The London Co-investment Fund expands its network

 

The London Co-investment Fund welcomes new co-investment partners into the fold.

 

Craigie Capital, Downing Ventures, Forward Partners and Seedcamp have joined forces with the London Co-investment Fund to help bridge the funding gap for London based tech start-ups. The Fund will now have 10 partners including the original network comprising Angel Lab, Crowdcube, Firestartr, London Business Angels Network and Playfair Capital. The announcement of an additional new partner will follow soon on completion of certain legal formalities. 

 

 

The augmented partner network provides broader coverage and consists of some of the most active investors in the early stage technology space in London. For start-ups, this opens up additional approach routes to access the London Co-investment Fund and provides them with an opportunity to choose the investor that is best suited for them.

Within a short duration of its launch in December 2014, the London Co-investment Fund has been recognized as one of the busiest investors in the UK*. So far, the fund has invested £3.5m in 25 start-ups and helped create over 70 high value jobs in the capital. The fund has been successful in attracting co-investments of over £15m, achieving a co-investment multiple of £4.2 for each £1 invested by the fund.

The CEO of Funding London, a founding partner of the fund, Maggie Rodriguez-Piza said “We are delighted to have received significant interest from the early stage investment community; and we are excited to work with the new partners, selected after a comprehensive evaluation process”. The London Co-investment Fund manager, Puneet Bhatia added “Each partner brings a unique investment focus and we hope to complement their specialist investment activities with additional value-added funding, to help deliver investments in 150+ strong technology businesses in London, thereby creating strong economic value in the ecosystem”.

“With these new partners, the London Co-investment Fund will cement its position as one of the leading seed stage investors in tech start-ups in the UK” said John Spindler, Co-founder of the fund and CEO of Capital Enterprise. “We hope this announcement will be a big call out to tech start-ups seeking funding or angels and funds seeking to syndicate deals to get in touch. We are open for business, have great co-investment partners and together we are proving that London is the best place for tech start-ups to acquire seed investment in Europe”.

The London Co-investment Fund is looking forward to accelerating its investment activity in the next quarter with a stronger panel of co-investors. Start-ups can learn more and apply for the London Co-investment Fund at http://lcif.co.

The new partners are equally enthusiastic to work with us in enabling London tech start-ups to grow sustainably and scale-up to great heights.
 
Alasdair McPherson, one of the founders of the Craigie Capital investment syndicate said “We are delighted to have the London Co-investment Fund as a co-investment partner. The fund’s strong support for the London start-up ecosystem has helped provide a robust framework for early stage investors and start-ups to work together to develop and build great new companies in London”.

Matt Penneycard, Head of Downing Ventures said “We are delighted to have been selected as one of the new funding partners of the London Co-investment Fund to continue to fund exciting and dynamic start-ups in London. We look forward to working with them to fund the next generation of London tech businesses”.

Pradeep Raman from Forward Partners said “We are delighted to join the London Co-investment Fund and its partners. We look forward to working together to build a better start-up ecosystem in London”.

Reshma Sohoni, Partner at Seedcamp said “Being selected as a London Co-investment Fund partner provides the start-ups we invest in with the potential to unlock additional capital for their funding rounds. This is a real game changer for the start-ups we invest in and we’re already seeing an excellent pipeline of potential deals. In particular, we feel that the London Co-investment Fund can act as a further catalyst alongside Seedcamp’s investment to help founders close out their first round and ensure they are in the best possible position to scale. We’re delighted to be joining a great list of investors partnering with the London Co-investment Fund”.

 

 

Dating App happn Raises $14 Million in Series B Round

 

Happn, the hyper-localized dating app that connects people the moment their paths cross, closed a $14 million Series B funding round led by Idinvest with participation from Alven Capital, DN Capital, Raine Ventures and private individuals Fabrice Grinda, David Wolfson and Gil Penchina. To date, the company has raised a total of $22 million. The new funding round will be used to drive expansion into Asia and grow its presence in its existing markets.

 

“The mobile dating space has grown substantially in the last few years and all signs point to its continued proliferation with happn really defining the hyperlocal dating game,” said Didier Rappaport, Founder and CEO of Happn.

 

He continued: “We’ve experienced phenomenal global growth since launching last year, and we plan to continue expanding into more countries around the world.

 

“In addition to expansion into new markets, this new round of funding will also enable us to grow our team and enhance the user experience by building new functionalities that add to the current features that our members already enjoy,”

 

The real-time, hyper-localized app, which recently reached six million global users in more than 25 cities lets users seize everyday coincidences, avoid missed connections and take advantage of paths crossed in real-life. Happn will continue growing its reach by expanding into Asia and increasing its presence in Europe, South America and the United States.

 

“Idinvest is thrilled to lead this round of financing and to support one of the most international Paris-born startups,” said Guillaume Durao, Investment Director at Idinvest. “We were impressed by the fast, global growth of Happn’s user base and by the app’s early retention and conversion metrics when we first met the management team. Even more importantly, we believe in the very fresh and modern product developed by the company and the positive, urban, trendy and fun associations made with the Happn brand in the dating space.”

 

“We’ve been supporting Happn since the very first version of the application a little more than 18 months ago,” said Jeremy Uzan, Partner at Alven Capital. “During this time, we’ve never doubted the ability of this exceptional team to position Happn as a global leader in the new generation of dating tools. We’re very proud to follow this adventure with Didier Rappaport and his team and to contribute by giving them the right means for their strong ambitions.”

 

“The Happn team has continued to significantly outperform, and we at DN Capital are happy to continue to support their expansion and development,” said Nenad Marovac, Managing Partner at DN Capital.

 

 

“Happn is revolutionizing the way we make connections and has emerged as a clear leader in the fields of social networking and online dating,” said Gordon Rubenstein, Managing Partner of Raine Ventures. “Happn embodies the key qualities Raine looks for in a portfolio company and has already achieved tremendous global growth in a very short period of time. We are excited to partner with Happn and its talented management team as it continues to gain momentum.”

 

 

Law firm Howard Kennedy assists in bringing Sunset Boulevard to West End

 

Law firm Howard Kennedy has advised Gate Ventures Plc, the media and entertainment investment company, on a significant investment into a new West End production of Sunset Boulevard.

 

Sunset Boulevard, directed by Lonny Price and starring multiple Academy Award nominated actress Glenn Close, will run in a limited season of 43 performances at English National Opera’s London Coliseum. 

 

With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton the production will begin on 1 April 2016 with the final performance on 7 May 2016.

 

Sunset Boulevard is the second production in the partnership between the English National Opera and the GradeLinnit Company, a company formed in 2008 by Michael Grade and Michael Linnit.  

 

ENO and GradeLinnit Company will be managing the operations and artistic directions of the show and Gate Ventures’ Chairman Johnny Hon will act as executive producer on the production, managing various commercial aspects of the show.

 

At the same time Howard Kennedy has advised Gate Ventures Plc on the appointment of Michael Grade as Non-Executive Deputy Chairman and Michael Linnit as Non-Executive Chief Strategy Officer.

 

As Deputy Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of Gate Ventures, Michael Grade and Michael Linnit will assist the company to take a more active role in production and to produce further shows of similar quality and scale as Sunset Boulevard.

 

The Howard Kennedy team was led by Media Partner Brian Eagles supported by Corporate Senior Associate Stephanie Brigg.

 

Brian said: “We are thrilled to have been able to play a role in bringing Sunset Boulevard to the West End, and in being able to bring giants of the entertainment world together.  We look forward to working alongside the team going forward and to the opening night of Sunset Boulevard.”

 

Dr Johnny Hon, Chairman of Gate Ventures PLC, said: “Gate remains committed to identifying and financially supporting exciting projects within the entertainment industry.  We look forward to working alongside a very experienced and high profile team on this production to make it a memorable one for all who see it as well as creating a great box office success.

 

“The addition of Michael Grade and Michael Linnit to the Board of Gate Ventures represents the commitment of the company to become a major participant in the entertainment industry.  Lord Grade and Mr Linnit are both highly respected in the UK entertainment industry and their extensive experience and contacts will assist Gate Ventures as an active producer to scale up its operations.”

 

 

Workable raise $27m in a Series B round led by Balderton Capital

 

Workable, the startup that’s changing the way small businesses hire, raised $27 million in a Series B round led by Balderton Capital with the participation of Notion Capital and existing investors 83North (formerly Greylock IL). An emerging member of Boston’s B2B software scene, Workable grew five-fold in the last year.

 

Workable delivers a simple but powerful cloud-based solution for employers who need to post jobs, track candidates and hire as a team. It will use the funding to seal its place as America’s favourite hiring software. More than 3,000 businesses in 52 countries actively use the service today, a customer list that’s growing by 15% every month.

 

“The need to recruit great people and to do it quickly and efficiently affects businesses of all sizes. Workable have done an extremely impressive job of building a solution for SMBs that leapfrogs the cumbersome methods that came before it”, said Daniel Waterhouse, General Partner at Balderton Capital. “We are incredibly excited to be backing two terrific European entrepreneurs and their amazing team, as Workable take the next step on their journey”.

 

As well as companies changing up from clunky and outdated HR systems, hundreds of ambitious businesses are joining Workable every month, many of which have never used hiring software before.

 

“Big companies have been using heavyweight applicant tracking systems for decades”, said Workable CEO, Nikos Moraitakis. “But the majority of America’s 22 million small businesses have not yet tried hiring software. With no solution made for their needs, they were disadvantaged in a function that’s critical for every business”.

 

“Workable is levelling the playing field for them, giving ambitious companies the chance to compete for talent”.

 

Tim Sackett, the recruiting tech expert, popular HR blogger and president of $40 million staffing agency HRU Technical Resources, said: “I’ve used a lot of recruiting solutions in my career, but Workable may be the most intuitive and easy to use right out of the box”.

 

“Workable gets recruiting and keeps it to what it is, or what it should be, which is simple. This is why it works so well for SMBs”.

 

All kinds of businesses, from creative agencies and tech startups to small hotels and hair salons, are finding they can save time and hire better with Workable.

 

 

Typical of these first-time users is Alexander Meeks from the New York-based engineering firm, Armand Corporation: “Before Workable, our firm used a combination of email and Excel,” he said. “Workable did everything we needed at a reasonable, scalable price and with a superior, simple user interface. We will never go back.”