Retail-focused customer experience platform Voyado has reported a 40% year-on-year increase in its UK customer base, driven by major new retail partnerships and rising demand for AI-powered personalisation tools. 

Recent clients include Never Fully Dressed, The Edinburgh Woollen Mill, John Smedley, ThruDark, Pooky Lighting and Menkind.

The Stockholm-founded company, valued at £260 million, is expanding rapidly across Europe following investment from Viking Global Investors. 

In the UK and Ireland, it has also entered a strategic partnership with XCM as well as maintaining 25% annual growth, fuelled by strong customer retention and international expansion.

Derby-based startup Vigilant AI.ai has secured £585,000 in pre-seed funding, led by venture capital firm Haatch, alongside contributions from the East Midlands Combined County Authority and the British Business Bank. 

The company builds AI “teammates” – generative AI systems designed specifically for regulated industries, helping businesses use AI safely and compliantly.

The funding will help the business expand its engineering and go-to-market teams, finalise pilot programmes and prepare for a wider commercial rollout in 2025.

The company’s founders say their technology bridges the “GenAI trust gap” by allowing financial and regulated firms to adopt AI tools without compromising governance or compliance

Huddersfield-based SaaS firm Adventoris has been selected to develop and manage a new B2B trade ordering platform for Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I – the producer of Lucozade, Orangina and Ribena. 

The project will use the company’s SwiftCloud platform to modernise the drinks giant’s wholesale ordering system, allowing trade customers to view products, check availability and place orders 24/7 via a branded online portal.

The partnership follows a competitive selection process, with Adventoris chosen for its strong record in the food and drink industry – its clients already include PepsiCo, AG Barr and Hallgarten & Novum Wines. 

The platform, due to launch in early 2026, will streamline Suntory’s order-to-billing process and provide real-time insights for customers.

Founded in 2012, Adventoris employs around 50 people at its Huddersfield headquarters and serves more than 220 clients across the UK.

A new study on leadership in private equity firms has found that companies with strong inclusive leadership practices significantly outperform their peers. 

Businesses with mature inclusion strategies were found to be 14x more likely to achieve high performance, while 83% of respondents said inclusion and wellbeing are essential for attracting and retaining talent. 

Nearly half of employees (49%) said they would consider leaving their current employer for a culture that prioritises psychological safety. 

The research, conducted by Inclusion Live, also revealed major perception gaps between leaders and staff, with leaders twice as likely to feel supported to perform at their best.

Businesses with the most inclusive cultures are also 3.78x more likely to execute in the areas and ways of working that deliver the elements needed for a strong exit value and swift sale.

THG Studios has launched SMASH – a padel court designed to bring together sport, technology and creativity. 

Built in collaboration with Google Cloud, the court uses real-time analytics and performance tracking to create data-driven content opportunities for brands and players. 

The facility, located within the company’s Manchester site, will host its launch on Thursday with a tournament, live demonstrations and a fireside chat with Alan Pardew. 

Partners include Slazenger, Havwoods and Myprotein, which have each contributed to the design and experience of the venue. 

The court will also serve as the setting for a new YouTube content series focused on padel, due to premiere in early 2026.

AIM-listed SaaS firm Dotdigital Group has seen its share price rise by 6% in the first half an hour of trading today after reporting a strong year of growth and profitability as it continues to scale globally and invest heavily in innovation.

For the year ended 30th June 2025, the London-based company delivered revenue of £83.9 million, up 6% from the previous year, with profitability slightly ahead of market expectations.

Adjusted EBITDA rose by 10% to £26.8m, while adjusted profit before tax increased by 13% to £19m.

The business, which is behind an AI-powered customer experience and data platform, finished the year with a cash balance of £36.2m, following the $20m initial payment for its June acquisition of Social Snowball.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Next 15 has confirmed that it is in discussions to sell its PR and marketing divisions amid media speculation of a potential £230 million swoop.

Sky News reported that private equity firm Epiris is eyeing a £230m swoop for several of the London-listed tech and data-driven growth consultancy’s divisions.

The potential deal is said to include PR firms MHP Communications and Outcast, marketing company M Booth and Activate, a demand generation specialist.

Sky said Epiris, based in London and which owns restaurant chains Las Iguanas and Cafe Rouge, had approached Ares Management to help finance any potential bid.

The speculation follows a period of transition at the consultancy, which issued a profit warning this year and saw long-serving boss Tim Dyson retire in June after 33 years in charge.

In August we reported how Next 15 is to permanently cease operations at its Silicon Valley venturing arm Mach49, a unit acquired in 2020, after it uncovered ‘potential serious misconduct’ there in June.

Vianet, an international provider of data, business insights and payment solutions through hardware devices and software platforms, has reported an increase in half-year EBITDA.

For the six months ending 30th September 2025, the group increased EBITDA by 11.6% to £1.73 million – in line with expectations.

Oxford Metrics plc has appointed a new non-executive chair.

The sensing and software company has appointed Gary Bullard with immediate effect, succeeding Roger Parry CBE.

Bullard is currently non-executive chair of Gooch & Housego plc, a global photonics and advanced materials company, and AFC Energy plc, a developer of hydrogen fuel cells and ammonia crackers for zero-emission power generation, both of which are listed on AIM.

He spent a large part of his career in global roles at IBM and BT Group plc, including UK MD at the latter, and served as UK CEO at Logica plc.

London Stock Exchange Group plc has commenced a £1 billion share buyback programme.

 The company has entered into an agreement with Citi which will see the investment bank purchase the shares on its behalf up to the value of £1bn.

Purchases will commence immediately and will end no later than 25th February 2026.

Darktrace, the cybersecurity group which was acquired by US private equity giant Thoma Bravo, has made two appointments to its executive team.

Suman Raju has been appointed as CFO by the Cambridge-headquartered firm. He previously held CFO positions at spend management software company Ivalua, product discovery software group Crownpeak and digital economy business SAP Ariba.

Hein Hellemons, who most recently held the same position at Florida firm KnowBe4, has been named chief revenue officer. He is a veteran of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.

They replace Cathy Graham and Denise Walter, formerly CFO and CRO, who have left the company in recent months.

IRIS Software Group, a global software provider of accountancy, payroll, HR and education solutions, has appointed Marissa Carlson as chief marketing officer.

Jonathan Priestley, who previously served as interim CMO, is assuming a newly created role as general manager, global accountancy solutions and transformation.

Carlson brings nearly two decades of experience scaling high-growth businesses and building high-performing marketing teams. She most recently served as CMO at TigerConnect and previously was CMO at Intelerad, where she built global brand recognition and drove the company’s rapid expansion in the US acute care market.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and OpenAI have announced a multi-year strategic partnership worth $38 billion.

The deal provides AWS’s infrastructure to run and scale OpenAI’s core artificial intelligence workloads, starting immediately.

Under the agreement, which will have continued growth over the next seven years, OpenAI is accessing AWS compute comprising hundreds of thousands of state-of-the-art NVIDIA GPUs, with the ability to expand to tens of millions of CPUs to rapidly scale agentic workloads.

Barclays has marked the 10th anniversary of Eagle Labs, its nationwide network supporting entrepreneurs, with the release of a new report and the start of Entrepreneurs Week 2025. 

Since its launch in 2015, Eagle Labs has helped nearly 20,000 UK businesses, contributing an estimated £1.3 billion to the economy, creating 50,000 jobs, and raising more than £5bn in funding.

Now spanning 43 locations, the initiative connects founders with investors, mentors and industry experts to help them scale, secure investment and drive innovation.

Fast-growing global cybersecurity recruitment and executive search specialist Hubscale is primed for its next phase of expansion after moving to bigger HQ in Manchester city centre.

The firm has relocated to Tower 12 in Spinningfields after outgrowing its previous base.

Hubscale’s workforce in the city has grown from four to 18 in the past 18 months. Earlier this year, the company opened an office in Austin, Texas.

It works with clients across the UK, the US, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions and is on track to post revenues of £3.75m for the calendar year 2025, up from £1.58m in 2024.

Payments and banking platform Airwallex has crossed $1bn in annualised run rate revenue.

The achievement comes as the UK cements its position as one of Airwallex’s fastest-growing markets globally, with significant expansion occurring in revenues, clients and presence.

It took Singapore-headquartered Airwallex nine years to reach its first $500m in ARR – the next $500m came in just over one year. At its current growth rate of roughly 90% year-on-year, Airwallex says it is on track to double ARR again, surpassing $2bn within the next 12 months.

Airwallex’s UK revenue in the first half of 2025 grew by 109% versus the same period last year, with its overall headcount in EMEA growing by 35% over the same period.

To accommodate this rapid expansion, Airwallex has outgrown its Holborn office and has acquired a new EMEA regional headquarters in Fitzrovia. The new office occupies the entire first floor of the Wells & More building on Mortimer Street and, at over 16,000 sq ft, is more than double the size of its previous space.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Claire Lewis has stepped down as CEO of Baltic Ventures.

Lewis co-founded the Liverpool-based pre-seed tech accelerator five years ago with Carl Wong.

It has evolved from a not-for-profit – launched with the backing of a £4m investment from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority – into an angel syndicate and tech accelerator with a portfolio of 30 companies and eight-figure follow-on investments. It has supported more than 200 founders to date.

Lewis, the former head of Tech North, said on LinkedIn that she is “ready for a change of rhythm… to take some time to rest and reset and to dedicate energy and focus to other areas and projects that I’m passionate about”.

Godel Technologies has announced the appointment of Joe Wolski as chief technology officer.

It says the appointment of UK-based Wolski supports its growth and innovation in AI and reflects its commitment to advancing digital engineering.

Wolski has served as technical director, CTO and chief strategy officer at ANS Group. He has also held non-executive and advisory positions with leading technology companies across Europe.

Winvia Entertainment PLC has floated on the junior AIM market of the London Stock Exchange with a market cap of £205 million.

The company, which operates prize draw brands BOTB and Click Competitions in the UK as well as online gaming in Romania, has raised £40m in the IPO.

The firm – which has expanded rapidly through a combination of organic development and targeted acquisitions – made £7m profit before tax last year with £153m gross revenue.

The proceeds of the placing are planned to be used to fund acquisitions in the UK prize draw sector. It said it is in discussions with several potential acquisition targets.

Risers:

Ceres Power Holdings – +9.17%

Goodwin – +6.91%

Senior – +5.72%

Airtel Africa – +4.70%

Dunelm Group – +3.13%

Fallers:

Anglo-Eastern Plantations – -4.29%

Bluefield Solar Income Fund – -4.04%

B&M European Value Retail – -4.04%

The Renewables Infrastructure Group – -3.48%

Frasers Group – -3.22%