Microsoft and Walmart as well as Altria, Ten Figures Ventures and Phalanx Impact Partners.
Next Level, part of MSIM’s $200 billion alternative business, builds upon the expertise of the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab and HearstLab to invest in primarily early-stage technology and technology-enabled companies with underrepresented members as part of the founding team.
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New Flagship Pioneering biotech Quotient Therapeutics has lots to be thankful for this year, namely $50 million in cash, a new U.K. outpost to work from and a formal unveiling as the holiday season approaches.
The Cambridge startup incubator took the lid off its latest company Tuesday, possibly the last Flagship launch of 2023. Quotient’s focus is on identifying potentially disease-causing genetic discrepancies that crop up in a single person’s body. Co-founder and President Jake Rubens, Ph.D., said that instead of comparing genomes across patients, the biotech aims to compare genomes with cells of a single patient.
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The brand management company has formed a partnership with Hoodrich’s founder Jay Williams, who will retain an ownership interest. Global brand licensing and design company Batra Group will assume business operations and JD Sports will stand as a global retail partner.
Founded in 2014, Hoodrich has worked with Footasylum and JD Sports, and in 2022 with Netflix’s Top Boy. The lifestyle and streetwear brand is already sold in more than 1,000 retail outlets in 24 countries. Under the partnership, headquarters will remain in Birmingham and Watford.
Bob Galvin, CEO at Iconix International, said: “The brand is extremely well positioned to capitalise on the growing demand for lifestyle streetwear with an authentic brand story. We are committed to bringing this high-quality brand to an even bigger global audience.”
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