Bite-size news and insight from UK business and tech – including funding, deals and appointments
Published: February 5, 2026 at 8:25 pm
They are looking for £80k for 10% of the business.
They are yet to go to retail – everything is from a phone and packed on a kitchen table – after five years of operation.
They say each product costs £7 to make – in the UK – and sell for £29.99.
Touker says he can find a way to reduce the cost of the moulds (currently £25k) and the product should be sold for less than £20.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 8:20 pm
Next to pitch is married couple Ben and Natalia Reeves, who have a solution for golfers sick of muddy balls.
Swish is a portable golf ball cleaner launched in 2024 which takes seconds to do its job and clips on to golf bags.
Peter and Gary are keen golfers – indeed Peter has bought American Golf just today – so will the founders drive home a deal with them?
Published: February 5, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Dani says she was quite taken by Gary and Deborah’s answers and asks them to consider 15% equity for the £50k. Peter is mock offended!
However Deborah stands firm. And Dani walks out of the Den with the £50k for 20%, split between her and Gary.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 8:15 pm
Steven Bartlett asks Dani about social media. She is on Insta and has built community organic growth, but has a love/hate relationship with TikTok.
He says she has a story to tell there.
Gary says he will give her the money for 20% of the business!
Deborah Meaden, the ‘green queen’, matches his offer.
Touker says it isn’t his thing and is out.
Steven says “I am the best Dragon for you”…. but he doesn’t see enough to punch through the market and is out.
Peter Jones says it’s really difficult not to make an offer as Dani has a great product and is “radiating” – everything he wants to see in a founder. He matches the previous offers.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 8:08 pm
Dani is looking for £50,000 for 10% of her business.
She was one of the early people working at Charlotte Tilbury.
She turned over £23k in year one, £73k in year two and is set to double that this year – despite being a one-woman business.
She is in Whole Foods and also growing in the US.
She is also a professional psychic medium!
Published: February 5, 2026 at 8:02 pm
First up is Danielle Close, whose Brighton business My Skin Feels – founded in 2023 – is a vegan skincare brand that ferments rescued organic food waste from the Italian food and drinks industry.
The by-products of breakfast oats, olive oil, tomato skins and citrus juice are used in skincare products, which could appeal to sustainability champion Deborah Meaden.
Danielle says the fermentation process boosts the ingredients’ antioxidant and postbiotic content.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 7:55 pm
Of course, there are four regular Dragons running the rule over the four featured pitches tonight.
But how often are won over and invest? And how often do the deals actually go through?
Click below for all Dragons’ Den investments made by:
Published: February 5, 2026 at 7:47 pm
The new series of Dragons’ Den is set for episode 2 tonight as guest judge Gary Neville returns to the Den.
The businessman, broadcaster and former footballer joins Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman as they put another set of business hopefuls to the test.
In this episode, a beauty industry insider pitches skincare made from rescued food. A husband-and-wife duo tee up an innovative device designed to keep golf balls spotless. A finance-savvy business founder wants to score big with an app that helps users overpay their mortgages. And a married couple spice things up with their seasoning balls.
But will the Dragons bite?
Join us for live coverage from 8pm to find out!
Published: February 5, 2026 at 4:49 pm
Award-winning podcast, We Built This City, has marked the milestone of reaching 100 episodes with a star-studded dinner in Manchester.
The honour of being the 100th guest on the podcast hosted by Lisa Morton went to Michael Ingall, founder and CEO of Allied London.
Ingall is the visionary behind some of Manchester’s most iconic neighbourhoods, including Spinningfields and St. John’s.
Morton, who founded PR agency Roland Dransfield in 1996, launched We Built This City in February 2020, just two weeks before the UK entered lockdown.
Notable podcast guests include Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester; Professor Erinma Bell, community activist; the late Sir Howard Bernstein; actor John Henshaw, DJ Paulette, Clint Boon, Sacha Lord, and Rowetta.
On Wednesday, Morton brought together 100 guests at the iconic Manchester Hall for a landmark celebration.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 4:17 pm
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined MediaLab, owner of image sharing and hosting platform Imgur, £247,590 for failing to use children’s personal information lawfully.
The penalty follows an investigation that found MediaLab allowed children to use Imgur without putting in place the basic safeguards required under UK data protection law.
The ICO concluded MediaLab breached the law by:
John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner, said: “MediaLab failed in its legal duties to protect children, putting them at unnecessary risk.
“For years, it allowed children to use Imgur without any effective age checks, while collecting and processing their data, which in turn exposed them to harmful and inappropriate content.”
Published: February 5, 2026 at 4:09 pm
Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones has bought the UK and Ireland’s leading specialist golf retailer, American Golf, from private equity firm Endless.
The 59-year-old serial entrepreneur is a keen golfer and said his latest purchase was ‘especially meaningful’.
Nigel Oddy, CEO of American Golf, said: “Joining forces with Peter Jones and his investment group marks an exciting new chapter for American Golf.”
Endless acquired Warrington-based American Golf in 2018, following an accelerated sale process completed in only two weeks.
Alvarez & Marsal acted as the lead financial advisor to Endless on the sale.
Jonathan Boyers, head of corporate finance for EMEA at Alvarez & Marsal: said: “American Golf is the UK and Ireland’s leading specialist golf retailer, with an annual turnover of £135m.
“It was acquired by Endless in 2018 and currently employs more than 1,000 people across its omnichannel operation, which consists of more than 80 bricks-and-mortar stores in the UK and Ireland alongside its online offering.
“I first started working with American Golf years ago and so it really is pleasing for my team at Alvarez & Marsal corporate finance to help achieve this excellent outcome for the business and its shareholders.”
Published: February 5, 2026 at 3:20 pm
The founder of photo-printing app Mosaic Journal has revealed the explosive impact this appearance on Dragons’ Den has had on the startup.
Last week viewers saw Murad Huseynov walk away with an investment offer of £70,000 from Steven Bartlett for a 15 per cent stake in the business.
Now the 30-year-old has told BusinessCloud about the full extent his TV appearance has had on Mosaic Journal.
Highlights include:
Huseynov is still the only full-time employee in the business, which is on track to hit £2.5m revenue this year and has active users in 21 countries.
He launched Mosaic Journal after becoming disillusioned with mainstream social platforms to create a digital and physical space designed to preserve memories in a tangible form.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 3:17 pm
Entrepreneur Paul Simkiss has warned that other SMEs will follow his lead in selling their business because of Rachel Reeves’ changes to inheritance tax.
Earlier this week it was revealed that United Infrastructure had acquired Rochdale-based Simkiss Group for an undisclosed sum.
Simkiss Group consists of Simkiss Control Systems, which was founded in 1999, and Instrument Control Services (ICS), which was acquired in 2025.
The leading engineering solutions provider works across multiple sectors, including energy, utilities and infrastructure and has a combined turnover of £20.5m and employs 152 staff.
Simkiss Control Systems designs and builds bespoke electrical control systems for a range of blue-chip clients, including Amazon, Network Rail and Siemens.
Although he welcomed the acquisition by United Infrastructure, Paul Simkiss said Labour’s changes to inheritance tax rules had been the ‘final straw’.
He asked: “Why is Rachel Reeves decimating SMEs in the country when they employ the vast majority of people in the UK?
“It’s frightening. Other SMEs will have to follow suit. Within a generation, SMEs are going to be eradicated because they’re not going to be able to continue.”
Published: February 5, 2026 at 2:50 pm
Two Manchester-based tech workers are celebrating the first year of a coffee side hustle that has grown from a Kickstarter experiment into a fast-growing national subscription business.
Vex Coffee was founded by Ross Jamieson and John Bradshaw, who both work full-time in the tech sector and began building the company in evenings and weekends after launching a Kickstarter campaign in late 2024.
The idea was born during a drive back to Manchester from Wales, when the pair began discussing how difficult it was for people outside major cities to discover high-quality speciality coffee without specialist knowledge, expensive equipment or access to independent cafés.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 2:42 pm
Lawhive, a LegalTech company transforming how consumer legal services are delivered, has raised £44 million in Series B funding to accelerate its expansion across the US.
Lawhive, live in 35 states and targeting a presence in all 50, plans to scale its model of building the world’s first ‘AI-native consumer law firm’.
In addition to Lawhive’s Austin office, a New York office is being opened to support this next stage of US growth.
The round was led by Mitch Rales, co-founder of Danaher Corporation, with participation from TQ Ventures, GV (Google Ventures), Balderton Capital, Jigsaw, Anton Levy and LTS.
The investment comes within a year of Lawhive’s $40m Series A, which included England footballers. In 2024 it raised £9.5m seed funding. Annual revenue now exceeds $35m, having grown sevenfold in the past year.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 2:25 pm
Maven Capital Partners has strengthened its investment team in the East Midlands with the appointment of Sabrina Mahmood as Investment Manager.
Mahmood will lead on deal origination and execution for MEIF II Debt Finance East and South East Midlands, part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II delivered by the British Business Bank.
She joined Maven’s Nottingham office at the end of 2025 and is responsible for sourcing and delivering MEIF II debt investments across the region, as well as managing a growing portfolio of companies.
Bringing over a decade of experience in Corporate and Commercial Banking, prior to joining Maven, Mahmood spent 11 years at Santander where she focused on new business origination, supporting regional companies with international expansion, and managing SME client portfolios.
She will also play a key role in Maven’s Female Founder Funding Programme, supporting women-led businesses in accessing growth finance.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 1:40 pm
Foresight Group, an investment manager in real assets and capital for growth, has announced a growth capital investment into AsiaVerify.
AsiaVerify is an intelligence RegTech platform founded in 2019 that draws on official sources across 14 Asian jurisdictions, providing users with real-time insights into 447 million companies, including ownership structures, ownership, risk indicators and compliance status – all through a single interface.
As global supply chains, investment flows, and corporate partnerships continue to deepen across Asia, organisations are facing growing pressure to understand who they do business with and how risk evolves over time. Increasing regulatory scrutiny around ownership transparency, sanctions, and ongoing monitoring has exposed significant gaps in traditional data sources.
These dynamics are driving strong and sustained demand for trusted, compliant, and real-time Asian corporate intelligence to support better risk management and decision-making.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 1:21 pm
Bound, an automated FX risk management platform helping businesses protect themselves from currency volatility, has announced a $24.5 million Series A funding round led by AlbionVC, with participation from Notion Capital and GoHub Ventures, and continued support from existing investors.
Founded in 2021 by CEO Seth Phillips and CTO Dan Kindler, and headquartered in London, Bound helps businesses protect themselves from unwanted currency risk through automated FX hedging.
The platform allows finance teams to set up simple, best-practice hedging strategies that run continuously in the background, automatically managing exposure to market volatility without the need for manual intervention or specialist trading expertise.
Bound will use the funding round to pursue regulatory authorisation in the European Union, as the company targets expansion in Europe, building on the nearly $2 billion it traded in 2025. The funding will also be used to drive product innovation for its perpetual FX hedging solutions.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 12:59 pm
Sidekick, a wealth platform built for professionals whose finances are becoming more complex as their incomes and assets grow, has raised £7.8m in Series A funding. The funding will be used to scale its investing products and make sophisticated investment tools more accessible outside traditional private banking.
The round is led by Eos Ventures and the Development Bank of Wales, with participation from Koro Capital and existing investors Seedcamp, MS&AD Ventures, TheVentureCity, PactVC, Blackwood, 1818 Venture Capital and Semantic Ventures.
Sidekick was founded in 2022 to modernise wealth management for professionals whose financial needs have outgrown entry-level investing apps.
Unlike most digital wealth platforms, which focus on entry-level investing or simple portfolios, Sidekick is built for people whose finances have become more complex. The platform brings together long-term investing, personalised portfolios, private markets and Lombard lending – a form of borrowing against an investment portfolio that allows customers to access liquidity without selling assets. This type of lending has traditionally only been available through private banks in the UK.
Published: February 5, 2026 at 12:53 pm
UK software engineering specialist Ultamation has hired Manchester digital agency Pixel Kicks to create a new digital platform to support its next stage of growth.
Ultamation builds tools and software used to run smart homes and commercial buildings, working with manufacturers, installers and end clients on high-end audio-visual and automation projects. The appointment forms part of a wider investment in digital infrastructure as the business accelerates its shift towards a software-services-led commercial model.
The four-month project will see Pixel Kicks, now operating under PushON Commerce, design and build a bespoke WordPress and WooCommerce website that brings together Ultamation’s existing brochure site, B2B eCommerce store and technical support content in one place.
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