Sage, the accounting, financial, HR and payroll technology provider for small and mid-sized businesses, has partnered with Google and Multiverse to help small businesses in the North East with practical AI skills.

Sage has returned as headline sponsor of the TechNExt festival for the fourth consecutive year, reinforcing its commitment to supporting the region’s growing tech ecosystem.

The event, supported by techUK and hosted in the region’s AI Growth Zone, comes at a time when many small businesses are still figuring out how – and where – to use AI.

While interest is growing, adoption remains uneven. New research from Enterprise Nation, in partnership with Sage, has found that 53% of SMEs believe stronger AI skills would help to improve the quality, consistency and speed within their business.

When asked about what is holding them back from adoption, 53% said costs; 46% said lack of skills; and 37% said having the time to learn new tools.

Working alongside Google and Multiverse, the aim is to give businesses something tangible to take away – whether that’s trying a new tool, improving an existing workflow, or simply feeling more confident about where to start.

Pulsant, the UK data centre and digital infrastructure platform, today announced the completion of a £2 million investment programme across its nationwide network of sites.

Delivered over the last two years, the roll-out has focused on improving the day-to-day, on-site experience for clients, visitors and Pulsant people, modernising facilities and refreshing interiors.

Refurbishments have been completed at Pulsant sites in Croydon, Edinburgh, Maidenhead, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Reading and Rotherham.

The investment further strengthens Pulsant’s offering to data-driven organisations which are looking to scale and grow. Its distributed digital infrastructure platform enables digital transformation, underpinned by low latency connectivity.

Inspiration Healthcare Group plc has swung into the black after its revenue jumped.

The pioneer of specialist neonatal intensive care medical devices reported group revenue of £47.5m for the year ended 31st January 2026, up 24%.

Adjusted EBITDA was £2.8m (FY25: £0.2m), with adjusted operating profit of £0.8m (FY25: loss of £1.9m).

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Mark Dixon has stepped aside as CEO of International Workplace Group plc four decades after he founded the flexible workspace firm.

He will become executive chair and be succeeded by Christian Schmitz, who joined the firm last year as chief transformation officer and subsequently served as global head of all regions.

Douglas Sutherland, currently non-executive chair, becomes deputy chair.

Dixon founded IWG in 1989 and, over nearly four decades, has built the company into the global leader in flexible workspace, with a network spanning more than 120 countries through brands such as Regus, Spaces, HQ and Signature.

Author: Chris Maguire

Luxury cruise retailer Panache Cruises has hit £50m turnover for the first time.

The Chorley-based business, which was founded in 2020, saw its revenues rise from £34.9m to £50.1m in the 12 months to the end of May 2026.

Tech-enabled Panache Cruises also generated over £1m EBITDA and grew its headcount from 72 to 110 over the same period.

CEO and founder James Cole said reaching £50m was a ‘huge milestone’, especially against the backdrop of ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

He said Panache Cruises wants to become the world’s biggest retailer of luxury and ultra-luxury cruises by 2031.

Cole said the company’s ambitious five-year goal was to reach £300m in revenue by 2031.

Author: Chris Maguire

Rob Hall, co-founder of Playground xyz, the attention-based advertising platform acquired by GumGum in 2021, has announced his return to adtech with the launch of Parallel.

Launched in Sydney and London, Parallel allows brands to quantify and optimise resonance – the fit between a customer, an ad and the content they’re viewing – across live advertising campaigns.

Hall describes Parallel’s technology as ‘a virtual focus group that happens before every impression you buy’.

Like Playground xyz, Parallel is backed by Sydney-based venture capital firm Shearwater Capital, which has invested AU$4m in the new venture as part of a seed round.

Parallel launches with a six-strong team based in London and Sydney. In London, Hall is joined by Ben Dimond (UK managing director) and Billy Gittins (senior sales lead).

Author: Chris Maguire

From being raised by an alcoholic mother to fighting off a sex pest and coming out as gay at the age of 30, Sam White has faced more challenges than most.

She is the award-winning CEO of female-focused motor insurance business Stella Insurance, which has offices in Manchester and Australia, and is the latest guest on The Naked Founder Podcast.

White brings a new meaning to the phrase ‘straight talking’ and has appeared on BBC Morning Live, Wake Up To Money and Sky News.

A passionate advocate for levelling the playing field for women, she ultimately wants to create a fund for female founders.

“I do genuinely believe that anything is possible and my life has taught me that to be true,” she told The Naked Founder Podcast. “I’ve had lots of adventures and experiences.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Debenhams Group has hailed its turnaround after slashing annual losses.

The listed parent company of boohoo, PrettyLittleThing and Karen Millen says its ‘capital-lite, stock-lite’ marketplace model has now been rolled out across the entire group.

Losses before tax for the year ended 28th February 2026 were £108.6 million, down 69.2% from £352.5m in the prior year – reflecting improvement in adjusted EBITDA and a sharp reduction in exceptional costs.

Dock10, one of the UK’s leading television facilities and post-production houses, has a new name:  MediaCity Studios and MediaCity Post, respectively. 

MediaCity is currently acting as the nerve centre for delivery of the BBC’s FIFA World Cup coverage, showcasing another example of the facility’s excellence in sports production. 

The MediaCity Studios and MediaCity Post teams are delivering a highly complex solution for the BBC that combines multiple tracked cameras with in-studio LED screens and multiple virtual studio environments, together with high volume, fast-turnaround post-production in HDR. 

 

Zeroramp has raised £500k pre-seed funding to solve employee onboarding.

Funded by Tunde and Abidis, its foundational product is Zeno, a fixed-price assistant that lives inside Slack and Teams, helping users cut through the silos fragmenting their company data.

Users can ask Zeno anything about their company, products, customers, policies and processes. Zeno reads data from tools including Notion, SharePoint, Confluence and CRM systems, resolves conflicts, responds within seconds, and ensures data remains where the customer kept it.

With a fixed price of €45 per month, Zeno avoids token-based pricing, hyperscaler dependency and unnecessary upsells, focusing instead on strong engineering and cost discipline.

The round was completed through the FounderCatalyst platform, a cost-effective and rapid fundraising solution designed for early-stage startups.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Barclays has agreed a deal to acquire kids money app GoHenry from its parent company Acorns.

GoHenry helps 6-18-year-olds learn to earn, save, spend and invest money. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and other conditions and is expected to complete in Q4 2026. 

Acorns will retain the US GoHenry business, which now operates under the Acorns Early brand, as well as Pixpay in Europe.

 

A cross-sector coalition of employers from industries including tech, hospitality, construction, transport, logistics, the self-employed and emergency services has come together to launch a major new workplace meditation initiative aimed at improving employee wellbeing across Greater Manchester.

The initiative was unveiled at a launch event at Soho House, Manchester, on 11th June, bringing together senior leaders, HR specialists and wellbeing advocates to mark the next phase of the Greater Manchester Wellbeing Series, an ambitious programme designed to deliver measurable improvements in workforce wellbeing.

The campaign will culminate in a region-wide collective three-minute meditation moment on 22 October, with organisations across Greater Manchester encouraged to pause at the same time and take part.

The meditation initiative follows the GM Wellbeing Run & Walk, held at Heaton Park on 21st May, which brought thousands of employees together to highlight the benefits of physical activity and social connection. While that event focused on movement and community, this latest phase focuses on mental wellbeing and offers a practical tool that can be used by employees in any role or workplace.

The Growth Company, powered by its early-stage investment arm GC Angels, and Bruntwood SciTech brought together over 130 investors, Northern founders and key ecosystem partners for their second ‘Early-Stage Northern Showcase – Investor x Founder’ event in Leeds.

Held at Nexus, the University of Leeds’ innovation hub, the event welcomed more than 70 early-stage businesses from across the North of England and a strong cohort of over 60 investors and other institutions from across the UK, further strengthening connections between regional and national investment communities. 

 

Author: Russ Shaw CBE, founder of Global Tech Advocates and Tech London Advocates

This is a landmark moment for the UK and a bold response to one of the defining challenges of the digital age.

At a time when governments around the world are grappling with the impact of social media on young people, the UK is showing real leadership by putting children’s safety and wellbeing at the heart of digital policy.

While implementation will be crucial, this sends a clear signal that online platforms must take greater responsibility for the experiences they create.

Author: Professor Andy Miah, Chair in Science Comms and Future Media, University of Salford

Banning social media for under 16s is the worst possible reaction to concerns about harmful and unhealthy habits online. We’ve spent 20 years ignoring the risk; schools and parents haven’t known what to do, and this is a policy born out of desperation arising from the failure to be bold in guiding young people towards healthier and empowering habits during their time at school.

We absolutely need more evidence to understand the impact of a ban but, in the absence of clear evidence, we need proactive interventions that support healthy online behaviour. What happens when a child turns 16? Are they just turned out into the Wild West of the internet and expected to protect themselves? I fear this ban is simply kicking the risk down the road and I’ve heard nothing about positively empowering young people to become more resilient to the risks. This should be the policy focus.

I don’t think we know enough about the impact of the policy, but we can be sure that the consequence is both impractical to enforce and stifling of open conversation. Habits of using digital platforms will go underground and, as such, we’ll know less about how children are using social media.

Also, the policy doesn’t get to grips with what social media is and this is a fundamental problem. For example, we know that young people are using AI like social media now and there’s even less known about that.

Obvious examples of risk arising from a ban include the young people who, currently, have their social network through their digital worlds. Not everyone has a supportive friendship group in person and, while that may seem sad, removing social media access for such people means social isolation. So, we’ll likely see a number of mental health concerns arise as a result of this ban.

Perhaps the biggest loss from this ban is the positive conversation we could be having about the remarkable technology that everyone has in their hands now. These powerful devices could be used to change the world and we’ve not had that conversation ever with children. It’s just been completely neglected.

ANS has committed £3 million to support AI adoption across Greater Manchester.

The digital transformation specialist announced the investment at an event entitled Manchester: The UK’s AI Powerhouse at the Science and Industry Museum.

The event brought together leaders from across business, academia, government and technology to discuss how Greater Manchester can build on its position as one of the UK’s leading AI hubs and translate innovation into long-term economic growth.

Author: Matthew Holman - tech, privacy and AI partner at law firm Cripps

A ban on social media is a crude tool. It has the right motive but will likely lead to the wrong outcome. The government’s motivation is commendable but it remains to be seen how this ban can be applied in a manner which translates today’s rhetoric into reality.

There are several obvious problems with a social media ban, which include a probable lack of enforcement. Law without enforcement is an illusion. In recent years, the UK has had to weather a continuous decrease in effective data protection enforcement.

The ICO’s decline as an effective regulator of data protection has created an environment in which global corporations operating in the UK can expect to operate in an environment with very little risk of a fine.

Ofcom, the UK’s regulator of the Online Safety Act, has only been able to progress with the most basic level of enforcement of a law which remains, despite being conceived before Covid, in its infancy.

The evidence of social media causing harm to large sections of the under-16 population is far more nuanced. Research suggests that 7 out of 10 children in Australia remain online despite the ban, because of the ease with which rules can be overcome and the lack of meaningful enforcement. Social media remains an online environment which has both good and bad. Children access the news and current affairs information via social media platforms.

Age verification technology remains nascent and has not penetrated the mainstream consumer technological environment.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The Government has this morning confirmed a social media ban for under-16s in the UK.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour administration said children will be given back their childhoods under plans to ban social media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and X from offering services to under-16s, ‘with less time for scrolling and more time for play’. 

The Government plans to use the same model for a social media ban as Australia. This would capture user-to-user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction and which allow users to post material, alongside algorithms. 

It does not intend for messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal to be included in the social media ban.

The Government also intends to issue blocks on harmful functions such as livestreaming and chatting with strangers on platforms such as gaming sites.

It says the overall restrictions go further than any other country.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Frasers Group plc is plotting a £166 million hostile takeover of Australian footwear and apparel retailer Accent Group.

Mike Ashley’s retail group has been critical of Accent, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, in which it already holds a 23% stake.

Accent operates more than 800 stores across Australia and New Zealand under the brands Hype DC, Platypus, Skechers and The Athlete’s Foot.

Australian firm Fresho has acquired Nation Wilcox, a provider of ERP software to food suppliers across the UK. 

Fresho’s platform brings together ordering, picking, invoicing and payments into a single system, using AI to automate order capture and reduce manual administration for wholesalers and food service caterers across its markets.

The acquisition establishes Fresho as the market-leading technology platform for food wholesalers in the UK, with a combined customer base of more than 400 businesses and over £2 billion in annual gross merchandise value (GMV) across the UK.