ETM Group secures £10m funding package to support growth plans: ETM Group, the 14-strong bar and restaurant company, has secured a £10m funding package from HSBC to support its growth plans. The next site to open will be Maple in Westfield White City this summer, followed by two further openings this financial year. With a strong pipeline of additional sites in place, the group said it plans to expand significantly over the next five years. ETM Group said it had showed it can evolve, reposition concepts, embrace technology and develop in new markets through acquisition while staying relevant to current consumer demand. Co-founder and chief executive Ed Martin said: “We are very excited about the next phase of growth and, with HSBC’s support and financial backing, we will be able to develop and roll out new, innovative, experience-led concepts at a faster rate. Our focused approach to acquisition has already set in motion a platform for scalable expansion as evidenced by Aviary (Finsbury Square) and Greenwood’s (Victoria) first year of successful trading and the encouraging early performance from our new City bar, Broadleaf. This funding package, sourced and arranged by ETM chief financial officer Landen Prescott Brann will allow us to expand more rapidly and we look forward to working with HSBC.” Mark Frettingham, HSBC’s area director in London West End, added: “We’ve been hugely impressed with the rapid growth and strategic acquisitions of ETM to date and can’t wait to see what’s next for this exciting brand. The new £10m deal, led by relationship director Neil Treadaway, will enable ETM to open more locations in London, bringing its passion and expertise in hospitality to even more customers across the capital.”

UberEats appoints Latin American chief to head Deliveroo battle in UK: UberEats has appointed Rodrigo Arevalo to lead its business in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and take on food delivery rivals Deliveroo. Arevalo was previously Uber’s regional general manager for Latin America, Sky News reports. His appointment comes five months after his predecessor, Jambu Palaniappan, resigned to join a venture capital firm. Arevalo’s key markets will include the UK, where the service is available in 40 cities, while UberEats also plans to launch in 100 more cities across the EMEA region where the food delivery market is worth about $28bn a year and growing rapidly. Arevalo oversaw the rapid growth of Uber’s taxi service in Latin America, which has become the company’s biggest and most profitable region. In EMEA, UberEats partners with more than 16,000 restaurants, with growth in orders of 450% in the past 12 months. Uber declined to comment.