• Deals reflect Blackfinch Ventures’ commitment to innovative tech companies
• New investments include Payaca, Illuma, WatchMyCompetitor and Culture Shift

Blackfinch Ventures has completed on four new investment deals totalling £3.27million in a move which demonstrates its ongoing commitment to facilitating the growth of innovative technology and tech-enabled companies.

Business intelligence platform WatchMyCompetitor received a total of £1.0m, and Culture Shift, an online platform that is designed to identify and prevent harassment and bullying in the workplace, received £775k. In addition, llluma Technology, a contextual advertising company which uses AI to learn from online browsing behaviour during live campaigns to reach target audiences, has received £1.1m, and job management software company Payaca received £330k.

This is the second cohort of investments for Blackfinch Ventures in 2021, which completed on 17 investment deals totalling in excess of GBP11 million ahead of the tax-year-end deadline in April. These included several follow-on investments, such as in commercial real estate valuation software firm Edozo.

Commenting on the latest investment update Dr Reuben Wilcock, ventures director at Blackfinch, said: “Blackfinch Ventures targets high-growth opportunities, as well as supporting start-ups, and early stage and growth stage businesses with technological potential.

“The focus is on disruptive businesses, offering products that address real world needs, with the capability to make an impact in global markets.

“This latest round of investments demonstrates our ongoing commitment to investing in businesses that deliver a solid return on investment, and we are delighted to now have the opportunity to work alongside these innovative and ambitious companies as they take advantage of the investment funds to fuel further growth and success.”

Earlier this year Blackfinch revealed it had raised a total of GBP10.6 million through its EIS Ventures Portfolios in the tax year ending April 2021, which has been invested in innovative start-up and early-stage technology companies across the UK in a variety of industry sectors.

A further GBP5.8 million was raised through its Spring Venture Capital Trust (VCT) which invests primarily in companies at the start of their growth journey.

The EIS portfolio now includes businesses such as Candidate.ID, Staffcircle and Kokoon, as well as digital vendor management platform Brooklyn Vendor Assurance, global client engagement platform Clientshare, embedded integration platform Cyclr, real-time market research company OnePulse, and hyper-realistic text-to-speech platform LSTN.

The latest round of investments is indicative of the wider Blackfinch Group’s commitment to helping to create a more sustainable world through its own focus on environment, social and governance factors.

Dr Reuben Wilcock added: “The growing Ventures portfolio is reflective not only of Blackfinch’s commitment to investing in innovative technology driven companies that reflect our own environment, social and governance (ESG) values, but also the value that those businesses see in having us as their investment partner and the role that we can play in furthering their growth ambitions.”

Investment summary:

New Investments:

• Illuma Technology – Total investment from Blackfinch Ventures GBP 1.1 million;
• Payaca – Total investment from Blackfinch Ventures GBP 330k;
• Culture Shift – Total investment from Blackfinch Ventures GBP 775k;
• WatchMyCompetitor – Total investment from Blackfinch Ventures GBP 1.0m.
• Total value – GBP 3.27million