Latest from Retail & Consumer
Rushmore secures £1 million in crowdfunding record
A £1 million investment for The Rushmore Group, owner of three London members’ clubs, has set a world record for the largest amount of money raised for a business using a crowdfunding website.
Bagel Nash toasts Holme hire
Sally Holme has joined bakery business Bagel Nash as a non-executive director as the company seeks to develop its brand.
Four trends that drive eBay’s M&A strategy
Fredrik Ahlberg, head of expansion at eBay, reveals there are four current trends in commerce that underpin the online shopping giant’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) strategy. These are: mobile, local, social and digital.
Be At One to become bigger after £8 million investment
London cocktail bar chain Be At One has secured £8 million from private equity firm Piper that will fund a nationwide roll-out.
Fidelity leads £3.5 million Wahanda investment
Online health and beauty marketplace Wahanda has raised £3.5 million in a Series B investment round led by venture and growth equity investor Fidelity Growth Partners Europe.
Crowd backs Kammerling’s with £180,000
Drinks company Kammerling’s, which produces a ginseng-based alcoholic spirit, has raised £180,000 through equity crowdfunding website Crowdcube that will primarily fund international expansion.
A wine cellar for Doctor Who
For this month's Object of Desire, Italian Sand & Birch is the design studio behind the space-age Opale Wine Cellar, which looks like it would be perfectly at home on the set of Doctor Who – if the Doctor were a wine connoisseur.
A fine entrepreneur: Mark Bedini
Most people think Mark Bedini, founder of Fine+Rare, is just a rather successful wine buff. But he probably owes most of his success to a deep knowledge of technology and a penchant for bold decision-making.
Raising equity its own way
They want to raise about £2.2 million, but instead of asking venture capitalists for funding or floating on AIM, Scottish brewer Brewdog has chosen instead to run its own online initial public offering, Equity for Punks II.
Retail sales flat on the year after August fall
Retail sales in the UK remain stagnant year-on-year after sales volumes shrank by 0.2 per cent in August, official statistics show.
Core Capital injects £20 million in Brasserie Bar Co
Brasserie Bar Co, the hospitality group behind restaurant chains Brasserie Blanc and the White Brasserie Company, has raised £20 million from private equity investor Core Capital.
Consumer confidence continues steady fall
Consumer confidence is in decline, falling for a third consecutive month in August to -31, 13 points lower than the same time last year, says market research agency NfK NOP.
Building your own database
Michael Phillips, managing director of price comparison website ConsumerChoices.co.uk, says developing his database from scratch in-house has been integral in keeping costs down.
Wiggle IPO remains on the table for Isis
An initial public offering remains on the table for online sports retailer Wiggle, with majority shareholder private equity firm Isis Equity Partners meeting potential bookrunners in September, GrowthBusiness has learned.
Finance Wales in Wholebake buy-out
Welsh health food manufacturer Wholebake has been acquired in a management buy-out that was backed by Finance Wales with a £750,000 debt and equity investment.
Groupalia adds $26 million for global growth
Index Ventures, the London-based technology investor, has joined a $26 million (£15.9 million) financing for online group buying business Groupalia.
Retail sales increase allaying fears of ‘spending paralysis’
UK retail sales saw a ‘modest improvement’ in July, rising 0.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis from July 2010, but shoppers continue to spend less.
Forward Venture Partners backs beauty merger
Venture capital investor Forward Venture Partners has backed the merger of online beauty retailers LoveLula and Zuneta with a growth equity investment.
High time for the high street?
GrowthBusiness blogger Wol Kolade says the government’s sentiment to fix the high street is laudable but there is nothing new about the decline of the high street as a centre for the community.
More from GrowthBusiness
The Entrepreneur
Diversifying the client base at launch and learning to say ‘No’
David Barker reflects on resisting the temptation to say 'Yes' to the first offer when he opened his data centre, and how choosing instead to diversify his client base at launch has enabled 4D Data Centres to maintain rapid growth in a recession.
Growing A Business
Corporate leaks: How to prevent and investigate if they occur
Bob Mecrate-Butcher, partner at Charles Russell, looks at how corporate leaks can first be prevented and then plugged when they do occur.
Comment & Analysis
Channeling Instagram for start-up success
That a team of 13 could build a business worth $1 billion should be the inspiration that all entrepreneurs need.
Research
The rise of cash shells
New research from GrowthBusiness shows that the number of UK cash shells is climbing. We speak to new entrants to the market and those that have recently closed deals to find out what’s driving shells’ increasing popularity.
