London Brief #41: Pharell Williams plays Seaboard, Mayor pays for the trip to Paris, and we do business as usual
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People
Pharell Williams has invested in ROLI, a music technology startup known for its Seaboard instrument. The size of the investment remains undisclosed, but Mr Williams will also be joining the startup as its chief creative officer.
Matthew Drinkwater, head of innovation at the London College of Fashion is working with HoloMe to apply the AR technology to high street fashion.
Jesse Boyce joins TouchNote as creative director overseeing the company’s brand development. Boyce was recently head of brand experience at Deliveroo, and before that, he worked for Skype.
In the news
Draper Esprit has acquired Seedcamp Funds I and II for £17.9m. This means that Draper Esprit took an ownership of Seedcamp’s stake in TransferWise. Everybody is happy as the transaction, according to UKTN, gave a 400-percent return to Seedcamp’s investors.
Sadiq Khan, The Mayor of London, led a delegation of twelve tech startups to Paris on a trade mission to boost investment interest and cooperation across the Channel. The mission is supported by KPMG and Eurostar.
Reports and Rankings
- UBS Billionaires insights 2017
- Time for change. PwC Law Firms’ Survey 2017
Business as usual
- Nested, a company that brokers home sales with a fixed agreed price, has closed a £36m round led by Rocket Internet’s Global Founders Capital.
- Doctorlink, a startup that provides doctor surgeries with a clinically approved digital triage and advice tool, disclosed £20m backing from Eight Roads, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International.
- Winnow, a platform for managing food businesses, has raised $7.4m (£5.6m) in a round co-led by Circularity Capital, Mustard Seed and D-Ax.
- Echo, an NHS-focussed prescription reminder, has raised a £7m Series A led by White Star Capital.
- Homelyfe, an insurance startup, has raised £2.4m in a seed round led by Talis Capital and Peterson Ventures.
- HeadBox, a SaaS-enabled marketplace for motivational meetings and off-site and event spaces, has raised £1.6m round led by Egora Holding
- Bud, a financial aggregation platform, has raised £1.5m in a round co-led by Banco de Sabadell and Investec.
- JamieAi, a recruitment startup, has raised £1m from Adrian Ezra, the founder and CEO of ExecuZen.
- Genus AI, an artificial intelligence company, has raised $1m in seed funding led by Picus Capital.
- Countingup, banking and accountancy in one app, has raised $750,000 in a round led by Frontline Ventures.
Number of the day
400 percent: the return of Seedcamp on TransferWise investment.
Idea
London Brief is a weekly selection of essential information about startups, technology and the business scene in London. Got news? Give us a shout at londonbrief@netguru.co.
Radek Zaleski
On behalf of the London Brief Team
