• Education recruitment specialist Operam Education Group has acquired Lancashire-based Bridge Education Recruitment for an undisclosed sum, in a deal supported by growth capital investors BGF. Sharon Bridge, co-founder and director of Bridge Education, which was founded in 2014, will remain with the business. It is the second acquisition by Operam in the last 12 months and continues the management team’s buy-and-build growth strategy, which has seen Operam establish itself as a specialist education recruitment group across the Midlands and the North of England.

• Paysend, a UK-based fintech firm, has announced a partnership with global payroll platform Transformify, enabling businesses to better manage their vendors and international payroll on-demand services. Contractors need to supply their full name and bank card number, and businesses will be able to pay them instantly and directly to their bank cards using Mastercard or Visa rails. Transformify provides B2B employment services including vendor management, temporary staffing, compliance and payroll on-demand services in over 184 countries worldwide.