OpenAI, the San Francisco company behind ChatGPT, is preparing to file confidentially for an initial public offering within weeks, in what would rank as one of the largest flotations the artificial intelligence sector has ever seen and a defining moment in the global technology race.

According to two people familiar with the matter, the ChatGPT maker is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on the paperwork and is monitoring market conditions closely before pulling the trigger. The timing remains fluid, but a filing in the coming weeks could pave the way for a listing as early as September. The news, first reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Bloomberg, sent fresh ripples through a market already braced for a bumper year of technology debuts.

“As part of normal governance, we regularly evaluate a range of strategic options,” an OpenAI spokesperson said. “Our focus remains on execution.”

The most-watched listing in a generation

Few companies have generated as much speculation among bankers, fund managers and policymakers. OpenAI was valued at $730 billion in its most recent private funding round earlier this year, with secondary market trades reportedly pushing the implied valuation closer to $850 billion. A successful listing would dwarf the floats of Facebook, Alibaba and Saudi Aramco in dollar terms and crystallise the AI boom that ChatGPT triggered when it launched in late 2022.

It would also stand as a bellwether for the broader appetite for AI stocks at a moment when revenue multiples across the sector have stretched far beyond historical norms. CNBC reported separately that the company is targeting a public debut in the autumn, with the filing potentially landing within days.

For UK-based investors, founders and SME advisers, the proposed listing carries particular resonance. OpenAI has spent the past 12 months deepening its British footprint, recently signing a long lease on a King’s Cross headquarters as part of plans to more than double its UK workforce. The company has also brought former chancellor George Osborne on board to lead its international Stargate infrastructure programme.

A bumper year for tech mega-floats

OpenAI is not the only Silicon Valley heavyweight queueing up for the public markets. SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite group which has valued itself at more than $1 trillion in recent secondary trades, is widely expected to begin trading as soon as next month. Anthropic, OpenAI’s closest rival in the frontier-model race, has also taken preparatory steps towards a listing.

That trio alone could absorb a meaningful chunk of global IPO capacity in 2026, sucking liquidity away from smaller deals and intensifying competition between New York, London and Hong Kong for blue-chip listings. The implications for the City have not gone unnoticed: Zopa chief executive Jaidev Janardana recently argued that London’s IPO market could thrive as US political instability mounts, with British exchanges working hard to retain growth-stage technology companies.

Musk hurdle cleared, capacity questions remain

OpenAI’s push towards the public markets received a significant boost on Monday, when a federal judge and jury rejected a lawsuit brought by Mr Musk, an OpenAI co-founder turned vocal critic, that had sought to unwind the for-profit structure adopted by the company last year. Had the action succeeded, it would almost certainly have derailed any near-term flotation. With that legal cloud lifted, advisers can press ahead with due diligence and underwriting work.

The company will still need to convince public investors that it can sustain the breakneck infrastructure spending behind frontier models. OpenAI recently inked a $38 billion compute deal with Amazon, on top of multibillion-dollar commitments to AMD and Oracle, raising fresh questions about cash burn, energy availability and the long path to profitability.

What it means for SMEs

For Britain’s small and mid-sized businesses, the significance of an OpenAI IPO extends beyond the share-price headlines. A public OpenAI would be obliged to disclose far more about its commercial pipeline, pricing strategy, enterprise customer base and roadmap than is currently visible — information that procurement teams, technology buyers and competing UK AI start-ups can use to sharpen their own planning. It is also likely to embolden a wave of follow-on listings from smaller AI vendors keen to ride OpenAI’s slipstream, potentially creating new exit routes for British founders and venture capital backers

If the filing arrives on the timetable bankers are now sketching out, the autumn could mark the moment artificial intelligence formally graduated from private-market darling to mainstream public-market asset class. For SME owners weighing their own technology investments, the message is straightforward: the AI economy is about to become a great deal more transparent — and a great deal harder to ignore.

Read more:
OpenAI lines up confidential IPO filing as race for AI listings accelerates

For an SME, the cruellest moment in any growth story is the one when a once-in-a-generation order lands on the desk, and the cash flow simply cannot stretch to fulfil it.

That, until very recently, was the predicament facing Packaging One, the family-run Cheshire manufacturer behind the patented MediaWrap protective packaging used to ship smartphones, laptops and other high-value electronics around the world.

The Middlewich-based firm has now closed a £4 million contract with one of the world’s largest technology companies, after a £700,000 loan from NatWest, guaranteed by UK Export Finance (UKEF) under its General Export Facility, provided the working capital needed to pay suppliers before overseas customer payments landed. Without that bridge, the multi-million-pound order would almost certainly have been turned away.

It is the kind of deal that neatly illustrates why Whitehall has spent the past three years recalibrating its export credit agency around smaller exporters rather than the headline-grabbing defence and infrastructure contracts of old. Referred to UKEF by the Department for Business and Trade, Packaging One was able to access the GEF’s partial government guarantee, typically covering up to 80% of a bank’s exposure, and convert it into the cash buffer the business needed to scale.

A patented product, a global pull

MediaWrap is no ordinary box. The patented and trademarked solution is designed to cradle delicate consumer electronics in transit, and it has won admirers from Silicon Valley to the manufacturing hubs of East Asia. Packaging One has now fulfilled orders across North America, Europe, the Middle East and East Asia, with North American demand in particular driving the latest expansion.

The numbers tell their own story. Turnover stood at £9.4 million in 2025 and the company is targeting £16 million by 2028, a roughly 70 per cent uplift over three years. At least 50 new full-time roles have been added at the Middlewich headquarters, and management is now scoping a manufacturing facility in the United States to shorten supply chains for its largest customer base.

It is a familiar pattern for UKEF-backed exporters. Earlier this year, Northamptonshire’s Pallite secured a £1.6 million UKEF-backed facility to meet global demand for its recyclable warehouse and packaging products, while athleisure brand Vanquish Fitness used a £1 million NatWest trade loan backed by UKEF to push deeper into the United States. The thread that runs through all three deals is the same: ambitious SMEs unable to fund the gap between order and payment, and a government guarantee that turns a “no” from the credit committee into a “yes”.

Why working capital matters more than ever

Cash flow has long been the silent killer of British export ambition. According to UKEF, more than £771 million has now been issued through the GEF scheme, the vast majority of it to SMEs. Yet awareness of the product remains stubbornly patchy, with many founders only stumbling across it through a referral from their bank or a chamber of commerce.

That is something UKEF is working hard to change. The agency has been rolling out faster digital onboarding, expanded eligibility and new SME-focused tools, a strategic shift covered in detail in our recent report on how UKEF is unveiling fresh tools to boost SME global trade. The agency delivered a record £14.5 billion of financing in its last reporting year, supporting more than 667 UK exporters and helping to sustain an estimated 70,000 jobs.

What the principals say

Kevin Ledwith, UKEF’s Export Finance Manager for Cheshire, said the case “shows perfectly why UKEF wants to support more SMEs to grow their exports. By backing them with our General Export Facility, we enable them to win and fulfil orders on the world stage, which means they can continue to sustain local jobs and growth.”

For Emma Chesworth, director at Packaging One, the practical impact has been immediate. “The support from UKEF and NatWest has enabled us to take on bigger orders than we could have managed before,” she said. “This has kickstarted a process: more projects, more people employed, and more local benefits.”

Rhys Lloyd-Jones, trade finance manager at NatWest Group, framed the deal as part of a wider pledge to British SMEs. “Supporting ambitious family businesses to grow internationally is central to NatWest’s commitment to helping the economy thrive,” he said. “By working with UK Export Finance, this funding solution has given Packaging One the confidence and working capital needed to fulfil an ongoing export contract with a major US brand and to expand into new global markets whilst boosting the local economy by creating jobs.”

The transaction forms part of NatWest’s £2 billion export lending package, which sits within the £11 billion UKEF-backed SME lending commitment made by the UK’s five leading banks, a pool of capital that, if properly drawn down, could measurably shift the dial on Britain’s stubborn export performance.

The bigger picture

Packaging One’s story is, in many ways, a microcosm of where Britain’s growth case now sits. The firm has a patented product, demonstrable international demand and a credible plan to double turnover. What it lacked, until UKEF stepped in, was the working capital to back its own success. That is precisely the gap the General Export Facility was designed to plug, and on the evidence of Middlewich, it is starting to do its job.

Read more:
Packaging power: how Cheshire’s Packaging One sealed a £4m export deal with UKEF backing

Britain’s artificial intelligence sector has produced its first heavyweight league table of 2026, with Barclays placing Oxford-founded chip designer Fractile and Google DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs at the centre of its new AI 100 ranking, a list that crystallises just how quickly the UK’s AI economy is maturing.

The bank’s Eagle Labs division, the high-street lender’s start-up incubator network, unveiled the inaugural ranking this week to spotlight the country’s fastest-growing AI businesses. Its publication coincides with what is shaping up to be a record year for the sector, with UK AI companies hoovering up £8.3bn of investment in 2025 alone and cementing London’s status as Europe’s most prolific AI capital.

For Britain’s policymakers, under pressure to deliver on the Prime Minister’s pledge to “mainline AI into the veins” of the economy, the league table arrives at a politically charged moment. For investors, it offers a useful shortlist of the companies global capital is now chasing hardest.

Oxford chip pioneer joins the unicorn club

Few names on the ranking have captured boardroom attention quite like Fractile. The Oxford-founded business, set up in 2022 by former university researcher Walter Goodwin, this week banked a $220m (£165m) Series B led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, with Accel and Factorial Funds joining the cheque.

The round vaults Fractile into the so-called unicorn bracket and underlines a belief among Silicon Valley’s most influential investors that the next great AI bottleneck will not be cleverer algorithms, but the eye-watering cost of running them. Mr Goodwin’s firm is racing to build inference chips that promise to slash the price of deploying AI models at commercial scale, a problem that has come to dominate boardroom conversations from Wall Street to Whitehall.

Industry watchers say the deal is one of the clearest signals yet that British deep-tech, long accused of losing its champions to American buyers, can hold its own on global capital markets. It also lands at a moment when Westminster is leaning heavily on the semiconductor sector to underpin its growth narrative, having earlier expanded backing for chip start-ups through the ChipStart programme.

Isomorphic eyes a pharma revolution

If Fractile represents the picks-and-shovels end of the AI gold rush, Isomorphic Labs sits at the other extreme. The London-based drug-discovery business, spun out of Google DeepMind in 2021 under the stewardship of Sir Demis Hassabis, recently sealed a $2.1bn (£1.57bn) funding round, one of the largest AI raises seen in Europe to date.

The company is using machine learning to accelerate the early-stage development of new medicines, an area where pharmaceutical giants have spent years grappling with stubbornly long timelines and ballooning research budgets. Big Pharma is already paying attention: AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly have inked partnerships, and a maiden in-house drug candidate is expected to enter clinical trials before the end of the year.

For an industry where the average new medicine takes more than a decade and over $2bn to bring to market, the prospect of AI compressing that timeline is no longer theoretical. It is precisely the sort of productivity dividend that researchers at HSBC say could deliver a £105bn revenue uplift to Britain’s mid-sized firms by 2030 if AI adoption keeps pace.

A boom under scrutiny

Yet for all the bullish numbers, Britain’s AI investment surge is not without its sceptics. A recent investigation by the Guardian questioned whether several headline-grabbing pledges promoted by ministers — including data-centre commitments linked to Nvidia-backed groups Nscale and CoreWeave, had been overstated.

The newspaper reported that some projects billed as brand-new infrastructure were in reality expansions of existing facilities. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) rejected the bulk of the claims but conceded it was “not playing an active role in auditing these commitments”.

The episode is symptomatic of a broader credibility test now facing governments worldwide as they trumpet AI as the engine of future growth. The UK has so far announced a £500m Sovereign AI Unit and additional billions of pounds in compute and infrastructure spending, but ministers are increasingly being asked to demonstrate that the eye-catching figures translate into real jobs, factories and tax receipts.

A maturing market

Even so, the trajectory looks unmistakable. With more than £8bn raised across the sector last year, five fresh unicorns minted and at least 67 exits worth a combined £4bn, the British AI ecosystem is no longer trading on potential alone. Smaller players are also benefiting: Eagle Labs’ broader incubator network, which has supported thousands of regional start-ups through schemes such as its £12m regional grant programme, is increasingly being used as a pipeline-builder for the next cohort of AI 100 candidates.

For Barclays itself, the ranking is a useful piece of brand-building among the founders it hopes to bank for years to come. For Britain, it is something rather more consequential, an early glimpse of the companies that may, within a decade, sit alongside the country’s established corporate giants.

As one venture capitalist put it this week: “Five years ago, you’d struggle to name three UK AI businesses worth backing. Today you can’t fit them on a single page.” On the strength of Barclays’ latest list, that problem is unlikely to disappear any time soon.

Read more:
Barclays crowns Fractile and Isomorphic Labs in inaugural AI 100 as Britain’s tech race intensifies

Britain’s artificial intelligence sector pulled in a record £8.3bn of investment last year, as global capital piled into a new generation of British AI companies and London tightened its grip as Europe’s pre-eminent technology hub.

New research from Barclays Eagle Labs found that funding into UK AI businesses surged through 2025 after a sluggish stretch for venture capital markets, fuelled by appetite for firms building everything from the picks-and-shovels infrastructure underpinning generative AI through to specialist legal and financial software.

The numbers underline just how rapidly AI has become one of Britain’s hottest investment narratives, with backers scrambling not to miss the next DeepMind-style breakout. The 2025 total represents a near-trebling on the £2.9bn raised by UK AI firms a year earlier, confirming a step-change in both deal flow and ticket sizes.

London remains squarely at the centre of the action. Almost three quarters of Britain’s AI fintech companies are now headquartered in the capital, according to the report, reflecting the city’s deep pool of engineering talent, financial expertise and proximity to global capital.

Much of the cash has flowed towards businesses thought capable of supplying the plumbing behind the AI boom, the compute power, software platforms and data architecture required to train and run large language models, rather than consumer-facing chatbots and apps. For investors hunting the next category-defining business, Britain increasingly looks like one of the few places outside Silicon Valley credibly producing AI firms with global ambitions.

Crucially, nearly half of all UK AI funding rounds last year came from first-time raises, suggesting a fresh cohort of start-ups is entering the market even as the contest for engineers and capital intensifies.

The Barclays Eagle Labs AI 100 cohort, its annual ranking of Britain’s fastest-growing AI businesses, has collectively raised £11.3bn, generates £734m in annual revenue and now employs more than 8,500 people. Software companies dominate the list, mirroring investor appetite for businesses able to monetise AI tools at speed as corporates rush to bolt automation and generative AI into day-to-day operations.

Abdul Qureshi, head of Barclays Business Banking, said: “The UK has no shortage of world-class AI innovation. The challenge is turning those breakthroughs into sustainable global businesses.”

The funding surge mirrors AI’s growing weight in wider markets. Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable listed company earlier this year as investors backed the firms supplying the silicon behind frontier models, while Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet continue to pour tens of billions into global data centre capacity, including Microsoft’s own £22bn commitment to a UK AI supercomputer build-out. London-listed asset managers and pension funds are coming under mounting pressure to ensure they are not bystanders to the trend.

Westminster, for its part, has moved aggressively to brand Britain as a destination for AI capital. The government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, launched last year and updated in 2026, sits alongside a new Sovereign AI Unit charged with backing home-grown firms and preventing prized intellectual property from drifting overseas before it can scale.

Yet for all London’s dominance, the story is not solely a capital one. The North West’s AI ecosystem has expanded faster than London’s since 2019, the report notes, albeit from a far smaller base, as clusters built around advanced manufacturing and industrial AI begin to take root outside the M25. For SME founders weighing where to plant their flag, that quiet regional rebalancing may prove as significant as the headline £8.3bn.

Read more:
Britain’s AI boom hits record £8.3bn as London cements European tech crown

For most small and medium-sized British exporters, the painful moment is rarely the order itself. It is the phone call a few days later, when the bank politely points out that the working capital required to fulfil it sits stubbornly the wrong side of an agreed credit ceiling. A career-defining contract becomes, almost overnight, a balance-sheet problem.

That is precisely the bind that Masters Speciality Pharma, a 41-year-old Hertfordshire specialist pharmaceutical company, found itself in last year after winning two sizeable orders from Saudi Arabia worth a combined £2.3 million. The remedy, as is increasingly the case for ambitious British SMEs eyeing the Gulf, came from UK Export Finance (UKEF), the government’s export credit agency, which stepped in with insurance cover against the risk of non-payment and gave HSBC UK the confidence to lift its credit thresholds.

The deal is the latest example of how government-backed insurance is quietly underwriting British SME ambition in one of the world’s most lucrative regions, and it lands at a moment when UKEF is leaning harder than ever into the SME exporter agenda.

A 41-year-old elstree exporter that punches above its weight

Founded in 1984 by Dr Zulfikar Masters OBE and based in Elstree, Masters Speciality Pharma is precisely the sort of business that ministers like to wheel out at trade receptions but that the wider public rarely hears about. The company specialises in making hard-to-source medicines available in markets that the big pharmaceutical multinationals often overlook, and now serves more than 75 countries across the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The Saudi contracts in question were not vanity wins. One covered the supply of a treatment for sickle cell disease, a debilitating inherited blood disorder that disproportionately affects patients in the Middle East and Africa. The other was for a specialised antibiotic used to treat life-threatening infections. In both cases, demand was urgent and the procuring authorities expected delivery on terms that demanded substantial up-front cash.

Therein lay the problem. Masters needed to pay its own suppliers well before the Saudi buyers were due to pay it, and the orders themselves were larger than its existing credit facility with HSBC UK. Without additional headroom, the contracts would have been physically impossible to deliver without straining the rest of the business.

How UKEF’s insurance unlocks the bank

The mechanism UKEF deployed is one that more British SMEs will encounter as the agency expands its remit. By insuring HSBC UK against the risk that the Saudi buyers fail to pay, the government effectively de-risked the additional lending the bank needed to provide. With UKEF on the hook for the downside, HSBC was able to raise its credit thresholds and free up the working capital that Masters needed to fulfil the orders, all without disrupting the company’s day-to-day operations.

It is a model UKEF has been deploying with growing frequency. The agency, which now has authority to provide up to £80 billion of support to British exporters, has set out a target of helping UK firms win more than £12.5 billion of new export contracts by 2029, with the Middle East firmly at the centre of that ambition. It forms part of a broader push that has seen UKEF step up support for SME exporters through faster-track products and higher auto-inclusion limits.

Tim Reid, chief executive of UK Export Finance, said the case for backing companies such as Masters extended well beyond GDP arithmetic. “British businesses like Masters Speciality Pharma are doing vital work, not just for the UK economy, but for patients around the world who depend on access to critical medicines. These are exactly the kind of exports we want to support,” he said. “UKEF is open for business, and we will continue to provide insurance and guarantees to UK exporters of all sizes as they take on new opportunities in the Middle East and across the world.”

The ceiling problem every sme exporter knows

For Simon Clarke, chief operating officer at Masters Speciality Pharma, the appeal of the arrangement boiled down to a frustration that is wearily familiar to any SME finance director who has tried to scale internationally. “A problem for SMEs like us is that you can get a certain amount of credit, but when you hit the ceiling you can go no further,” he said. “UKEF’s support made the difference – it meant we could take on these contracts that would otherwise have been beyond our reach or would have stretched working capital to the detriment of the rest of the business.”

That ceiling is one of the most reliable killers of British export ambition, particularly in higher-ticket sectors such as pharmaceuticals, engineering and capital equipment where customers expect long payment terms and suppliers want their money quickly. James Cundy, head of corporate and leveraged finance at HSBC UK, which already banks Masters in several markets, said the partnership with UKEF had allowed the bank to back the customer without flinching. “HSBC supports Masters Speciality Pharma in several markets across the globe. We know customers exporting overseas often struggle with freeing up working capital, so we were delighted to work with UKEF and increase our facilities to allow Masters Speciality Pharma to continue their vital work without disruption,” he said.

Why the middle east, and why now

The Middle East is becoming an ever more strategic plank of UK export policy. Saudi Arabia is the UK’s largest market for healthcare products and medical equipment in the region, and its Vision 2030 reform programme is creating sustained demand for everything from specialist medicines and medical devices to clean energy infrastructure, education services and advanced manufacturing. UK goods and services exports to Saudi Arabia ran into the billions of dollars in 2024, and ministers expect that trajectory to steepen.

For UKEF, the Masters deal is also a useful case study in selling its proposition to British SMEs who often assume export credit agencies are the preserve of defence primes and civil engineering giants. The agency’s recent push has included a £6.5 billion boost for British exporters and a tighter focus on the kind of insurance and guarantee products that suit smaller, faster-growing companies.

The takeaway for finance directors at Britain’s SMEs is straightforward enough. The Gulf contracts are there for the winning, the medicines, machines and services they want are squarely in British wheelhouses, and the working capital problem that has historically killed those wins can, increasingly, be solved with a phone call to UKEF and a sympathetic bank.

For Masters Speciality Pharma, the result is two delivered contracts, patients in Saudi Arabia receiving treatments they urgently need, and a Hertfordshire SME that has demonstrated, once again, that British specialist manufacturing remains very much open for business.

Read more:
Hertfordshire Pharma lands £2.3m Saudi contracts after UKEF steps in to plug working capital gap

In a move that has set the M&A community talking on both sides of the Atlantic, eBay has firmly slammed the door on a $55.5bn (£40.9bn) unsolicited takeover approach from American video games retailer GameStop, branding the bid “neither credible nor attractive”.

The rejection, communicated in a sharply worded letter from eBay’s board to GameStop chief executive Ryan Cohen, will come as little surprise to anyone with a passing acquaintance of the relative scale of the two businesses. GameStop, the bricks-and-mortar gaming chain that found cult status in 2021 as the original “meme stock”, is roughly a quarter of the size of the online auction house it is attempting to swallow, a David-and-Goliath dynamic that City analysts have long viewed as a near-insurmountable hurdle.

In its rebuff, the eBay board cited “uncertainty” over how the deal would be financed, alongside concerns about “the impact of your proposal on eBay’s long-term growth and profitability”. Directors also pointed to “operational risks, and leadership structure of a combined entity”, as well as questions over “GameStop’s governance”, a pointed reference, observers will note, to a company whose share price has historically been driven as much by social media sentiment as by retail fundamentals.

GameStop had attempted to bolster the credibility of its overture with a commitment letter from TD Securities for roughly $20bn of debt financing. Yet that prospective debt pile is precisely what gave eBay’s board, and a chorus of independent analysts, pause for thought. Sucharita Kodali, retail analyst at Forrester, told Business Matters the proposition was hardly “a terribly good offer”, warning that it would saddle the auction giant with GameStop’s borrowings at a moment when eBay is finally finding its feet again.

That recovery is no idle boast. Despite the well-documented competitive squeeze from Amazon, Etsy and, more recently, the Chinese disruptor Temu, eBay posted net profits of $418.4m in 2025, more than treble the $131.3m delivered the year before, even as sales softened. The board insists its turnaround strategy is bearing fruit and is in no mood to surrender the upside to an opportunistic suitor.

Mr Cohen, however, is unlikely to retreat quietly. The GameStop chief, who built his fortune through online pet retailer Chewy before becoming the unofficial figurehead of the meme-stock movement, claimed last week that eBay could be transformed under his stewardship into a credible challenger to Amazon. He has also signalled his willingness to bypass the boardroom and take his proposition directly to eBay’s shareholders, a hostile gambit that would set the stage for one of the more colourful takeover battles of the year.

For Britain’s SME owners watching from across the Atlantic, the saga is more than a transatlantic curiosity. eBay remains a vital sales channel for thousands of small British retailers, many of whom built post-pandemic businesses on its platform. Any prolonged ownership dispute, or a deal that materially loaded the company with debt, could have tangible consequences for the fees, listing policies and seller protections those firms depend on.

For now, eBay’s chairman and chief executive will be hoping the matter ends here. The bookies, and most of Wall Street, are betting it won’t.

Read more:
ebay rebuffs GameStop’s surprise $55.5bn swoop

Roughly 600 staff at OpenAI have walked away with an average of $11 million (£8 million) apiece after cashing out a combined $6.6 billion (£4.8 billion) in shares, in one of the largest single transfers of employee wealth that Silicon Valley has produced.

The secondary share sale, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, allowed early employees of the ChatGPT developer to sell stock to incoming investors rather than wait for an initial public offering. As many as 75 of the lucky group sold the maximum permitted by the company and walked away with $30 million each.

It is a vivid illustration of the concentration of wealth being generated by the artificial intelligence boom and a sharp reminder, for British SME founders watching from the sidelines, of the scale at which the US technology sector now operates. The single payout pool exceeds the entire annual research and development budget of most FTSE 250 companies.

OpenAI requires staff to hold their shares for two years before they can be sold, meaning last year’s deal was the first significant opportunity for early employees to realise their gains since ChatGPT was released to the public in November 2022. The product’s instant global success has driven one of the steepest re-ratings of a private company in corporate history.

The lab founded by Sam Altman and his co-founders was valued at around $1 billion in 2019, when it established a profit-making subsidiary alongside its non-profit parent. By 2023, after Microsoft’s landmark investment shortly following ChatGPT’s launch, the figure had reached $29 billion. The October secondary sale that delivered last year’s payouts valued the company at $500 billion, and a further $122 billion fundraising round completed in March pushed the figure to $852 billion.

An initial public offering, expected in early 2027, could value OpenAI at more than $1 trillion and turn dozens of its earliest employees into multimillionaires several times over. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which now houses his xAI laboratory, and Anthropic, the developer of the Claude chatbot, are both reported to be eyeing public market debuts at comparable valuations.

The scale of the OpenAI payout has not gone unnoticed in the wider technology labour market. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is reported to have offered individual compensation packages worth more than $300 million in an attempt to lure leading AI researchers from rivals. The resulting talent war has pushed salaries for senior machine-learning engineers well into seven figures and is making it increasingly difficult for European start-ups, including British ones, to retain home-grown talent.

The transaction was completed even as concerns about an AI bubble reached a recent peak. Technology stocks suffered a sharp sell-off between September and October last year amid investor unease over the circular financing arrangements between AI laboratories, chipmakers and cloud providers, and over the eye-watering capital expenditure being committed by the largest players. That OpenAI was able to clear a $6.6 billion secondary at a $500 billion valuation in the middle of that wobble underlines the strength of demand from sovereign wealth funds and private investors for exposure to the sector.

The payouts also coincide with an increasingly bitter legal dispute between the company and Mr Musk, an early backer who has sued OpenAI over its conversion from a charitable foundation into a for-profit enterprise. The case, which has been in court for the past fortnight, has produced one of the more eye-popping disclosures of the boom: Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, testified that his stake in the business is worth approximately $30 billion. OpenAI has dismissed the litigation as motivated by jealousy and did not respond to a request for comment on the share sale.

For founders of British growth-stage businesses, the OpenAI numbers serve as both inspiration and warning. They demonstrate the extraordinary value that secondary markets can unlock for employees without the need to list, a route increasingly favoured in Silicon Valley as companies stay private for longer. They also underline the talent and capital headwinds facing any UK firm hoping to compete with the American hyperscalers, where stock-based compensation alone can exceed the lifetime earnings of an entire British R&D team.

Whether the AI boom proves to be a generational technological shift or a richly priced rerun of the dotcom era, the cheques have already cleared.

Read more:
OpenAI mints hundreds of overnight millionaires as staff cash out $6.6bn in share sale

A new specialist finance platform aimed squarely at the UK’s construction and manufacturing sectors has launched in a bid to ease one of the most persistent headaches facing small business owners: getting the bank to say yes.

SME Funded, founded by construction mergers and acquisitions specialist Bradley Lay, has positioned itself as the country’s first genuine one-stop shop for funding in these two capital-hungry industries. The platform combines access to more than 130 lenders with its own deployable capital, promising faster decisions and more flexible terms than the traditional high street route.

The timing is pointed. British SMEs have spent the past two years navigating tighter lending criteria, lengthening approval times and a noticeable retreat from small business banking by the major clearers. The Federation of Small Businesses has repeatedly warned that funding bottlenecks are throttling growth at precisely the moment the country needs it most, while construction insolvencies remain stubbornly high and manufacturers wrestle with input cost volatility.

Lay, who knows the construction sector intimately after helping scale a business from £12 million to more than £150 million in revenue before exiting in 2022, is blunt about the problem he is trying to solve.

“SMEs are the backbone of the UK economy, yet when it comes to finance, they’re often underserved,” he said. “Traditional lenders are slow, restrictive and risk averse. When businesses are growing, they hold them back, and when they’re under pressure, they step away. We built SME Funded to change that. This is about giving business owners real access to capital, quickly, intelligently and without unnecessary barriers.”

The product range is deliberately broad: business loans, asset and equipment finance, bridging and property finance, motor finance and software finance, each structured around the individual borrower rather than slotted into a generic template. The pitch is that working capital, growth funding and trading lifelines should look different for a Midlands precision engineer than they do for a London-based subcontractor, and the platform is built around that distinction.

What separates SME Funded from the broker pack, the company argues, is service. Rather than acting as a matchmaker and walking away, the team takes what it calls a “white-glove” approach, structuring deals, positioning the borrower’s story to lenders and managing the process end to end. A three-step application aims to get business owners from enquiry to funds in days rather than weeks.

The team has already worked with more than 600 UK business owners, an experience base that informs both the platform’s design and its sector focus. A spokesperson for the firm said: “Too many strong businesses are held back by slow processes, rigid criteria and a lack of understanding from traditional lenders. Our role goes beyond simply finding a lender. We structure funding properly, tell the right story and manage the entire process, so our clients can focus on running and growing their business.”

Lay’s pedigree adds weight to the proposition. As co-founder of Peak Capital Group and founder of TrueNorth Capital Group, he has led strategic acquisitions across the UK and European construction markets and has advised more than 100 SME owners on growth, financial strategy and exit planning. Having sat on both sides of the deal table, he understands what lenders actually want to see and where SMEs typically fall short in presenting it.

With the economic outlook still uncertain and high street appetite for SME lending showing few signs of recovery, SME Funded is betting that a sector-specialist, capital-backed platform can carve out meaningful share. If the company delivers on its promise of speed, certainty and proper deal structuring, it may have identified one of the more compelling gaps in Britain’s small business finance market.

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SME funded launches one-stop finance platform to plug funding gap for britain’s builders and manufacturers

Construction is an industry worth $13 trillion globally, yet it remains one of the least profitable on earth. Margins of between 1 and 4 per cent are the norm, and the commercial fate of most projects is sealed long before a single foundation is poured. That uncomfortable truth has just attracted serious capital.

ProcurePro, an Australian-founded software business pitching itself as the first end-to-end procurement platform built specifically for construction, has closed an $11 million (US) funding round led by QIC Ventures, the venture arm of one of Australia’s largest sovereign wealth funds and a substantial infrastructure asset owner in its own right. The round values the six-year-old company at more than $80 million.

Existing backers Airtree and Glitch Capital followed on, and were joined on the cap table by French construction heavyweight Bouygues, which invested through its corporate venture vehicle managed by ISAI. The fresh capital will be funnelled into ProcurePro’s AI roadmap and an ambitious push into the United Kingdom, the Middle East and North America.

The thesis is straightforward, if uncomfortable for an industry not known for its appetite for change. By the time a contractor breaks ground, roughly 80 per cent of project costs have already been committed and the bulk of supply chain risk is baked in. Yet across the sector, that critical procurement stage is still largely run on a patchwork of spreadsheets, email threads and disconnected PDFs — a state of affairs that would be unrecognisable in almost any other industry handling sums of comparable size.

ProcurePro’s response is to pull the full procurement lifecycle, scheduling, tendering, bid analysis and subcontracting, into a single system designed to give commercial teams genuine oversight before pen hits paper. Over the past six years, the platform has been used on 6,000 construction projects worldwide, representing more than $90 billion in build value, and has handled in excess of 200,000 trade packages.

That accumulated dataset is now the company’s strategic moat. It underpins BidLevel AI, ProcurePro’s flagship tool for comparing complex subcontractor quotes, a job that has traditionally swallowed days or even weeks of commercial managers’ time, and which the platform claims to compress into minutes.

Alastair Blenkin, founder and chief executive of ProcurePro, said the raise opens the next chapter of the company’s international growth. “Construction firms are still managing their most critical commercial decisions and millions in spend via out-of-date and untrustworthy spreadsheets,” he said. “The lack of true oversight delays risk identification, which ultimately erodes margins. We built ProcurePro to bring structure, control and certainty to the commercial cockpit of construction firms.”

Blenkin is unsubtle about the prize. “After years of supporting procurement across thousands of projects, we now have a rich foundation of real-world procurement data. This funding allows us to invest further in AI, where we’ll enable construction firms to estimate new project costs backed by their historical purchasing data, rather than someone’s estimate, memory, or a finger in the wind.”

Nick Capell, investment director at QIC Ventures, framed the deal in industrial-policy terms. “Procurement sits upstream of construction spend, yet remains highly manual and weakly governed. It’s a globally relevant problem that remains unsolved,” he said. “With Queensland delivering a once-in-a-generation infrastructure programme ahead of the 2032 Olympics, innovations that improve construction productivity are critical.”

For Bouygues, the appeal is more operational. Marie-Luce Godinot, the group’s senior vice-president for innovation, sustainability and IT, said ProcurePro had already proved itself on live sites. “ProcurePro is one of the first technologies we have seen that brings greater control to the full procurement journey for contractors. It has been deployed successfully on some Bouygues projects, with usage progressively developing across several business units.”

For UK contractors and their SME subcontractor base, the more immediate consequence is staffing. ProcurePro plans to hire 100 people globally over the next two years across product, engineering and go-to-market roles, with its London office among those being scaled alongside Brisbane and Dubai. A first US base is also on the cards.

Whether the platform proves to be the productivity catalyst its backers describe will ultimately be decided on building sites rather than in pitch decks. But after years of construction being singled out as the laggard of the digital economy, the level of conviction now being shown by sovereign wealth, tier-one contractors and specialist venture investors suggests the sector’s spreadsheet era may finally be drawing to a close.

Read more:
ProcurePro lands $11m to drag construction’s $13 trillion supply chain out of the spreadsheet era

Britain’s state-backed economic development bank has thrown its weight behind one of the country’s most enduring venture capital problems, committing an initial £1 million to co-invest with Angel Academe in female-led businesses across the United Kingdom.

The British Business Bank’s capital, announced today, will sit alongside private money raised by Angel Academe and its EIS fund, which is managed in partnership with crowdfunding-turned-fund-manager SyndicateRoom. The vehicle invests exclusively in high-growth companies with at least one female founder, writing cheques at seed and Series A. The first deals under the new arrangement are expected before the end of June.

The headline figure may look modest set against the sums sloshing around the wider venture market, but the symbolism is anything but. Female founders in the UK still receive less than two per cent of all venture capital deployed, a stubborn statistic that has barely shifted in a decade despite a procession of well-meaning initiatives, codes and pledges. Angel Academe was a founding signatory of the Investing in Women Code, and today’s commitment marks one of the more concrete moves yet from a state institution to put taxpayer-backed capital where the rhetoric has long been.

For an Angel Academe portfolio that already includes Béa Fertility, the at-home conception platform, supply chain transparency outfit Provenance and consumer data privacy business Data Wøllet, the British Business Bank’s involvement amounts to a meaningful seal of approval. Institutional money tends to follow institutional money, and the bank’s imprimatur could prove more valuable to the funds’ fundraising efforts than the cheque itself.

Graham Schwikkard, chief executive of SyndicateRoom, was unambiguous about the thesis. “It’s not a lack of talent, it’s a lack of access,” he said. “This £1m isn’t just capital, it’s a signal to the market that female-led businesses are some of the most undervalued assets in the UK right now. We’re looking for the next sector-defining companies that others are simply missing.”

Sarah Turner, who founded Angel Academe and serves as its chief executive, struck a similar note. “We don’t have a pipeline problem; we have a funding problem,” she said. “By partnering with the British Business Bank, we’re able to put more capital into the hands of women who are building the future of healthcare, data, and commerce.”

Nancy Liu, senior investment manager at British Business Bank Investments, framed the commitment in growth terms rather than purely as an equity question. “The gender investment gap isn’t just a matter of equality, it’s also a barrier to potential growth and innovation in the UK,” she said. “Female founders remain significantly underfunded and the British Business Bank aims to unlock potential across the UK by ensuring diverse entrepreneurs have access to finance, including female founders.”

The funding gap is particularly pronounced in technology and healthcare, where ticket sizes are larger and capital intensity higher — and where, perhaps not coincidentally, the dearth of female cheque-writers on the other side of the table has been most loudly criticised. Whether £1 million of public money proves the catalyst for a meaningful shift, or simply another data point in a long-running debate, will depend on what the bank chooses to do next.

The Angel Academe EIS Funds form part of SyndicateRoom’s stable of tax-efficient investment vehicles, which also includes the Carbon13 SEIS Fund, the Access EIS Fund and the SR Carry Back EIS Fund. SyndicateRoom has now deployed capital into more than 200 British businesses since its launch.

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British Business Bank pledges £1m to close gender funding gap through Angel Academe partnership

Christina Ong’s Como Group has emerged as a key shareholder in the lossmaking SL6, the holding company behind The Fat Duck and the Hinds Head, handing the celebrity chef the firepower to expand.

The Singaporean billionaire long credited with turning London’s Bond Street into a luxury catwalk has set her sights on a rather more idiosyncratic British institution: the country kitchen of Heston Blumenthal.

Christina Ong, the 78-year-old fashion mogul and hotelier dubbed the “Queen of Bond Street”, has emerged as the new financial backer of the celebrity chef’s lossmaking restaurant empire. Filings lodged this week show that her family’s Como Group has become a key shareholder with significant control of SL6, the holding company behind Blumenthal’s culinary ventures.

The deal hands the Ong family a foothold in one of British gastronomy’s most distinctive brands and offers the chef the financial muscle to push into new markets. It is understood the cash injection will underpin the expansion of Blumenthal’s award-winning operations, headed by The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant that almost single-handedly placed British “molecular gastronomy” on the world map when it opened in 1995. Blumenthal, 59, also operates the nearby Hinds Head pub close to Maidenhead.

“Como’s international experience in the hospitality sector opens up new doors for what comes next,” Blumenthal said, adding that the partnership would allow the group to “explore new possibilities”.

The investment arrives at a delicate moment for SL6. In its most recent set of accounts, the company conceded it was in talks with potential investors to secure long-term funding “to help overcome the current economic challenges [and] provide a foundation for future growth”. For the 12 months to the end of May 2024, revenues fell to £8.9 million from £9.5 million while pre-tax losses widened to £2.1 million, up from £1.4 million the previous year.

A spokeswoman for the company sought to balance the picture, insisting that demand for reservations across both restaurants remained robust and that the Hinds Head had delivered consistent month-on-month growth over the past 18 months, putting it on course for a record year.

Ong’s arrival comes only weeks after Blumenthal confirmed the closure of Dinner by Heston, his two-Michelin-starred ode to historical British cookery housed within the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge. The London site, which opened in 2011, will shut once the hotel tenancy expires, although a sister Dinner by Heston, opened in 2023 inside the Atlantis The Royal hotel on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, continues to trade.

For Como Group, the deal extends a hospitality and lifestyle empire that already spans 15 countries. Headquartered in Singapore and controlled by the Ong family, it operates 11 restaurants, the bulk of them in its home city, alongside a portfolio of 19 luxury hotels and resorts in markets including London, Italy, France, the Maldives, Bali, Australia and Thailand. The group’s first foray into food and beverage came in 1989, when it opened the Armani Café in London.

Ong herself is a fixture of British retail and luxury. She founded the Club21 fashion boutiques in 1972 and, through Challice, the investment vehicle she runs with her 80-year-old husband Ong Beng Seng, holds a 56 per cent stake in Mulberry, the British leather goods house. Her interests also include a string of fashion franchise stores running brands such as Emporio Armani.

“We see this partnership as the beginning of something very special,” Ong said. “We look forward to supporting that continued evolution of these iconic restaurants, while unlocking new opportunities for thoughtful growth in the years ahead.”

The deal also marks a public reappearance for the Ong family on the corporate stage. Last year, Ong Beng Seng was fined S$23,400 after pleading guilty to a charge linked to a gift scandal involving a former Singaporean government minister. He had faced a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment, but a judge granted “judicial mercy” in light of his poor health.

For Blumenthal, who has spent three decades coaxing Britons into eating snail porridge and bacon-and-egg ice cream, the message to the dining public is more prosaic. With Como’s chequebook now within reach, the chef has the runway to refresh, and quite possibly enlarge, an empire that, for all its critical acclaim, has been struggling to make the books balance.

Read more:
Singapore’s ‘Queen of Bond Street’ takes a seat at Heston Blumenthal’s table

British founders are being urged to think twice before accepting cheques from investors lured by tax breaks, after fresh analysis revealed that companies relying on the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) are overwhelmingly failing to scale.

Antler, the Singapore-headquartered early-stage venture capital firm, has crunched the numbers on more than 40,000 UK funding rounds over the past decade and concluded that the schemes, long held up by successive chancellors as the jewels in the crown of British start-up finance, are doing the opposite of what was intended.

Just 12 per cent of all UK companies raise follow-on capital after their initial round, according to Antler’s research. For those backed exclusively by EIS or SEIS money, the picture is bleaker still: a mere 3.7 per cent ever go on to secure further investment.

Adam French, partner at Antler and a familiar face on the British venture scene, did not mince his words. The schemes, he argued, prioritise “quantity over quality” and fail to provide founders with the strategic backing they need to grow into the kind of businesses that genuinely move the dial.

“If you were an investor in an SEIS fund, you’re primarily excited about the fact that you’re going to get 30 to 50 per cent of your investment back as a tax benefit in your tax return, and you don’t care as much about the outcome of the business that you’re investing in,” Mr French said.

The contrast with conventionally backed start-ups is stark. Where a company secured at least one institutional co-investor or an active angel in its opening round, the proportion going on to raise more capital leapt to 25.7 per cent, almost seven times the rate seen by the tax-relief-only cohort.

“The only way to do a good job in venture capital is to find the companies that go on to be outliers, and the tax-incentivised funds don’t have that mandate,” Mr French added. “They’re not looking to take insane amounts of risk because that’s ultimately what you have to do in venture to make a lot of money.”

The SEIS was introduced in 2012 by then-chancellor George Osborne to turbocharge the flow of capital into Britain’s fledgling start-ups, building on the older EIS, which dates back to 1994. Both offer generous reliefs designed to compensate investors for the considerable risk of backing unproven businesses.

Under current rules, investors can deploy up to £1 million per tax year, rising to £2 million for so-called knowledge-intensive companies that pour resources into research and development. Hold the shares for at least two years and any losses can be offset against income tax, an arrangement that, in effect, allows the Treasury to underwrite a significant chunk of the downside.

For more than a decade the schemes have channelled billions of pounds into the British innovation economy, and they have plenty of defenders in Whitehall and the City. But Antler’s findings will reignite a long-simmering debate about whether tax-led investment is genuinely building the next generation of British scale-ups, or merely creating a cottage industry of tax-efficient portfolios that quietly run aground.

Antler’s analysis did find that companies raising $1 million or more in their opening round were more likely to attract further backing, suggesting that cheque size remains a meaningful signal. But Mr French was emphatic that the calibre of the investor on the cap table mattered more than the headline figure.

His message to founders is blunt. “My advice to founders is to make sure you’re very selective about who you’re taking money from,” he said. “Don’t go for the first capital that lands on your table, make sure you go for the right capital.”

For Britain’s army of seed-stage entrepreneurs, the warning lands at a delicate moment. With venture funding still well below the highs of 2021 and the cost of capital biting across the board, the temptation to grab whatever money is on offer has rarely been greater. Antler’s data suggests that succumbing to that temptation may be the surest route to a dead end.

Read more:
Beware the tax-break brigade: founders warned over EIS and SEIS investors who ‘don’t care about the outcome’

The British Business Bank has committed $20m to Ineffable Intelligence, the London-headquartered artificial intelligence venture, as part of a landmark $1.1bn seed round that ranks as the largest in European history.

In a move that signals a sharpening of the Government’s industrial strategy around frontier technology, the state-owned development bank has co-invested alongside the Sovereign AI Fund, the Treasury-backed vehicle established to keep strategically significant AI businesses anchored on these shores. The Sovereign AI Fund has put in further capital on top of the Bank’s contribution, although the precise figure has not been disclosed.

The British cheques sit within a syndicate that reads like a who’s who of Silicon Valley capital. Sequoia, Lightspeed, NVIDIA, Index Ventures, Google, EQT, Evantic, Flying Fish, DST Global and BOND have all joined the round, lending weight to the argument that Britain remains capable of attracting deep-pocketed foreign investors to its homegrown technology champions despite persistent concerns about the country’s appetite for risk.

Ineffable Intelligence is the brainchild of David Silver, the University College London professor widely regarded as one of the most influential reinforcement learning researchers of his generation. Silver previously ran the reinforcement learning team at Google DeepMind and is credited with pivotal work on AlphaGo, AlphaZero, AlphaFold and AlphaProof, the systems that successively rewrote what machines were thought capable of in domains ranging from board games to protein folding and mathematical reasoning.

His new venture has set itself a deliberately audacious mission: to build what Silver calls a “superlearner”, a system capable of discovering knowledge from its own experience rather than relying on the data humans feed it. If realised, the technology would represent a step change beyond today’s large language models, which remain heavily dependent on training material drawn from the internet.

For the British Business Bank, the investment marks the latest in a steady cadence of AI commitments. The lender has now made nine AI deals over the past twelve months, with recent backing for autonomous driving outfit Wayve and conversational AI specialist PolyAI. The Bank has also been a quietly significant force behind the commercialisation of British academic research, supporting almost a quarter of all university spinout deals struck between 2022 and 2024.

Charlotte Lawrence, managing director of direct equity at the British Business Bank, described Silver as “a generational talent who has consistently been on the cutting edge of AI development“. She added: “Ineffable Intelligence has the potential to produce a paradigm shift in our scientific and technology landscape, and we are incredibly excited to be supporting him and his team in this endeavour.”

George Mills, the Bank’s investment director, said the company was tackling “one of the most significant opportunities within AI”, citing potential applications spanning advanced problem solving and new product development. “The UK produces world-class AI talent, and we are pleased to back strategically important businesses to scale and stay in the UK,” he said, in remarks that will be read as a pointed reminder of the Government’s determination to stem the flow of British intellectual property to American owners.

Josephine Kant, head of ventures at Sovereign AI, was equally bullish. “Very few founders in the world could credibly set out to build a superlearner, a system that discovers new knowledge from its own experience rather than ours. David is one of them,” she said. “From AlphaGo to AlphaZero to AlphaProof, he has spent nearly two decades turning reinforcement learning from a research idea into the results the rest of the field builds on. Ineffable is being built in the UK, and that matters.”

The deal arrives at a delicate moment for British technology policy. Ministers have repeatedly stressed their ambition to position the country as a global hub for safe, sovereign AI development, but they have faced criticism for the relative scarcity of late-stage growth capital available to scaling deep-tech businesses. A seed round of this magnitude, anchored by domestic public capital and topped up by the world’s most prolific venture investors, will be cited by Whitehall as evidence that the strategy is beginning to bear fruit.

For SME founders watching from the sidelines, the headline figures may feel a world away from their own funding realities. Yet the structural shift is significant: the British Business Bank’s growing willingness to write meaningful equity cheques into frontier technology businesses, in concert with private capital, suggests a more interventionist posture that could in time filter down to a broader cohort of high-growth British companies.

Read more:
British Business Bank backs record-breaking Ineffable Intelligence raise as UK doubles down on superintelligence ambitions

A British-backed robotics start-up promising to replace ageing offshore vessels and crews with always-on underwater machines has emerged from stealth with $5m (£3.95m) in pre-seed funding, signalling fresh investor appetite for so-called “physical AI” plays targeting the world’s most stubbornly analogue industries.

Bubble Robotics, founded in 2025 by former engineers from NASA and ETH Zürich, has secured the round from Episode 1 Ventures, Asterion Ventures and Norrsken Evolve, following its incubation through London-based talent investor Entrepreneur First. The company is already sitting on more than $4m of signed letters of intent across offshore wind, subsea infrastructure and maritime security, suggesting commercial pull is running well ahead of the typical pre-seed playbook.

The pitch is straightforward, if ambitious. Today, inspecting an offshore wind turbine, a buried data cable or a section of seabed pipework typically demands a chartered vessel, a specialist crew and a daily bill that can climb to $100,000. According to Bubble’s founders, between 80 and 90 per cent of those costs are tied up in the boat and the people on it, rather than in the inspection itself.

“By removing that dependency, we unlock a step change in cost, safety and operational frequency,” said Jean Crosetti, chief executive and co-founder. “What used to be episodic becomes continuous.”

The plan is to dispense with vessel-based missions altogether and instead deploy fleets of resident autonomous robots that live at sea for months at a time, continuously inspecting, monitoring and gathering data without human intervention. Crosetti likens the model to the satellite constellations that have transformed earth observation over the past decade, only pointed downward into the water column rather than up at the atmosphere.

The timing reflects a wider inflection point. Cheaper edge computing, more capable on-device AI and the rapid expansion of low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity have, between them, made persistent unmanned operations technically feasible in a way they were not even three years ago. The macro pull is equally significant: the offshore energy sector alone is forecast to need an additional 600,000 workers by 2030, a shortfall that no graduate scheme is going to plug in time.

Bubble is selling its capability on a robotics-as-a-service basis, sparing customers the upfront capital expenditure and offshore mobilisation costs that have traditionally locked smaller operators out of high-frequency inspection regimes. Target use cases span the inspection of wind turbine foundations, cables, pipes and subsea structures; benthic mapping, photogrammetry and biofouling monitoring for climate and biodiversity clients; and mine countermeasures, unexploded ordnance detection and continuous surveillance for defence and maritime security buyers.

That last category is increasingly pertinent. Recent incidents involving subsea data cables in the Baltic and North Sea have pushed the security of underwater infrastructure up the agenda for European governments and Nato, exposing how thinly monitored much of it remains. Persistent autonomous systems offer a way to maintain a continuous presence around sensitive assets without committing scarce naval resources.

Alice Bentinck, co-founder of Entrepreneur First, said the founders had stood out from the moment they met at one of the firm’s kick-off weekends. “Patricia and Jean formed a team around a shared belief and complementary skill-set: Patricia with world-class technical credibility in robotics, Jean with unusual commercial instinct and intensity. Their pace of iteration throughout the programme and strong customer obsession make Bubble Robotics a company to watch closely.”

For the wider SME ecosystem, Bubble’s emergence is a useful data point. It suggests that capital is still flowing into deep-tech start-ups with credible commercial traction, even as more speculative AI plays cool, and that the long-promised convergence of robotics, AI and connectivity is finally producing businesses with revenue lines attached, not just demos.

Read more:
Bubble Robotics surfaces from stealth with $5m to build the ocean’s autonomous workforce

A British deep-tech start-up promising to liberate AI-powered businesses from spiralling cloud bills has secured £1 million in pre-seed funding, in a deal that points to one of the most pressing margin headaches facing the SaaS sector.

Loc.ai, a London-based outfit building so-called “off-cloud” AI infrastructure, has closed the round under the leadership of Fuel Ventures, the prolific early-stage investor founded by Mark Pearson. The capital will be used to accelerate go-to-market efforts among SaaS and desktop software companies that are presently bleeding margin to the per-call billing model imposed by hyperscale cloud providers.

The pitch is straightforward, if technically ambitious. Rather than routing every user request through a remote data centre, and paying a fee to the likes of Amazon, Microsoft or Google for each one, Loc.ai shifts the artificial intelligence workload directly onto the customer’s own kit, be that a laptop, a workstation or dedicated edge hardware. The result, the company argues, is faster performance, far stronger data privacy and, crucially for chief financial officers, predictable fixed costs in place of variable cloud fees that scale unhelpfully with user growth.

Co-founder Joseph Ward did not mince words. “For years, we’ve handed control of our most critical AI infrastructure to companies we don’t own and can’t influence,” he said. “Inference costs keep climbing. Services get switched off without warning. Loc.ai exists so that developers, governments and businesses never have to accept those terms again.”

That message is landing at a moment when the economics of generative AI are coming under serious scrutiny. With AI no longer a bolt-on feature but increasingly the product itself, embedded in meeting tools, writing assistants, customer-support platforms and code copilots, every keystroke can trigger a billable event. For fast-growing software firms, the result is a cost curve that climbs in lock-step with usage, eroding the margin economics that have long underpinned the SaaS model.

Loc.ai is also tapping into Britain’s intensifying push for sovereign AI. Sensitive material, from boardroom transcripts to customer conversations, is at present routinely shipped through third-party cloud APIs sitting outside national jurisdiction. By keeping inference on-device, Loc.ai claims to remove that exposure entirely, leaving customers with full control over where their AI runs and where their data resides.

The technology is being made viable by the rapid maturation of consumer hardware. Modern laptops can now comfortably run open-source models in the seven to thirteen billion parameter range, sufficient, the company says, to power the bulk of enterprise and SaaS use cases without ever phoning home.

Loc.ai was selected for the inaugural cohort of the Google for Startups Accelerator 2025, a programme that has given the team early sight of the ultra-efficient models being designed by Google for consumer devices. That access has shaped the company’s road map and, the founders argue, positioned it for the architectures that will define the next decade rather than those dominating today’s headlines.

Ward and his co-founder Saif Al-Ibadi are not first-time operators. The pair previously built a deep-tech business applying generative design to defence and aerospace engineering, and counted the Ministry of Defence among their clients, delivering the UK’s first generatively designed rocket engine and reportedly slashing design times by more than ninety per cent. Their pedigree in resource-constrained AI has already been put to commercial use through a multi-year contract with B2Space, which has deployed Loc.ai’s agents at the edge of space and cut bandwidth costs by a similar margin.

Mark Pearson of Fuel Ventures said the firm was backing a problem that has fast become impossible to ignore. “Loc.ai is tackling a critical, margin-eroding challenge facing SaaS as AI usage scales,” he said. “Their deep-tech expertise and track record in deploying AI in constrained environments position them strongly to deliver sovereign AI at scale. We’re excited to support Joe and Saif as they help companies regain control over their technology and costs.”

For the CTOs, engineering chiefs and founders Loc.ai is courting, the proposition is simple: convert an unpredictable variable cost into a fixed one, regain control of sensitive data, and stop subsidising the hyperscalers’ growth with their own margin. With the pre-seed round now closed, the company is betting that an increasing share of the British software industry is ready to listen.

Read more:
British deep-tech start-up loc.ai raises £1m to break SMEs free from the cloud’s ‘inference tax’

Northern Gritstone, the venture capital firm bankrolling the North of England’s deeptech and life sciences ambitions, has pulled in a further £20 million of ordinary share commitments in the first tranche of a one-year rolling close, with the British Business Bank stepping up as cornerstone investor alongside hedge fund grandee Andrew Law.

The fresh capital takes the Leeds-headquartered firm’s permanent capital base to £382 million, building on the £362 million closed in April 2025. The state-backed British Business Bank has written a £10 million cheque, lifting its total exposure to Northern Gritstone to £40 million and reinforcing its position as the single largest backer of UK venture and venture growth capital funds. Mr Law, chief executive of London hedge fund Caxton Associates, has topped up his own stake, though the firm has not disclosed the size of his latest commitment.

The round marks the opening salvo in a wider fundraising programme that Northern Gritstone intends to run through 2026, a notable show of conviction at a moment when much of the European venture market remains becalmed.

Since launching in May 2022, Northern Gritstone has deployed capital into 51 companies spanning semiconductor design and manufacturing, advanced materials, secure computing, artificial intelligence, healthtech and gene therapies. Many of its portfolio businesses are spinouts from the so-called Northern Arc universities, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, which between them generate close to £800 million in research funding each year, 92 per cent of which is rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

The pitch to investors is that the Northern Arc now sits alongside Oxford, Cambridge and London as the fourth pillar of what the industry has dubbed the UK’s “Technology Diamond” — a geography that Northern Gritstone argues is structurally under-capitalised relative to the quality of its intellectual property pipeline.

For the British Business Bank, the commitment is part of a wider thesis on the spinout economy. Between 2022 and 2024, the Bank backed nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of all university spinout deals in the UK, cementing its role as the default co-investor for funds prepared to turn academic research into commercial businesses.

Lord Jim O’Neill, chairman of Northern Gritstone and the former Goldman Sachs chief economist who coined the “Northern Powerhouse” label while at the Treasury, said the latest vote of confidence would help accelerate the firm’s work across the Northern Arc. “We are very grateful for this further support from the British Business Bank and Andrew Law to continue developing global businesses in the North of England originating from our ‘Northern Arc’ university ecosystem,” he said. “In this way, investors are contributing to future higher value-added activity and the North’s productivity.”

Chief executive Duncan Johnson said the speed of the rolling close underlined the resilience of the regional innovation story. “This strong start to Northern Gritstone’s rolling close in today’s challenging fundraising environment shows the belief in innovation coming from the North of England,” he said. “The region is now an integral part of the UK’s Technology Diamond, and we are proud to support the incredible talent of the North, helping to commercialise groundbreaking research into internationally commercial businesses.”

Christine Hockley, managing director and head of commercial equity funds at the British Business Bank, framed the decision as a deliberate bet on science-led growth. “The UK’s universities are a powerhouse of breakthrough research, and Northern Gritstone plays a vital role in transforming world-class research from the North of England into high-potential, IP-rich businesses,” she said. “Our increased commitment reflects the Bank’s ambition to scale life sciences and deeptech businesses, which are critical to the UK’s future growth.”

With the rolling close now open and further tranches expected over the coming twelve months, Northern Gritstone’s next challenge will be converting institutional interest into the kind of scale-up capital needed to keep Britain’s best Northern spinouts from drifting across the Atlantic in search of later-stage funding.

Read more:
British Business Bank anchors Northern Gritstone’s £20m rolling close as northern deeptech push gathers pace

Jeff Bezos is on the cusp of sealing one of the most eye-watering early-stage fundraisings the artificial intelligence sector has yet produced, with his nascent physical AI laboratory, Project Prometheus, reportedly closing in on a $10bn (£7.9bn) round that would value the venture at $38bn.

The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported on Monday that BlackRock and JPMorgan are among the institutional heavyweights that have signed up to the round, though the transaction has yet to be finalised. BlackRock declined to comment. The fundraising, if completed at the mooted terms, would place Prometheus among the most richly valued early-stage AI businesses on the planet, less than six months after it emerged from stealth.

Launched quietly in November 2025 with $6.2bn of initial backing, Prometheus is chasing a very different thesis to the generative AI giants that have dominated the investment cycle since ChatGPT arrived in late 2022. Rather than training ever-larger language models on the internet’s text and imagery, it is building systems that can reason about the physical world itself, materials, tolerances, processes and the immutable laws of physics. The stated target markets are engineering, manufacturing, aerospace, robotics, drug discovery and logistics automation, sectors where large language models have, so far, made only glancing contact.

Running the show on a day-to-day basis is chief executive Vikram Bajaj, a former Google X scientist and co-founder of Foresite Labs. The lab has swelled to more than 120 staff, poached from the likes of OpenAI, xAI, Meta and DeepMind. Bezos, described as one of the initial backers, has been leading the fundraising alongside Bajaj, and, notably, has taken an operational role in the business. It is the first time the Amazon founder has rolled up his sleeves at a technology company since stepping down from the chief executive’s chair at the group he built in 2021.

The timing is striking. Prometheus’s raise is landing only days after Amazon itself committed up to $25bn of fresh investment in Anthropic, securing in return a $100bn cloud-spending pledge from the Claude-maker, a transaction that underlined quite how dramatically the scale of AI infrastructure deals has shifted. A $10bn round for a six-month-old laboratory would, for perspective, exceed the lifetime fundraising of most AI companies in existence.

Why are institutions the size of BlackRock and JPMorgan prepared to write cheques of that magnitude into an unproven venture? The answer lies in the peculiar economics of physical AI. Unlike the vast quantities of cheap, publicly available text and code that power today’s language models, the data needed to teach a machine how steel fatigues, how a drug molecule binds or how a robotic arm should pick a part is proprietary, scarce and devilishly expensive to gather at scale. That scarcity is itself a moat, and accumulating it early may confer a durable advantage on whichever laboratories manage it first.

For Britain’s small and mid-sized manufacturers, aerospace suppliers and life sciences specialists, many of whom already sit on decades of unique operational data, the emergence of a well-capitalised Bezos-backed laboratory is a development worth watching. If Prometheus delivers on its ambitions, the model for applying AI to the industrial economy will not be built on the back of scraped web pages but on partnerships with the firms that actually make, mend and move things.

That, of course, is a sizeable “if”. Prometheus has yet to publicly demonstrate a product, let alone a commercial deployment, and the lab remains firmly in its early phase. Plenty of sceptics will also point out that the broader AI market is wearing increasingly frothy valuations. Peter Fedoročko, chief technology officer at analytics firm GoodData, takes a measured view. “Yes, AI has a bubble, but the technology is real,” he argues. “When dot-com crashed, the internet didn’t disappear, it became infrastructure. The same thing happens here. The dot-com crash took a decade to recover financially, but the internet reshaped everything during that time. It didn’t wipe out jobs; it transformed them. AI follows the same pattern. Once the hype burns off, the real builders get back to work.”

For Bezos, the calculation is simpler. Having built the world’s largest logistics and cloud empire on the back of an earlier technological wave, he is now betting, in person and in size, that the next one will be written not in pixels and prose, but in physics.

Read more:
Bezos’s physical AI lab Prometheus nears $10bn raise at $38bn valuation

Once feted as one of the most successful pitches ever to grace the Dragons’ Den studio floor, Craft Gin Club is now staring down the barrel of administration, having warned its lenders that the business cannot continue without a sweeping financial restructuring that will strip bondholders of the free gin deliveries they were promised.

The subscription drinks specialist, which dispatches small-batch gins to households the length and breadth of the country, has called in restructuring practitioners at Leonard Curtis to engineer a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA). Under the proposals, roughly £4.2 million of debt would be extinguished in exchange for 18.3 per cent of the company’s equity, according to documents circulated to creditors.

Should the plan fail to secure the support of 75 per cent of voting lenders, directors have made plain that administration is the most likely outcome, an eventuality that would leave bondholders with next to nothing. The board has, the documents state, “reached the conclusion that the company is insolvent and unable to pay its debts as and when they fall due”.

The reversal is a chastening one for a business that, only a few short years ago, was held up as a poster child for Britain’s craft drinks revival. Founded in 2015 by Jon Hulme and John Burke, Craft Gin Club rode the crest of a wave that saw the number of UK distilleries multiply at remarkable speed. The pair walked away from the BBC programme in 2016 with £75,000 from former Red Hot World Buffet boss Sarah Willingham in return for a 12.5 per cent stake.

What followed was a textbook case of capitalising on a moment. The pandemic proved a particular boon: with the nation confined to its sofas, subscription drinks proliferated, and Craft Gin Club was among the most enthusiastic beneficiaries. Plans for a stock market flotation were even mooted in 2021, before being quietly shelved.

The fundraising machine, however, never stopped whirring. A 2019 round brought in £1.5 million, with investors offered a choice between conventional cash bonds carrying 8 per cent annual interest or the now-infamous “gin bonds”, which entitled holders to a regular drop of free product. A £1,666 outlay secured four boxes a year; £2,500 bought six; £5,000 yielded monthly deliveries; and those parting with more than £10,000 received an “exclusive” Black Card promising VIP treatment, complimentary delivery, double loyalty points and an annual bottle of limited-edition gin. A second bond round in 2022 raised £3.1 million, and an equity crowdfunding push the following year added a further £700,000 to the kitty.

It is precisely those gin bonds that now sit at the heart of bondholder discontent. The CVA would bring the perks to an abrupt halt, leaving long-standing supporters of the business with little more than a sliver of equity in a company they had funded with the expectation of receiving regular tipple. “I don’t really want equity. I’d much rather keep my gin,” one bondholder told The Sunday Times, suggesting that the current settlement does scant justice to those who put their own money on the line and that directors ought to surrender more of their own holdings.

The figures tell a sobering tale. Accounts for the year to 31 January 2025 reveal turnover slumped 17 per cent to £15.8 million. Pre-tax losses did narrow, from £1.3 million to £698,730, but Hulme attributed the broader decline to a “challenging macroeconomic climate and a maturing gin market”.

Compounding the commercial headwinds was a protracted skirmish with HM Revenue & Customs, which in 2023 issued a VAT assessment of £5.2 million on the basis that subscription boxes containing items with mixed VAT rates had been incorrectly accounted for. Craft Gin Club ultimately prevailed on appeal, but the two-year stand-off proved, in the company’s own words, a “significant barrier” to securing fresh debt or equity finance, an obstacle from which the balance sheet appears never to have fully recovered.

If the debt-for-equity swap is waved through, management envisages a strategic pivot away from the spirit that built the brand, with rum and ready-to-drink categories earmarked as the new growth engines. The directors profess themselves “confident that the Craft Group will be well-positioned to achieve a return to sustainable growth” once relieved of its debts.

The wider backdrop, however, will give few in the trade reason for cheer. Britons are drinking less than at any point on record, with the cost-of-living squeeze taking a particular toll on premium spirits, the very category in which Craft Gin Club staked its colours. The boom that lifted dozens of artisanal distilleries to prominence has, in many quarters, given way to a far more sober reckoning.

Craft Gin Club, Sarah Willingham and Leonard Curtis were approached for comment.

Read more:
Craft Gin Club teeters on brink as Dragons’ Den darling pleads with bondholders

A London-based fintech determined to drag Britain’s notoriously opaque utilities market into the twenty-first century has closed a £500,000 pre-seed round led by Fuel Ventures, one of the UK’s most active early-stage investors.

Arrival, founded by Harry Hanlon, pitches itself as a one-stop shop for the grimly familiar ritual of moving house. Rather than forcing tenants to juggle separate contracts for electricity, gas, water, broadband, council tax, the TV licence and rent, the platform bundles the lot into a single onboarding flow that, the company claims, takes under three minutes to complete. Independent research cited by the business suggests the average renter currently burns close to half a working day wrestling with the same task.

The proposition lands at a pointed moment for Britain’s private rented sector. There are roughly 4.6 million privately rented households in England alone, and churn is high, meaning the administrative headache repeats itself on an industrial scale every year. Hanlon argues that the incumbent energy and telecoms giants have quietly profited from the chaos, parking movers on default tariffs that can cost them thousands of pounds more than necessary over the course of a tenancy.

Arrival’s consumer-facing product promises to guarantee the cheapest tariff available on each utility and charges a flat £12.99 management fee, a deliberately transparent pricing model designed to contrast with the byzantine billing structures renters have come to expect. On the business-to-business side, the company says it saves letting agents and build-to-rent operators an average of 90 minutes of administrative time per property and offers a managed rent collection service it claims is up to four times cheaper than rival platforms such as OpenRent.

The wider prize is considerable. Rent arrears are estimated to cost UK landlords more than £470 million a year, a figure that has steadily crept upwards as cost-of-living pressures have squeezed household budgets. By consolidating payments and sitting closer to the tenant’s financial plumbing, Arrival is betting it can materially reduce the risk of missed rent for landlords while taking some of the sting out of moving day for renters.

The fresh capital will be used to accelerate growth in the fast-expanding build-to-rent sector, where institutional landlords are increasingly hungry for technology partners that can streamline operations at scale. The hire of Clare Johnson, previously a director at property management group Centrick, is intended to spearhead that push. The founders have set themselves the bullish target of reaching one million units under management by the end of the year.

Hanlon said the current system for managing household utilities was “fundamentally broken and exploitative”, adding that tenants were wasting critical time each month and frequently paying well over the odds simply because default tariffs went unchallenged. He described the funding as crucial to scaling the platform and cementing partnerships in the build-to-rent space.

Mark Pearson, founder of Fuel Ventures, said Arrival was tackling “a clear and costly inefficiency” within the private rental sector and praised the team’s early traction and understanding of both tenant and operator pain points.

For a market long accused of punishing inertia, Arrival’s pitch is disarmingly simple: make switching and setting up the default, not the exception. Whether the platform can convert that promise into the sort of scale its backers are banking on will depend on how quickly it can wire itself into Britain’s rapidly professionalising rental stock, and whether the big six energy suppliers prove willing, or able, to adapt.

Read more:
Arrival secures £500,000 to untangle Britain’s broken utilities market for renters

Some of Britain’s most prominent entrepreneurial voices are pressing the Treasury to introduce a targeted tax incentive designed to keep the proceeds of successful exits circulating within the domestic start-up ecosystem, rather than drifting into passive wealth management or overseas opportunities.

The proposal, which has been dubbed “repeat entrepreneur relief”, would allow founders who sell shares in their companies and reinvest the gains into a new venture within twelve months to defer capital gains tax indefinitely. The liability would only crystallise when the new shares were eventually sold without further reinvestment.

The idea has been put forward in various forms by the Founders Forum Group, Schroders and UK Private Capital as part of a recent Treasury consultation on the tax treatment of entrepreneurs. Each submission makes broadly the same case: that the UK’s tax framework does a reasonable job of supporting businesses as they grow, but does far too little to encourage founders to recycle their capital and experience once they have cashed out.

UK Private Capital, the trade body representing venture capital and private equity firms, argued there is a compelling rationale for aligning tax incentives with the post-exit phase, when founders hold significant capital, possess hard-won operational expertise and face decisions about where to base themselves and where to deploy their money next.

The Founders Forum Group, co-founded by Brent Hoberman and Jonnie Goodwin, drew a comparison with the American Qualified Small Business Stock scheme, under which founders pay no capital gains tax on gains of up to $10 million or ten times their original investment. The group described that exemption as a primary driver of the reinvestment culture that has long defined Silicon Valley, where exit proceeds are routinely funnelled straight back into the next generation of companies.

A survey conducted by the Founders Forum Group found that nearly nine in ten founders said such a measure would make them more likely to reinvest in the UK, with more than seven in ten describing the effect as significant.

The lobbying comes at a sensitive moment for the government’s relationship with the entrepreneurial community. Since taking office, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has progressively increased the rate of business asset disposal relief, the levy formerly known as entrepreneurs’ relief, from its longstanding rate of ten per cent to fourteen per cent last year, then to eighteen per cent from this month. The standard capital gains tax rate remains at twenty-four per cent.

Many founders have argued that the increases make Britain a less attractive place to build and exit a business, though a number of tax analysts have countered that the previous relief was poorly targeted and did relatively little to encourage genuinely productive reinvestment.

The government has sought to balance these changes with fresh incentives at the earlier stages of the company lifecycle. In November, Reeves extended a package of measures making it easier for founders to offer equity to employees and raise capital, provisions that came into force last week.

A Treasury spokesperson pointed to these steps as evidence that the government has the right economic plan in place, highlighting changes to the enterprise management incentive scheme and venture capital tax schemes that are expected to support around £100 million of additional investment annually.

Whether the Treasury is willing to go further and address the post-exit gap that the lobbying groups have identified remains to be seen, but the volume of submissions suggests the argument for repeat entrepreneur relief is gathering serious momentum.

Read more:
Founders push for ‘repeat entrepreneur relief’ to keep exit capital flowing back into UK start-ups

Elon Musk has never been one for convention, and his plans for the SpaceX initial public offering are no exception.

The aerospace-to-artificial intelligence conglomerate is preparing to court retail investors on an unprecedented scale as it targets a valuation of $2tn (£1.5tn) in what would be the largest stock market flotation ever attempted.

In a move that harks back to the great British privatisations of the 1980s, SpaceX has earmarked up to 30 per cent of its shares for non-professional investors rather than reserving the bulk of the offering for the City institutions and Wall Street heavyweights that typically dominate such deals. The company is banking on Musk’s devoted following to help it raise $75bn (£56bn) when it lists later this year.

Details of a summer roadshow emerged this week after SpaceX briefed the 21 banks retained to manage the deal. Analysts from the underwriting syndicate will receive their first formal briefing on 7 June, followed four days later by an event for 1,500 retail investors at a venue yet to be disclosed. Shares will also be offered to investors in the UK, the EU, Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea.

Bret Johnsen, SpaceX’s chief financial officer, is understood to have told the banks that retail participation would be larger than in any previous IPO, describing the company’s individual supporters as people who have been “incredibly supportive of us and of Elon for a long time”. The approach echoes the way Margaret Thatcher’s government sold British Telecom shares directly to ordinary savers in 1984, giving millions their first taste of share ownership.

Industry observers have compared the excitement surrounding the listing to the frenzy that accompanied Google’s debut in 2004. The company’s implied valuation has climbed sharply in recent months, rising from $1.25tn when SpaceX merged with Musk’s artificial intelligence venture xAI in February to $1.75tn a month ago and now $2tn according to Bloomberg.

Whether that figure can be justified remains a matter of heated debate. George Ferguson, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, noted that the only publicly available financial data is top-line revenue, making a precise valuation difficult. He forecast revenues of $20bn for SpaceX this year but cautioned that xAI, which accounts for just $1bn of that figure, is “a laggard in the AI race right now” and represents a significant portion of the overall valuation.

SpaceX generated between $15bn and $16bn in revenue last year, with the satellite broadband service Starlink and US government defence and space contracts providing the lion’s share. A full prospectus is expected in late May, at which point investors will get their first detailed look at the company’s profitability.

Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are leading the fundraising, underscoring the sheer scale of the transaction.

Perhaps the most intriguing element of the investment case is Musk’s pivot from his long-held ambition of colonising Mars to a newer, arguably more commercial vision: datacentres in space. Proponents argue that orbiting facilities powered by a constant supply of solar energy could solve some of the terrestrial power constraints bedevilling the AI industry.

The concept remains untested, however, and the technological hurdles are formidable. Solar radiation, space debris and the sheer difficulty of transporting and assembling datacentre components in orbit all present challenges that would likely require advanced robotic systems not yet in existence. SpaceX’s new Starship rocket, billed as the world’s most powerful launch vehicle, is central to the plan, though a test launch scheduled for this week has been pushed back to mid-May.

Ferguson struck a cautious note. The further away space-based datacentres are from commercial reality, he suggested, the more the concept becomes a drag on valuation rather than a driver of it.

For UK investors tempted by the hype, the message is clear: this will be an IPO unlike anything seen before, but the gap between Musk’s soaring ambitions and proven financial performance remains considerable. As with all things Musk, the potential rewards are vast, but so too are the risks.

Read more:
SpaceX woos the small investor as Musk eyes the biggest flotation in stock market history

A workplace pension provider founded by two cousins has secured £500,000 in funding as it sets out to overhaul a market where the vast majority of employers say they are dissatisfied with their existing arrangements.

Compound, which targets growing businesses with a digitally native pension platform, closed the round with participation from Fuel Ventures and Paul Rippon, co-founder of the digital bank Monzo, who joins as a special adviser.

The timing looks shrewd. Workplace pension contributions across Britain are forecast to reach £480 billion by 2033, yet the sector remains dogged by outdated technology and disengaged savers. Some £50 billion in pension pots have already been lost track of entirely, whilst opt-out rates nationally sit at around ten per cent, climbing to fifteen per cent among millennials and seventeen per cent for Generation Z.

Auto-enrolment has succeeded in bringing millions of workers into pension saving since its introduction, but critics argue that poor user experience and impenetrable jargon mean many employees fail to grasp the tax advantages and long-term growth on offer. Research suggests that ninety-four per cent of companies encounter problems with their pension provider, a statistic that Compound’s founders believe represents a significant commercial opening.

The company, founded by Dan and Richard Klin, has built a platform that integrates directly with accounting and payroll software to reduce the administrative burden on employers. Alongside the business-facing product, Compound offers employees a mobile application with tools to find and consolidate old pension pots, a feature designed to tackle the lost pensions problem head-on.

Early results appear encouraging. Compound reports an employee opt-out rate of just 1.6 per cent, comfortably below the national average and a figure its founders attribute to removing friction from the process.

Richard Klin said the company was built to address what he describes as a fundamentally broken system. He argues that most people who opt out of workplace pensions are not rejecting the concept of saving but rather walking away from platforms they find confusing and untrustworthy.

Dan Klin, meanwhile, is keen to challenge perceptions of pensions as dull. He positions them as among the most powerful wealth-building tools available to ordinary workers, provided the administration is simplified and the engagement improved.

Mark Pearson, managing partner of Fuel Ventures, pointed to the scale of the problem that incumbents such as NEST have struggled to resolve, describing Compound’s product-led approach and sector expertise as well suited to disrupting the space.

Whether Compound can translate a promising pilot into meaningful market share remains to be seen. The workplace pension sector is dominated by large, entrenched players with significant distribution advantages. But with financial anxiety running high across the country and a generation of younger workers demonstrably disengaged from retirement saving, the appetite for a credible challenger has arguably never been greater.

Read more:
Monzo co-founder backs pension start-up Compound in £500,000 raise to shake up workplace savings

The government has announced a £100million package of measures aimed at unlocking private investment for Britain’s entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups, but business leaders have rounded on the plans, warning that established small firms are being forgotten while the broader strategy for enterprise remains “in a muddle.”

Brought into force at the start of the new tax year, the changes expand eligibility for the Enterprise Management Incentives scheme, which allows qualifying companies to offer employees tax-advantaged share options. The package also doubles the amount a company can raise through the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Venture Capital Trusts, both of which offer tax reliefs designed to channel capital towards higher-risk, early-stage businesses that struggle to secure growth funding.

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, said she was “backing business with a more active state” and making “big commitments to industry,” adding that the measures would help wealth creators access the finance critical to their success.

The reception from the business community, however, was notably cool. Critics pointed to the stark contrast between the sums involved and the £25billion a year the Treasury is now raising from employers following its increase to National Insurance contributions.

Katrina Young, a digital transformation strategist at KYC Digital, said the arithmetic does not flatter the policy. The expanded EIS, VCT and EMI reliefs are targeted at companies with gross assets of up to £120million and as many as 500 employees, she noted, leaving out the dental practices, family logistics firms and small bakery chains that employ the bulk of the workforce yet face an additional £900 per employee per year since the NI threshold was cut from £9,100 to £5,000. She pointed to British Chambers of Commerce data showing that 82 per cent of firms expect the NI rise to affect their business, with 58 per cent anticipating reduced recruitment.

The hospitality sector offered a particularly blunt assessment. Jess Magill, co-founder of Devon-based Powderkeg Brewery, said there is little point in throwing money at getting new companies off the ground if they are then taxed out of existence. She argued that what is needed is support for established businesses to survive, warning that popular venues are closing every week and the domino effect on suppliers is worsening.

Colette Mason, an author and AI consultant at London-based Clever Clogs AI, echoed those concerns, describing the £100million as “miserly” when set against the NI rises. She noted that the EMI expansion targets roughly 1,800 scale-up companies over five years, firms already attractive to investors, while the businesses that employ most people are cutting hours, freezing wages and reconsidering whether to hire at all.

Samuel Mather-Holgate, managing director of Swindon-based Mather and Murray Financial, said the government is sending mixed signals at precisely the wrong moment, increasing the amount companies can raise while simultaneously slashing the benefits for investors in those same businesses. The UK, he argued, needs to be incentivising companies both to start and to stay on British soil.

The announcement is likely to intensify the debate over whether the government’s growth agenda is reaching the businesses that need it most, or merely recycling a fraction of what it has already taken.

Read more:
Government’s £100m pledge for innovators dismissed as a drop in the ocean after £25bn National Insurance raid

British Business Bank has invested $20 million into 9fin as part of a $170 million Series C funding round, propelling the London-based firm to unicorn status and reinforcing the UK’s position as a global fintech hub.

The round was led by HarbourVest, with participation from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and existing backers including Redalpine, Highland Europe, Spark Capital and Seedcamp. The British Business Bank’s investment was made in partnership with Redalpine, reflecting its growing focus on supporting later-stage scale-ups.

Founded in 2016, 9fin has built an AI-native intelligence platform designed for professionals operating in credit and debt markets, one of the largest asset classes globally.

The platform aggregates and analyses data that is traditionally fragmented across emails, PDFs and private data rooms, providing users with real-time insights, analytics and document extraction tools. This enables banks, asset managers, law firms and advisors to identify opportunities and manage risk more efficiently within a single interface.

With more than 300 institutional clients worldwide and multiple years of 100 per cent annual recurring revenue growth, 9fin has established itself as a fast-scaling player in financial data and analytics.

The new funding will be used to further develop 9fin’s AI capabilities, expand its proprietary dataset and accelerate growth in the United States, a key market for credit and leveraged finance activity.

Chief executive Steven Hunter said the company’s ambition is to become an essential platform for credit professionals.

“AI will redefine credit markets, but only if it is powered by proprietary data and embedded into how professionals actually work,” he said. “Our goal is to build the only platform they need.”

The investment marks another milestone for the British Business Bank’s equity programmes, which have now supported 27 UK unicorns, representing around 64 per cent of the country’s current billion-dollar startups.

Leandros Kalisperas, the bank’s chief investment officer, said increasing access to late-stage capital is critical to ensuring UK companies can scale while maintaining a domestic base.

“Investments like this help our most innovative businesses realise their commercial potential and compete globally,” he said.

George Mills, investment director at the bank, added that 9fin exemplifies the strength of UK fintech, particularly in applying AI to complex financial markets.

The deal highlights the continued momentum in the UK fintech sector, which remains one of the most dynamic in Europe.

By combining artificial intelligence with large-scale financial datasets, companies like 9fin are reshaping how markets operate, improving transparency, efficiency and decision-making across the credit landscape.

As global demand for data-driven financial tools grows, platforms that can integrate AI with high-quality proprietary data are expected to play an increasingly central role.

For 9fin, achieving unicorn status marks a significant step, but the focus now shifts to scaling internationally and maintaining its growth trajectory in a competitive and rapidly evolving market.

For the UK, the investment underscores the importance of sustained support for high-growth technology firms, ensuring that innovation developed domestically can translate into global success.

Read more:
British Business Bank backs 9fin with $20m as fintech reaches unicorn status

WHOOP has raised $575 million in fresh funding at a $10.1 billion valuation, as it accelerates its ambition to build a global platform for personalised, preventative healthcare powered by artificial intelligence and biometric data.

The Series G round was led by Collaborative Fund and drew participation from a broad mix of institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds and healthcare leaders, including Qatar Investment Authority and Mubadala Investment Company. Strategic backing also came from Abbott and Mayo Clinic, highlighting growing convergence between technology and traditional healthcare systems.

The round also attracted high-profile individual investors from the worlds of sport and entertainment, including Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James and Rory McIlroy, reflecting WHOOP’s strong association with elite performance and wellness.

The investment comes at a time when healthcare systems globally are under increasing strain from rising rates of chronic disease and ageing populations. WHOOP is positioning itself at the forefront of a shift from reactive treatment to preventative, data-driven health management.

Founder and chief executive Will Ahmed said the company is building a platform designed to help individuals monitor, understand and improve their health continuously.

“We are creating a personal health system that enables people to improve both their performance and long-term wellbeing,” he said.

At the core of the platform is continuous biometric monitoring, combined with AI models trained on more than 24 billion hours of physiological data. This allows WHOOP to deliver personalised insights into sleep, recovery, stress and physical performance, as well as early indicators of potential health risks.

WHOOP has experienced strong growth in recent years, with more than 2.5 million members globally and bookings rising 103 per cent in 2025 to reach a $1.1 billion run rate. The company also reported positive operating cash flow during the year, underlining its financial momentum.

The new funding will support further expansion across key international markets, including Europe, the Gulf region, Latin America and Asia, as well as continued growth in the United States.

To support this expansion, WHOOP plans to hire more than 600 additional employees globally, focusing on research, development and product innovation.

The involvement of established healthcare organisations such as Abbott signals a broader shift towards integrating consumer technology with clinical expertise.

By combining wearable technology with advanced analytics, WHOOP aims to provide a more holistic view of health, enabling users to make informed decisions about their lifestyle and potentially prevent serious conditions before they develop.

The platform’s high engagement levels, with users opening the app multiple times per day, highlight the growing demand for real-time health insights that go beyond traditional fitness tracking.

While WHOOP initially gained traction among athletes and high-performance individuals, the company is now targeting a broader audience, including executives, professionals and consumers seeking to optimise both health and productivity.

The focus is increasingly on “healthspan”, the length of time individuals remain healthy and active, rather than simply lifespan.

Cristiano Ronaldo, an investor and ambassador, described the platform as a key tool in managing his own health, reflecting its positioning at the intersection of performance and wellbeing.

The latest funding round reinforces WHOOP’s position as one of the most valuable players in the rapidly expanding digital health sector.

As advances in AI and data analytics continue to reshape healthcare, companies that can combine technology, user engagement and clinical relevance are expected to play a central role in the future of the industry.

For WHOOP, the challenge now is to scale its platform globally while maintaining accuracy, trust and regulatory compliance, transforming wearable data into meaningful, actionable health outcomes at scale.

Read more:
WHOOP raises $575m at $10bn valuation to scale global health platform

Innovate UK has unveiled the winners of its inaugural Agentic AI Pioneers Prize, marking a major step in the government’s ambition to position Britain as a global leader in next-generation artificial intelligence.

The competition, delivered in partnership with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, attracted more than 200 applications from across the UK’s high-growth sectors, highlighting the depth of innovation in areas such as advanced manufacturing, healthcare and the creative industries.

Designed to accelerate the commercialisation of “agentic AI”, systems capable of acting autonomously, collaborating with humans and managing complex workflows, the prize aims to support companies developing real-world applications of the technology.

The top award of £500,000 was granted to Danu Insights for its “Agentic Digital Twin Builder for the Life Sciences” platform.

The technology enables researchers to simulate biological systems and identify the most promising experimental pathways, helping to address growing complexity in drug discovery and biomanufacturing. By integrating modelling, validation and experiment planning into a single system, the platform is designed to reduce costs and accelerate the development of new therapies.

The judges highlighted its potential to deliver faster, more efficient and more sustainable innovation across the life sciences sector.

Two additional awards of £250,000 were presented to companies operating in advanced manufacturing and the creative industries.

In manufacturing, Singular Machine was recognised for CoEngen, a multi-agent engineering platform that coordinates design processes across disciplines using shared data models. The system allows engineers to optimise complex systems more quickly while maintaining traceability and safety standards.

In the creative sector, Tellme was awarded for a solution that delivers real-time, personalised museum experiences via smartphones. The platform enables visitors to interact with exhibits dynamically, receiving tailored information without the need for additional hardware, potentially transforming how audiences engage with cultural spaces.

Agentic AI represents a shift beyond traditional automation, focusing on systems that can take initiative, adapt to changing conditions and collaborate with human users. Applications range from industrial design and regulatory compliance to clinical decision-making and immersive digital experiences.

The competition demonstrated how these capabilities are already being applied to solve practical challenges, rather than remaining confined to theoretical research.

Sara El-Hanfy, head of AI and machine learning at Innovate UK, said the prize is intended to help promising companies move from early-stage innovation to scalable deployment.

“Our ambition is to support the companies set to shape the future of agentic AI and unlock its potential to drive growth across key sectors,” she said.

The initiative forms part of a broader strategy to position the UK at the forefront of AI development, particularly in areas where advanced technologies can deliver economic and societal impact.

By targeting sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare and creative industries, the programme aligns with the government’s industrial strategy priorities, focusing on areas where the UK has both strong research capabilities and commercial potential.

As AI continues to evolve, the emphasis is shifting from experimentation to implementation, with businesses seeking technologies that can deliver measurable productivity gains and competitive advantage.

The Agentic AI Pioneers Prize highlights how UK startups are beginning to translate cutting-edge research into practical solutions, with the potential to reshape industries and drive economic growth.

For Innovate UK, the challenge now is to ensure these early successes translate into scalable businesses capable of competing globally, reinforcing the UK’s position in the rapidly intensifying race for AI leadership.

Read more:
Innovate UK names winners of first Agentic AI pioneers prize

Maven Capital Partners has successfully exited Manchester-based fintech AccessPay following its acquisition by US investment firm Accel-KKR, delivering a 2.5x return for investors in the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund I.

The transaction marks a significant milestone for both AccessPay and the wider Northern fintech ecosystem, underscoring the growing strength of technology businesses outside London and the role of regional investment funds in scaling high-growth companies.

Maven first backed AccessPay in 2018 through the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), investing £1 million to support the company’s expansion. The funding enabled the business to scale operations, invest in talent and accelerate revenue growth at a critical stage in its development.

Since then, AccessPay has grown into a leading provider of bank integration software, connecting corporate finance systems directly to banking networks and enabling automated, structured payment and reconciliation processes.

The platform is now used by more than 1,000 organisations globally, reflecting strong demand for solutions that streamline financial operations and improve data accuracy.

The acquisition by Accel-KKR is expected to support AccessPay’s next phase of growth, including the development of new products and an accelerated acquisition strategy.

The US-based investor specialises in technology businesses and is likely to bring both capital and operational expertise to help expand AccessPay’s presence in international markets and strengthen its enterprise offering.

Anish Kapoor, (pictured) chief executive of AccessPay, said Maven’s early backing had been instrumental in the company’s growth.

“Maven supported us at a key point when we were scaling our market presence, and that foundation has helped us reach over 1,000 customers globally,” he said.

AccessPay’s growth highlights the increasing importance of regional fintech hubs, particularly in Greater Manchester, which contributes more than £1 billion annually to the UK economy.

The company has established itself as one of the fastest-growing fintech businesses outside London, gaining recognition for its innovation in bank connectivity and enterprise payments infrastructure.

Jeremy Thompson, partner at Maven, said the exit reflects the strength of the business built during the investment period.

“This transaction is a testament to the company’s leadership and the solid financial foundation established over the years,” he said.

The deal also illustrates the impact of public-private investment partnerships in supporting early-stage companies.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, backed by the British Business Bank, has played a key role in providing growth capital to businesses across the North of England.

Debbie Sorby of the British Business Bank said the exit demonstrates the value of equity finance in helping companies scale and succeed.

“This is a testament to AccessPay’s success and highlights the strength of the Northern fintech ecosystem,” she said, noting that further support will continue through the next phase of the fund.

For AccessPay, the acquisition represents a transition from scale-up to global expansion, with increased resources to compete in a rapidly evolving financial technology market.

For Maven and its investors, the 2.5x return reinforces the case for backing high-potential regional businesses early and supporting them through to exit.

As demand for digital financial infrastructure continues to grow, deals such as this are likely to become more common, reflecting both the maturity of the UK fintech sector and the increasing global appetite for scalable technology platforms.

Read more:
Maven exits AccessPay in private equity deal delivering 2.5x return

The British Business Bank has invested £8.5 million into Dexory, as part of a wider Series C funding round aimed at accelerating the company’s global expansion and strengthening the UK’s position in advanced logistics technology.

The round was led by Eurazeo, with participation from LTS Growth, Endeavor Catalyst and a strong syndicate of existing investors including Atomico, Lakestar and Elaia. The deal underscores growing investor confidence in AI-driven supply chain solutions at a time when global logistics networks are under increasing pressure.

Dexory has developed a full-stack platform that combines autonomous robotics with artificial intelligence to provide real-time visibility inside warehouses. Its robots continuously scan storage environments, collecting data that feeds into its digital twin platform, DexoryView.

This system allows companies to monitor inventory levels, detect inefficiencies and optimise warehouse space in near real time, a capability that is becoming increasingly critical as supply chains grow more complex and demand for speed and accuracy intensifies.

The platform is powered by a vast and continuously expanding dataset, built from more than a billion warehouse location scans, giving Dexory what investors describe as a significant competitive advantage in the market.

The company is already working with major global logistics and manufacturing players, including GXO, Maersk, DHL and Samsung, as well as clients across sectors such as pharmaceuticals, retail and e-commerce.

Since its previous funding round, Dexory has expanded its footprint across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific, and established its North American headquarters in Nashville, signalling its ambition to become a global leader in warehouse automation and intelligence.

Leandros Kalisperas, chief investment officer at the British Business Bank, said the investment reflects a broader push to ensure high-growth UK technology companies have access to the capital needed to scale internationally.

“The UK consistently produces companies with market-leading technology, which need greater domestic backing to scale globally,” he said. “We are increasing the scale of our co-investing activity to support that growth.”

The investment forms part of the Bank’s wider strategy to deepen capital pools for UK innovation and support the development of globally competitive technology businesses.

Dexory’s proposition sits at the intersection of two major trends: the automation of physical operations and the increasing importance of data-driven decision-making.

By creating a digital twin of warehouse environments, the company enables businesses to move from reactive to predictive operations, identifying issues before they occur and improving efficiency across the supply chain.

George Mills, investment director at the British Business Bank, said the company’s proprietary dataset and AI capabilities position it strongly for future growth.

“They have a first mover advantage in technology that could significantly improve logistics and supply chains, which underpin global trade,” he said.

Chief executive Andrei Danescu said the new funding will be used to accelerate product development and expand the company’s reach into new markets and sectors.

“Our focus has always been on delivering tangible value through real-time visibility,” he said. “This investment enables us to advance our technology and support more organisations in building smarter, more resilient supply chains.”

As global trade becomes more complex and the cost of inefficiency rises, demand for real-time operational intelligence is expected to grow rapidly.

Dexory’s combination of robotics, AI and large-scale data positions it at the forefront of this shift, as companies seek to modernise infrastructure and improve resilience in an increasingly uncertain environment.

For the UK, the investment highlights the strategic importance of backing deep-tech companies capable of competing on a global stage, and the role of public-private partnerships in turning innovation into commercial success.

Read more:
British Business Bank backs Dexory with £8.5m to scale AI warehouse tech

A UK-based start-up is bringing Mickey Mouse and other iconic characters to smartphones after striking a major content deal with The Walt Disney Company, in a bid to reverse declining reading habits among children.

London-founded Comixit has secured rights to adapt more than 100 titles across Disney, Pixar and 20th Century Studios into digital comic strips known as webtoons, a fast-growing format designed specifically for mobile consumption.

The agreement will see globally recognised franchises including Frozen, Ice Age and Moana reimagined as vertically scrolling, episodic comics tailored to younger audiences. The company has already partnered with the The Beano, signalling early traction in the children’s content space.

Comixit was founded in 2025 by entertainment executive Michael Nakan, who said the platform is designed to meet children “where they already are”, on their phones, while turning screen time into a more constructive activity.

“Disney has shaped imaginations for generations,” he said. “Bringing its characters into a modern, mobile-first format allows us to make reading engaging again.”

Webtoons, which originated in South Korea in the early 2000s, are structured for vertical scrolling, allowing users to move through stories frame by frame on a smartphone. The format blends visual storytelling with concise text, making it particularly accessible for younger readers and those less inclined towards traditional books.

Nakan said the idea for Comixit was sparked by declining literacy engagement among children, citing research that suggests only one in three young people aged eight to 18 now enjoy reading in their free time.

The start-up is entering a rapidly expanding market. Industry estimates put the global webtoon sector at around $9 billion in 2024, with projections suggesting it could grow to nearly $100 billion by 2033, potentially surpassing the scale of Japan’s manga industry.

By combining globally recognised intellectual property with a format optimised for mobile devices, Comixit is aiming to capture a share of this growth while addressing a broader cultural challenge around reading and engagement.

The platform uses artificial intelligence to convert traditional comic formats into webtoon-style content, but the company emphasises that all material is reviewed by human editors to ensure quality, accuracy and age-appropriate standards.

Unlike many digital platforms targeting younger audiences, Comixit has deliberately avoided social features such as comments, instead focusing on a curated and moderated environment designed to be safe for children.

The company is also developing tools that will allow users to create their own stories, adding an interactive dimension to the platform and encouraging creativity alongside consumption.

Comixit has attracted backing from prominent figures in film and media, including Harry Potter producer David Barron and Peaky Blinders producer Caryn Mandabach, as well as investor Magnus Rausing.

Nakan’s own background spans both film and television, with experience working alongside director Joe Wright and contributing to major productions such as Game of Thrones and House of Cards during his time at HBO.

The app is already available across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with plans to expand into the United States, a key market for both digital content and children’s entertainment.

At its core, Comixit’s strategy reflects a broader shift in how content is consumed and how literacy can be supported in a digital-first world.

By leveraging familiar characters and immersive storytelling, the company is attempting to bridge the gap between entertainment and education, encouraging children to engage with narratives in a format that feels native to their everyday habits.

As traditional reading faces increasing competition from digital media, initiatives like this suggest the future of literacy may lie not in resisting screen time, but in reimagining it.

Read more:
British start-up Comixit lands Disney deal to bring Mickey Mouse to mobile

Climate tech firm Zevero has secured $7 million in new funding as global demand for robust carbon data and ESG reporting continues to accelerate.

The latest investment, which brings the company’s total funding to $14 million, includes backing from Spiral Capital, Gazelle Capital and Deep 30. It follows a period of rapid expansion, with Zevero reporting 400% year-on-year growth in annual recurring revenue and a doubling of its customer base.

The company has also strengthened its offering through the recent acquisition of sustainability advisory firm Inhabit, enabling it to move beyond emissions tracking into active decarbonisation support for clients.

Zevero’s platform uses artificial intelligence to automate the collection and calculation of emissions data across Scope 1, 2 and 3 — the three key categories used to measure an organisation’s carbon footprint.

By building a continuous, reusable dataset, the platform allows companies to integrate sustainability metrics into core business functions such as product design, procurement and investment planning, rather than treating them as standalone reporting exercises.

Chief executive Shigeo Taniuchi said the shift reflects a broader transformation in how organisations approach sustainability.

“Businesses are increasingly being asked to manage sustainability the way they manage finance,” he said. “Yet many are still treating it as an annual project rather than a continuous system. Our goal is to make climate data actionable, reliable and embedded in decision-making.”

The funding comes amid tightening global regulatory requirements around climate disclosure. Frameworks such as the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards and Japan’s SSBJ standards are pushing companies to apply the same level of rigour to environmental reporting as they do to financial accounts.

This shift is increasing demand for platforms capable of delivering auditable, real-time data, particularly as supply chain transparency and carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM) begin to affect international trade.

George Wade, co-founder and chief commercial officer, said carbon data is rapidly becoming a strategic input rather than a compliance obligation.

“Organisations don’t just need software to collect the data, they need guidance to turn it into something the business can act on,” he said.

The new funding will be used to accelerate product development and support Zevero’s international expansion, particularly across Asia-Pacific and continental Europe, where regulatory and commercial pressures are intensifying.

The company is already working with major organisations including Asahi Group and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, as well as a growing number of clients in manufacturing, FMCG and consumer sectors.

Investors say the company’s combination of technology and embedded expertise gives it a strong position in a market that is becoming increasingly crowded but also more critical to business operations.

Spiral Capital’s Tomokazu Okuno said the platform addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing organisations today, gaining visibility into emissions and acting on that insight.

The investment highlights a broader trend in climate technology, where funding is increasingly flowing towards solutions that deliver measurable operational value rather than purely compliance-focused tools.

As businesses navigate the transition to a low-carbon economy, the ability to track, verify and act on emissions data is becoming a core capability.

For Zevero, the next phase will be scaling its platform globally while maintaining the balance between automation and expert insight, a combination it believes is essential to turning climate data into meaningful action.

With regulatory demands rising and investor scrutiny intensifying, platforms that can bridge the gap between reporting and real-world impact are likely to play a central role in the next stage of the sustainability transition.

Read more:
Zevero raises $7m as demand for carbon data platforms accelerates globally

Oxford spinout Stateful Robotics has raised $4.8 million in pre-seed funding as it looks to solve one of the most persistent challenges in robotics: enabling machines to operate reliably over extended periods in unpredictable real-world environments.

The round was led by Amadeus Capital Partners and Oxford Science Enterprises, with additional backing from serial entrepreneur Stan Boland, founder of autonomous vehicle company Five.

The funding will be used to accelerate deployment of Stateful’s platform, which introduces a new layer of “long-horizon intelligence” — allowing robots to remember past events, adapt to changing conditions and plan tasks over hours or days rather than moments.

While recent advances in large language models and foundation AI systems have significantly improved robots’ ability to perceive and interpret their surroundings, most systems still struggle when environments change.

Unexpected obstacles, shifting lighting conditions or operational disruptions can quickly derail robotic systems that lack the ability to learn from past experiences.

Stateful Robotics aims to address this limitation by building what it describes as a persistent, evolving model of each deployment environment. By continuously integrating data on tasks, performance and historical outcomes, the platform allows robots to anticipate challenges and adapt in real time.

Professor Nick Hawes, co-founder and chief scientist, said traditional systems treat each decision in isolation.

“Stateless systems cannot remember previous incidents or how work actually flows through a site,” he said. “Our platform builds a shared model of tasks and environments that enables robots to adapt to disruption and complete missions safely without constant supervision.”

The company was co-founded by chief executive Kirsty Lloyd-Jukes, previously CEO of Latent Logic, an Oxford spinout acquired by Waymo, alongside leading academic researchers including Professor Nick Hawes, Professor David Parker and Dr Bruno Lacerda.

Their work builds on more than a decade of research at the University of Oxford in areas such as autonomy, decision-making under uncertainty and probabilistic verification.

Lloyd-Jukes said the key challenge facing robotics is not immediate decision-making, but longer-term planning.

“Most robots are good at ‘what now’, but fail at ‘what next’, especially when ‘next’ spans hours or days,” she said. “By maintaining a live model of each deployment, we ensure robots perform reliably and consistently across complex environments.”

Investors believe the technology could help unlock large-scale commercial adoption of robotics across sectors such as logistics, infrastructure, energy and healthcare.

Dr Manjari Chandran-Ramesh of Amadeus Capital said the evolution of robotics, from static industrial arms to mobile systems operating in human environments, requires a new form of intelligence capable of reasoning over time and context.

Similarly, Oxford Science Enterprises highlighted what it sees as a critical bottleneck in the industry: the inability of current systems to handle long-term planning and operational complexity.

Stateful Robotics is already working with pilot customers in sectors including logistics and infrastructure, where reliability and safety are critical to scaling automation.

The new funding will support expansion of its engineering team, further development of its performance engine and broader commercial rollout with industrial partners.

The spinout also reflects the continued strength of the UK’s deep-tech ecosystem, with Oxford University Innovation playing a key role in supporting the company’s formation and early development.

As robotics hardware becomes increasingly mature, attention is shifting to the software and intelligence layers required to make systems truly autonomous.

Stateful Robotics is betting that solving the “memory and planning” problem will be the key to turning promising prototypes into dependable, large-scale solutions, and, in doing so, unlocking the next phase of the automation revolution.

Read more:
Oxford spinout Stateful robotics raises $4.8m to tackle real-world AI for robots

French consumer goods giant Danone has agreed to acquire UK-based nutrition brand Huel in a deal valued at around €1 billion (£870 million), marking a major move into the fast-growing functional nutrition market.

The acquisition will deliver a significant windfall for Huel’s founder Julian Hearn, as well as investors including Idris Elba and Jonathan Ross, who backed the company during its rapid growth phase.

Founded in 2015 by Hearn and nutritionist James Collier, Huel, short for “human fuel”, began as a direct-to-consumer brand selling plant-based powdered meals online. It has since expanded into snack bars and ready-to-drink products and is now stocked in more than 25,000 retail locations globally.

Chief executive James McMaster said the deal represents a pivotal moment for the business, positioning it for accelerated international expansion.

“With Danone, we will now have the infrastructure, distribution and R&D capability to go further, into new markets and to more people,” he said, pointing to growing global demand for convenient, nutritionally complete food.

The acquisition reflects Danone’s strategic push into the “functional nutrition” segment, a rapidly expanding category driven by consumer interest in health, wellness and personalised diets.

Products designed to support gut health, weight management and overall wellbeing have seen strong demand in recent years, with Huel benefiting from trends including the rise of time-poor consumers seeking convenient meal alternatives and the increasing use of GLP-1 weight-loss medications.

Danone, which owns brands such as Evian and Activia, is seeking to strengthen its position in this space as competition intensifies among global food and beverage companies.

Huel has demonstrated consistent growth, reporting pre-tax profits of £13.8 million on revenues of £214 million in 2024. The company, headquartered in Tring, Hertfordshire, employs around 300 people and has built a loyal customer base across Europe and North America.

Its rise has been supported by a strong digital marketing strategy and high-profile endorsements. Among its supporters is Steven Bartlett, who previously served as a director before stepping down last month.

For Hearn, the deal marks a second major entrepreneurial success following the sale of his earlier venture, Mash Up Media, to a US buyer in 2011. Despite achieving financial independence at a relatively young age, he chose to pivot into the health and nutrition sector, building Huel into one of the UK’s most recognisable challenger brands.

The acquisition now provides the scale and resources needed to compete globally, particularly in markets where distribution and regulatory complexity can act as barriers to growth.

Shares in Danone edged slightly lower in early trading following the announcement, reflecting investor caution over valuation and integration risks. Analysts have previously noted that Huel’s strong brand and growth potential may justify a premium, particularly given its asset-light, direct-to-consumer origins.

The deal also underscores the increasing value placed on digitally native food brands, which have been able to build direct relationships with consumers and respond quickly to evolving dietary trends.

The transaction highlights a broader wave of consolidation in the global nutrition and wellness market, as established players seek to acquire fast-growing disruptors rather than build new brands from scratch.

For Danone, the acquisition of Huel represents both a defensive and offensive move — strengthening its portfolio while positioning itself to capture a larger share of a market expected to expand significantly over the coming decade.

For Huel, the challenge now will be to scale globally without losing the brand identity and agility that underpinned its success — a balance that will define the next phase of its growth journey.

Read more:
Danone to acquire Huel in €1bn deal as functional nutrition market heats up

Innovate UK is set to overhaul its funding strategy, shifting away from broad-based support for hundreds of thousands of “innovators” each year to concentrate its £1.1 billion budget on a smaller pool of high-potential companies.

The government’s innovation agency said the move is designed to accelerate the growth of early-stage technology firms capable of scaling into globally competitive businesses, with ambitions to create more UK success stories on the scale of chip designer Arm.

The strategic pivot marks a significant departure from Innovate UK’s previous ambition to support “a million innovators” annually. While the agency reached around 450,000 individuals in 2024, only a small proportion received direct financial backing, prompting concerns that resources were being spread too thinly to deliver meaningful economic impact.

Tom Adeyoola, who took over as executive chair last year, said the shift reflects a more targeted approach focused on outcomes rather than volume.

“It is a shift from a focus on quantity and funding projects to supporting companies and ensuring that they realise their potential,” he said. “We want to help businesses move from breakthrough ideas to becoming industry leaders that drive economic growth.”

Under the new strategy, Innovate UK will scale back or eliminate several longstanding grant schemes, including the widely used Smart Grants programme, which Adeyoola described as too broad due to its “stage agnostic” and “sector agnostic” design.

In its place, the agency will introduce more tightly defined funding streams aligned to specific sectors and stages of business growth. Programmes such as Women in Innovation will also be refocused to support female-led firms with high-growth potential rather than providing generalised support.

The agency has identified six priority sectors from the government’s industrial strategy where it believes the UK has a “genuine right to win”. These include advanced manufacturing, life sciences and digital technologies — spanning areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum computing.

At the same time, Innovate UK is launching a new concierge-style support service, “Velocity”, aimed at helping selected companies navigate funding, regulation and commercialisation challenges more effectively.

A key pillar of the revised approach will be the expansion of targeted funding initiatives such as the £100 million Growth Catalyst scheme, which provides grants covering up to 70 per cent of early-stage project costs and up to 45 per cent for larger research and development programmes.

The agency will also refocus its Business Growth advisory service and more closely align its network of Catapult centres, applied innovation hubs, with the needs of specific companies rather than broader sector engagement.

Adeyoola said Innovate UK would play a more active role in identifying market demand and matching it with emerging technologies, effectively acting as a bridge between research, entrepreneurship and commercial opportunity.

“We will spend more time identifying where demand exists and then supporting the entrepreneurs and academics best placed to meet that demand,” he said.

Central to the strategy is a renewed emphasis on leveraging private investment. Innovate UK believes that its technical validation and endorsement can act as a signal to investors, reducing risk and unlocking additional capital for high-growth firms.

“A key measure of success over my four-year period will be the amount of private capital flowing into companies coming through our system,” Adeyoola said.

To support this, the agency plans to strengthen links with major public finance institutions including the British Business Bank and the National Wealth Fund, while continuing to deliver approximately £1 billion of innovation programmes on behalf of other government departments.

While the new approach is designed to create globally competitive businesses, it raises questions about access to support for smaller or earlier-stage innovators who may fall outside the new criteria.

Innovate UK argues that concentrating resources will ultimately deliver greater economic returns, helping the UK compete more effectively in critical technologies and strengthen its position in an increasingly competitive global innovation landscape.

The strategy signals a clear shift in government thinking, from fostering widespread participation in innovation to backing fewer, more scalable companies capable of delivering outsized growth and long-term economic impact.

Read more:
Innovate UK pivots funding to back high-growth firms and future ‘industry giants’

Electric vessel manufacturer Candela has secured €30 million in fresh funding as soaring global fuel prices and growing pressure to decarbonise transport accelerate demand for next-generation maritime solutions.

The funding round, the company’s largest to date, brings total capital raised to €129 million and cements Candela’s position as the best-funded electric vessel manufacturer globally. The round was backed by existing investors including EQT Ventures, SEB Private Equity, KanDela AB and Ocean Zero LLC, alongside a new €8 million investment from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group.

The capital injection will be used to finance a second manufacturing facility in Poland, enabling Candela to scale production of its hydrofoiling P-12 ferries and meet rapidly growing international demand.

The raise comes at a pivotal moment for the maritime sector, as volatile oil markets and rising fuel costs reshape the economics of waterborne transport. Investors are increasingly backing technologies that not only reduce emissions but also offer a clear cost advantage over traditional diesel-powered vessels.

Candela’s P-12 ferry represents a significant technological shift in this direction. Recently named one of TIME magazine’s most important inventions of 2025, it is the world’s first electric hydrofoil ferry operating in scheduled commuter service. The vessel uses a proprietary computer-controlled hydrofoil system that lifts it above the water’s surface, dramatically reducing drag and cutting energy consumption by up to 80 per cent compared with conventional ships.

The result is not only zero-emission travel, but also faster journey times and lower operating costs, a combination that is proving increasingly attractive to city transport authorities and private operators alike.

Founder and chief executive Gustav Hasselskog said the technology effectively creates an entirely new category of vessel, challenging centuries-old maritime design principles. By reducing reliance on fossil fuels and improving efficiency, he argued, the platform allows cities to unlock the full potential of their waterways without being constrained by high fuel costs.

The commercial viability of the model has already been demonstrated in Nordic markets, where the P-12 has been deployed in public transport systems across Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo and Trondheim. Early results show significantly reduced travel times and operating costs, alongside strong technical performance.

With serial production now underway and first customer deliveries beginning this month, Candela has built a growing order book of more than 65 vessels. From 2026, the company plans to expand into a range of international markets, including India, where a fleet of ten ferries is expected to cut travel times between Navi Mumbai Airport and the city centre from around two hours to just 35 minutes.

Further deployments are planned in the Maldives, Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project, Thailand and other regions, reflecting what the company describes as a global shift towards efficient, low-emission water transport.

Central to Candela’s growth strategy is its move away from traditional one-off shipbuilding towards scalable, platform-based manufacturing using advanced carbon-fibre construction. This approach allows the company to deliver high-performance vessels at a more competitive price point, addressing one of the key barriers to adoption in the maritime sector.

The involvement of the IFC also signals increasing institutional interest in sustainable transport solutions, particularly in emerging markets where infrastructure constraints and rising fuel costs present acute challenges.

Farid Fezoua, IFC Director for Equity, Funds and Venture Capital, said the investment reflects a broader push to accelerate the adoption of innovative mobility solutions while mobilising private capital and supporting job creation.

Meanwhile, investors highlighted the shifting macroeconomic backdrop as a key driver of the deal. Rising oil prices, exacerbated by geopolitical instability, are making traditional shipping models more expensive to operate, strengthening the case for electric alternatives.

EQT Ventures’ Marnix van der Ploeg noted that hydrofoil technology fundamentally alters cost dynamics, making electric vessels not just environmentally preferable but commercially superior in many cases.

Despite a broader slowdown in climate-tech investment globally, Candela’s successful raise underscores a growing distinction in the sector: technologies that can compete on cost and performance are continuing to attract capital, even as funding for more speculative or subsidy-dependent projects declines.

As global transport systems come under increasing pressure from both economic and environmental factors, Candela’s expansion signals that the maritime sector, long considered slow to innovate, may be entering a period of accelerated transformation.

Read more:
Candela raises €30m as electric ferries gain momentum amid fuel price surge

Virgin StartUp has announced a new £20 million funding pot to support UK entrepreneurs in the coming financial year, marking the organisation’s largest annual allocation since partnering with the British Business Bank in 2013.

The funding will be made available between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027 through the government-backed Start Up Loans programme and is designed to widen access to early-stage finance for aspiring founders across the UK.

The announcement also marks a significant milestone for Virgin StartUp, which has now distributed more than £100 million in Start Up Loans funding since the partnership began more than a decade ago. Over that period the not-for-profit organisation has supported more than 6,500 entrepreneurs to launch and grow businesses across a wide range of sectors.

Businesses that received early backing through the programme include well-known consumer brands and technology ventures such as sportswear label Castore, ethical skincare company Upcircle, drinks brand DASH Water, AI fitness scale-up Magic AI and sustainable food subscription service Oddbox.

According to Virgin StartUp, the loans delivered through its programme have generated an estimated £550 million in economic value for the UK, equating to a return of £5.50 for every £1 invested.

The organisation also reports that 69 per cent of businesses supported through its Start Up Loans funding remain trading after five years, significantly higher than the national average of 43 per cent, suggesting founders who access the programme are around 60 per cent more likely to survive their early years in business.

Andy Fishburn MBE, managing director at Virgin StartUp, said the new funding would allow the organisation to back more founders at a time when early-stage capital has become increasingly difficult to secure.

“With over £20 million in Start Up Loan funding to deploy this year, we’ll be supporting and funding more founders than ever before,” he said. “Early-stage funding has never been harder to come by, so this investment will help entrepreneurs turn bold ideas into sustainable businesses at a critical moment for the UK economy.”

Fishburn added that the programme is open to individuals launching their first business, developing side ventures or growing young companies that have been trading for up to five years.

Beyond financial support, entrepreneurs receiving loans are also paired with dedicated business advisers who guide them through the application process and provide mentoring during the first year after funding.

Participants also gain access to Virgin StartUp’s wider entrepreneurial network, which offers mentoring, peer support, training opportunities and industry events designed to help founders build and scale their businesses.

The programme has also placed a strong emphasis on improving access to entrepreneurship for underrepresented groups. In 2019 Virgin StartUp launched a 50/50 pledge committing to fund equal numbers of male and female founders.

Since that pledge was introduced, women have accounted for 46 per cent of successful funding recipients through the programme. Over the past six months, female founders have made up exactly half of all successful applicants.

Louise McCoy, managing director of Start Up Loans products at the British Business Bank, said the partnership with Virgin StartUp continues to play an important role in supporting the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“We are delighted with the success Virgin StartUp continues to achieve as a partner of the Start Up Loans programme,” she said. “Their commitment to supporting an equal number of male and female founders aligns closely with our own objectives.

“Together we are helping thousands of businesses across the UK access the affordable finance they need to start up or grow.”

The new £20 million funding allocation comes at a time when many entrepreneurs face tighter venture capital markets and rising borrowing costs, making government-backed lending schemes an increasingly important source of early-stage finance.

Virgin StartUp said the additional funding would allow it to expand its reach further across the UK, ensuring more founders from diverse backgrounds and communities can access both capital and expert guidance.

Fishburn added that broadening access to entrepreneurship remains central to the organisation’s mission.

“We believe entrepreneurship should be open to everyone with the drive to build something of their own,” he said. “Our goal is to ensure great ideas, wherever they come from, have a genuine opportunity to succeed.”

Read more:
Virgin StartUp unveils £20m funding pot for UK founders after passing £100m Start Up Loans milestone

London-based biotechnology startup Ternary Therapeutics has secured £3.6 million in seed funding to accelerate the development of its artificial intelligence-driven platform designed to engineer a new class of medicines known as molecular glues.

The funding round was led by European venture capital firm daphni, with participation from Pace Ventures, i&i Biotech Fund and the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund, which is managed by Future Planet Capital. The investment will support the expansion of Ternary’s AI platform, its research team and its early drug development programmes.

Founded in November 2024 and headquartered in London, Ternary Therapeutics is developing a technology platform that combines machine learning, physics-based molecular modelling and rapid laboratory validation to design molecular glues — a promising but still emerging category of drugs that can target proteins previously considered undruggable.

Unlike traditional medicines, which typically work by binding directly to a target protein and inhibiting its function, molecular glues operate by bringing two proteins together to trigger the destruction or modification of disease-causing proteins. This mechanism has become one of the most exciting areas of drug discovery in recent years, particularly in fields such as cancer, autoimmune disorders and neurological diseases.

However, most molecular glues discovered to date have emerged largely by accident during broader drug discovery programmes rather than through deliberate design. Ternary aims to change that dynamic by applying computational methods and artificial intelligence to turn molecular glue discovery into a systematic engineering process.

The company’s platform uses AI models to predict how proteins behave within the body and identify potential molecules capable of binding them together. These candidate molecules are then tested experimentally in the laboratory, with the results fed back into the system to improve the predictive accuracy of the models.

By repeating this cycle of computational prediction and experimental validation, Ternary hopes to dramatically accelerate the discovery of new medicines and open up drug targets that have historically been inaccessible to conventional pharmaceutical approaches.

Dr Chris Tame, co-founder and chief executive of Ternary Therapeutics, said the company’s goal is to transform molecular glue discovery from a matter of luck into a scalable design discipline.

“Molecular glues have delivered some of the most exciting breakthroughs in drug discovery over the past decade, but historically they’ve been discovered largely by chance rather than through a systematic process,” he said.

“Our platform is designed to change that by combining physics-informed AI with rapid experimental validation to engineer these molecules intentionally and at scale. That allows us to approach drug discovery more like an engineering problem than a process of trial and error.”

Tame said the new capital would allow the company to expand its computational infrastructure, grow its scientific team and advance its most promising programmes towards preclinical development, while also laying the groundwork for partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies.

The company has already developed an early pipeline of programmes focused on inflammatory and neuroinflammatory diseases and has established research collaborations with several biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners.

Investors believe the technology could help unlock a significant new frontier in drug discovery.

Cristian Pinto, investor at daphni, said designing molecular glues predictably represents one of the most complex scientific challenges in modern medicine.

“Ternary has built a disciplined platform that integrates machine learning, physics and experimental biology to tackle that challenge,” he said.

The investment also reflects growing momentum across the biotechnology sector around targeted protein degradation, an approach that seeks to eliminate disease-causing proteins rather than simply blocking their activity.

Oliver Sexton, investment director at the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund, said advances in artificial intelligence and computational power are enabling researchers to understand biological systems with far greater precision than ever before.

“Ternary’s approach to drug design is enabled by its compute power,” he said. “The combination of expanding knowledge of biology and recent developments in AI allows it to understand massive complexity and generate molecular glue drug candidates that target areas historically considered out of reach.”

A large proportion of proteins involved in human disease lack obvious drug-binding sites, limiting the effectiveness of traditional drug design approaches. Molecular glues offer an alternative route by creating entirely new interactions between proteins inside cells.

If platforms like Ternary’s succeed in designing these interactions reliably, they could significantly expand the number of treatable diseases and unlock major new opportunities for collaboration between biotechnology startups and large pharmaceutical companies.

The investment in Ternary comes amid rising global interest in AI-driven drug discovery, as advances in machine learning and structural biology reshape the economics and speed of pharmaceutical research.

With fresh capital now secured, the company plans to accelerate development of its platform while advancing its first therapeutic candidates toward clinical readiness.

Read more:
UK biotech Ternary raises £3.6m to scale AI platform for next-generation drugs

Maven Capital Partners has completed a £15 million investment in digital investigations specialist Chorus Intelligence, backing the fast-growing software firm as it expands its AI-powered platform and accelerates international growth.

The deal, led by Maven’s UK Regional Buyout Fund II, will support the next phase of development for Chorus, whose technology is increasingly used by law enforcement agencies, government bodies and corporate organisations to investigate complex digital crime.

Founded in 2011, Chorus has spent more than a decade developing specialist software that helps investigators analyse large volumes of digital information. Its tools are designed to connect multiple data sources, uncover relationships between suspects and criminal networks, and streamline the investigation process in an era where digital evidence has become central to modern policing and corporate security.

Central to the company’s growth strategy is its Chorus Intelligence Suite (CIS), a next-generation platform that allows multiple investigators to collaborate while analysing complex datasets. The system automates the processing of structured and unstructured information, enabling users to connect disparate data points, identify patterns more quickly and generate stronger evidential outputs.

The platform has gained traction in both the UK and US markets, where law enforcement and security organisations are increasingly seeking advanced analytical tools to combat the rise in digital crime.

According to the company, CIS delivers measurable efficiency gains for its clients by significantly reducing the time required to process large datasets and uncover connections between individuals, events and digital evidence.

The £15 million investment will allow Chorus to further enhance the technology behind the platform, including expanding its artificial intelligence capabilities and integrating additional automation features designed to improve investigative efficiency. The funding will also support the company’s international expansion plans and potential acquisitions as it seeks to consolidate a fragmented market for digital investigation tools.

Tom Purkis, (pictured) partner at Maven Capital Partners, said the investment reflected strong demand for digital intelligence tools across the security and law enforcement sectors.

“Chorus is a fast-growing business operating in a market experiencing strong structural growth,” he said. “Digital intelligence is becoming an essential component of modern investigations.

“The company has invested heavily in technology and its next-generation platform is already delivering measurable efficiency gains and return on investment for customers in both the UK and US. We are delighted to support the team as they continue to scale the business and expand its international presence.”

Boyd Mulvey, founder and executive chairman of Chorus Intelligence, said the investment marks a significant milestone for the company as it prepares to accelerate product development and global expansion.

“The entire Chorus team are delighted to welcome Maven,” he said. “This investment marks an important step in our journey as we enter the next phase of growth.

“The expertise Maven brings in scaling high-growth technology companies will be invaluable as we accelerate our AI product roadmap, expand our global footprint and continue delivering exceptional value to our customers.”

The deal also reflects broader trends across the security and intelligence sector, where increasing volumes of digital data and the growing sophistication of cyber and organised crime are driving demand for advanced investigative technology.

Maven Capital Partners is one of the UK’s most active private equity investors, typically investing between £10 million and £20 million in high-growth businesses. Its buyout team has completed 38 platform acquisitions and 26 exits to date, delivering an average return of around three times the original investment.

With digital crime continuing to rise and investigative workloads becoming increasingly complex, the market for AI-powered investigative platforms is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. Maven’s backing positions Chorus Intelligence to scale its technology and compete globally in a sector where data analysis and digital evidence are rapidly becoming the backbone of modern investigations.

Read more:
Maven backs digital investigations platform Chorus with £15m investment to drive AI expansion

Savills has agreed a deal worth close to $1 billion to acquire US property investment bank Eastdil Secured, marking a significant strategic move aimed at strengthening the British real estate group’s presence in the lucrative American market.

The London-listed property adviser will pay approximately $921 million for the business in a transaction combining both cash and shares. Around $553 million will be paid in cash, while roughly $369 million will be settled in Savills shares issued to existing Eastdil investors, including Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, Guggenheim Partners and a group of senior staff shareholders.

The acquisition represents the first major deal under Savills’ new chief executive Simon Shaw, who took over from Mark Ridley at the start of 2026. Shaw described the combination as a “marriage made in heaven”, highlighting the longstanding relationship between the two companies in global real estate transactions.

Eastdil Secured is widely regarded as one of the most influential advisers in the global property capital markets sector. The firm specialises in advising major landlords, developers and institutional investors on high-value property sales, financing arrangements and complex investment transactions. Its client base includes some of the largest global real estate investors and private equity firms.

By bringing Eastdil into the group, Savills aims to significantly deepen its foothold in the United States, the world’s largest property investment market, where the company has historically had a more limited presence compared with Europe and Asia.

Shaw said the acquisition fills a strategic gap in Savills’ global platform. While the firm enjoys strong market positions across many international property markets, the US had remained the most significant region where its capabilities were comparatively underdeveloped.

He said: “We’ve got great market share in many parts of the world, but the one hole in our network has been the US. Eastdil is the leading capital markets operator in the largest real estate investment market in the world and provides direct access to the deepest pools of capital.”

Savills believes the combined organisation will enable it to compete more aggressively for high-value real estate advisory mandates, including mergers and acquisitions involving property portfolios, large-scale financing deals and global investment transactions.

The acquisition was announced alongside Savills’ latest financial results, which showed the company continuing to grow despite a challenging global economic environment marked by geopolitical tensions, tariffs and macroeconomic uncertainty.

For the year ending December 2025, Savills reported revenue of £2.55 billion, up from £2.40 billion the previous year, representing growth of 6 per cent.

Pre-tax profits rose by 14 per cent to £101 million, compared with £88.3 million in 2024. The company attributed the increase partly to stronger demand for its non-transactional services, including investment management, consultancy and property management.

These divisions now account for the majority of Savills’ earnings, reflecting a broader industry shift away from reliance solely on property transactions toward advisory and asset-management services that provide more stable revenue streams.

Income from these less transactional activities increased by 8 per cent over the year, while revenues linked directly to property transactions rose by 4 per cent.

Savills said the middle part of 2025 had been particularly challenging for deal activity as investors delayed decisions amid global tariff disputes and uncertainty surrounding fiscal policy ahead of the UK government’s autumn budget.

However, the company experienced a sharp rebound in activity toward the end of the year. Shaw described December as “astonishing”, suggesting that many investors returned to the market once political uncertainty had eased and the budget had been delivered.

He said investors were increasingly adjusting to a world characterised by geopolitical tension and economic volatility.

“Both occupiers and investors have started to accept that geopolitical change is now a constant,” Shaw said. “There comes a moment where you simply have to continue investing and doing business despite that backdrop.”

Savills also reported that the stronger momentum seen late in 2025 had continued into the opening months of 2026. Although the firm acknowledged that it remains difficult to assess the full impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, it said there had been little immediate disruption to global property investment activity.

According to Shaw, London could potentially benefit from increased investor interest if global instability persists, as capital historically flows toward markets perceived as stable and secure.

“I think there is a likelihood that capital will tilt slightly towards traditional safe havens,” he said. “It would be logical that investors feel more comfortable placing money in markets where legal systems and institutions are well established.”

Savills’ board has also approved a higher shareholder payout following the improved financial performance. The company increased its final dividend by 8 per cent to 15.7p per share, payable in May, while also announcing a supplemental dividend of 10.7p per share.

Despite the strategic rationale for the Eastdil acquisition, investors initially reacted cautiously to the announcement. Savills shares fell 7.2 per cent, closing down 72p at 930p on the day the deal was unveiled.

Founded in 1855 by surveyor Alfred Savill, the company has evolved from a traditional land agency serving wealthy landowners into one of the world’s largest property advisory groups.

Although widely recognised by the public as a residential estate agent, the residential business accounts for only about a tenth of Savills’ overall operations. The majority of its income now comes from commercial real estate services such as advising investors, leasing office space, managing buildings and providing consultancy to institutional clients.

Savills has expanded internationally through a series of acquisitions over the past three decades, establishing operations across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. However, the United States has remained the final major real estate market where its presence lagged behind competitors.

The purchase of Eastdil Secured is therefore expected to play a central role in Savills’ long-term strategy of building a truly global real estate advisory platform capable of competing with the largest property consultancies and investment banks in the sector.

Read more:
Savills agrees $1bn deal to buy Eastdil Secured in major US expansion push

US startup Anchr has secured $5.8 million in seed funding to develop what it describes as the first end-to-end AI-native operating system for food distributors, targeting one of the most operationally complex yet technologically underserved sectors of the global supply chain.

The funding round was backed by a16z Speedrun, Anterra Capital, Offline Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, alongside several industry leaders connected to OpenAI. The investment will support the company’s development of an integrated artificial intelligence platform designed to automate operational workflows across sales, purchasing, inventory management, finance and logistics.

The company argues that despite the enormous scale of the food distribution industry, which moves hundreds of billions of dollars in perishable goods annually, much of its operational infrastructure remains heavily reliant on outdated technology and manual processes.

Food distributors act as a critical backbone between producers and the hospitality sector, ensuring that restaurants, supermarkets and catering businesses receive fresh goods daily. Yet many companies still rely on text messages, spreadsheets and legacy enterprise systems developed decades ago.

Traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems typically record historical transactions but lack the capability to analyse real-time conditions or automate operational decisions.

This means that key activities such as purchasing decisions, stock management and financial reconciliation often require extensive manual work. For businesses operating on low single-digit profit margins, inefficiencies in these processes can significantly impact profitability.

Anchr’s founders believe artificial intelligence can fundamentally change how these operations function.

“The biggest opportunity to leverage AI isn’t in industries with modern infrastructure,” said Tzar Taraporvala, co-founder and co-chief executive of Anchr.

“It’s buried deep in the operational backbone of the economy. Food distributors manage millions of dollars of inventory with systems that were never designed to handle today’s complexity.”

Rather than replacing existing ERP platforms, Anchr’s system operates as a layer on top of them, embedding AI-powered digital assistants, or “AI teammates”, across multiple operational departments.

By integrating data across departments, the system enables information to flow continuously through the organisation, eliminating the fragmented workflows that often plague supply chain businesses.

Work that previously required hours of manual intervention, such as inputting orders received via email or text messages, can be executed automatically by the platform, with contextual information shared across the entire business.

Early adopters of Anchr’s platform are already reporting measurable efficiency gains.

One customer reclaimed roughly 40 per cent of daily working time across a team of eight sales representatives by automating order intake from emails and text messages.

Another distributor was able to reduce aged inventory write-offs by $30,000 in a single month, after using AI-generated purchasing insights based on live demand signals.

In a further example, a distributor used the system’s menu-analysis capabilities to identify upselling opportunities. By scraping restaurant menus and product catalogues, the AI recommended additional items to include in orders, increasing the average basket size by around $65 per order across 4,000 annual orders.

For companies operating in low-margin industries such as food distribution, even relatively small operational improvements can translate into substantial financial gains.

The idea for Anchr emerged directly from the founders’ exposure to operational inefficiencies within the supply chain.

Co-founders Tzar Taraporvala and Smayan Mehra, who have worked together for more than two decades, began investigating supply chain technology gaps after observing how disconnected many enterprise systems remained.

Their research intensified when they partnered with a Boston-based seafood distributor, spending several months observing daily workflows inside the business.

They discovered that many operational processes were still handled manually. Orders were frequently entered into ERP systems in the early hours of the morning, purchasing decisions relied on disconnected spreadsheets and finance teams often had to reconcile invoices across multiple software platforms.

The founders concluded that the problem was not simply technological, it was structural.

“The pain was structural, daily and expensive,” the company said.

Anchr’s early momentum has been notable. During its 12-week participation in the Speedrun accelerator programme, the startup reported booking seven-figure revenue.

Its customer base already includes both regional distributors and a publicly traded food distribution company generating approximately $5 billion in annual revenue.

This rapid adoption reflects growing demand for automation in a sector where operational complexity continues to increase.

From ERP to ERA: the next evolution in enterprise software

The company believes its technology represents the next phase in enterprise software development.

The founders describe the transition as moving from traditional Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems toward what they call Enterprise Resource Automation (ERA).

“If the first era of enterprise software digitised record-keeping, we believe the next era will automate it,” said Smayan Mehra, co-founder and co-CEO.

Under this model, enterprise software does not simply track data but actively executes workflows and decision-making processes in real time.

Looking ahead, Anchr plans to expand automation capabilities across all aspects of distributor operations, eventually becoming a central coordination system for decisions involving inventory, capital and logistics.

The founders believe the technology has applications beyond food distribution, particularly in industries where physical goods move through fragmented supply chains.

By integrating operational data across departments, the platform aims to create a new type of AI-native system of record built around the actual work performed by organisations.

Investors backing the company say the potential lies in the compounding effect of connecting operational functions.

“When sales, purchasing, inventory and finance share context, the entire business runs differently,” said Troy Kirwin of a16z Speedrun.

“Anchr is building an AI-native operating layer that turns fragmented processes into integrated workflows.”

Despite the scale of global logistics and distribution networks, many supply chain sectors remain technologically underdeveloped compared with consumer technology and finance.

Food distribution in particular presents a unique challenge because it involves high volumes of perishable inventory, tight margins and fast-moving operational decisions.

As artificial intelligence continues to move beyond productivity tools into full operational automation, startups like Anchr are betting that some of the largest gains will come not from digital-first industries but from the overlooked systems that keep the physical economy running.

For Anchr, the goal is clear: build the AI operating system that powers the next generation of supply chain operations.

Read more:
Anchr raises $5.8M to bring AI-native automation to America’s food supply chain

Edinburgh-based remote working platform SWURF has secured a £200,000 investment round as it accelerates plans to transform the Scottish capital into one of the world’s most flexible working-friendly cities.

The funding will support the rollout of SWURF Pods, the company’s on-demand private meeting spaces designed for professionals who need secure and quiet environments for calls, meetings and focused work while on the move.

The investment round includes backing from prominent industry figures such as Gareth Williams, one of Scotland’s most successful tech entrepreneurs, alongside hospitality investor Anna Lagerqvist Christopherson, who owns several well-known venues in the city including Boda BV, the Green Room and the Victoria Bar.

SWURF’s strategy centres on creating a network of high-tech, bookable private pods located across busy urban locations. These compact meeting spaces are designed to give remote workers immediate access to private environments without needing a traditional office.

Each pod includes advanced soundproofing technology, private WiFi networks with encrypted connections, ergonomic seating, air filtration systems and adaptive LED lighting to provide a professional environment for business calls or focused work.

The pods are already installed at Edinburgh Airport and at the YOTEL Edinburgh, and the company plans to expand the network rapidly across the city.

SWURF’s long-term ambition is to ensure that every worker in Edinburgh is within 15 minutes of a SWURF Pod location, effectively turning cafés, hotels and hospitality venues into a distributed workplace network.

Alongside the pods, SWURF operates a mobile platform that connects remote workers with venues across the city that welcome flexible working.

Through the SWURF app, users can discover participating venues, check in digitally and access secure WiFi networks. The system also unlocks perks and incentives at partner venues, creating a mutually beneficial ecosystem between workers and hospitality businesses.

The platform currently lists more than 450 venues across Edinburgh, including locations such as the The Hoxton Edinburgh, Crowne Plaza Edinburgh Royal Terrace, and the Royal Scots Club.

More than 14,000 users, known as “Swurfers”, are now registered on the platform, with the community continuing to grow as hybrid and remote working patterns become increasingly embedded across the UK workforce.

SWURF says its model is not only designed to support remote workers but also to generate new revenue streams for hospitality businesses.

By encouraging professionals to use cafés, hotels and bars as temporary workplaces during quieter hours, the company estimates it has already contributed around £2 million to the local Edinburgh economy.

For venues, the model allows underutilised spaces to generate income during off-peak periods, while for workers it provides a wider range of flexible workspace options across the city.

Margaret Auld, general manager of YOTEL Edinburgh, said the pods have helped bring new visitors into the hotel while also enhancing the services available to guests.

“The SWURF Pod is an excellent service that we can provide to our hotel guests, and it also brings new people into our hotel,” she said.

SWURF was founded by CEO Nikki Gibson, a hospitality industry specialist who saw an opportunity to connect remote professionals with existing city venues rather than relying solely on traditional coworking offices.

Gibson said the company’s mission goes beyond simply providing desks or meeting spaces.

“People want more than just somewhere to sit with a laptop,” she said. “They need flexibility, security and inspiring environments that help them be productive.”

“Our goal is to make Edinburgh the global gold standard for flexible working. By expanding our host venue network and rolling out SWURF Pods across the city, we are turning Edinburgh itself into a distributed office.”

The latest funding round follows a six-figure investment secured in 2025, which helped the company expand its venue network and grow its user base.

SWURF has also strengthened its leadership team with several high-profile industry figures joining the board.

The board is chaired by Alison Grieve, an entrepreneur known for scaling global technology businesses.

She is joined by Scott Leckie, who transitioned from a fractional chief technology officer role into a permanent board position, and Daniel Rodgers, the founder of Scottish hospitality technology company QikServe.

The strengthened leadership team is expected to help SWURF scale its model beyond Edinburgh in the coming years.

The company’s expansion comes amid a continued shift in working habits across the UK.

Hybrid working arrangements have become the norm across many sectors, creating growing demand for flexible meeting spaces, quiet work environments and secure connectivity outside traditional offices.

Cities with strong digital infrastructure and vibrant hospitality sectors are increasingly positioning themselves as hubs for this new working model.

By combining technology, hospitality partnerships and purpose-built micro workspaces, SWURF is aiming to place Edinburgh at the centre of that global shift.

With new funding secured and additional pod locations planned, the company believes the Scottish capital could soon become a benchmark city for flexible, location-independent working.

Read more:
Scottish startup SWURF secures £200k funding to make Edinburgh the world’s flexible working capital

AI marketing platform Mega has secured $11.5 million in Series A funding to accelerate the rollout of its AI-driven growth engine designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses.

The Brooklyn-based company aims to replace traditional marketing agencies with a network of autonomous AI agents capable of managing digital growth channels end-to-end. These agents execute and optimise search engine optimisation (SEO), paid advertising, website management and emerging AI search channels, delivering what the company describes as predictable customer acquisition without the overhead and variability associated with agency services.

The funding round was led by Goodwater Capital, with additional participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Atreides Management, SignalFire and Kearny Jackson. The round also attracted a group of high-profile angel investors including WNBA stars Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Plum and Nneka Ogwumike.

Mega’s platform is designed to address what its founders see as a structural problem facing small businesses in the digital economy: the expectation that they compete across complex marketing channels typically optimised for large enterprises.

Most small businesses must manage search marketing, paid advertising, websites and emerging AI-driven discovery platforms simultaneously, yet often lack the budget, time or expertise to do so effectively. Traditional agencies can be expensive and inconsistent, while existing AI tools frequently require significant technical knowledge and manual input.

Mega’s solution delivers marketing execution through software rather than dashboards or toolkits. Once a business signs up, the platform autonomously plans campaigns, executes tasks and continuously optimises performance.

From the customer’s perspective, the system functions like an outsourced growth team that operates automatically.

“We realised early that business owners do not want another AI chat tool that requires hours of prompting,” said Lucas Pellan, co-founder of Mega. “They want customers. So we built a system that actually does the work.”

Mega’s technology relies on a network of specialised AI agents that coordinate marketing activities across multiple digital channels.

The platform currently focuses on four primary areas: SEO, paid advertising, website optimisation and what the company calls GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), which refers to optimising visibility within AI-driven search and discovery systems.

The system plans campaigns, launches them, tests variations and adjusts strategies based on performance data collected across its entire user base.

According to the company, around 55 per cent of the work performed by the system is fully automated, while 35 per cent is largely automated with human oversight. The remaining 10 per cent is completed manually by specialist operators to ensure quality control and strategic guidance.

This hybrid structure allows the company to scale marketing execution while maintaining reliability and performance standards.

Every campaign executed through the system feeds data back into Mega’s platform, improving the algorithms that generate creative assets, refine targeting, manage bids and optimise conversions.

Mega’s creation emerged from an unexpected origin story.

The founding team was originally building a video game company during the Covid pandemic when the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT sparked a series of internal experiments with AI tools to accelerate their own marketing growth.

Using the tools they developed internally, the company’s organic search traffic increased 100-fold while paid customer acquisition costs fell by roughly 80 per cent.

When the founders shared the tools with other entrepreneurs, demand quickly grew.

“We kept hearing the same question from founders: ‘Can we use this too?’,” Pellan said.

This demand prompted the team to pivot away from gaming and develop the platform into a standalone growth product for SMBs.

Mega’s early growth has been rapid. The company reports that it went from zero to $10 million in revenue within ten months of launching its platform.

Customers span a wide range of industries, including home services companies, law firms, healthcare providers, e-commerce brands and software businesses.

In one example cited by the company, a Texas-based medical spa increased its search traffic by 174 times using the platform’s automated SEO tools. A personal injury law firm saw a 243-fold increase in search visibility and began ranking in the top three for key search terms.

Another client, a direct-to-consumer health brand, generated $120,000 in revenue through its website while surpassing its Amazon marketplace performance without increasing advertising spend.

Across its customer base, Mega claims the platform helps businesses grow around 20 per cent faster on average.

For many clients, the appeal lies in removing the complexity of managing digital marketing tools and agencies.

Darin Chase, a home services business owner using the platform, said: “Since working with Mega we are finally getting a predictable lead flow. We are also able to divert our time away from Facebook marketing to other important projects because Mega manages everything.”

Mega is targeting the vast SMB marketing sector across North America, where tens of thousands of agencies serve millions of small businesses.

Despite the size of the market, many SMBs continue to struggle with inconsistent marketing performance, unpredictable customer acquisition costs and limited visibility into which strategies actually generate revenue.

As digital advertising becomes increasingly competitive and search ecosystems shift toward AI-driven discovery, many smaller businesses are finding it harder to compete with enterprise-level marketing operations.

Investors believe Mega’s approach represents a major shift in how growth services can be delivered.

“Mega represents a fundamental shift in how SMBs should think about marketing, from paying for effort to paying for measurable, repeatable growth,” said Vivek Subramanian, partner and chief product officer at Goodwater Capital.

With the new funding secured, Mega plans to expand its platform beyond its current capabilities.

Future development will include AI-driven management of email marketing, outbound sales campaigns, organic social media growth, lead qualification and sales operations.

The company’s long-term vision is to create a fully automated revenue-generation infrastructure that allows small and mid-sized businesses to access enterprise-level marketing capabilities without enterprise-level costs.

The platform could eventually act as a unified growth system that manages the entire customer acquisition pipeline for SMBs.

If successful, Mega believes its model could fundamentally reshape how smaller companies approach marketing in the AI era.

By replacing manual marketing workflows with automated systems capable of continuous optimisation, the company aims to give smaller businesses the ability to compete with much larger organisations in increasingly competitive digital markets.

Read more:
Mega raises $11.5M to replace marketing agencies with AI-powered growth engine for SMBs

A Scottish life sciences start-up developing technology to improve cancer diagnostics has secured £1.58 million in fresh funding as it launches its first commercial product in the United States.

BIOCAPTIVA, a spin-out from University of Edinburgh, is aiming to tackle one of the most persistent technical bottlenecks in the rapidly growing liquid biopsy sector: the preparation of blood samples for genetic testing.

The company’s newly launched msX technology uses magnetic bead extraction to isolate cell-free DNA directly from whole blood, eliminating several complex steps normally required in sample preparation. The approach could significantly accelerate cancer research and diagnostic testing by making the process faster, more scalable and easier to automate.

The latest investment round was led by Archangels and supported by existing investors including Old College Capital, BBI Solutions and Scottish Enterprise, alongside new investor EverQuest Capital Partners.

Liquid biopsy, a technique that analyses genetic material from blood samples rather than tumour tissue, has become one of the most promising developments in cancer diagnostics in recent years. It enables clinicians and researchers to detect cancer-related genetic changes through simple blood tests, reducing the need for invasive surgical biopsies.

However, preparing blood samples to isolate usable genetic material remains a complex and time-consuming process. Traditional methods typically require centrifugation equipment, multiple reagents and extensive laboratory handling, all of which slow down analysis and increase costs.

BIOCAPTIVA’s patented msX platform aims to simplify this process. By using specialised magnetic beads, the system captures cell-free DNA directly from whole blood samples without the need for centrifuges or additional reagents.

The result is higher-quality DNA extraction with faster processing times and fewer technical steps, improvements that could allow laboratories to process larger volumes of samples more efficiently.

Chief executive Jeremy Wheeler said the technology addresses a long-standing gap in cancer research workflows.

“Scientists and technologists are doing remarkable work with the samples they receive, but the preparation stage hasn’t evolved significantly for years,” he said.

“Our msX platform has the potential to revolutionise how samples are collected and processed, enabling larger sample volumes, faster extraction and fully automatable workflows.”

The company has already begun commercialising the technology internationally, launching its msX bead kits for research use in Boston earlier this month.

The move reflects BIOCAPTIVA’s strategy to build early validation and research partnerships in the United States, one of the world’s largest markets for oncology diagnostics and biotechnology innovation.

By placing the technology in the hands of research laboratories, the company hopes to generate evidence across multiple applications in cancer detection, genetic testing and clinical diagnostics.

The liquid biopsy market itself is expected to grow rapidly over the coming decade as non-invasive diagnostic methods become increasingly important in personalised medicine.

Industry analysts estimate that global demand for liquid biopsy technologies could reach tens of billions of dollars annually as healthcare systems adopt earlier cancer detection and monitoring techniques.

Alongside the funding announcement, BIOCAPTIVA also confirmed the appointment of Alan Schafer as chief technology officer.

Schafer brings more than three decades of experience in genetics technologies and molecular diagnostics. His career includes senior leadership roles across several high-profile biotech companies.

He previously served as CTO of Inivata, which was acquired by NeoGenomics in 2021 for $415 million.

His earlier roles include chief executive positions at Population Genetics Technologies and 14M Genomics, as well as serving as global vice-president of technology development at GlaxoSmithKline.

The company believes Schafer’s experience in scaling diagnostics technologies will help accelerate the commercialisation of its platform.

The £1.58 million investment will primarily be used to expand research and development and broaden BIOCAPTIVA’s product portfolio.

Future applications for the technology could extend beyond cancer diagnostics into other areas of genetic testing and molecular medicine.

Sarah Hardy, head of new investment at Archangels, said the company was entering a critical stage in its development.

“BIOCAPTIVA is reaching an inflection point with the launch of its msX beads,” she said.

“The technology has remarkable market potential, and the business now has the leadership team, research capability and commercial strategy needed to scale.”

The investment also reflects continued momentum in Scotland’s life sciences sector, which has become an important driver of economic growth and high-value employment.

Derek Shaw, director of entrepreneurship and investment at Scottish Enterprise, said the agency’s support for BIOCAPTIVA demonstrates a broader commitment to scaling innovative companies emerging from Scottish universities.

“Our investment highlights our focus on increasing capital investment in Scotland’s businesses,” he said.

“Supporting companies like BIOCAPTIVA helps drive productivity, expand exports and create higher-value jobs across the economy.”

As BIOCAPTIVA expands its research partnerships and product development pipeline, the company hopes its technology will help accelerate advances in cancer detection and treatment.

For Wheeler, the long-term ambition is clear.

“In practice, this technology means faster, deeper research on cancer and potentially better outcomes for millions of patients worldwide,” he said.

Read more:
BIOCAPTIVA raises £1.58m to transform liquid biopsy sample preparation

Mike Ashley’s retail empire has added another high-profile investment to its portfolio after Frasers Group quietly built a near 6 per cent stake in the German sportswear brand Puma.

Regulatory filings on the German stock exchange revealed that the owner of Sports Direct, Flannels and House of Fraser now controls a 5.77 per cent holding in Puma. The disclosure triggered an immediate reaction in the market, sending Puma’s shares up almost 10 per cent as investors interpreted the move as a potential vote of confidence in the struggling brand.

The investment makes Frasers Group the second-largest shareholder in Puma, just weeks after the Chinese sportswear giant Anta Sports agreed to acquire a 29.1 per cent stake in the business for €1.5 billion from the French billionaire Pinault family.

Frasers’ position has reportedly been assembled through a series of put option agreements linked to Puma shares, a financial strategy that allows the group to build exposure to the company without immediately purchasing large blocks of stock in the open market.

The move highlights Frasers’ increasingly active role as a strategic investor in global fashion and retail brands. Founded by Mike Ashley in 1982, the group has built a reputation for taking minority stakes in companies and using its influence to push for operational or strategic changes.

Although Ashley stepped down from day-to-day leadership in 2022, the business is now run by his son-in-law, Michael Murray, who has continued the strategy of investing in key partners and competitors across the retail sector.

Puma is already a major supplier of trainers and sportswear to Sports Direct, Frasers’ flagship retail chain. Strengthening its shareholding could give the British retailer additional influence in the brand’s future strategy and product development.

The investment comes at a turbulent moment for Puma, which has struggled to keep pace with rivals such as Nike and Adidas.

The company issued several profit warnings last year and has been undergoing a restructuring programme aimed at restoring profitability and rebuilding its brand position in the global sportswear market.

Earlier this year, Puma reported a record annual loss of €645.5 million and declining sales, forcing the company to scrap its dividend and announce plans to cut around 900 jobs as part of its turnaround effort.

The restructuring is being led by the company’s new chief executive, Arthur Hoeld, who has signalled that the brand needs to fundamentally rethink its product strategy and global positioning.

Hoeld has acknowledged that demand for Puma footwear has weakened significantly in recent years and said the company must take a “hard look at ourselves” as it attempts to recover market share.

Like many consumer brands, Puma has also been hit by broader macroeconomic pressures. Slowing consumer demand in the United States, geopolitical uncertainty and trade tensions have all contributed to a challenging environment for global retail companies.

Tariffs introduced during the presidency of Donald Trump have added additional costs to international supply chains, while weakening consumer confidence has weighed on discretionary spending.

Despite these pressures, Puma’s share price has begun to recover after falling to a near ten-year low of around €15 late last year. The stock recently closed at €22.62, helped by renewed investor interest following the Anta investment and Frasers’ latest move.

Frasers’ stake in Puma is the latest example of the group’s aggressive investment strategy across the retail and fashion sector.

In recent years the company has accumulated significant stakes in several major brands and retailers, including Hugo Boss, where it holds roughly a 25 per cent stake, Asos, Boohoo Group and Mulberry.

The group has frequently used these stakes to exert pressure on management teams and influence strategic decisions.

A long-running dispute with Boohoo, for example, saw Frasers attempt to install Mike Ashley as chief executive and block the company’s efforts to rebrand its holding entity as Debenhams.

Similarly, Frasers has recently increased its position in Asos and voted against all board resolutions at the online retailer’s annual general meeting, signalling dissatisfaction with its performance and strategy.

The new investment by Frasers comes shortly after Anta Sports’ landmark purchase of a 29.1 per cent stake in Puma from the Pinault family, which had been the sportswear company’s largest shareholder for many years.

Anta said the deal was part of its broader strategy to expand its portfolio of international brands and strengthen its position in the global sportswear market.

The company described the acquisition as a “major step forward in our single-focus, multi-brand globalisation strategy”, although it said it had no immediate plans to launch a full takeover bid for Puma.

Founded in 1991, Anta has grown rapidly into one of the world’s largest sportswear groups and already owns several global brands, including outdoor apparel company Jack Wolfskin.

With Anta and Frasers now holding significant stakes, analysts expect the ownership structure of Puma to come under increasing scrutiny.

The presence of two powerful strategic shareholders could reshape the company’s direction, particularly if they push for changes to product development, distribution strategies or management structures.

For Frasers, the investment reinforces its broader strategy of building influence across the global retail ecosystem, strengthening relationships with key brands while positioning itself to benefit from any recovery in the sportswear market.

Whether the stake leads to deeper collaboration with Puma or more active shareholder involvement remains to be seen, but the move signals that Mike Ashley’s retail empire is continuing to expand its influence well beyond Britain’s high street.

Read more:
Frasers Group builds 6% stake in struggling Puma

A major new life sciences facility has officially opened in Glasgow, marking a significant step forward for Scotland’s rapidly expanding healthcare innovation sector.

The 87,000 sq ft Health Innovation Hub (HiH) was formally launched by Wes Streeting during a ceremony held on 5 March. The development represents a major investment in precision medicine, digital health technologies and clinical research, reinforcing Glasgow’s ambition to become a global centre for life sciences innovation.

Developed and operated by Kadans Science Partner in partnership with the University of Glasgow and its Living Laboratory for Precision Medicine initiative, the Health Innovation Hub transforms a former brownfield site into a world-class research and commercialisation centre.

The project forms part of the wider Glasgow Riverside Innovation District (GRID), an initiative designed to attract research investment, support high-growth life sciences companies and strengthen links between academia, the NHS and industry.

The facility was delivered with support from the UK Research and Innovation through its Strength in Places Fund, which contributed £18.8 million towards the development.

Additional support came through the Glasgow City Region City Deal, a long-term funding partnership between the UK and Scottish governments that will see £1 billion invested in infrastructure and economic growth projects across the wider city region.

Together, the investments aim to position Glasgow as a leading European hub for biomedical research, digital health innovation and translational medicine, the process of turning scientific discoveries into practical healthcare solutions.

Speaking at the launch, Streeting described the life sciences sector as one of the UK’s most important economic and scientific assets.

“Our life sciences sector is one of our greatest national assets and facilities like this are the jewels in the crown,” he said.

“We are already leading the way in areas like vaccine development and with the opening of this landmark facility comes the promise that Scotland and Britain will be at the forefront of the precision medicine revolution too.”

One of the hub’s defining advantages is its proximity to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Europe.

This location allows companies and researchers to operate directly within Glasgow’s Clinical Innovation Zone, enabling close collaboration with clinicians, patients and healthcare data systems.

The model is designed to dramatically shorten the timeline between research discovery and real-world medical application, a key goal for modern healthcare innovation ecosystems.

By bringing together academic researchers, NHS clinicians, biotechnology firms and digital health companies under one roof, the facility aims to accelerate the development of new diagnostics, therapies and healthcare technologies.

Even before its official opening, the building has attracted strong interest from the life sciences sector and is already more than 70% occupied.

Among the first tenants are several high-growth research and technology companies including; Chemify, Panthera and Genetix Research Ltd.

The facility also houses the Digital Health Validation Lab, a collaborative initiative between the University of Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

The lab provides an environment where new healthcare technologies can be tested and validated using real clinical workflows and patient data.

The Health Innovation Hub has been designed to accommodate organisations at different stages of development, from university spinouts and early-stage biotech firms to established international companies expanding their research presence.

The design reflects a growing trend in global life sciences development, creating integrated innovation environments where startups, clinicians and researchers can collaborate closely.

Steijn Ribbens, chief executive of Kadans Science Partner, said the hub demonstrates the impact of long-term public-private collaboration.

“The building is the embodiment of what can be achieved when universities, industry, healthcare providers and government partners work together,” he said.

“We are proud to support the world-class science being undertaken here and look forward to seeing how this environment drives further collaboration and real-world healthcare impact.”

Local leaders say the project will help create skilled jobs while supporting economic regeneration in surrounding communities.

Susan Aitken described the development as a landmark investment in the city’s future economy.

“Glasgow’s life sciences sector is already world-leading and world-changing, and this investment positions us perfectly to scale that success globally,” she said.

“The Health Innovation Hub brings the city’s new economy directly into the heart of Govan, creating opportunities for skilled jobs and new career pathways for young people.”

The hub also aims to ensure innovation benefits local communities. The development process included consultation with residents in nearby neighbourhoods such as Linthouse and Govan, shaping aspects of the building design and community spaces.

The building has achieved BREEAM Excellent certification, reflecting a strong focus on sustainability and environmental performance in its design and construction.

Energy-efficient infrastructure, adaptable laboratory layouts and environmentally responsible materials are intended to future-proof the facility as scientific requirements evolve.

Through Kadans’ wider European network of science campuses, the hub is also expected to help attract international research partnerships and investment into Scotland’s life sciences sector.

Professor Andy Schofield, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow, said the hub creates the conditions for major breakthroughs in healthcare.

“By bringing researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs and the local community together beside one of Europe’s largest teaching hospitals, we have created an environment where discoveries can move rapidly into real-world patient care,” he said.

“This is exactly the kind of collaborative ecosystem needed to tackle the major health challenges facing Scotland, the UK and the world.”

As the facility begins full operations, the Health Innovation Hub is expected to play a central role in advancing precision medicine, digital healthcare technologies and biomedical research — helping cement Glasgow’s reputation as one of the UK’s most important life sciences clusters.

Read more:
Glasgow opens new Health Innovation Hub to accelerate life sciences innovation

Cloud-native payment processing firm Silverflow has raised $40 million (€37 million) in a Series B funding round as the company approaches one billion transactions processed annually and prepares for a major global expansion.

The investment round was led by Picus Capital with participation from Rabo Investments alongside existing investors including Inkef, Crane Venture Partners, Coatue Management and Global PayTech Ventures.

The funding will be used to accelerate Silverflow’s international growth, expand its product capabilities and significantly increase its global workforce as the company seeks to modernise payment infrastructure traditionally dominated by legacy systems.

Founded to modernise the payment processing layer used by banks and fintech companies, Silverflow positions itself as the first fully cloud-native platform designed specifically for card networks.

Anne Willem De Vries, chief executive and co-founder of Silverflow, said the latest funding reflected a growing shift in the payments industry away from older processing technology.

“This investment is a clear validation that the market is ready to move past the legacy drag of outdated systems,” he said.

“We’re the only cloud-native company targeting this specific layer of the payments ecosystem. This capital ensures we can cement our position as the new global standard for payment processing.”

Unlike traditional payment processors that rely on decades-old infrastructure, Silverflow’s technology is built entirely in the cloud, allowing banks and payment providers to connect through a single API rather than a patchwork of systems.

The company says this architecture allows customers to launch new payment products faster, simplify operations and scale internationally without the technical complexity associated with legacy payment platforms.

Silverflow’s growth over the past two years has been particularly striking. The company reports that transaction volumes have expanded dramatically since its early commercial rollout.

Just two and a half years ago, the platform processed around 180 transactions per day. Today that figure has climbed to almost 1.75 million daily transactions, highlighting both the rapid adoption of its technology and the scalability of its cloud-based infrastructure.

At its current trajectory, Silverflow is approaching one billion transactions annually and expects to soon process more than $100 billion in payment volume each year.

The platform’s client base includes acquiring banks, payment companies and fast-growing digital commerce platforms across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Among its customers are global financial institutions and fintech players including Deutsche Bank, Bolt, Payabl and Buckaroo.

The new capital will support a major expansion of Silverflow’s workforce as the company ramps up engineering and product development.

Silverflow currently employs around 85 staff, but plans to grow its global team to approximately 120 employees, representing an increase of more than 50 per cent.

Recruitment will focus heavily on software engineering, product design and payments infrastructure specialists, areas considered critical as the company scales its technology platform.

Geographically, Silverflow intends to accelerate its international presence in several key markets.

In North America, the company will expand its operations in New York, strengthening relationships with acquiring banks and global commerce platforms.

At the same time, the firm plans to deepen its footprint in Southeast Asia, where digital payments adoption is growing rapidly and demand for modern processing infrastructure continues to rise.

Investors say the payments infrastructure market is undergoing a major transformation as financial institutions look to replace outdated systems with cloud-based alternatives.

Florian Reichert, partner at Picus Capital, said Silverflow’s growth demonstrated a strong market demand for modern processing solutions.

“The payments infrastructure market is dominated by monolithic, slow systems that stifle innovation,” he said.

“Silverflow has proven that a cloud-native, single-API architecture is not just an alternative but the inevitable evolution. The company’s growth and customer adoption show that the market urgently needs a modern processor.”

Floris Onvlee, director of corporate venturing at Rabo Investments, added that the investment also supports the emergence of European fintech champions capable of competing globally.

“As an EU-based investor, we’re proud to support Silverflow as a European technology leader as it expands worldwide,” he said.

In addition to geographic expansion, Silverflow plans to broaden the range of card networks supported by its platform.

The company already integrates with major global card schemes including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and Diners Club International.

Following the Series B investment, Silverflow plans to add support for additional networks such as China UnionPay and JCB.

The company will also introduce new user interfaces and front-end tools designed to make its data-rich API infrastructure easier for developers and financial institutions to use.

These enhancements will support new capabilities across both online and in-store payments, expanding Silverflow’s role across the full payment transaction lifecycle.

Silverflow’s long-term ambition is to simplify what it describes as the fragmented global payments ecosystem, where banks and fintech companies often rely on a complex mix of processors, gateways and card network integrations.

By providing a single cloud-native processing layer, the company hopes to enable financial institutions to launch new payment capabilities more quickly while improving reliability and transparency.

For De Vries, the latest funding round represents not just financial backing but validation of the company’s strategy.

“It’s not just about raising capital,” he said. “It’s about having the resources to build infrastructure that helps our customers move faster, simplify complexity and grow globally.”

With digital payments continuing to expand worldwide, investors believe companies capable of modernising the underlying infrastructure will play an increasingly central role in the global financial system.

Read more:
Silverflow raises $40m Series B funding as cloud-native payments platform nears one billion transactions annually

Sustainable sportswear brand Reflo has launched a £2.5 million crowdfunding campaign, giving members of the public the opportunity to invest in the fast-growing company alongside England captain Harry Kane.

The fundraising round, which opens on 5 March via the investment platform Crowdcube, marks a deliberate shift away from traditional venture capital funding. Instead, Reflo’s founders say they want the brand’s customers and community to become part-owners of the business as it scales globally.

Founded in 2021 by childhood friends Rory MacFadyen and Peter Philippou, Reflo has rapidly emerged as one of the UK’s fastest-growing challenger brands in sportswear. The company generated around £5 million in revenue during 2025, achieving gross margins of approximately 60 per cent while building a diversified business across direct-to-consumer sales, wholesale partnerships, corporate apparel and sports team collaborations.

The decision to open the investment round to the public reflects the company’s philosophy that the people who buy its products should have the opportunity to share in the brand’s growth.

MacFadyen said the founders had been approached by venture capital firms but ultimately chose a different route.

“VC money was an option, but Reflo has always been built differently,” he said. “We are challenging an industry responsible for up to ten per cent of global carbon emissions, and we believe the people who wear the product should have the chance to own part of that mission. Harry Kane believed in what we’re building and chose to invest. Now others can too.”

Kane joined the company in 2024 as both a lead ambassador and investor, backing the brand’s focus on sustainability and long-term innovation rather than marketing-led environmental claims.

The England striker said he had been drawn to the founders’ ambition to disrupt the sportswear industry.

“I was really impressed with Rory and Pete’s vision for the brand and wanted to get involved,” Kane said. “It’s growing quickly, and it’s exciting for me to be a part of it.”

Rapid expansion across elite sport

In just a few years, Reflo has secured partnerships with several high-profile sporting organisations, positioning the brand as a credible alternative to legacy sportswear giants.

The company has produced apparel for the Atlassian Williams Racing as well as multiple teams in the Formula E including Jaguar TCS Racing and Nissan Formula E Team.

Reflo has also collaborated with major global sporting events including The Open Championship and the DP World Tour, alongside football clubs such as Luton Town FC and Forest Green Rovers.

These partnerships have helped accelerate brand visibility while demonstrating the performance capabilities of Reflo’s sustainable apparel.

The company says it has already recycled the equivalent of five million plastic bottles into its clothing and planted more than 200,000 trees as part of its sustainability commitments.

Reflo’s business model is built around three core divisions designed to capture multiple segments of the sportswear market.

The first pillar is its core direct-to-consumer sportswear brand, which produces apparel for activities including golf, running, training and padel.

The second, TeamLabs, focuses on sustainable kit solutions for elite sports teams and major sporting events, supplying performance apparel designed to meet professional standards while reducing environmental impact.

The third division, SupplyLabs, provides corporate and B2B apparel partnerships, working with businesses seeking sustainable branded clothing and merchandise.

By operating across these three revenue streams, Reflo has built a diversified commercial platform that the founders say strengthens its long-term growth prospects.

The company is targeting a global sportswear market valued at $335 billion in 2023, which analysts expect to grow to $646 billion by 2030 as demand for fitness apparel and athleisure continues to expand.

At the same time, increasing scrutiny of environmental impact has placed pressure on clothing brands to improve transparency and reduce carbon emissions across supply chains.

Reflo’s founders believe this shift in consumer behaviour is creating space for new entrants that combine high performance with genuine sustainability credentials.

Philippou said building a brand around responsible manufacturing has required the company to adopt a more demanding approach to product design and sourcing.

“We make our lives harder by doing things properly,” he said. “Cleaner materials, responsible manufacturing and better design. It proves that sustainability and profitability can coexist.”

He added that the crowdfunding round would allow the company to scale its model internationally.

“This raise is about taking what we’ve built and expanding it globally.”

The founders say the crowdfunding campaign will allow thousands of smaller investors to participate in Reflo’s growth story while strengthening customer loyalty to the brand.

Crowdcube has become a popular platform for consumer brands seeking to raise capital while building engaged communities of shareholders.

The Reflo campaign is expected to be one of the most prominent consumer-brand raises promoted to Crowdcube’s investor base this quarter.

Investors who participate in the round will be backing a company positioning itself as a sustainability-focused challenger brand capable of competing with established global sportswear manufacturers.

For MacFadyen, the crowdfunding campaign represents more than a financing exercise.

“Our goal is to build a brand that proves sustainability and performance can exist together,” he said. “And we want the people who believe in that vision to be part of the journey.”

Read more:
Reflo launches £2.5m crowdfunding round inviting public to invest alongside Harry Kane

A bold bet on SpaceX has paid off handsomely for RIT Capital Partners, after the value of its stake in Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite business soared past £100 million by the end of last year.

The Rothschild-backed investment trust revealed that its holding in the US aerospace group had risen to £102.3 million, making it the eighth-largest position in its portfolio. Just six months earlier, the stake had been valued at £31.4 million, highlighting the dramatic uplift driven by both additional investment and a rapid re-rating of SpaceX itself.

SpaceX’s valuation has accelerated at a pace rarely seen even in the technology sector. A secondary share sale in December placed the company’s worth at around $800 billion, double the $400 billion valuation recorded in July. Since then, the figure has climbed again to an estimated $1.25 trillion after SpaceX acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence venture xAI in a landmark deal.

The surge has made SpaceX the world’s most valuable private company and intensified speculation over a potential initial public offering. Market watchers believe an IPO could value the business at as much as $1.5 trillion, a level that would further cement Musk’s status as the world’s richest individual and potentially the first trillionaire.

SpaceX operates the Falcon launch programme, transports astronauts to and from the International Space Station, and runs the fast-growing Starlink satellite internet service, which now serves millions of customers globally.

RIT Capital Partners first invested directly in SpaceX in 2024, marking a deliberate tilt towards high-growth private technology companies. The trust is managed by J Rothschild Capital Management, led by Maggie Fanari, who described SpaceX as “the most innovative company of our time”.

The investment reflects a broader strategy to increase exposure to unlisted growth assets alongside quoted equities. RIT has also invested in Anthropic, the artificial intelligence developer backed by major US tech players. Its Anthropic stake was valued at £7.4 million at the end of December.

Founded in 1961 by the late Lord Rothschild and listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1988, RIT manages approximately £4 billion in net assets across global equities, private investments, credit and alternative strategies. The Rothschild family remains its largest shareholder.

The SpaceX uplift helped RIT deliver a 13.5 per cent net asset value return for the year, compared with 9.4 per cent the previous year. Total shareholder return reached 16.9 per cent.

The trust noted that it has been reducing its exposure to North America amid investor concerns over US trade policy and geopolitical risk. Its quoted equities allocation has shifted towards Europe and Asia in recent months.

Despite the improved performance, RIT shares continue to trade at a wide discount to net asset value of roughly 27 per cent, reflecting the broader malaise affecting London-listed investment trusts. Shares slipped 1.6 per cent to £21.45 in late trading following the results.

An eventual public listing of SpaceX remains one of the most anticipated events in global capital markets. While Musk has historically resisted floating the core rocket business, speculation has intensified as valuations climb and investor appetite for AI-linked infrastructure assets grows.

For RIT Capital Partners, the bet underscores the appeal, and volatility, of backing private technology champions before they reach public markets. If SpaceX proceeds with a flotation at or above current valuations, the windfall for early investors could grow even further.

For now, the trust’s SpaceX holding has become a meaningful driver of returns, and a reminder that in today’s markets, a well-timed private market allocation can move the dial dramatically.

Read more:
RIT Capital Partners’ SpaceX stake tops £100m as Elon Musk valuation soars

US technology group Avalara has acquired Manchester-based integration startup Versori in a deal that underscores the growing international appeal of the UK’s regional tech sector.

The value of the transaction has not been disclosed, but it includes Versori’s proprietary technology platform and its 23-strong team. Co-founders Sean Brown and Daniel Jones will remain with the business, which will operate under the name “Versori, by Avalara”.

Founded in 2022, Versori specialises in next-generation integration technology, enabling companies to connect complex systems such as ERPs, ecommerce platforms, marketplaces and financial applications with greater speed and automation. The company raised $10.5 million in prior funding and graduated from the prestigious Y Combinator accelerator programme in March 2023.

Sean Brown said the acquisition aligns closely with Versori’s founding vision.

“We want Versori to connect the world’s systems. That was the mission statement from day one,” he said. “As we were going through a period of growth we were facing doing another investment round, but Avalara were already a customer and the strategic fit was very strong.”

Avalara describes itself as an “agentic” tax and compliance leader, providing automated tax calculation, reporting and compliance solutions to more than 200,000 customers across 75 countries. Its long-term ambition is to embed real-time, always-on compliance into global commerce systems.

Scott McFarlane, chief executive and co-founder of Avalara, said the acquisition would significantly accelerate that ambition.

“Compliance at global scale depends on seamless, reliable integration,” he said. “Versori’s technology and team significantly accelerate our ability to connect into the world’s commerce systems quickly, at scale, using intelligent, AI-driven automation that meets the reliability and accuracy standards global compliance demands.”

The move strengthens Avalara’s unified platform strategy, particularly as regulatory complexity increases worldwide and multinational businesses seek automated, audit-ready compliance solutions embedded directly into transactional workflows.

Versori’s platform uses automation-first architecture to reduce the time and engineering resources required to build and maintain integrations. By leveraging artificial intelligence, the system can simplify deployment and ongoing maintenance, making it attractive to enterprises operating across multiple jurisdictions and platforms.

Since its launch, Versori has worked with high-profile organisations including Frasers Group, Macy’s and the UK Ministry of Defence. Its growth trajectory has made it one of Manchester’s fastest-rising enterprise software startups.

Brown said the acquisition demonstrates that Manchester can produce globally competitive technology businesses.

“It’s proof that Manchester can grow companies like Versori,” he said. “Hopefully it will bring more investment into Manchester and more talent. I’ve never done it for the rewards. I love building things and I’m looking forward to keeping building things with Versori. I’ve got a lot of unfinished business.”

The deal also reflects continued US interest in UK AI and enterprise software firms, particularly those outside London. Manchester’s tech ecosystem has grown rapidly in recent years, supported by university spinouts, venture capital inflows and accelerator programmes.

For Avalara, the acquisition adds advanced AI-enabled integration capabilities at a time when global tax and compliance requirements are becoming increasingly digitised and complex. The company has spent more than two decades building one of the most extensive libraries of tax content and system integrations in the industry. Integrating Versori’s automation technology is expected to enhance speed, scalability and reliability across that network.

Both companies indicated that integration work is already under way, with Versori’s technology forming a key part of Avalara’s push towards AI-native compliance systems that operate continuously and autonomously within global commerce infrastructure.

Read more:
Avalara acquires Manchester startup Versori in AI-driven integration deal

A Cambridge ag-biotech start-up aiming to reinvent crop protection has secured $3.8 million in early-stage funding to accelerate the development of next-generation herbicides and pest control products using artificial intelligence.

Bindbridge, founded in 2025 by a trio of Cambridge University scientists, is building what it describes as a category-defining platform for agriculture: an AI-driven system capable of designing “molecular glues” to target and degrade specific proteins in weeds and pests. The company believes its approach could help tackle the mounting crisis of herbicide resistance, which is estimated to cost farmers tens of billions of dollars each year.

The funding round was led by Speedinvest and Nucleus Capital, two investors focused on deeptech and climate innovation. The backing will allow Bindbridge to expand its eight-person team, advance its proprietary AI platform and begin laboratory testing of its first agricultural molecular glue candidates within the next 12 months.

The scale of the opportunity is considerable. According to United Nations data, around 40 per cent of global crops are lost to plant pests annually, while plant diseases cost the global economy more than $220 billion each year. Herbicide-resistant weeds alone are estimated to destroy crops worth $70 billion annually. At the same time, regulators are tightening rules on chemical persistence and environmental impact, putting pressure on the traditional agrochemical model.

The global ag-chem industry currently spends up to $9 billion a year on research and development, yet it can take as long as 12 years to bring a new active ingredient to market. Bindbridge argues that the sector’s conventional discovery methods are slow, expensive and increasingly constrained by resistance and regulatory hurdles.

At the core of the company’s strategy is its AI platform, known as BRIDGE. The system uses computational models to design molecular glues, small molecules that trigger the targeted degradation of specific proteins inside plants or pests. By leveraging the plant’s own intracellular protein control systems, Bindbridge aims to create more precise, potent and environmentally responsible crop protection agents.

Beyond herbicides, the company sees applications for insecticides, fungicides and even sprayable plant traits designed to improve nutrient efficiency, enhance heat tolerance or support carbon sequestration.

George Crane, co-founder and chief executive of Bindbridge, said the agricultural sector is facing “significant performance and sustainability challenges” that demand a fundamentally new approach to product development.

“There’s currently no affordable, rational or systematic way to discover molecular glues at scale for agriculture,” he said. “We’re using AI to rapidly and accurately derive new molecules that can change farming’s future.”

The investment will also support co-development discussions with major agrochemical companies. Bindbridge says it is already in late-stage talks with industry players to collaborate on targeted protein degradation projects.

Speedinvest investor Namratha Kothapalli said the company was applying modern AI techniques to one of the world’s most consequential industries. “They’re unlocking entirely new chemical space that the industry simply couldn’t reach before,” she said.

Nucleus Capital general partner Dr Isabella Fandrych described the platform as a potential breakthrough in tackling herbicide resistance and strengthening global food systems. “Their computational approach lays the groundwork for a new era of sustainable agriculture,” she said.

Bindbridge’s founding team, Dr George Crane, Dr Alex Campbell and Dr Simeon Spasov, bring experience spanning machine learning engineering, plant biology, chemistry and venture building. With the new capital, the company aims to position itself as a disruptive force in agricultural R&D, combining deep science with scalable AI to address one of the most pressing challenges in global food security.

Read more:
Bindbridge raises $3.8m to fight herbicide resistance with AI-designed crop protection

When Sébastien de Montessus was appointed chief executive of Mansa Resources, a newly launched mining company backed by succesfull West African entrepreneur, Idrissa Nassa (Coris Bank), the move carried a familiar logic.

After nearly a decade spent transforming Endeavour Mining into one of the world’s ten largest gold producers, de Montessus is returning to what has long defined his career: building scale, discipline and credibility in frontier markets where volatility is the rule rather than the exception.

His nomination at Mansa marks the opening of a new chapter, but it is one deeply anchored in the managerial philosophy and operating model he refined during his years at Endeavour. For investors and industry observers, the appointment is less a leap into the unknown than a continuation of a method — one that has already reshaped West Africa’s mining landscape once.

A reputation built through diverse experiences, further honed at Endeavour Mining

When de Montessus took the helm of Endeavour Mining in 2016, the company was a modest mid-tier gold producer with limited visibility beyond specialist investors. Its asset base was fragmented, its growth story uncertain, and its operational execution exposed to the risks that have long deterred international capital from African mining.

Over the following eight years, that profile changed dramatically. Endeavour became West Africa’s largest gold producer, with annual output exceeding one million ounces and a portfolio spanning Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Senegal. It entered the FTSE 100 in 2021, a rare achievement for a company whose assets were entirely African.

The transformation was not driven by aggressive leverage or speculative expansion. Instead, Sébastien de Montessus imposed a tightly defined investment framework. Each mine would need to demonstrate a life of more than ten years, annual production above 200,000 ounces and a disciplined cost structure capable of generating cash flow across commodity cycles. Growth was a consequence of quality, not its substitute.

That discipline translated into execution. With his team, Flagship projects such as the Houndé mine in Burkina Faso and the Ity CIL expansion in Côte d’Ivoire were delivered ahead of schedule and under budget — outcomes that remain exceptions rather than norms in the global gold sector. Selective acquisitions, notably of Semafo and Teranga Gold, consolidated high-quality assets along the Birimian greenstone belt, reinforcing Endeavour’s regional coherence without undermining financial stability. What distinguished these transactions was not only their industrial logic, but their timing. Both were executed during the Covid-19 pandemic, a period when most mining operators were singularly focused on business continuity, supply-chain resilience and workforce protection — challenges that were arguably more acute for extractive industries than for many other sectors. At a moment when peers were retrenching, Endeavour pursued external and organic growth simultaneously, integrating new assets while maintaining uninterrupted operations across its existing portfolio. The ability to balance acquisition-driven expansion with operational stability under unprecedented global disruption underscored the managerial discipline that defined de Montessus’s tenure.

Operational rigour in complex environments

What distinguished de Montessus’s tenure was not only scale, but predictability. Under his leadership, Endeavour built a reputation for doing what it said it would do — a currency of rare value in emerging-market mining.

From the outset of his tenure in 2016, Sébastien de Montessus also moved early on issues that would later become central to the industry. On security, he acted well before the terrorist risk in parts of the Sahel was widely acknowledged by most mining operators. While peers largely framed security around asset protection and gold theft, Endeavour broadened its risk assessment early, recruiting specialised profiles and investing in appropriate capabilities to protect personnel, assets and business continuity as regional threats evolved.

Labour relations proved another source of operational stability. In a sector where strikes are a common means of negotiation, Endeavour experienced no site-level work stoppages during his tenure — an uncommon outcome in African mining. This reflected a sustained social dialogue and an effort to align interests, notably through a group-wide incentive system linked to production and cost performance and extended to all employees, from entry-level roles to site management.

Health and safety were treated as foundational rather than procedural. In a high-risk industry, management emphasis was placed on leadership behaviour and field presence, reinforcing the view that safety performance was inseparable from operational excellence.

Exploration success reinforced that credibility. By concentrating on well-understood geological corridors in West Africa, Endeavour added millions of ounces to its resource base at discovery costs among the lowest in the industry. The strategy illustrated a recurring theme in de Montessus’s approach: focus on depth rather than dispersion, and on repeatable processes rather than one-off bets.

Alongside operations, corporate governance was professionalised. Reporting standards were aligned with international expectations, environmental and social programmes expanded, and community investment became a structural component of project development. Endeavour’s evolution helped challenge long-standing investor scepticism about African-based miners, demonstrating that scale, governance and operational discipline could coexist on the continent.

The end of a chapter — and the opening of another

De Montessus’s departure from Endeavour in early 2024 followed an internal dispute that was ultimately resolved through an agreement between the company and its former chief executive. While the episode closed a significant chapter, it did little to diminish the industrial legacy of his tenure. The portfolio structure, operating culture and regional footprint he established remain central to Endeavour’s strategy today.

His appointment at Mansa Resources should therefore be read not as a reinvention, but as a redeployment of experience. Mansa, backed by Africaninvestors and positioned as a long-term mining platform, enters the market at a moment when capital discipline, geopolitical awareness and operational credibility are again at a premium.

Behind Mansa Resources stands Idrissa Nassa, one of West Africa’s most discreet but consequential business figures. Best known as the founder and chief executive of Coris Bank International, Nassa has built his influence far beyond finance, assembling a diversified portfolio that spans banking, mining, energy distribution and trade. His trajectory — from modest beginnings in the markets of Ouagadougou to boardrooms in Abidjan, Dakar and London — reflects a methodical form of entrepreneurship rooted in capital discipline and local anchoring.

In recent years, he has accelerated strategic acquisitions, including assets divested by international groups, positioning African-controlled capital at the centre of sectors long dominated by foreign operators. For Mansa, Nassa provides not only financial backing but a long-term industrial vision: one that views mining not as an isolated extractive activity, but as part of a broader ecosystem linking finance, infrastructure and regional development.

Mansa Resources: ambition shaped by experience

Although still in its early stages, Mansa has set out an ambition that resonates with de Montessus’s track record: to build a diversified mining company rooted in Africa, capable of developing assets responsibly and competitively over the long term.

The context is markedly different from that of 2016. Commodity markets are more volatile, financing conditions tighter, and geopolitical scrutiny of critical resources more intense. At the same time, African governments are increasingly assertive about local value creation, governance and environmental standards.

For Sébastien de Montessus, these constraints are not unfamiliar. His career has been defined by navigating precisely these tensions — between risk and discipline, growth and restraint, frontier opportunity and institutional expectations. At Mansa, the challenge will be to apply that same operating logic from the ground up, rather than at the scale of an established producer.

A leadership style shaped by finance and execution

Trained in corporate finance, de Montessus has consistently approached mining as an industrial business rather than a speculative pursuit. Capital allocation, cost control and long-term asset quality have taken precedence over headline growth. That mindset has often set him apart in a sector prone to cyclical exuberance.

At Endeavour, it enabled the company to grow through cycles without compromising balance-sheet resilience. At Mansa, it is likely to influence how projects are selected, financed and sequenced — favouring clarity of execution over speed.

For investors, the significance of his nomination lies less in immediate production targets than in governance and credibility. In frontier mining, leadership track record often matters as much as geology. De Montessus brings with him a reputation forged in one of the most demanding operating theatres in the industry.

His legacy at Endeavour Mining is also measurable in what has — and has not — changed since his departure. The portfolio structure he assembled remains largely intact, and the operational framework he imposed continues to underpin the company’s performance. While the sharp rise in gold prices — which have more than doubled from their lows during his tenure — has lifted valuations across the sector, the structural fundamentals at Endeavour were laid earlier: long-life assets, disciplined capital allocation, and a coherent regional focus. The architecture he put in place has proved durable, suggesting that the model was not cyclical, but structural.

That durability reflects a management philosophy he once summarised internally in a simple principle: clarity of strategy, accountability in execution, and alignment between capital and operations. Colleagues describe a leader who prefers forward motion to preservation, who challenges organisational inertia and expects teams to evolve rather than defend precedent. That restlessness has often been an engine of growth — though, in highly structured public companies, such momentum can sometimes create friction at board level. Those who worked with him note that he is not inclined to manage by consensus alone; he is known to push for change when he believes the industrial logic demands it.

At Mansa Resources, that appetite for movement will operate within a different ownership structure. Alongside the backing of Idrissa Nassa, the shareholder base includes Orion Resource Partners, the US-based mining investment fund known for its highly selective approach to capital deployment. Orion’s due diligence processes — extending beyond assets to management teams — are regarded in the industry as among the most rigorous. Their decision to support Mansa reflects a calculated confidence not only in the geological prospects ahead, but in the leadership tasked with executing them.

A return to first principles

The appointment of Sébastien de Montessus as CEO of Mansa Resources signals a return to first principles: disciplined growth, regional focus and operational realism. If his years at Endeavour Mining demonstrated how a mid-tier producer could become a global contender, Mansa represents an opportunity to apply those lessons from inception.

In a mining industry once again forced to confront its own excesses, his trajectory offers a reminder that scale is built not through bold promises, but through consistency. For de Montessus, Mansa is not a departure from that philosophy — it is its logical continuation.

Read more:
Sébastien de Montessus: From Endeavour Mining to Mansa Resources, a Builder Returns to the Frontier