City veteran Michael Spencer invests millions into a biometric fintech startup June 29, 2018 Founder of NEX Group and serial entrepreneur Michael Spencer has led a $16.5m series B fundraising round into a biometric fintech startup called Veridium. A leader in user authentication through biometric technology like fingerprint and face scanning, Veridium's round was accompanied by additional investment from Citrix Systems and financial services investor Michael Powell. "In today’s [...]
Editor’s Notes: Without the UK, the EU can resume its march to ever closer union, Nex’s Michael Spencer backs British bubbly and Lady Wilson remembered June 15, 2018 Earlier this week I chaired a discussion at TheCityUK’s annual conference, where several people, including the lobby group’s chairman, John McFarlane, stressed the point that “there’s life beyond Brexit”. It can’t be said often enough, given how much of our national attention and energy has been sucked into the black hole of Brexit: the uncertainty, [...]
Craft beer maker FourPure to create 20 new London jobs with £2.5m brewery investment in Bermondsey January 31, 2018 Craft brewer FourPure has put £2.5m into expanding its Bermondsey brewery, increasing capacity by 400 per cent. The project will create 20 new jobs and allow the brand, which is stocked in the likes of M&S, Tesco, Asda and Ocado to keep up with demand. Co-founder Daniel Lowe said the company was now talking to [...]
British consumers drink more sparkling wine for sixth year in a row as cava, prosecco and English wine take over December 18, 2017 Fans of prosecco, cava, and English sparkling wine have pushed up the national consumption of bubbly to the equivalent of 162 Olympic swimming pools. Sparkling wine consumption in the UK increased five per cent oveer the past year, to a total of 1.62m hectolitres, according to UHY Hacker Young. This marked the sixth successive year [...]
UK mattress startup Simba Sleep raises £40m and is heading for profit in some markets December 17, 2017 Simba Sleep, one of several startups hoping to disrupt the world of sleep, has bedded fresh cash to fuel global expansion as it nears profitability in some markets. The £40m series B round of investment comes from previous backers Nigel Wray, a City heavywight and chairman of Saracens rugby club, Wharton Asset Management and Swiss [...]
UK mattress startup Simba Sleep raises £40m and is heading for profit in some markets December 17, 2017 Simba Sleep, one of several startups hoping to disrupt the world of sleep, has bedded fresh cash to fuel global expansion as it nears profitability in some markets. The £40m series B round of investment comes from previous backers Nigel Wray, a City heavywight and chairman of Saracens rugby club, Wharton Asset Management and Swiss [...]
Chapel Down raises £18.5m to plant more vineyards, grow beer business and consolidate December 13, 2017 Chapel Down has raised a further £18.5m to put English wine on the map, literally. The pioneering brand of English wine, which is now served at Downing Street, announced today that it would invest in new vineyards with the money. It will also put more money into its emerging beers business, which Chapel Down boss [...]
Playing the long game: an interview with Chapel Down CEO Frazer Thompson and the UK Investor Show’s Nigel Wray October 16, 2017 Back in 2004, England was considered rather better at playing rugby than it was at producing wine, basking in the afterglow of the national team’s world cup win six months earlier. It was around this time that a mutual contact put Nigel Wray, the owner of Saracens rugby club, in touch with Frazer Thompson, a [...]
Chapel Down boosts wine-inspired beers with appointment of ex-Brewdog MD October 4, 2017 The English wine producer that supplies to Downing Street is looking to beef up its beer offering with the appointment of a new managing director. Chapel Down has appointed a new managing director of beer in the form of former Brewdog MD of Brewing and International, Gareth Bath. Read more: Scottish craft brewer Innis & [...]
From food and hotels, to where to find the best jenever, here’s our guide to the perfect long weekend in Antwerp August 18, 2017 Antwerp is the largest city in Flanders and a cultural Pandora’s box. It’s home to the largest diamond district in the world, whose official language of trade was Yiddish until the 1930s. It is also in this city that the printing trade was invented, and where artist Sir Peter Paul Rubens lived and worked for [...]