Silicon Valley Bank and Scottish Enterprise have backed TravelNest to support staycation growth and product development.
"We are excited about the year ahead. The changing dynamics of travel play to our advantage and present a huge opportunity for TravelNest and our customers. Industry data shows that people are opting for holiday rentals over hotels, and there is also a marked shift in travel behaviour with more domestic travel and a preference for accommodation in rural rather than urban settings."
The Norwich-based diagnostics firm secured £1.3m immediately with up to £2m committed for 2021 from a syndicate of angel and local enterprise investors.
"There’s a vast, global potential in the application of our unique technology. We are using it to tackle Covid now, but it will also produce better vaccines and new diagnostic and therapeutic products in the future. The investment we have secured will enable us to attract new talent to the team at Iceni and maximise the significant opportunities we have in our pipeline."
The seed round was led by Founders Fund with participation from several investors and a public grant.
"We are thrilled to back this innovative group out of the UK, there have been many attempts at small satellite propulsion innovation over the past decade, but they have been marginal improvements on pre-existing technology, Magdrive is the first step-change improvement offering the best of chemical and electric propulsion in a single system."
The seed round was led by Crane Venture Partners to support international demand and product development.
"OpenSensors was founded to use data to measure, understand and improve the world around us. How we work and live are changing faster than we could have ever anticipated. There is a real opportunity for humanity to rethink how we use the physical world with sustainability in mind as well as making the design of workplaces better for people using them. Businesses need an efficient way to gather data about their office buildings to manage capacity so employees can return to the workplace safely and rethink design based on need rather than the status quo."
The London based fintech has closed a £22.3m pre Series B round led by Gauss Ventures and Simon Nixon.
"We are excited and humbled by the response our product has received by both investors and customers alike. Customers recognise our dedication to focus on their needs. This is what sets us apart from other BNPL players in the market today and what continues to drive us in creating a new category – we want and can help people during these difficult times as our systems self adapt to the socio economic conditions of the day and we feel privileged to be in a position to do so. We are just getting started and have some amazing new features coming soon, all of which track our customers’ way of life, financial constraints and aspirations!"
