Seeing the silver lining

Ashish Patel, MD at venture capital (VC) investor Intel Capital, believes that Europe still offers good opportunities for early-stage technology investment, despite evidence of a slowdown in activity at the smaller end of the market.

Reactions to the Budget

A new rate of capital gains tax (CGT), a proposal to hand more government contracts to growing businesses, and female entrepreneurs have a special fund of their own. We ask entrepreneurs and business advisers what they think of Alistair Darling’s maiden Budget

Tech fund raises $500 million

Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP), a private equity investor in technology businesses, has closed a new $500 million fund, bringing its total assets under management to $1 billion.

Doug Richard: American dream

With a passion for growing businesses and an intellect to match, Californian entrepreneur and business angel Doug Richard has quickly become a champion of entrepreneurship in the UK. He talks to Nick Britton about how British business could be made better

Flotation for stem cell venture

Cryo-Save Group, a company that collects and stores adult stem cells for use in stem cell therapy, has raised £26.5 million in its initial public offering (IPO) on AIM. The company’s market capitalisation at the placing price of 210p per share is £101.2 million.

Fidelity has $500 million to spend

Nick Martin, a veteran of HG Capital and 3i, describes the new mid-market investment outfit he’s leading, Fidelity Equity Partners (FEP), as ‘a greenfield start up’.

Virtual tax

Online gamers who participate in virtual worlds such as Second Life could find themselves hit by unexpected tax bills, according to Mark Simpson, director at chartered accountant Simpson Burgess Nash. Second Life alone has nine million users, and an economy that has grown from $64 million (£31.5 million) in September 2006 to almost $600 million today.

Good intentions

An overwhelming number of companies say they take environmental and corporate responsibility (ECR) seriously, with 99 per cent rating it as ‘important’ or ‘very important’ in comparison with other issues, according to a survey by accountancy firm Grant Thornton.

Beringea backs new restaurant chain

VCT manager Beringea has invested £1.7 million to support the expansion of Coal Restaurants, an emerging restaurant brand with one outlet in Wimbledon and others under development. The money is from the ProVen VCT and the ProVen Growth & Income VCT.

Funding for emissions monitoring business

Lysanda, a developer of systems that measure pollutants emitted by vehicles, has received £1 million of equity funding from a mixture of public and private investors.

Tenon makes it a hat trick

Accountancy and advisory firm Tenon Group has made its third acquisition in 30 days after buying Unity, which specialises in recovery and insolvency services. The deal could be worth £13 million.

IPT buys French company

A British company has strengthened its presence in the European online marketing sector after completing the acquisition of French email marketing business NP6 from its management.

Buy-out blues

Less than 30 per cent of management teams stay together after a buy-out, claims Tim Levett, a partner at private equity firm NVM.

Putting a price on mind games

When it comes to buying and selling, most people believe if you ask for more, you will get more. As a result, people expect that setting a high starting price will always bring them a higher final price. This, however, is not necessarily the case.

Angels send out mixed messages

Business angels in the UK are pleased by the present level of innovation from entrepreneurs and remain buoyant about market activity, a survey by London Business School has found, although the perennial difficulty remains in finding people who can turn a business idea into a commercial reality.

Capital pot for aspiring tech companies

E-Synergy, an investment company, has completed a funding arrangement for its £30 million Sustainable Technology Fund just six months after being awarded the management contract by the Department for Trade and Industry.

Microsoft aims small

An online presence is now as important for a small, fast-growing company as it is for a large corporate and, in recognition of this need, Microsoft has launched Office Live in the UK. It gives businesses the chance to design a website for free.

Banks can do better, says FPB

The quality of service provided to businesses by banks is rising, claims Nick Goulding, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business (FPB), but there is still scope for improvement.

A creativity gap?

A company devoid of the inspirational spark is likely to be an ephemeral organism in the business biosphere, or maybe not, according to research conducted by the Arts Council England and digital imaging outfit, Canon UK.

OxTox secures £600,000

OxTox, an Oxford-based cannabis testing company, has received £600,000 in its first investment round. The proceeds will fund the production of handheld drug testing kits for the police when testing drivers.

Women fighting harder for success

Female entrepreneurs are still having to fight harder than male counterparts to achieve success in the workplace due to gender-based inequalities, new research has found.