The Martlet angel investment vehicle in Cambridge UK is receiving inquiries from cash-hungry business and technology propositions from all around the world and anticipates having invested more than £1 million before the end of its second year of operation.

In a shaky economic climate, where fund raising has become tight and there are decreasing opportunities to exit the market, venture capital firms have become extremely cautious in choosing their investments.

Robotics technology specialists in Cambridge companies and the university have been handed a golden chance by the UK government to clinch significant funding for research.

A new ‘social network’ financial institution BankToTheFuture.com is offering an open, transparent way for entrepreneurs, businesses and investors to raise finance and invest in each other.

Cambridge University entrepreneurs and technology companies associated with the UK’s fountainhead of IP have been handed the chance to grab up to £200k in a fresh funding spree.

Academic groups, technology companies and not-for-profit organisations in Cambridge UK have the chance of applying for new funding in a revised initiative from The Wellcome Trust.

UK entrepreneurs deeply mistrust Venture Capitalists, it emerged in a report launched in Cambridge last night.

A fresh surge of investments is about to be unveiled by Martlet, the Cambridge angel investment group founded nine months ago by UK industrial giant, The Marshall Group.

China surpassed the UK to become the second-largest recipient of venture capital equity financing in 2011.

An intelligent prescription support system, a smart device that ensures valuable samples for clinical trials arrive in peak condition, a drug detection device that uniquely links the specimen to the person, and a method of providing scientific evidence for a new generation of medicines were all presented to angel investors at an event designed to show the technologies and business opportunities emerging from Norwich Research Park.

East of England renewable energy companies – particularly solar plays – have been handed the chance to tilt at a new £40 million Venture Capital Trust launched by Octopus Investments.

Private shareholdings have reached a post-financial crisis high of £237bn following the most sustained period of net buying since the research began over five years ago, and as investors regain appetite for risk.

Springboard Cambridge, the new tech startup accelerator, is working with Business Weekly in a double header designed to raise awareness of the event and boost the commercialisation prospects of the teams involved.

A new £50 million co-investment fund is promising to make investments in Cambridge and East of England companies as well as backing firms on its home territory, Oxford.

Cambridge Enterprise, the university’s commercialisation arm, plans to leverage more software and therapeutic plays – building on traditional strengths in its portfolio – in a bid to roll more spin-outs into the marketplace.

Marshall of Cambridge has re-entered the world of corporate venturing by launching a new angel vehicle to kick-start early-stage companies in Greater Cambridge and East Anglia.