Study to reveal the economic benefits of angel investing group

The wider economic impact of the investment, mentoring and management support activities of the Scottish angel investing group, Archangel Investors, is to be explored in a new study.

Archangels, which has been investing in early stage companies since 1992, has commissioned the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde Business School to carry out the study. Dr Niall MacKenzie and Margaret Coughtrie will examine the economic impact of Archangels and the companies in which it has invested. Specifically, the study will examine: job creation; revenue generation; sales revenues; profitability; and overall gross value added. The study's findings are expected to be published in the summer of 2015. Archangels was established by entrepreneurs, Mike Rutterford and Barry Sealey, in 1992 following their successful investment in what was to become Optos plc upon its flotation in 2006. Optos recently agreed to be acquired by Japanese group, Nikon, for £259m. Since its inception, Archangels whose business model is built on investors pooling their resources to support Scottish businesses principally in the high tech and life sciences sectors, has supported a total of 80 companies - many with multiple rounds of investment funding. Archangels now has over 70 investor members. David Ovens, Chief Operating Officer at Archangels, said: "We know how much has been invested over the last 23 years and how much has been returned to investors, but that's only part of the story. To truly understand the impact that Archangels has had, we need to dig deeper. How many jobs have been created? How much profit has been generated? How successful have our invested companies been? What have they contributed to the Scottish economy? These are the real measures of success and we're keen to know the answers." Dr Niall MacKenzie of the University of Strathclyde said: "Early stage investment is of fundamental importance to helping companies grow and realise their potential. To this end Archangels have played a critical role in developing some of Scotland's brightest companies and entrepreneurial culture and the Hunter Centre are delighted to engage with them on such an important subject. We have developed an innovative framework of analysis which captures both the investment process and its impacts. We are looking forward to using this to assess the impact Archangels have had, and will no doubt continue to have in the future, on Scottish companies and beyond."

£500,000 Business Angel funding for 10ACIA

A private investor who is part of the Northwest Business Angels network, has injected £500,000 into 10ACIA, providing the local property development company with the much needed funding to deliver new projects across the region.

Formed in 2013, 10ACIA operates across Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, and has a team of seven core staff along with a number of other skilled workers to handle bespoke and technical projects.

The funding will be used to finance a range of design, development and renovation projects and has helped to put the business in touch with more residential and commercial clients across the North West. Being part of the Northwest Business Angels network has added significant value to 10ACIA, helping to create new relationships with influential businesses such as Neville Johnson, the Manchester-based bespoke furniture manufacturer.

Northwest Business Angels is one of the UK's most established angel networks and works with growing companies across the region that are seeking investments between £10,000 and £500,000. The network, which is part of the Business Growth Hub's Access to Finance Service, has raised over £22m for more than 250 companies to date.

Angel Backing Heralds Global Growth Phase for Wealth Management Match-Maker

findaWEALTHMANAGER.com, an online 'dating' service that matches affluent individuals with wealth managers, has secured £500,000 from angel investors to finance its continuing development and business expansion.

The funding comes from a small group of private backers, one of whom was a user of findaWEALTHMANAGER.com who recognised the growth potential of the business after being successfully matched with a wealth manager.

The investment represents findaWEALTHMANAGER.com's first external funding round since launch in 2012. The business has been cash-generative throughout this period, is profitable and has no debt.

The new investment will be used to meet recruitment costs, for enhancements to the service and user experience, increased marketing and for launching findaWEALTHMANAGER.com in the thriving Asian wealth management hub of Singapore.

The business was founded by Dominic Gamble, a former private banker, and Lee Goggin, who spent 25 years in investment banking prior to launching findaWEALTHMANAGER.com.

CurrencyFair, world's leading person-to-person currency exchange marketplace, raises €10 million

The dominant person-to-person currency transfer platform operating in the £2k plus marketplace, secures €10 million round investment led by Octopus Investments

CurrencyFair has today announced it has raised a €10 million funding round, led by Octopus Investments.

CurrencyFair was the first platform in the world to break the $1 billion barrier in money-matching transfers early last year. Since then, their growth has accelerated month-on-month across their main currency corridors between the UK, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

This latest funding round will help capitalise on the expanding new sector of peer-to-peer currency transfer, and enhance and expand CurrencyFair's existing currency corridors. Participants in the round include venture capital investors Octopus Investments ('Octopus'), with follow on from existing investors Frontline Ventures.

Customers worldwide are increasingly migrating away from using traditional banks - where they pay non-transparent and expensive currency exchange charges - towards the wave of new fintech platforms. CurrencyFair remains the only true person-to-person currency exchange marketplace. This unique model ensures that it is the cheapest way to transfer amounts of £2,000 and over, and that it is the only way customers can beat the interbank rate in money transfers on any platform.

Speaking on the announcement CurrencyFair CEO Brett Meyers said: "The money transfer sector has seen a lot of attention recently, with customers beginning to realise the high fees charged by banks when sending money internationally. These customers, made up of an internationally mobile workforce, retirees and foreign property owners, are regularly sending £2,000 or more in the form of pay, pensions, mortgages and rents. For these people we are a great match as we are virtually unbeatable over £2,000, sometimes even beating the interbank rate, which banks, brokers and other transfer services can't do."