7 June
16:21:22
|
Prof AC Grayling (www.acgrayling.com) is reported to have secured start-up funding of up to £10,000,000 for New College of The Humanities (www.nchum.org), a private university with annual fees of £18,000. The Telegraph has 3 reasons why NCH will fail. The Telegraph |
29 May
16:02:47
|
Jonathan Rowland is launching Jellybook (www.jellybook.com) to raise around £3,000,000 for "the first stock market-listed vehicle in Britain designed specifically to allow investors to put money into fledgling social media companies..." More at TIM. This Is Money |
28 May
15:10:07
|
Serial entrepreneur Peter Dubens is also a direcor of PROcapital (www.profounderscapital.com), a backer of TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com) which founder Iain Dodsworth has just sold to Twitter for £25,000,000. More in The Guardian.
The Guardian |
28 May
14:53:39
|
Peter Dubens of Oakley Capital (www.oakleycapital.com) has bought a 66% stake in Time Out New York, and aims to do a "better job of making money out of the relationship with its readers, using the global brand on a local basis." More in The Standard.
Evening Standard |
23 May
16:19:09
|
Tamara Mellon has seen her 15% stake in Jimmy Choo leap in value as Tower Brook (www.towerbrook.com), buyer of the shoemaker for £185 million in 1997, sells to Labelux (www.labeluxgroup.com) for a rumoured £500 million plus. More at BBC Business. BBC Business |
22 May
15:07:35
|
Producer Joe Braham and former player Rodney Marsh (www.rodneymarsh.net) are working on 'Grumpy Pundits', a TV show featuring football banter and well-known faces. Betting firm Paddy Power (www.paddypower.com) is providing early support for the project. Grumpy Pundits |
21 May
11:40:24
|
Claire Powell, owner of PR outfit Can Associates (www.canassociates.co.uk) is moving into the business of looking good. She has opened the Fabulous Face & Body (www.fabulousfaceandbody.co.uk) clinic in Harley Street and plans to roll out the concept. Mr Paparazzi |
21 May
11:17:41
|
Paul Murphy and Neil Wilson, founders of Shopjacket (www.shopjacket.co.uk) think there is a big US market for "shop wrapping." UK property owners find that wrapping unused retail units creates lots of interest from potential tenants. Demo at YouTube. YouTube |
17 May
12:16:48
|
Zolfo Cooper (www.zolfocooper.eu) has been appointed to find the expansion funding for a roll-out of London cocktail bar operation B@1, aka Be At One (www.beatone.co.uk), which currently has 10 locations. More at the Publican's Morning Advertiser. Morning Advertiser |
10 May
15:37:29
|
The 'baby concierge' business is growing fast in New York and demand is building in the UK. Director Layton Tamberlin says that mothers spend between £1,500 and £12,500 with Baby Concierge
(www.babyconcierge.co.uk), a London pregnancy planner.
Baby Concierge |
10 May
10:32:10
|
Skype CE Tony Bates is reported to have closed a £5 billion deal to sell the loss-making internet phone service to Microsoft. "Mobile carriers tend to see Skype as a threat to their own services..." - more at The Guardian. The Guardian |
5 May
14:58:58
|
Ralph Monthienvichienchai has launched MADD (www.wearemadd.com) in Soho selling "insanely addictive snacks & desserts mainly based on mangoes" from around £6 a pop. The name derive from the words 'mango' and 'addiction'. More in The Standard. Evening Standard |
5 May
11:10:43
|
Phil McGriskin is selling his cross-border payment processing business Envoy Services (www.envoyservices.com) to WorldPay (www.worldpay.com) for a reported £70,000,000 just 5 years after launch. More at CityAM.
CityAM |
4 May
11:27:50
|
Richard Morris runs Wimpole Hall Farm (www.wimpole.org) for the NT. He has set up MyFarm (www.my-farm.org.uk) for the public to help run it in real-life via the web. 10,000 virtual farmers are wante to take decisions in return for a £30 annual sub. MyFarm |
28 April
12:26:20
|
"Facebook's serially unscrupulous CEO Mark Zuckerberg" is reading that
"Owners of close to $1 billion in Facebook stock are slashing their asking price as they push toward the exits..." -
Gawker reports that "Early Facebook Investors Want Out."
Gawker |
27 April
16:09:21
|
Paul Daniell started online education site InterHigh (www.interhigh.co.uk) in September 2005 with 23 pupils. He now has 280. Fees are £2,220 for one year's education and the recession is proving to be a boost to business. InterHigh |
21 April
11:35:57
|
Robin Shenfield, CE of The Mill (www.themill.com), has seen Barclays Private Equity pick up 60% of the visual effects company from Carlyle Europe Technology Partners who backed a management buyout of the company in February 2007. More at WSJ.
Wall Street Journal |
20 April
14:44:16
|
Iain Dodsworth, founder + CEO of TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com), is said to be the receiving end of a $50,000,000 offer for his company from Twitter. His own Twitter account (twitter.com/iaindodsworth) is not giving anything away. More at the WSJ.
Wall Street Journal |
18 April
15:56:41
|
Jeff Budd, MD of AardBalm (www.aardbalm.com), is seeking £1,000,000 expansion capital for 30% equity with an exit planned in 5-7 years. His company has a range of environmentally-friendly embalming fluids.
AardBalm |
16 April
11:39:36
|
Spotify (www.spotify.com) founder Daniel Ek is changing the business model of the music website to encourage users to switch to the premium subscription service. The amount of free music for non-subscribers is being reduced. More at Know Your Mobile.
Know Your Mobile |
16 April
11:35:29
|
MusicMagpie (www.musicmagpie.co.uk), which buys and sells used CDs, DVDs and computer games, has received investment from LDC (www.ldc.co.uk) and Allan Leighton, the former boss of Asda and Royal Mail, who has also become chairman. More at MEN. Manchester Evening News |
12 April
12:15:53
|
TV presenter Kate Garraway has moved into online discount, a sector dominated by Groupon (www.groupon.com). Her new business Goodypass (www.goodypass.com) is backed by Kite Ventures according to The Mail On Sunday. More at MailOnline.
MailOnline |
5 April
11:47:33
|
Tesco has moved into the second-hand car business. Tesco Cars (www.tescocars.com) is selling vehicles "supplied directly from original owners who are banks, lease and fleet companies." More at Moneywise.
Moneywise |
29 March
11:15:44
|
Sir Martin Sorrell, CE of WPP, has invested $5,000,000 in Buddy Media (www.buddymedia.com) whose platform gives brands "the tools to manage their Facebook Pages and engage their Facebook fans." More at Mashable.
Mashable |
29 March
11:03:19
|
Sir Terry Leahy has purchased 47% of Stuck On Homework (www.stuckonhomework.com), the online tutoring website set up by TV producers Helen Royle and Teresa Watts. More at The Telegraph.
The Telegraph |
28 March
16:15:09
|
Theo Paphitis (www.theopaphitis.com) is getting back into the lingerie business with Boux Avenue - "Boux Avenue is about appealing to your moods - one day it may be sophisticated, another seductive." Six outlets will open in the first week of April.
Boux Avenue |
25 March
11:31:43
|
Glasses Direct (www.glassesdirect.co.uk) founder Jamie Murray Wells has bought Sunglasses Shop (www.sunglasses-shop.co.uk) for an undisclosed sum. More at Optician Online.
Optician Online. |
23 March
15:46:14
|
Serial entrepreneur Luke Johnson (www.lukejohnson.org), who was involved in Pizza Express back in the 90s, is putting together Ego Restaurants (www.egorestaurants.co.uk) and Rocket Restaurants (www.rocketrestaurants.co.uk). More at My Hospitality. My Hospitality |
18 March
11:18:34
|
Hong Kong entrepreneur Sir David Tang has set up iCorrect (www.icorrect.com), a new website which offers organisations and celebrities the facility "to correct any information about them" for an annual fee. More at IOL Scitech.
IOL Scitech |
9 March
11:54:55
|
John Paleomylites has sold his UK price comparison website BeatThatQuote.com to Google for £37,700,000 - "BeatThatQuote.com was founded in 2005 and its most recent available accounts report an annual loss of £2m on an £8.5m turnover." (The Telegraph)
The Telegraph |
9 March
10:53:32
|
CE Mark Price has launched the new £10,000,000 Waitrose website (www.waitrose.com) - "The investment will equip the retailer for rapid expansion in ecommerce sales over the next decade, in particular taking on Ocado..." More at Internet Retailing. Internet Retailing |
8 March
12:26:23
|
Natalie Massenet, founder of online fashion website Net-a-Porter (www.net-a-porter.com) which now has an estimated £350,000,000 market value, has launched sibling site Mr Porter (www.mrporter.com) to sell designer clothes and accessories for men.
Mr Porter |
7 March
11:13:41
|
Justin Basini (www.basini.com) has set up ALLOW (www.i-allow.com) with this proposition - "Personal information like your name and address is being traded for profit everyday. Now you can help stop this trade and turn your data into cash for yourself.." ALLOW |
3 March
16:21:19
|
Charles Denton, former CEO of Molton Brown (www.moltonbrown.co.uk), is partnering with RBS to acquire skin care brand Erno Laszlo (www.ernolaszlo.com) - "...iconic status of Laszlo will provide a wonderful foundation.." More at Cosmetics Business. Cosmetics Business |
3 March
12:24:38
|
The new Gordon Ramsay (www.gordonramsay.com) restaurant at One New Change shopping centre (next to St Paul's Cathedral) is reported to be way behind schedule. 'Bread Street Kitchen' was due to open early in 2011. More on the delays in The Standard. Evening Standard |
25 February
12:08:09
|
Julian Moore reports an increase in sales of mead for his Cornish Mead Company. Interest in the honey-based alcoholic drink has been sparked by its inclusion in the Harry Potter films and the BBC costume drama 'Lark Rise to Candleford'.
Cornish Mead Company |
24 February
11:04:44
|
Alan Jeffrey, director of Wesley Music (www.wesleymusic.co.uk) - "Sound Solutions for Crematoria" - is bidding to provide Worcester Crematorium with live HD web broadcasting "for those who otherwise would be excluded from the service.." (Worcester News) Worcester News |
23 February
14:55:58
|
Dotcom boom 2 - Daniel Ek is looking for a $100,000,000 investment in Spotify (www.spotify.com) which would value the music-streaming website at $1 billion. Spotify "is now starting to secure contracts with US labels." More at The Independent.
The Independent |
18 February
12:16:56
|
Tony O'Reilly, CE of Providence Resources (www.providenceresources.com), has announced a £40 million + share placing for a "drilling programme of oil and gas prospects in offshore areas in Ireland and onshore in the UK..." More at Irish Times. Irish Times |
|