Author: Chris Maguire

A tech startup backed by Susie Ma on Dragons’ Den is looking to raise £350,000 in seed funding.

Sisters Olivia and Tanyka Davson secured £50,000 for their business, Cubbi, from the founder of Tropic Skincare when they appeared in the Den in February.

Birmingham-based Cubbi is a discount platform for new and expecting parents, and the siblings hailed Ma as a ‘fantastic investor’ who has been ‘incredibly engaged’.

Olivia, who was nine months pregnant at the time of filming, founded Cubbi following her own experience of becoming a parent and feeling the financial strain and isolation that can accompany early parenthood.

Following their Dragons’ Den appearance, Cubbi’s user base has grown to more than 20,000 and the company is now working with over 250 brand partners.

Tanyka said: “With the momentum from the Den, we’re supercharging that growth, aiming to reach over 100,000 users and more than 500 brands by the end of the year.”

To fund the next stage of growth, Cubbi is looking to raise £350,000, with £100,000 already committed. The round is expected to close in June.

London-based ClimateYech platform Zevero has raised £5.2 million in new funding, bringing total investment to $14 million, alongside 400% year-on-year revenue growth and a doubling of its customer base.

As climate disclosure frameworks tighten across the UK, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, companies are increasingly treating carbon data with the same rigour as financial reporting.

Zevero sits at the centre of that shift, helping multinational organisations operationalise emissions data across supply chains and decision-making.

The company is already working with major international organisations across manufacturing and consumer sectors, and is expanding rapidly across Europe and Asia-Pacific, where regulatory and supply chain pressures are intensifying.

ECI Partners, a growth-focused mid-market private equity firm, has announced the appointment of David Danon as partner into its investment team.

Danon joins ECI following almost 20 years in the private equity team at Bain Capital, where he served as a partner. Having originated, led and successfully exited deals across a broad range of sectors and geographies, Danon brings with him a wealth of experience to support ECI’s investment strategy, partnering with growth businesses valued up to £300m to deliver top quartile returns.

Abselion, a life sciences technology company focused on simplifying biomolecule quantification, has appointed Dale Gordon as chair of the board of directors.

The firm, which recently established a US subsidiary, says it is committed to building a well-governed organisation that can support collaboration and reliable delivery as interest in its Amperia protein quantification system grows internationally.

Gordon’s background spans bioprocessing, company building and board leadership. Most recently, he served as CEO of Mirus Bio, a leading provider of transfection technologies widely used in viral vector production, where he led the business through a period of significant growth and strategic development. He was also CEO at Gemini Bio and held leadership roles at GE Life Sciences (now Cytiva), and Merck Millipore.

He succeeds Simon Douglas, who is stepping down from the role after serving as chair of the board for over four years.

Chameleon Technology has appointed Tim Cox as CTO.

Chameleon is a pioneer of smart energy devices. More than 20 million people, in over a third of homes in Great Britain, have access to a Chameleon in-home display to help them keep track of their energy use and spending.

Cox joins from Sycurio, where he served as chief product and technology officer and VP customer delivery, leading global technology strategy, product development and customer-facing operations.

He brings extensive experience in mission-critical SaaS solutions across cybersecurity, telecommunications, and cloud transformation.

The Government’s former chief digital officer Mike Potter has joined the board of UKAI, the business trade association for Britain’s artificial intelligence industry.

Potter, who served as CDO from 2022 to 2024, led the Government’s digital, data and technology strategy across departments through the Central Digital and Data Office.

Over more than two decades, he delivered major transformation programmes across organisations including HMRC, the NHS, the Environment Agency, the Rural Payments Agency and Thames Water.

In his new role at UKAI, Potter will focus on enabling the organisation to support officials across government as they adopt AI to improve productivity and transform public services.

Moneypenny has appointed two new business development managers, Kevin Love-Hughes and Casey Lewis, as the company continues to scale its sector expertise and accelerate growth of its AI receptionist and customer communication solutions.

Kevin Love-Hughes, former head of sales – EMEA at RPost, joins to focus on supporting organisations across the financial services sector, including insurance, lending and credit, accounting, wealth and investment, payroll and FinTech.

Casey Lewis will lead business development across the automotive sector, working with dealerships, fleet operators and EV-focused businesses.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Shares in The Mission Group plc have dropped sharply in early trading today after it reported a swing from profit to a huge loss in its latest annual results.

The agency collective, which issued a profit warning in January amid ‘macroeconomic uncertainty’, said revenues fell 21% in 2025 to £68.8 million.

It swung from £2.9m profit before tax in 2024 to an £18.8m loss in 2025.

The firm, which in 2024 snubbed a £32m takeover from fellow listed tech agency group Brave Bison, said completions of some of its major projects have carried over into 2026, which has impacted FY2025 revenues.

Its market cap stands below £13.4m after an 18% fall this morning. The share price has dropped from around 50 pence in summer 2023 to 14.7p at the time of writing.

 

Author: Chris Maguire

TalkTalk Business has made its first acquisition following its demerger from TalkTalk Group.

The Manchester-based B2B telecoms and managed service provider has acquired managed IT and cybersecurity specialist, Planet IT.

The strategic move strengthens both organisations’ ability to support businesses across the UK with secure, reliable technology services.

The undisclosed deal forms part of TalkTalk Business’s plans to expand its managed services offering.

Gamma Communications plc has reported growth in revenues for 2025 – but profits dropped.

The communications technology firm said revenues were £645.8m, up 11% on 2024, while profit before tax was £87.7m, down 8%.

Gamma said recently that it had appointed a new CFO to succeed the departing Bill Castell.

Bytes Technology Group plc has reported its results for the year ended 28th February 2026.

The software, security, AI and cloud services specialist, based in Surrey, said it had recorded double-digit gross invoiced income growth and operating profit of c.£62m.

In the previous year, gross invoiced income comfortably exceeded £2bn for the first time, while adjusted operating profit was £63.3m.

In FY25 it reported revenues of £207m, but it neglected to inform the market of revenues for FY26 this morning.

It said that from July 2026, Bytes Software Services would focus on the private sector, and Phoenix Software on the public sector.

Journeo plc has reported increases in revenue and profits for 2025.

The provider of tech for transport networks, based in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, said revenue increased 11% to £55m while adjusted profit before tax increased 13% to £5.7m.

Cash and cash equivalents at 31st December 2025 were £12m (2024: £14.3m).

Trustpilot Plc has appointed Marcus Roy as CFO.

Roy will join the open customer feedback platform on 14th September 2026 and succeed Hanno Damm, who, as previously announced, will be stepping down after over a decade with the company.

Roy joins Trustpilot from The Economist Group, where he has served as group CFO since 2021 and overseen its shift to a digital-first, subscription-led model, while simultaneously building the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) into a leading global B2B data and analytics business.

He was previously group financial controller at Associated British Foods Plc, a FTSE 100 multinational, and before that spent over 14 years in a series of progressively senior finance roles at Dixons Carphone Plc and Carphone Warehouse Plc.

YouGov, the international research and data analytics group, has announced that Shalini Govil-Pai has informed the board of her intention to step down as a non-executive director following the end of her three-year term.

Govil-Pai said the decision was due to additional time requirements arising from her other business commitments. The change will take effect from today.

Based in the US, she serves as general manager and vice president of TV at Google. Additionally, she is an independent director on the board of Prime Focus Limited, a Fortune India 500 company.

For the six months ended 31st January 2026, YouGov reported revenues of  £194.8m – up 2% on the corresponding period the year before – and statutory profit before tax of £8.6m, up 4%.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Revolut’s profit before tax in 2025 reached a record £1.7 billion before it began its transition into a full bank.

PBT was up 57% on 2024 levels with a margin of 38%, up from 35% in the previous year.

Revenue surged to £4.5bn (2024: £3.1bn) at the London FinTech as it delivered its fifth consecutive year of net profitability.  It said 11 different product lines each exceeded £100m in revenue.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Sports nutrition brand Huel has been acquired by food giant Danone in a deal worth €1 billion.

Dragons’ Den star and Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett hailed the firm as a “Great British success story” on LinkedIn and said he had shared a phone call with founder Julian Hearn this morning.

In 2024 Bartlett came under fire after he promoted Huel on Facebook without disclosing that he was a director at the firm. In two ads subsequently banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, Bartlett was shown drinking a supplement beverage and claiming it was the best product released by the company to that date.

Bartlett then stepped down as a director of Huel last year.

“what a ride! had a beautiful, emotional & reflective call with Huel’s founder Julian Hearn this morning as the news broke!” he wrote today.

“This company changed my life in so many ways… as a customer, an investor, a board member and as a partner.

“And it serves as a great reminder that successful category defining companies can come out the UK AND can come outside of London!

“This company beat all the odds – a great British success story! ❤️👊🏾

“So happy for all the team!”

The Financial Conduct Authority has opened an investigation into collapsed mortgage lender MFS amid allegations of fraud.

Market Financial Solutions Limited, which is based in Mayfair, London, entered administration last month owing billions.

A worldwide asset-freezing order has been imposed on founder and CEO Paresh Raja, who is based in Dubai, by administrators AlixPartners. He is limited to spending £5,000 per week without consent.

The chairman of two listed investment funds has passed away.

Nigel Cayzer has chaired Oryx International Growth Fund, a Guernsey-based investor listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, since 1995.

He has also chaired Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies Investment Trust PLC since 1995.

Shares in FTSE 250 firm Goodwin plc have dropped 35% today after it revealed it had lost two significant tenders.

The historic engineering firm, founded in 1883, revealed the loss of two tenders worth around £60 million.

“The mechanical engineering division has been disappointed by the outcome of two significant tenders during the period,” it stated to the London Stock Exchange.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

hedgehog lab has appointed industry stalwart Julian Leighton as its new chair as the Newcastle-headquartered global product design consultancy continues to roll out its ambitious growth plans.

Leighton brings nearly 30 years’ tech experience to the firm, having cut his teeth with IBM business partners before co-founding digital agency Orange Bus with Mike Parker in 2006. 

Together, they scaled the business from two to 150 people before it was sold to then FTSE 100-listed outsourcer Capita 10 years later.