Author: Jonathan Symcox

Mrs Symcox says “it looks like a baby bonnet”. If she were a Dragon, she would be out.

Sara Davies likes the product – it will protect her hair! – but is concerned at the £50 price tag. The founders say the sweet spot might be £19.99. But Davies still doesn’t see it as an investment.

All the Dragons are out.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Deborah Meaden says she has a bag and an umbrella – so why does she need this?

Steven Bartlett tries it on. “You look ridiculous,” is the verdict from the Dragons.

“It’s a novelty hat,” says Touker Suleyman.

Emma Grede says: “You haven’t thought this through. It’s not a stylistic choice… it’s a novelty. You would pick this up at Disneyland.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Innovative, sustainable rain and sun protection head wear brand, L’Hood, is first in the spotlight.

Co-founders Phil Moore and Carolyn Asome are pitching their alternative to an umbrella.

They want £150,000 for 15% of the business.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A flurry of deals between the makers of artificial intelligence tools and the companies which design and manufacture the chips which deliver computing power is concerning.

That’s the view of Bill Conner, president and CEO of Jitterbit, a Dallas-based automation platform with AI accountability at its core.

Last week OpenAI and AMD announced that they had signed a multi-billion-dollar chip deal that would give OpenAI founder Sam Altman the option to buy 10% in the chipmaker. 

The latest deal is among a string of investment commitments which highlight the broader AI industry’s appetite for computing power as companies race toward developing AI technology. 

Nvidia has also announced it would invest $100bn in OpenAI, forging a close alliance between two of the leading firms in AI.

With new alliances in this AI arms race, we have to consider the risks that this race brings, says Conner.

Just seven months after securing investment from BBC Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies, entrepreneur Carla Saull has blown her sales projections out of the water.

Since the episode in which she pitched sustainable hair towel brand Good Wash Day aired at the end of February, Carla has matched the sales she achieved in her first three years of trading in just six months. 

She has also recently stepped away from being a “kitchen table business” by moving into a new local office and warehouse space, and growing her team with new hires both in the UK and in Australia to support the brand’s international reach.

Carla credits much of her post-Den growth to her Dragon investor: “Sara has been an incredible mentor and sounding board. Her support, along with her team, has been invaluable, but most importantly, she lets me stay true to my vision.”

The deadline for the everywoman in Technology Awards has been extended. Inspirational women working in the technology sector now have until midnight on 27th October 2025 to submit their entries for the longest-running programme celebrating the tech industry’s most exceptional female talent.

Entries are open across multiple categories, recognising women at every stage of their careers, including those just starting out in apprenticeship roles and senior leaders driving innovation and transformation in global organisations.

Irish advertising technology innovator Buymedia has officially launched its UK operations in Manchester with the backing of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

The launch event, attended by entrepreneurs, stakeholders, innovators and business leaders from across the region, was held at Buymedia’s new UK headquarters in The Renold Building, a collaborative space developed by Bruntwood and the University of Manchester, located in the heart of the city’s £1.7 billion science and technology innovation district.

Founded in Galway, Buymedia is one of Europe’s fastest-growing tech companies, boasting an impressive 2,208% revenue growth and ranking 73rd in the Deloitte EMEA Technology Fast 500.

Its AI-powered platform simplifies the way businesses and agencies plan, manage, purchase and measure advertising across multiple channels. Its client portfolio spans sectors including FMCG, hospitality, retail, telecoms, healthcare, education, and non-profits with notable brands such as E45, Bio Oil, eir, JYSK, and Bluebird Care.

The UK launch is supported by Enterprise Ireland and locally with MIDAS, as well as Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Growth Manchester.

A husband-and-wife team of influencers have contributed more than £2m of sales for one North West cruise company

Richand and Helen Chalu were 49 when they gave up their day jobs in 2020 to become full-time cruise and travel content creators.

The couple, who have three grown-up children, have clocked up 85 cruises and share their vlogs with the 71k subscribers to their YouTube channel ‘Visit With Us’.

They also act as ambassadors for luxury cruise retailer Panache Cruises and have just reached £2m in sales for the Chorley-based company.

James Cole, CEO of Panache Cruises, said: “It’s an amazing achievement to have generated more than £2m in sales.”

Fashion mogul Emma Grede returns as the guest Dragon on tonight’s episode of Dragons’ Den.

She joins Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Sara Davies, Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman as a new wave of entrepreneurs enter the Den in search of investment.

They include Sarah Louise Fairburn,  a single mum-of-four from Lincolnshire and the founder of food and drink gifting business IMP & MAKER.

Writing ahead of her TV showdown she said: “Last year I received a call from someone claiming to be from Dragons’ Den, asking if I wanted to pitch to the Dragons.

“I knew IMP & MAKER was part-way through a journey but I’ve always thought you regret the things you don’t do in life – so I said ‘yes’.”

Innovative, sustainable rain and sun protection head wear brand, L’Hood, manage to get Steven Bartlett to wear one of their products.

Viewers will see L’Hood’s co-founders, Phil Moore and Carolyn Asome, pitch their alternative to an umbrella.

• To watch the pitches on Dragons’ Den tonight (October 16th) , tune into BBC One at 8pm.

An Oldham manufacturer has taken a major step into the digital age with a £300,000 investment that doubles capacity, creates skilled jobs, and strengthens the town’s position as a hub for advanced manufacturing.

Developed by Stream Measurement with support from Made Smarter North West, the government-backed technology adoption programme, the new gas calibration rig replaces a 40-year-old system that relied on manual processes and legacy software.

The digital system automates certification and data acquisition, and is capable of testing meters from 0.25 to 4,000 cubic metres per hour. Its modern software interface enables real-time analysis and data capture, improving accuracy and reducing reliance on legacy expertise.

A process that once took a full day can now be completed in a few hours, significantly increasing throughput and opening opportunities to serve new customers across the UK and beyond.

AI recruitment company Jack & Jill has raised £15 million in seed investment to build and expand in Europe and the United States. 

AI recruiters ‘Jack’ and ‘Jill’ respectively help candidates find and land the next step in their career while introducing companies to a small number of well-matched candidates.

The round was backed by leading European early-stage firm, Creandum, as well as prominent VCs including a former F1 driver.

Counter – the consultancy brand from Northcoders – has secured a new engagement with BigChange, a leading global provider of business management software.

The scope of work, which is expected to last 12 months, will see Counter assemble a five-strong team of technologists who will help BigChange develop its mobile engineering solutions. The team will be made up of two mid-level and two associate-level developers who will work alongside a Counter tech lead.

Headquartered in Leeds, and founded in 2013, BigChange is a pioneering provider of software solutions for trades and field service professionals across multiple industries. It combines innovative software and hardware, with intelligent AI features, which empower businesses to simplify operations, scale seamlessly, and achieve extraordinary results. ‍

Counter’s consultants have either completed Northcoders’ training and are proficient in modern cloud and software solutions, including AI/ML development, data and cloud engineering or are part of the Tech Returners network. The consultancy’s robust model ensures that at the end of each engagement, clients have the option to onboard the consultants as full-time employees, at no additional cost, reinforcing skill retention and continuity.

Angel Investment Network, the world’s largest online angel investment platform, has launched its first Chinese language site in Singapore.

Founded in 2004, Angel Investment Network now operates 42 networks spanning 90 countries worldwide with more than 2 million users with sites in five different languages.

The move is driven by the vast entrepreneurial potential of the world’s Chinese-speaking population and the region’s dynamic growth. With 17% of the global population speaking Chinese, Angel Investment Network says it is expanding into a highly entrepreneurial community.

Digital Catapult has announced a £400,000 investment in DeepTech startup Optimal Slope, a mining technology company on a mission to transform open-pit mining into a more efficient and environmentally sustainable industry.

The investment will enable the startup to secure more partnerships with global mining companies, as it looks to scale its solution, decarbonise mining operations and equip the sector to be future ready through the application of its deep tech solution.

Founded in 2021, Optimal Slope developed the world’s first software platform to automate, optimise, and digitalise the design of mine pit walls, which are the stepped rock faces that form the sides of an open-pit mine, and is a process that traditionally relies upon manual
trial-and-error by engineers.

By intelligently minimising the excavation of waste rock, Optimal Slope’s solution reduces costs, increases mine profitability, and significantly cuts the carbon footprint of mining operations, which is critical to decarbonising the sector and driving industrial supply chain resilience.

Bank payments giant GoCardless has appointed two senior hires to its European team.

Borja Valiente has been named VP of sales and general manager, EMEA and Hamish Wood as the VP of customer success, EMEA.

The two will be part of a new, integrated go-to-market team responsible for driving the company’s expansion across the UK, Ireland and continental Europe.

Valiente has been at GoCardless since 2016, and in his new role he will be responsible for revenue growth and new customer acquisition across the EMEA region.

Wood, who joined GoCardless in 2019, will be responsible for building a customer-centric culture within GoCardless and helping businesses maximise the benefits of the global bank payment platform to fuel their growth.

Author: James Heggs, tech director, Counter

We’re seeing AI implementations beginning to move out of the realm of pilots, prototypes and proof-of-concepts. 

Across industries, organisations are moving from experimentation to enterprise rollout. What was once a curiosity in innovation teams is becoming part of core operations, customer experiences, and decision making.

This shift is transformative, but it is also fraught with risk. The transition from experiment to production is where AI initiatives can stumble. Technologies (or approaches) that looked promising in controlled environments struggle to deliver at scale; users resist adoption; costs rise; and momentum stalls. 

So how should firms approach this? And is a rethink of consultancy needed with the true arrival of AI?

Allye Energy has closed a £1.9 million seed round to scale intelligent battery storage systems.

The London firm says these address a critical bottleneck: 50-80% of electrification projects, including EV fast charging rollouts, are currently delayed or blocked due to grid capacity constraints that can’t be economically resolved.

The repurposed battery approach addresses both grid constraints and the growing challenge of what to do with retired EV batteries. It has already deployed with customers such as Roadchef (motorway services), construction firms and biogas producers.

Technology trade association techUK has published a new report outlining a roadmap for how the UK can achieve global leadership in blockchain and digital assets by 2030.

As blockchain and digital assets become core infrastructure for modern finance, trade, and the creative economy, techUK’s ‘2030 Vision: A Roadmap for Building a Digital Assets Economy’ report provides policymakers with a roadmap for proactive regulation.

techUK says that to lead, the UK must move from reactive regulation to a clear, coordinated strategy that supports innovation, builds trust, and strengthens resilience.

By focusing on five key core opportunities – finance, tokenisation, payments, fraud prevention, and creative industries advancements – the UK can enable a thriving ecosystem that integrates digital assets seamlessly into society within the next five years, it says.

techUK’s report outlines the roadmap to unroll the UK’s leadership in a digital assets economy in three phases and related policy recommendations.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Wild Bioscience, an Oxford University spinout that develops improved crop varieties using AI and precision breeding, has raised a £45 million Series A investment. 

The funding round was led by the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), founded by Larry Ellison, CTO and chairman of Oracle.

Existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), Braavos Capital and the University of Oxford also participated in the round.

The company started life in the University of Oxford with Founders Dr Ross Hendron and Prof. Steve Kelly, who spun out the business in 2021 to translate their scientific research out of the lab and onto the farm. 

Ellison said: “Wild Bio is using AI to better understand the lessons learned over millions of years of evolution encoded in plant genomes. 

“Those insights combined with precision breeding has enabled Wild Bio to develop new varieties of crops with both higher yields and climate resilience. 

“The ultimate goal is to grow these new crop varieties on a commercial scale and help provide food security around the world. EIT is committed to working with Wild Bio to reach this goal.”

Identity tech business GBG has acquired DataTools Pty Ltd, a provider of address validation and data quality solutions in Australia and New Zealand. 

The bolt-on acquisition adds scale where Chester-headquartered GBG is already enjoying strong growth, the firm said, and is “highly complementary to our market-leading identity verification platform”.

Total consideration payable is £7.9 million, which has been funded from GBG’s existing revolving credit facility.

For the six-month period to 30th September 2025, GBG reported revenue of £135.5m, compared with £136.9m in the previous year. It said this was in line with the board’s expectations.

Dev Dhiman, CEO of GBG, said: “We are delighted to welcome the experienced team at DataTools to GBG. This combination will strengthen our position in the ANZ market and we look forward to combining our capabilities to deliver even greater value to our customers in this region.

“The board and I are pleased with the operational execution delivered in the first half, underpinning our confidence into the second half of the year. We successfully delivered our financial plan for the first half and taken together with the strength of our current sales pipeline for the remainder of the year, GBG is well positioned to accelerate growth in the second half and achieve our revenue outlook for the full year consistent with current market expectations.”