The FCA has begun legal proceedings against global crypto exchange HTX (formerly Huobi) for illegally promoting cryptoasset services to UK consumers.

Firms providing crypto products to UK consumers need to comply with rules which protect consumers from unfair and misleading marketing. Advertising cryptoassets on social media or websites without complying with these rules is a criminal offence.

The FCA previously warned about HTX’s illegal promotion of crypto services to UK consumers. However, it has continued to publish financial promotions in breach of these rules on its website and on social media platforms – including TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube – says the FCA.

“HTX operates an opaque organisational structure, hiding the identities of its owners and the operators of its website. Repeated attempts by the FCA to engage with HTX have been ignored,” it said. “Since issue of the proceedings, HTX has taken steps to restrict new UK customers from registering an account.

“However, existing UK users can still log in and access unlawful financial promotions, and HTX has given no assurance that the changes will be permanent. The FCA therefore remains concerned that the risk of ongoing breaches continues.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Audoo is changing how the music industry approaches royalty payments – and founder Ryan Edwards says this mission remains his core focus.

Edwards founded the business in 2018 to provide a solution to the challenges faced in public performance royalty data collection and payment distribution via its Audoo Audio Meter device and insights platform.

So impressive is the growth of the London firm – which counts legends including Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus among its investors – that it has topped our last two MediaTech 50 rankings.

However, despite substantial interest, he says they “do not have an exit strategy for the time being”.

“And that’s quite intentional,” he adds. “Audoo is a mission-led business and we’re focused on long-term impact rather than a quick exit.

“Of course, we’re consistently approached, and we explore every conversation, just as we do with funding. But the reality is we love working on this company. 

“We get to spend time with our heroes, solve a problem that’s affected creators for generations, and genuinely change how the industry works. That’s what motivates us, not an exit timeline.” 

The UK’s first AI-powered physiotherapy clinic, Flok Health, is expanding rapidly amidst a push from NHS England to scale digital provision across the health service.

The digital clinic provides NHS patients with same-day appointments for back pain via a smartphone app. In its first large-scale pilot in England last year, the clinic more than halved
waiting lists for back pain and reduced waiting times for all MSK conditions by 44% in less than 10 weeks.

Following this success, the AI clinic has been rolled out across 11 NHS areas including Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Airedale, South Yorkshire (Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham, Sheffield), Northamptonshire, and three London boroughs.

This means more than 2.4m patients living in these areas are able to access round-the-clock digital physiotherapy, helping to slash waiting times and get people back to doing the things that matter to them.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A co-founder at FinTech unicorn Zilch has raises £15 million for his latest venture ManageMy.

Sean O’Connor has teamed up with former ReMark Group CEO Stephen Collins to launch the InsurTech business, which was founded in the UK but is now based in the United States and has a presence in London.

It has now raised a Series B round of funding led by Ventura Capital, taking its total funding to $45m following a 2022 Series A.

A German tech multinational has chosen Sheffield startup TJ Digital Systems as its first UK partner.

CONTACT Software will roll out its end-to-end digital solutions for manufacturers in the UK. The firms say the strategic partnership combines CONTACT’s modular Elements platform with TJ Digital Systems’ deep knowledge of the UK manufacturing sector and proven expertise in systems integration, digital consultancy and performance delivery.

CONTACT Elements enables companies to merge data silos and integrate with enterprise systems such as ERP or CAD. It supports cloud deployment and provides AI capabilities to optimise processes all the way from product development to manufacturing and service.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

An energy transactions scaleup has raised £55 million in an oversubscribed Series B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

The investment comes as tem surpasses $300m annualised gross transaction value and brings its total funding to $94m.

The round featured strategic follow-on participation from Hitachi Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Schroders Capital and Allianz alongside existing investors including AlbionVC, Atomico and Revent. 

Cybersecurity giant Sophos has acquired fellow UK-based firm Arco Cyber, a cybersecurity assurance company dedicated to helping organisations improve their security posture.

Sophos, owned by US private equity giant Thoma Bravo, said Arco Cyber will join as a dedicated team to advance Sophos CISO Advantage.

This is described as a set of capabilities designed to scale the knowledge, judgment and operating discipline of a world-class CISO to organisations with or without dedicated security leadership – combining agentic AI, integrated platforms and human expertise delivered in partnership with managed service providers (MSPs) and managed security service providers (MSSPs).

Arco’s technology and expertise will be integrated into Sophos Central, a platform delivering its wider ecosystem including advisory services, managed detection and response and partner-delivered services.

Digital media company KOMI Group has marked another year of exceptional growth for the three businesses in its portfolio: KOMI Publishing, KOMI Talent and ARK by KOMI.

Fuelled by KOMI Insights – the proprietary analytics platform which embeds data at the core of all of KOMI’s activity – KOMI unlocked a 77% increase in revenue year-on-year in 2025.

New AI capabilities also helped generate 44 billion views across its content portfolio in 2025.

ARK, KOMI’s content licensing business, acquired 5,320 videos last year, compared with 1,440 in 2024. More than tripling its video portfolio, ARK uses real-time data and audience insights to inform the acquisition and management of digital content. Through internal and external clients, ARK content was used 17,820 times in 2025 – from the BBC to other global outlets.

As well as revenue growth, headcount reached 139 in 2025, bringing 30 more people onboard.

Author: Chris Maguire

Chris Baguley has announced he’ll be leaving his role as corporate MD at Cheshire-based property lending giant Together at the end of the year.

Baguley, who joined Together in 2006, will be exploring a number of non-exec roles in early 2027.

He said: ”I’ve worked with the best people in the industry, some who have gone on to new ventures, but most who still remain as part of our incredible business.

“After the best 20 years in my career, I have taken the decision to retire from Together at the end of this year, to explore a number of non-exec roles in early 2027.“Not an easy decision as I absolutely love our business, together with the wonderful people I get to work alongside every day.

“I simply couldn’t be more proud of the business we have built in the last 20 years.”

Baguley, who previously worked for Manchester Building Society and Yorkshire Bank, joined Together to set up the bridging finance arm of our business.

Several years later he played an integral part in the creation of the company’s corporate team.

Together is a UK-wide specialist property lender with a loan book of £8bn and is a major employer in Stockport and Greater Manchester with more than 850 staff.

Author: Chris Maguire

Tributes have been paid to Abi Godfrey, a director of Grant Thornton’s North West corporate finance business, who has died at the age of 34

Godfrey, who led the company’s national pharma and life sciences sector, joined Grant Thornton in 2024 after 11 years at Deloitte.

Peter Terry, a partner at Grant Thornton UK and practice lead in the North West, said: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of our friend and colleague Abi Godfrey, director in our North West corporate finance business, who led our national pharma and life sciences sector.

“As a young female leader just breaking through to partner at Grant Thornton, she was an inspiration and motivation to many, both inside and outside the firm.

“She had so many wonderful qualities – we will miss her energy, fun, kindness and humility. We hold her family, friends and colleagues in our thoughts at this most difficult of times.”

Private equity-backed UK accountancy firm Gravita has appointed former BCLP global leader Lisa Mayhew as CEO.

The London firm has recently expanded to five UK offices and has seen more than 400% headcount growth since 2022. It is backed by PE firm Tenzing.

At BCLP, Mayhew served as firmwide managing partner and global co-chair, overseeing 32 international offices and growing revenue from $350m to $900m.

She succeeds interim CEO Heather Swanston, who will return to her role as chair of Gravita’s board.

YFM Equity Partners has urged Liverpool City Region tech founders to come forward as it has capital to invest.

The North-focused investor says Liverpool is producing a growing number of companies ready for their next phase of growth, particularly those using technology to drive scale, efficiency and international reach.

YFM, which invests £3m-£15m in growth-stage businesses, has backed Liverpool City Region success story Protein Works helping it grow from a small challenger brand into a global, multi-million-pound business.

London-based payments FinTech Navro has appointed Anna Andreeva as CFO, strengthening its leadership team as it scales internationally.

Andreeva joins from senior finance roles across payments and financial services, including Mews and Mollie, and will lead Navro’s financial strategy during its next phase of growth.

The appointment follows Navro’s recent launch of a ‘world-first’ statutory & tax payroll payments service, covering 95 countries.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Eagle Eye Innovations, a provider of drone training, operating and consulting services, has secured investment from private equity investor LDC to support its expansion plans.

Headquartered in Lincoln and founded in 2013, EEI provides a variety of services to organisations requiring skilled, regulatory-compliant drone operators across multiple sectors including the built environment, utilities, infrastructure, agriculture, logistics, media, security and defence. 

LDC is backing EEI’s management team, led by founder and CEO Siôn Roberts, COO Dom Smith and CCO Alex Kasperczyk, as they expand the business in the UK and internationally.

Rob Clarke, previously CEO of CTC Aviation, will join as non-executive chairman, bringing extensive experience in commercial pilot operations and aviation operations consultancy, and Sir Chris Harper will remain on the board as non-executive director. 

UK personalised video startup Sendr has launched what it claims to be the world’s first personalised video at scale for eCommerce.

Early campaigns have delivered a 33% uplift in recovered abandoned-cart revenue compared to email, it says, using personalised videos that address shoppers by name, show the exact product they left behind and link straight back to checkout.

Initial use cases include influencer-led eCommerce brands such as Paris Fury and Pete Wicks, but it can be used by any brand or retailer across any stage of the eCommerce journey.

Sendr had previously been deployed by brands including the FT as an enterprise sales tool but given estimates that abandoned carts cost eCommerce retailers trillions each year, personalised video at scale is a breakthrough in eCommerce.

Having launched in 2025, Sendr has already raised £600,000 in pre-seed funding.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Experts have reacted with disbelief after it was revealed that Rachel Reeves’s Budget was accessed almost 25,000 times before its official publication due to an Office for Budget Responsibility leak.

An investigation by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) showed official forecasts by the OBR were downloaded on “at least” 24,701 occasions in the hour before Ms Reeves delivered her 26th November Budget.

This was much higher than the 43 occasions reported in an initial review.

The UK Space Agency has awarded contracts to three UK companies to investigate producing these advanced materials in Low Earth Orbit, where the conditions – including microgravity, natural vacuum, and extreme temperatures – can create products that are difficult, expensive, or impossible to manufacture on Earth.

The research supports in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM), which the government identifies as a priority capability area for UK leadership, growth, and national security.

Each study will assess technical feasibility, mature key technologies, and develop credible routes to market.

The three contracts are:

BioOrbit Ltd (£250,000) – The ‘PHARM’ study will design an end-to-end mission to manufacture drugs in microgravity. Microgravity enables the formation of more perfect, reproducible protein crystals for drug formulations that cannot be achieved on Earth, enabling cancer treatments to be given at home. BioOrbit is working with relevant regulatory bodies to ensure that this mission can be readily commercialised.

Space Forge Ltd (£300,000) – The ‘2Forge2Furious’ study will demonstrate how semiconductor seed crystals could be produced commercially in orbit, with the aim of improving the efficiency, reliability and power density of high-power electronic devices, including telecommunications, data centre infrastructure, EV charging and quantum computing.

OrbiSky Ltd (£295,000) – The ‘SkyYield’ study will design a payload to process ZBLAN fluoride glass in microgravity. ZBLAN is a specialist optical fibre that can transmit light with up to 100 times less signal loss than traditional silica fibre, with significant potential for telecommunications and medical imaging.

Author: Mark Rothwell, chief executive, Furza

There’s no escaping it – AI is reshaping the workplace.

Headlines often focus on jobs being ‘replaced’ by algorithms or automation, stoking fear and uncertainty.

However, while technology undeniably changes the employment landscape, framing AI as a threat rather than an enabler overlooks a key truth – that the talent of tomorrow will not be defined solely by what humans are unable to do, but by how we adapt, collaborate and innovate alongside machines.

The future of work may look different from what we expect, but it’s far from bleak.

The question isn’t whether AI will replace jobs; it’s whether we will shape a future where talent, technology and curiosity work together to create something better.

Imperial spinout Nanomox has raised £2.4m to produce high-performance materials and recover metals from waste sources.

Founded by Francisco Malaret and Jason Hallett in 2020 and based on the former’s PhD research, it has built a process – based on ionic liquid chemistry – to create finely tuned metal oxide particles with exceptional control over crystallinity, shape and size.

These are traits critical for performance in UV protection, electronics and catalytic applications.

The seed funding is a mixture of equity and grants. Led by TSP Ventures and Boast Trading LLC, with participation from Imperial College Enterprise Fund 3, SNØCAP VC, the Circular Innovation Fund, EIT RawMaterials and several UK angels, it includes backing from the Innovate UK Investor Partnership programme.

Nanomox says it will establish Catalyst 1, its first commercial pilot plant and R&D facility, to scale production to tonnes per month and begin supplying cosmetic industry partners.

xWatts has raised £1.6m seed funding to slash non-domestic energy waste.

The London startup is described as an intelligent energy management platform and has tripled revenues over each of the past two years.

xWatts focuses on complex estates with heavy energy loads, such as healthcare, universities and industry. It connects directly to on-site energy systems and builds real-time digital models of each facility and automatically adjusts assets.

The funding was led by Cambridge Enterprise Ventures alongside Cambridge Angels, Parkwalk and R42. It will be used to expand around Europe.