LONDON, April 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading growth equity and venture capital firm Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has led a $8 million (GBP5m) financing round for Metaforic, a software company based in Glasgow and California which has developed products to combat piracy and hacker attacks. The funding round was supported by the company's existing investors Pentech Ventures and the Scottish Investment Bank's Scottish Venture Fund. Metaforic will use the funds to expand its international sales and marketing activity. Metaforic, which counts leading international video game manufacturers and enterprise software businesses in its customer base, solves a major headache for these businesses, who lose billions of pounds of revenue each year from piracy and hacker attacks on their products. The company was founded in Glasgow by Andrew McLennan, Neil Stewart, and Linda Mackellar, and has expanded significantly under the leadership of experienced top team of Chairman Bill Krepi

A WEBSITE to help global travellers has received a multi-million- pound funding boost. Capital-based Skyscanner is to receive a GBP 2.5m first-round funding package from venture capital group Scottish Equity Partners.

Gigle Semiconductor, the leading developer of "any wire" multimedia home networking solutions, today announced that it has received $20 million in Series B funding. The round was led by a new investor, SEP. Existing investors, Accel Partners and Pond Venture Partners, also participated.

Leading UK venture capital firm Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has led a $17 million investment in healthcare pioneer Heartscape Technologies, which has launched an innovative and potentially powerful device for the early and accurate diagnosis of heart attacks in emergency room patients.

picoChip, a leading supplier of wireless silicon solutions, has announced that AT&T Corp., a subsidiary of AT&T Inc., has made a strategic investment in the company. The amount of the investment is undisclosed.