Salesforce.com and the European venture firms Notion Capital, Octopus Investments and MMC Ventures unveiled an Innovation Challenge for European start-ups building enterprise cloud apps on the Salesforce platform. The winning startups will have the opportunity to pitch for about $6.5 million of venture funding.

MMC Ventures has won a competitive tender to launch the MMC London Fund. The new 11 million pounds ($16.8 million) fund is specifically focused on investment in London businesses. The London Fund will co-invest alongside other venture capital firms, business angels and other MMC funds – and is partly financed by a grant from the European Regional Development Fund, managed in London by the Mayor of London, and SME Wholesale Finance Ltd.

Masabi, a mobile ticketing and agile fare collection business, has secured $2.8 million in funding from Detroit-based Fontinalis Partners, London-based MMC Ventures and existing investor m8 Capital. The company has also opened a New York office and has hired Josh Robin as vice president of strategy and business development for North American operations.

NewVoiceMedia has secured $20 million funding from new investors Highland Capital Partners Europe and MMC Ventures, as well as existing shareholders Notion Capital and Eden Ventures. The business is a provider of cloud contact centre services.

International holiday home exchange website Love Home Swap, Inc. has completed the acquisition of the website of its Canadian competitor 1stHomeExchange, Inc. Love Home Swap closed a follow-on financing round of £800,000 (US$1.3 million) in November, 2012 led by British venture capital firm MMC Ventures.

MMC Ventures has led another 800,000 pounds ($1.3 million) round of investment into Love Home Swap, an international holiday home exchange website founded by serial entrepreneur Debbie Wosskow. Love Home Swap has also appointed David Kelly as chairman and Sean Cornwell as non-executive director.

London-based Knowledgemill, a three-year-old email management company, has raised growth capital from YFM Equity Partners, a venture firm with offices throughout England, and the London-based venture firm MMC Ventures. The exact size of the round is not being disclosed. PRESS RELEASE: London Bridge based KnowledgeMill Ltd today announced significant expansion with growth capital funding from [...]

MMC Ventures has launched a second venture capital fund for young investors. The first fund, raised in 2010, is now fully invested. The second fund is available to investors aged 18-35 with £2,500 to £10,000 to invest. PRESS RELEASE The MMC Ventures (MMC) Growth Generation Fund is the only EIS venture capital fund targeted specifically [...]

UK-based MMC Ventures, a growth company investor, has led an 850,000 pound ($1.33 million) investment round in home-swapping website Love Home Swap. Love Home Swap is an international holiday home exchange website founded by UK serial entrepreneur Debbie Wosskow. It was launched in October 2011 to provide members with the opportunity to swap their homes [...]

MMC Ventures, UK-based growth company investor, has appointed Simon Menashy to its investment team. Menashy joins from Deloitte, where he was a senior consultant in the TMT Strategy practice. He has advised major telecoms and media clients across Europe including the BBC, BT, Thomson Reuters and several cable operators.