Finova has appointed David Espley as CTO to lead its technology strategy and scale its mortgage and savings software suite.

Espley, who was previously CTO at Kaluza and has also held senior roles at Hargreaves Lansdown and LexisNexis, brings more than 20 years’ experience in technology leadership.

At the London-based firm, he will focus on leveraging AI and cloud-native platforms to improve outcomes for lenders, brokers and their customers.

His appointment follows the recent arrival of CEO Gareth Richardson as the company strengthens its leadership team.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Global risk and reputation intelligence platform Signal AI has raised a £122 million growth-equity investment to accelerate its expansion across the US, Europe and the Middle East.

The round was led by Battery Ventures, who will acquire a majority stake in the business.

Funding raised will also be used to accelerate product innovation and strategic M&A.

The London-headquartered company’s platform analyses billions of data points across news, regulation, litigation, social media and proprietary sources to help uncover emerging threats and benchmark corporate risk profiles against peers.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Pri0r1ty Intelligence Group PLC has appointed Rory Maxwell as its CEO following the company’s acquisition of London-based sports data and marketing business Halfspace.

Maxwell co-founded Halfspace in 2018 and grew it into an award-winning data technology and marketing services company, delivering solutions for some of the world’s largest sports rights holders, digital media firms and scale-up tech businesses.

He joined the AI, data, and marketing services group’s board in July and now succeeds James Sheehan, who has stepped down as CEO and director.

Alongside Maxwell’s appointment, the business also intends to appoint co-founder Daniel Gee as CTO, subject to regulatory approvals.

The company floated at the beginning of 2025 with a share price of 10.25p, which has since dipped and now sits at around 3.1p. It has a market cap of £5.27m.

Redcentric plc has reported a positive set of results amid talks over the sale of its data centre business.

Earlier this year the Harrogate-based firm separated its IT managed services provider and data centre businesses into two autonomous business units – and is currently in talks with a third party over the sale of the latter.

In May it appointed Michelle Senecal de Fonseca, formerly a non-executive director, as CEO, while Tony Ratcliffe joined as CFO in August.

For the year ended 31st March 2025, total revenue for the group was £169.9m – up from £163.2m in FY24 – while adjusted EBITDA was £35.4m (FY24: £28.3m).

For ‘continuing operations’ – i.e. the MSP business – revenue was £135.1m (up 8.3%) and EBITDA was £18.8m (up 8.1%).

Pinewood Technologies Group PLC, a provider of cloud retail solutions to the automotive industry, has reported strong results for the six months ended 30th June 2025.

Revenue was up 21.7% to £19.6m, while underlying EBITDA increased 14.5% to £7.9m.

A non-executive director is stepping down from Revolution Beauty Group plc following the return of co-founders Adam Minto and Tom Allsworth last month.

Rachel Horsefield will now not be seeking re-election at the company’s annual general meeting on 29th September 2025, with the resolution to re-elect her now removed.

The company says it will review its board and committee structure in the forthcoming months.

Minto, who reached a settlement to pay £2.9m back to Revolution Beauty last year after it accused him of breaching his fiduciary duties to the company, is returning to the struggling business as it plans a wave of redundancies.

Allsworth has been named CEO, with Colin Henry stepping down as interim CEO. He is available as an advisor as he works out a six-month notice period.

A listed UK company has acquired its first 100 Bitcoin.

B HODL Plc was founded for Bitcoin accumulation and revenue generation from the Bitcoin in its treasury, via its Lightning Network operations.

It acquired the BTC at an average purchase price of £83,872 ($113,227), with the total cost £8.4m.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

On the Beach Group plc has commenced a share buyback programme for up to £25 million after reporting a third consecutive year of record growth.

The board has determined that sufficient surplus cash exists to commence the share buyback, building on the £30m already returned to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends in FY25.

The group has also decided to wind down its B2B business.

Global podcast company Audioboom has appointed Craig Eastwood as vice president – international.

Previously commercial operations director at British podcast network Adelicious, he will be responsible for spearheading Audioboom’s global roadmap – developing commercial partnerships in key distribution regions, shaping and executing strategies for on-the-ground operations in new territories, and identifying opportunities for growth through mergers and acquisitions outside the US and UK.

 The appointment follows Audioboom’s recent acquisition of Adelicious, which created the UK’s largest homegrown podcast network.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

SME working capital provider TRIVER has secured up to £114 million to revolutionise how UK small businesses can access finance.

The London-based FinTech firm leverages open banking data and AI to underwrite the risk of small business borrowing instantly and automatically. It says it can provide advances on a business’s client invoices 24/7.

Founded in 2023 by a team led by Jerome Le Luel, former Funding Circle chief risk officer and global head of risk analytics for Barclays, it currently serves 1,500 clients and has financed more than 17,000 invoices worth £180m since launch.

Its £114m financing is part equity and part debt facility, secured with HSBC Innovation Banking UK and Avellinia Capital. 

Raspberry Pi reported a 6% drop in half-year revenue to £100 million and a 7% decline in adjusted EBITDA to £14.4m, though gross margin improved to 25%.

The Cambridge-based company, which os behind low-cost miniature computers used extensively in education, launched seven new products in the period and, for the first time, sold more semiconductors than boards.

CEO Eben Upton said momentum is building, with a strong order backlog and unchanged full-year profit expectations supported by higher anticipated volumes in the second half.

London-based WalkSafe has launched Pro Prevent – a new anonymous reporting tool to help employers tackle workplace harassment before it escalates.

The app enables staff to raise concerns discreetly, giving HR teams early warnings while helping companies comply with the Worker Protection Act.

Founder Emma Kay said the tool empowers employees to report harassment without fear and turns compliance into a genuine staff benefit.

The launch follows research showing 84% of UK workers want employers to introduce a safety app at work.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Amazon has announced plans to close 14 Amazon Fresh stores in the UK, with five of those set to be converted into Whole Foods Market outlets.

If approved, the changes will bring the Whole Foods Market network to 12 UK locations by the end of 2026.

The global giant says the move follows a review of its operations and reflects the much stronger growth opportunities in online grocery delivery, where it is rapidly expanding partnerships and services.

A consultation has begun with affected employees, and the company says it will aim to redeploy as many staff as possible.

Country manager John Boumphrey stressed that Amazon remains committed to the UK, a country it recently pledged to invest £40 billion in, despite the proposed closures.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Revolut has opened its new global headquarters in London’s Canary Wharf and announced a £3 billion investment in the UK over the next five years.

The commitment is part of a wider £10bn global growth plan, which will create 10,000 jobs and expand operations across Europe, the US, Latin America, APAC, Africa and the Middle East.

CEO Nik Storonsky called the HQ “the launchpad for our future” as Revolut targets 100 million customers by mid-2027, up from its current 65m.

The FinTech also revealed its business arm has hit £1bn in annualised revenue.

Lancashire startup Universal Atmosphere Processing (UAP) has secured six-figure backing from angel syndicates, including the Fhunded Angels network, through the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, alongside support from institutional and public investors.

The funding will accelerate production of its Mk1 Atmospheric Processor, which captures CO2 and high-value noble gases directly from air.

The business has also won a research grant from CERN’s Venture Connect programme and was named among the world’s top 100 startups by global tech summit SLUSH.

Founder Brendan Cornthwaite said the raise marks a shift from concept to execution, supported by new head of engineering, Dr James Myers, and growing international recognition.

Sports bra firm boobydoo has partnered with Brarista, the pioneering AI bra-fitting technology company based in Manchester and London.

boobydoo will integrate Brarista’s advanced AI solution into its online platform, delivering 24/7 instant fitting guidance, personalised recommendations, and breast health education, to ensure women can access support anytime.

For 20 years, boobydoo has provided women and girls with support to pursue their exercise goals, free from concerns about breast movement. Noticing that sports bras and the crucial education surrounding their importance were often overlooked in both school settings and elite-level sports, it also developed a professional fitting service, which has since been adopted by elite sports teams and leading educational institutions.

Accountancy and advisory firm BDO has welcomed 53 new trainees across its North West offices in Manchester and Liverpool – and 600 nationally.

The trainees, which join the firm’s 8,000 strong workforce across its four core business areas – audit, tax, deals and consulting, risk & outsourcing – are a combination of school leaver apprentices, university graduates and students undertaking a 12-month industrial placement.

In their first week, the trainees are attending a two-day induction at Wembley Stadium where they’ll gain insight into the firm’s culture and values, while also having the opportunity to network and collaborate with their new colleagues.

InsurTech Zego has reported strong results and launched a new consumer insurance product.

The firm significantly strengthened its financial position in 2024, cutting its net loss to £4m – a substantial improvement from £34m net loss the previous year.

The company returned to monthly profitability by year-end and has maintained strong momentum into 2025, setting the stage for continued growth and innovation.

Alongside profitable underwriting performance and improved customer outcomes, Zego also expanded into the personal car insurance market, giving more drivers greater control over their premiums and making insurance more accessible.

UK Export Finance, the UK’s export credit agency, and Lifted Ventures have launched the UKEF Female Founder Export Accelerator in Partnership with Lifted Ventures.

The ‘first-of-its-kind’ collaboration is designed to support women-led and women-owned businesses from diverse backgrounds to expand globally, scale faster and access the finance and tools needed to succeed beyond the UK.

Commencing in January 2026, the UKEF Female Founder Export Accelerator is a four-month programme, comprising both in-person and virtual accelerated learning workshops along with mentoring and coaching. The programme is designed to equip female founders with the insight, support and funding pathways they need to scale internationally with confidence.

Author: Chris Maguire

JP Morgan has upgraded its outlook on online retailer THG.

The Manchester-headquartered group returns to the FTSE 250 tomorrow (September 24) on the back of positive half-year results.

Now JP Morgan has raised THG’s stock from ‘underweight’ to ‘neutral’ – sparking a 4.5 per cent increase in the retailer’s share price.

Underweight means they expect the stock to perform worse than the overall market while neutral stock is predicted to perform in line with the market.

THG’s share price currently stands at just over 38p with a market cap of £532m.

The figures are up from 25p and £352m respectively at the start of June – but are still well down from THG’s IPO valuation of £5.4bn in 2020.