Bite-size news and insight from UK business and tech – including funding, deals and appointments
Published: March 5, 2026 at 8:00 pm
The latest series of Dragons’ Den sees episode 6 tonight as guest judge Susie Ma returns.
Tropic Skincare’s founder first found fame on The Apprentice but has grown turnover to $100m ahead of her appearances in the Den this series.
The beauty empire founder joins Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman as they put another set of business hopefuls to the test.
In this episode, the pitches are a ‘nose-friendly’ home composter, a GP with a medical bag redesign, a DIY drinks entrepreneur, and a husband-and-wife team with a pre-loved kitchen business.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 2:47 pm
VR games specialist nDreams has announced plans to close two studios with the loss of up to 78 jobs.
Hampshire-based nDreams has been described as the world’s biggest developer and publisher of VR games.
The company was founded in 2006 by Patrick and Tamsin O’Luanaigh, before pivoting in 2013 to focus exclusively on VR games.
In 2023, nDreams was acquired by Swedish games giant Aonic in a £90m ($110m) deal.
In 2024, the games developer announced a strategic review resulting in up to 17.5 per cent of the company’s workforce being made redundant.
Today, the company announced the closure of two of its studios – Near Light and Compass – with 78 roles at risk of redundancy.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 1:10 pm
FuelHub, a premium meal prep company, has announced a renewed 12-month partnership with Matchroom Boxing as the organisation’s official nutrition partner.
Following the launch of the partnership last year, the new agreement will see FuelHub continue to provide premium, nutritionist-designed meals, fuelling the entire Matchroom team across its UK headquarters in Brentwood, Essex, and its Bristol-based office.
It will also support Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport founder and president Barry Hearn OBE, and Matchroom Boxing CEO Frank Smith personally, alongside Kai Peacock, Matchroom’s head of fitness & wellbeing.
FuelHub also sponsors Matchroom’s Fight Day 5k, a community-focused running event led by Eddie Hearn and held alongside key fight nights. The initiative brings fighters, fans and partners together around fitness and wellbeing.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 12:09 pm
RocketPhone.ai, the conversation intelligence platform for Salesforce, has reported 1,100% year-on-year customer growth, reflecting accelerating demand from organisations looking to turn customer conversations into actionable insight inside Salesforce.
The London-based company has moved from early traction to enterprise deployments, including a flagship implementation with Groupe Atlantic, where RocketPhone.ai is now embedded within day-to-day operations to help teams make better decisions from real customer interactions.
The growth comes alongside continued product innovation across the Salesforce ecosystem, including the launch of RocketVideo, a new tool designed to bring deeper engagement insights to video conversations.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 11:00 am
Artificial intelligence is changing how businesses grow online and in lead generation it now helps shape adverts, decide who sees them and improve results far faster than ever before.
As more companies rush to adopt it, however, the real advantage won’t come from automation alone but from using the technology responsibly.
For growing digital businesses, using AI ethically isn’t just about complying with regulations or ticking legal boxes; it’s about building trust, protecting reputation and standing out for the right reasons.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 9:17 am
Nexus, the University of Leeds’s innovation hub, has announced a landmark partnership with Terminus Technologies to deploy cutting-edge urban data mining technology at the university.
The partnership will see Terminus Technologies install advanced multi-spectral cameras across locations at Nexus, operating 24/7 to build a comprehensive dataset that will revolutionise how cities understand and respond to urban environments.
Terminus Technologies has developed a full-stack solution that extracts unprecedented insights from video footage. It claims that this delivers approximately 20 times as many data points as competing technologies. It claims to identify and report events within 100 milliseconds.
Unlike traditional CCTV systems that require manual review, Terminus’s technology allows users to directly interrogate footage with specific data requests, receiving instant, actionable insights. These can then be flown into statistics and used to identify data patterns, a capability transforming weeks of manual analysis into a short timeframe of automated intelligence.
The partnership aims to provide local authorities with the tools to make more informed, data-driven decisions about urban planning and resource allocation.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 8:32 am
ITV’s full‑year results paint a picture of a broadcaster working hard to stay upright as the media landscape buckles and twists around it. After a bruising year, the headline news is surprisingly upbeat: ITV managed to steer through a sharp advertising downturn and still beat market expectations.
This was largely thanks to record profits from ITV Studios, which continues to hold the group steady as linear TV stumbles.
Its streaming bet, ITVX, is also finally earning its keep. Digital viewing rose 12% and digital ad revenues climbed 15%, and the platform is now expected to recoup its multi-year investment by the end of 2025 – a rare achievement in a streaming industry littered with billion‑dollar losses.
But the gloss only goes so far. Total group revenue still slipped 3% as Studios income softened and the advertising market remained unpredictable. The company has clearly made impressive strategic progress, but it is operating in an industry undergoing rapid, unforgiving change, where innovation arrives at breakneck speed and loyalty is fleeting.
So yes – it’s a good result, a testament to grit and reinvention. But ITV isn’t out of the jungle yet. The hard part is not surviving the storm but proving it can thrive once the clouds clear.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 8:24 am
Associated British Foods plc has appointed Eoin Tonge as Primark chief executive.
The group also announced the appointment of Filip Ekvall to the newly created post of chief commercial officer at Primark.
Tonge has served as interim CEO since 31st March 2025.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 7:57 am
Beazley plc has appointed Roy Clark as an independent non-executive director.
Clark had a long career at PwC focused on the insurance sector and spanning audit, client leadership, sector oversight and team management roles.
With decades of experience at PwC across major financial centres including London, Singapore and Sydney, he has firsthand insight into the operations and challenges of multinational, listed businesses, Beazley said. He has led critical projects such as public listings, acquisitions and large-scale transformation initiatives.
In May 2024 Clark was appointed as a non-executive director of Beazley Furlonge Limited and has chaired its audit committee since October that year. He will become chair of that board once regulatory approval is obtained.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 7:49 am
ITV plc has reported flat revenues for 2025, with digital revenues offsetting a decline in linear advertising – traditional broadcast ads.
For the 12 months ended 31st December 2025, group total revenue was flat year on year, with 5% growth in ITV Studios’ total revenues and 10% growth in digital revenues.
Group adjusted EBITA was down 1% year-on-year.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 6:49 am
Two former professional footballers, Joe Davis and Tim Alexander, are set to launch a technology platform aimed at tackling what they describe as one of sport’s most overlooked problems: what happens to athletes when they exit their sport.
MOJOE, an athlete-only platform designed to modernise player care and career transition, formally launched this week, with early backing from professional football clubs in England.
Co-founder Davis, who spent two spells at Port Vale, represented Fleetwood Town and was on the books of Leicester City, believes too many athletes are unprepared for the heavy landing that follows deselection, injury or retirement.
“People see the dream,” he says. “They don’t see what comes after it.”
Published: March 5, 2026 at 6:31 am
Six & Flow Group has unveiled a new global operating structure and senior leadership team as it accelerates its ambition to become the world’s leading AI-first HubSpot consultancy.
Six & Flow – based in Manchester – and Netherlands-based Bright Digital, Systony and BrixCRM have merged to create one of the largest HubSpot partner networks in Europe.
To support its global plans, Six & Flow Group has introduced a clear governance and leadership structure. Richard Wood was recently appointed as global CEO and Erik van Diepen has joined as global CFO, with a global COO soon to be appointed.
Published: March 5, 2026 at 6:10 am
Lovey – formerly Love Finance – has appointed a new CTO in Mario Husha.
Described as the UK’s fastest-growing SME lender and broker, the Birmingham-based business says Husha will lead its tech strategy, drive sprint-based delivery and own data integrity across its lending platforms.
Most recently, he served as CTO at Level Financial Technology, where he led engineering, security, and supported the company’s expansion into embedded finance and enterprise partnerships.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 10:52 pm
BrewDog co-founder James Watt has admitted to making ‘many mistakes’ after the multinational brewery and pub chain was acquired for a knockdown £33m by Tilray Brands – with the loss of hundreds of jobs.
It followed the news that global law firm DLA Piper had been advising Brewdog on entering administration.
Writing on social media, Watt said: “It is really difficult to find the right words and know what to say.
“On Monday, the business I co-founded in 2007 was sold. I am heartbroken for all of the hard working and passionate team members who have lost their jobs.
“I am heartbroken for all of our brilliant equity punks who did not get the return on their investment they wanted.
“And heartbroken to have dedicated the best 20 years of my life to something that ultimately did not have the ending we all wished for.”
Watt, who stepped down as CEO in 2024, added: “With the benefit of hindsight there are also so many other things I would have done differently.
“At times we expanded too fast and diversified too broadly. During certain periods I did not control spend well enough across the business and furthermore I feel that I did not respond to certain crises that we faced (and we faced many) in a way that was authentic and true to who I am.
“Those decisions sit with me. I will always be cheering it on from the sidelines, even if the next chapter is now going to be written by others.”
Published: March 4, 2026 at 10:21 pm
Manchester-headquartered digital product consultancy Apadmi has appointed Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke as its new global chief marketing officer.
Flowerdew-Clarke has more than 20 years’ experience leading marketing teams across EMEA and most recently spent seven-and-a-half years at DEPT .
She said: “I was fortunate to spend the past decade at a hugely ambitious agency. What started as 80 people in the Netherlands in 2015 grew into a global powerhouse by 2025; 4,000 people across five continents, generating €500m+ in revenue and working with some of the world’s biggest brands.
“It was a wild ride. We had to fail fast, scale at pace, and become experts at acquisition integrations and rebrands.
“During my time there, we acquired and rebranded nearly 40 agencies. So, I’ve joined Apadmi with real, lived experience of scaling quickly and growing a global brand.”
Apadmi is forecasting 20 per cent revenue growth in 2026.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 9:46 pm
The share price of Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc surged from 114.5p to 124.4p today (Wednesday) before closing on 116p.
Earlier this week Francis Van Parys succeeded founder Gordon Sanghera as CEO.
The FTSE 250 MedTech is eyeing profitability after also reporting its results for 2025.
The company’s share price opened at 112.90p today and climbed most of the day before a late fall saw it close on 116p.
The DNA sequencing specialist reported revenues of £223.9m, up 22.2 per cent year-on-year, while adjusted EBITDA losses shrank 31.2 per cent to £86.7m. Actual losses shrank 1 per cent to £145.2m.
The group has developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology that is currently used for real-time, high-performance, accessible, and scalable analysis of DNA and RNA.
The technology is used in more than 125 countries, to understand the biology of humans, plants, animals, bacteria, viruses and environments as well as to understand diseases such as cancer.
Oxford Nanopore’s technology also has the potential to provide broad, high impact, rapid insights in a number of areas including healthcare, food and agriculture.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 9:08 pm
FTSE 100 firm Sage Group has commenced a share buyback programme for an aggregate consideration of up to £300m.
The programme ran from March 2nd and is expected to end no later than June 5th.
The share buyback programme reflects the board’s confidence in Sage’s future prospects, together with Sage’s strong cash generation and robust financial position.
Sage’s share price dropped 1 per cent today to 837.50p.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 3:42 pm
Anna Malmhake is a retail industry heavyweight – and the secret to her success is, on the face of it at least, quite simple.
Malmhake served as CEO and chair at The Absolut Company Pernod Ricard before moving to gaming giant Activision Blizzard to perform MD roles around go-to-market EMEA then brands and consumer products.
She is now CEO of Oriflame, a Swedish-founded multinational focused on beauty and personal care products.
“Throughout my career, I have chosen to work in categories that I personally care about,” she tells BusinessCloud.
“That sense of connection has always been my motivation. Whether it is cocktails, gaming or beauty, these are products and experiences that matter to me in my own life.
“When you genuinely love the consumer offering, it becomes natural to invest the time, curiosity and energy required to excel. I have always been driven by understanding what people want, how brands can enhance their everyday lives and how we can communicate that in a way that feels meaningful.
“This enthusiasm, combined with a commitment to building strong teams and ambitious brands, has consistently helped me to grow within the organisations I have been lucky to be part of.”
Published: March 4, 2026 at 2:07 pm
LaunchLemonade, a no-code AI platform enabling creators to build and monetise AI agents, has announced the appointment of Joe Leung as CTO and co-founder.
Leung has been involved with the platform since its early days as one of its first users, but formally joined full-time in January 2026 to lead the company’s technical vision and infrastructure following its oversubscribed pre-seed investment round.
He brings a wealth of experience from his role as executive director at JPMorgan, where he led initiatives in blockchain infrastructure, zero-knowledge proofs and privacy systems.
Prior to his career in finance, Leung served as a commissioned officer and aerospace engineer in the Royal Air Force.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 12:55 pm
UK venture funding surged into AI in 2025, with investment increasingly concentrated in the UK’s largest and most proven scaleups, according to NatWest’s inaugural Future of UK Innovation report, published today in partnership with PitchBook.
UK startups raised £17.5bn across more than 2,000 deals last year, even amid a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. The report reveals that investors are placing bigger bets on fewer businesses: rounds over £25m made up more than 70% of the funding — the highest share in a decade — signalling a market where proven business models and demonstrable traction matter more than ever.
NatWest’s research also shows that AI is now one of the defining forces in the UK innovation economy. AI startups raised more than £6bn - over a third of all UK venture capital - helping create five new unicorns and driving some of the strongest exit activity in the market, with a total of 67 exits worth £4bn. This rapid surge in AI activity underscores how decisively capital is shifting toward technologies with clear commercial readiness and global scaling potential.
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