Category Archives: Venture Capital

‘Profiteering off children’: care firms in England accused of squeezing cash from councils

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A local authority leader claims private equity groups are exploiting vulnerable youngsters in care homes in the pursuit of profit

Care companies are insisting on unnecessary and expensive support packages for vulnerable children to boost their profits, a council leader has claimed.

Barry Lewis, the Tory leader of Derbyshire county council, said that former family-run businesses acquired by private equity groups were trying to get “as much cash as possible” out of local authorities.

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Big UK venture capital funds pledge to invest in high growth companies

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Chancellor calls scheme involving 20 of UK’s largest funds a ‘huge win’ for the country

A group of leading UK venture capital funds managing more than £25bn have signed an agreement backed by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to boost investment in high growth companies across the country.

In a government drive to drum up private investment in Britain before the chancellor’s autumn statement, Hunt said the scheme involving 20 of the UK’s largest funds was a “huge win” for the country.

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Revealed: far-right venture capitalist has contracts with US for ammunition

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Nathaniel Fischer co-owns ammunition company that has contracts with federal government totaling $78,678

A far-right figure who is involved in a secretive invitation-only fraternal organization, whose founder has spoken of being at war with the US government, is also part-owner of an ammunition company that has contracts with the federal government and law enforcement, the Guardian can reveal.

Nathaniel Fischer – a venture capitalist, former Claremont Institute fellow and president of the Dallas lodge of the secretive Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR) – is also part-owner of Texas-based ammunition manufacturer S1 Armory, which trades as Stand 1 Armory.

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MPs challenge VC firms over record on female and minority-led firms

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Treasury committee finds huge majority of venture capital funding goes to companies run by white men in south-east England

The venture capital industry has come under fire from MPs for its “unacceptable failure” to invest in businesses located outside London or south-east England, or those run by women and ethnic minorities.

Businesses founded exclusively by women were revealed to have received just 2% of all venture capital funding in 2022, while even less investment went to companies led by black or other minority ethnic executives.

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GameStop shares surge again as Robinhood restores trading

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App helping to fuel share-buying frenzy allows ‘limited buys’ after a $1bn cash injection to safeguard trades

Shares in companies including videogame retailer GameStop soared again on Friday, as an army of small investors taking aim at Wall Street regained access to amateur share trading platform Robinhood.

The app, weaponised by activist small investors to trap hedge funds in a “short squeeze” that has cost them $20bn on paper by some estimates, had suspended buying of stocks such as GameStop, cinema chain AMC and BlackBerry on Thursday.

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Bain Capital Has Invested in Bamboo Sushi – Here’s What That Really Means

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Last month, news broke that Bain Capital invested in Sustainable Restaurant Group, the Portland-based company behind eco-friendly Japanese restaurant and its fast-casual, poke-happy compatriot Quickfish . Folks may know Bain Capital as Mitt Romney's old stomping grounds, a private equity firm that accrued a heaping pile of bad press around 2012.

Bain Capital might start managing Harvard’s real estate assets

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The famed private equity firm, co-founded by former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is in talks to take over management of part of the university's real estate assets, according to Bloomberg. It would mark a significant entrance into the real estate market for Bain.

North Dakota students learn how to build drone businesses

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Instructor Matt Dunlevy probably didn't have to remind his University of North Dakota students that they'd be sharing the airspace as they stood in a field preparing their drones for flight as the sun set one recent afternoon. "Welcome to the drone business, where you will be eaten alive by bugs," Dunlevy said, as the students swatted away mosquitoes.