The founder and CEO of social media powerhouse LADbible has backed Manchester startup Veridox in a £1 million funding round to combat fraudulent insurance claims with AI.

Solly Solomou invested through his Solo Investments Holdings vehicle, joining lead investor Outward VC in the round.

The InsurTech has developed AI software that analyses documents and images linked to insurance claims, flagging signs of possible manipulation that would otherwise require detailed manual checks.

The investment will support expansion in product and sales as the business prepares for general launch.

The advertising arm of Sky has extended its partnership with Manchester-based Regit, the ‘digital garage’ platform with insights on millions of UK car owners.

The partnership between Sky Media and the Macclesfield-based firm has proven especially effective for automotive and insurance advertisers, with campaigns delivering twice the effectiveness of other approaches.

One recent campaign directly drove 17k website visits and 37 extra car sales for a well-known brand.

To mark the renewal, Regit has also commissioned fresh research into motorists’ behaviour.

London-based sustainable finance data firm Connect Earth has acquired Stockholm-based ESG reporting platform Datia.

The move is part of its push to build a “Sustainable Finance Operating System” unifying compliance, emissions insights and green finance tools.

Connect Earth provides carbon and ESG data infrastructure for banks and asset managers.

An AIM-listed mobile-first media group behind Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash and The Tab, has reported a 12% rise in revenue to £1.8 million for the first half of 2025.

Peterborough-based Digitalbpx also saw adjusted EBITDA climb 30% to £0.3m, while page views grew 15% year on year, with The Tab up 38% and TV Guide traffic rising 25%.

CEO James Carter said the performance highlights the group’s “strong operating model and agility” as it invests in new products and integrations.

Its board remains confident of meeting full-year expectations despite turbulence in the global ad market.

Digital marketing group MISSION Group plc saw revenue fall in the first half of the year.

MISSION, which blocked a takeover bid from Brave Bison last year, made operational savings in the second half of 2024.

However for the first half of 2025, it saw revenue drop 19% compared with H1 2024 to £34.1m. Losses before tax were £4m, compared with break-even in the prior year.

The Smarter Web Company has purchased another £4.6m worth of Bitcoin.

The London-listed web design firm has followed the trend of US companies such as Tesla in adopting a Bitcoin treasury policy.

It has bought another 55 Bitcoin at an average purchase price of £83,882, taking its total Bitcoin holdings to 2,525 – with £208m worth purchased to date.

Mark Fry has been appointed to the newly created role of group CEO at Begbies Traynor Group plc.

Fry is currently an executive director and head of restructuring and advisory services at the financial and real estate advisory firm.

Ric Traynor remains as executive chairman and Nick Taylor will continue to perform the role of group CFO at the company, which is creating a new management board following a decade of growth.

The management board will include two managing partners: Julian Pitts, who takes over restructuring services from Fry, and Anthony Spencer (real estate advisory).

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust plc has unveiled a five-year strategy to scale the company to a £1 billion renewables vehicle.

Part of Octopus Group, the diversified renewables investment company says ORIT 2030 will deliver substantial net-asset-value growth.

It said after the first six months of the year, NAV was £540m, down from £570m a year earlier. Revenue was identical at £68.7m and EBITDA decreased slightly to £44.3m.

Mpac Group plc, a firm specialising in high-speed packaging and automation solutions, has added three business heavyweights to its board.

The three incoming non-executive directors are Simon Kesterton, CFO of Kier Group plc, a FTSE 250 construction and infrastructure services company; David Squires, CEO of Senior plc, a FTSE 250 engineering company; and Clive Whiley, who was previously non-executive chairman of De la Rue plc and has over 40 years’ experience in executive and non-executive directors’ roles across a wide range of industries and geographies in regulated and listed companies.

Sara Fowler is to step down from the board of the Tadcaster-based company, while Doug Robertson also stepped down recently.

Identity technology business GBG expects to be admitted to the main market of the London Stock Exchange on Thursday 30th October.

Currently listed on the junior AIM market, Chester-headquartered GBG says admission is not conditional upon shareholder approval.

It also says this morning that trading in the year-to-date has been in line with the board’s expectations.

Premium experiences platform Seat Unique has renewed its partnership with the London Stadium following a successful summer of live music in 2025.

Since first being named the official premium platform for the home stadium of West Ham United, the London-headquartered firm is said to have delivered ‘standout premium experiences’, including the creation of the Seat Unique Club, which hosted guests for numerous sold-out shows. 

The business, which is backed by a multitude of British sporting figures, has also confirmed that it has seen a positive start to sales for events taking place in the summer of 2026.

Administrators have confirmed that Bodycare will shut its final 56 High Street stores, leading to the loss of 444 jobs.

The retailer, which collapsed into administration earlier this month, had already announced 30 store closures last week.

Administrators said mounting costs and difficulties securing stock meant keeping the chain’s 115-strong estate trading was no longer sustainable.

The news comes after Sky News reported that Bodycare had been searching for a buyer to rescue the business.

North East ClimateTech Mutha Cuva has secured significant angel investment in pre-seed funding to scale its subscription-based platform for heat pump servicing and maintenance.

The round was spearheaded by regional female investment firm, Lifted Ventures, with participation from nine angel investors in the Lifted Ventures network.

Founded by Amy Mooney, an experienced heating industry director, the startup is tackling one of the UK’s most urgent clean energy challenges in ensuring reliable and scalable aftercare for heat pumps as they replace gas boilers.

Its solution is a technology-led subscription service that aims to simplify and streamline heat pump maintenance.

Northern Ireland’s science and technology hub Catalyst brought 40 UK and Irish venture capital firms to Belfast last week for its annual Inbound Investors event, to meet and hear from 50 of the country’s fast-growing startups and scaleups.

Held at Titanic Belfast on Thursday 18th September, supported by headline partner British Business Bank, the occasion saw Northern Ireland’s most high-growth potential companies meet with and pitch to relevant investors through tailored pre-matched meetings.

With investments from Pre-Seed up to Series A available, Inbound Investors gave participating companies such as MoveTru and Eolas Medical, from SportTech and MedTech sectors the opportunity to secure funding in order to grow their business.

INSHUR, an insurance platform for the on-demand economy, has appointed ManyPets co-founder and former CTO Guy Farley to its UK board of advisors

Farley, named multiple times as one of Computer Weekly’s Top 100 Most Influential People in UK Technology, brings deep experience in building and scaling insurtech businesses.

At the New York-based InsurTech, he will help advise and validate the company’s technology roadmap, with its focus on AI and the fast-emerging autonomous vehicle market.

Author: Tom Kidwell, former British Army and UK Government intelligence specialist

The attack over the weekend was another stark reminder of the dangers Europe’s most critical organisations face. While details at this moment in time are scarce, we know from experience the most common ways attackers breach these types of organisations.

Phishing campaigns, which despite being the most basic are also the most effective, have long been the favourite technique used by attackers. However, recent attacks on M&S, Co-op, and JLR are suspected to have been carried out using social engineering; a devastating vector which uses the identities of real or fake employees to trick other staff into compromising their own organisations, lowering defences or sharing critically sensitive information.

The reality is that, in 2025, the world is not on the most steady heading. Active conflict zones in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa are causing global diplomatic tensions.

While many are concerned about physical attacks on the UK and Western Europe, there is a much higher probability of damaging cyber attacks being aimed this way, likely by Russia or other malicious states.

The purpose of these attacks, often carried out by a private company on behalf of a nation state, seek to cause disruption, financial loss and sometimes loss of life.

Looking at the attack on Collins Aerospace, it’s easy to see why they would be a target for this type of attack; although we still don’t have any confirmation on where this attack has come from.

This attack is another wake up call that the risk of our CNI (critical national infrastructure) being targeted by malicious actors is growing and, without fresh approach to managing that risk, breaches will continue to occur.

Author: Chris Maguire

Barney Hussey-Yeo, CEO of fast-growing UK FinTech Cleo, said things need to change if tech firms are to list in London instead of Nasdaq.

He described the exodus from the UK as  a ‘real travesty’ and called on better incentives for the tech sector.

The entrepreneur  suggested: “Offer preferential CGT treatment for founders who list on the LSE and remain listed for a set period. With very few venture-backed listings today, the revenue impact is negligible.

“Exempt venture-backed tech companies from stamp duty on share transactions. This self-inflicted wound reduces liquidity for no good reason.

“Create a pan-European exchange or explore an LSE-Nasdaq merger. Give UK tech access to deeper capital pools and global liquidity.”

It’s widely reported that Cleo has hit unicorn status and Hussey-Yeo said November’s budget was the ‘moment to get the LSE working’.

 

Author: Patrick Killeen

Tide has secured more than £89 million in new funding from global investor TPG, lifting the London-based business management platform’s valuation to £1.1 billion.

The deal, backed by existing investor Apax Digital Funds, will accelerate the FinTech’s international expansion, product innovation and adoption of agentic AI.

It now serves 1.6m members across the UK, India, Germany and France.

Yemi Lalude, partner at TPG and head of EMEA for The Rise Funds, will join Tide’s board as part of the deal.

Author: Zain Javed, CTO, Citation Cyber

The piece that isn’t being talked about enough [around the Heathrow cyber incident] is the data angle. Outages grab headlines because of queues and cancellations, but if attackers were inside MUSE, they could also have accessed passenger details, staff accounts, or even airline credentials. 

That kind of information is gold dust for cybercriminals. It can be sold on or used in future attacks long after the airport queues have cleared. The operational disruption is painful, but the hidden long-term risk is data exposure.

It could fuel future cyber attacks long after the queues at Heathrow have cleared.

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YASO has raised £8.25 million in a Series A round led by Puma Growth Partners, with backing from Guinness Ventures, Playfair Capital, Koro Capital, Haatch Ventures, Sequel, Portfolio Ventures, Nodes and Founders Capital.

The London and Shanghai-based business was founded in 2022 by Jonny Plein, James Campbell and Adam Knight, who are fluent in Mandarin and experienced in the Chinese market. It now employs 20 people.

China is the world’s largest e-commerce market, accounting for over half of global sales, and YASO’s platform enables brands to plug directly into Douyin, Tmall and RedNote without local partners or costly infrastructure.

The investment will be used to expand sales and marketing, accelerate client onboarding and grow platform capabilities.