Ditto, a free app that turns recorded medical consultations into a clear written summary, is being rolled out to families affected by childhood cancer through a new partnership with Young Lives vs Cancer.

Social workers at the UK charity will introduce the app to families at their first meeting after diagnosis, starting with centres in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, Cambridge and Oxford.

Every day in the UK, 12 children and their families receive the life-changing news that they have been diagnosed with cancer. The programme eventually aims to reach all families affected by children with cancer in the UK, and will be available to those outside of the initial roll out locations.

Research shows that parents and patients struggle to recall up to 80% of the information communicated in consultations. Ditto has worked with Young Lives vs Cancer and their patient and parent voice board to rebuild the app so that the support it provides matches the challenges families face. Those discussions surfaced the scale of the communication burden carried by parents, who often field more than 25 check-in questions a day from grandparents, siblings and other carers about how their child is and the latest updates.

The app is free and available across the UK to any parent or patient who wants it, whether or not cancer is part of the picture, and the partnership connects families to it at the point they need it most.

After an appointment, the app also surfaces information from the Children & Young People’s Cancer Association when relevant. Families can keep the summary, understand it and send it on to whoever needs to know.

Pharmacy2U is making it easier for millions of NHS patients to manage their prescriptions, with NHS App users now able to use their NHS login details to register with the UK’s largest online pharmacy and access its services.

Today’s update means the NHS App’s 15 million active users can use the same login details to sign up for Pharmacy2U, giving them greater choice and control over how they manage and receive their medication.

Once registered, patients will be able to access Pharmacy2U services including free tracked delivery to their door, personalised reminders to re-order, prescription status updates and order tracking.

Patients can either sign into Pharmacy2U directly using their NHS login and request NHS prescriptions directly through the Pharmacy2U website or app, or, after registration they can continue to order repeat prescriptions within the NHS App.

In both cases, the patient’s GP will review and authorise medication requests before an electronic prescription is sent securely to Pharmacy2U. It is then checked, dispensed and delivered free and fully tracked to the patient’s door.

iwoca has reported a record year of growth and lending in 2025 and announced an expansion of services in new areas to provide SMEs with a range of products to help them understand, access and manage credit.

Revenue increased by 56% to £366 million in 2025, up from £234m the previous year. Across its markets in the UK and Germany, the company provided £1.5 billion in funding, rising from £952 m in 2024, across around 100,000 SME loans funded in 2025.

iwoca has now lent over £6bn to small businesses since 2012.

iwoca is reinvesting these profits into solving more problems for SMEs. The company today announces the launch of its Business Credit Card, which will give UK SMEs access to flexible credit for day-to-day spending and unexpected costs.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Listed company Checkit has ended a formal sale process initiated six months ago after failing to agree a take-private takeover.

The Cambridge firm had put itself up for sale amid frustration at its market cap valuation and the focus on ‘short-termism’ in public markets.

However it is now playing a more optimistic tune as it will remain a PLC for the foreseeable future.

An augmented workflow and smart sensor automation company for frontline workers, Checkit has been listed on the public markets since 1997 and its share price peaked at 64 pence in 2021. 

Prior to the commencement of the formal sale process in March this year, it had been trading around 14p. News of the sale process saw it climb as high as 26p and remain in the 20s.

However this morning’s news has caused it to lose 27% of its valuation in early trading (with shares prices at 16.5p). 

The firm also reported its results for the six months ended 31st July 2026 this morning.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

An online pet supplies store which took millions of pounds in orders has been ‘shut down’ following an Insolvency Service investigation, two years after its predecessor company was also wound up.  

Funnyfuzzy Tech UK Co., Ltd traded via the website www.funnyfuzzy.co.uk, selling various products for pets. The latest version of the website was linked to a Hong Kong-registered company, Funnyfuzzy HK Tech Limited.

An Insolvency Service investigation found the company had filed dormant accounts despite evidence showing more than £6.3 million in incoming payments between August 2023 and January 2026. 

The company refused to engage with investigators on the basis that it operated outside the UK, even though it sold products to UK residents and used a contractor in the UK to deal with customer returns. The company failed to provide any records. 

Investigators found no evidence of the company at its registered UK address on Devonshire Street in London. It has now been wound up in the High Court.

However, as of this morning the website still appears to be live and taking orders. It claims to have a customer review rating of 4.86 out of 5.

Monzo is in talks over a sale of both its entire business and a minority stake in a blow to London’s public markets.

The City has long courted Monzo, one of the UK’s flagship digital banks, as a potential listing candidate.

However Sky News has reported that New York-listed Nu Holdings – parent company of Brazil’s Nubank, Latin America’s largest FinTech – is in talks over a cash-and-shares takeover offer worth between £8-10 billion.

In parallel, Monzo is in talks with several private equity firms about selling off a minority stake of up to 15% – should the Nubank deal fall through – which would allow it to accelerate growth. 

Author: Chris Maguire

OneDome, the AI-powered property and FinTech platform, has launched a national TV campaign on Channel 4.

The idea for OneDome was born out of founder Babek Ismayil’s frustrating experience of trying to buy his first home in London.

Ismayil, who previously worked for J.P. Morgan, spent months viewing properties before finally finding the perfect family home – only for someone else to buy it at the 11th hour.

The experience cost him thousands of pounds and inspired him to launch OneDome, with the aim of making the homebuying process simpler and more joined-up.

The Channel 4 campaign is designed to introduce a national audience to the concept of integrated homebuying, bringing the different stages of purchasing a property together in one place.

Ismayil was included in BusinessCloud’s Founder 250 list.

Author: Chris Maguire

What do you do when the team of a world-famous model with 59m Instagram followers calls with an urgent request?

That was the scenario facing Anne Dempsey, who launched occasionwear and fashion brand Anne Louise Dempsey from her spare bedroom in 2020.

The company previously caused a stir when Holly Willoughby and Amanda Holden both stepped out in the same ALB dress on the same morning.

Now Dempsey, who was included in BusinessCloud’s Founder 250 list, has revealed how Bella Hadid’s stylist came calling for an ALB – but there was a problem.

She recalled: “The cape they needed was sold out. Not ‘low stock’. Gone.

“This is the part of running a small brand nobody sees on Instagram. It’s not the glamour of a celebrity request — it’s the two hours that follow it, chasing suppliers, refreshing inboxes, willing the impossible into a ‘yes’.

“I called our factory. Explained the situation. And they didn’t just say they’d try – they turned it around and got it done in time.

“That’s the bit I want to shout about. Not the name, not the moment — the team behind it. Because a founder can build the vision, but it’s the people who show up when the deadline is impossible that actually make it real.”

Author: Chris Maguire

Fuse Energy has published a policy manifesto setting out the changes it believes are needed from Government to unlock ‘energy abundance’ in the UK.

Fuse Energy was founded in 2022 by former Revolut executives Alan Chang and Charles Orr, who were included in BusinessCloud’s Founder 250 list.

The company aims to eliminate many of the inefficiencies in traditional energy models that it says drive up costs for consumers.

Its manifesto calls for a series of reforms including enforcing planning decision deadlines, as well as backing the removal of VAT on household electricity.

Author: Chris Maguire

Gymshark, the cult fitness community and apparel brand founded by Ben Francis, is preparing to open its first-ever public gym.

The Gymshark Lifting Club (GSLC Miami) will open in Miami’s Wynwood district, marking another significant expansion for the global fitness brand.

Gymshark already operates a Lifting Club at its UK headquarters, but that facility was created primarily for employees and their associates.

Francis, who was included in BusinessCloud’s Founder 250 list, shared a photo of himself at the site of the new Miami gym on Instagram and said: “I’ve seen this come to life over the last few months and I genuinely can’t wait for all you to experience it.”

Author: Chris Maguire

Serial entrepreneur Craig Brennan is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his first business, LSC.

What started in 2006 as a children’s football coaching business for under-fives has grown into a national provider of specialist PPA cover and out-of-school clubs.

Today LSC works with hundreds of primary schools across the UK and has grown to a team of 280 people.

Brennan, who was included in BusinessCloud’s Founder 250, hasn’t stopped there.

He went on to launch Nurtured Childcare, which now operates 12 nurseries across the North of England, and owns 50 per cent of a private dental group.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

From the outside, PerfectTed’s first five years have been something of a fairytale.

The firm was co-founded from a kitchen table in 2021 by Teddie Levenfiche, his brother Levi and Levi’s wife Marisa Poster – who is also Teddie’s best friend – to bring quality matcha to the UK. 

They made headlines in 2023 after receiving five offers from the BBC Dragons. With Steven Bartlett heavily invested in the brand both financially and personally, it has grown to become the UK’s biggest matcha brand and is set to hit $100 million+ annual recurring revenue this year.

Yet even as it celebrates its fifth birthday this week – with hundreds of beloved products now sold in more than 50 countries around the world – a look inside the business would unearth ‘chaos’.

Basecamp Research has raised $140 million (£106m) in Series C financing to continue developing its AI-designed medicines.

Basecamp’s ambition is to develop cures for diseases that remain incurable by designing medicines that reprogram the body to repair itself. 

The company combines frontier AI models trained on proprietary biological data with technology for writing DNA sequences into cells.

Abingdon Health plc, a York-based developer, manufacturer and provider of regulatory services for rapid diagnostic tests and MedTech, has opened its new manufacturing hub in the United States.

The company’s facility is at University Research Park in Madison, Wisconsin. 

Abingdon says the new manufacturing facility represents a significant step forward for the company’s US operations, providing it with the infrastructure and capacity to respond to growing demand for high-quality, rapidly deployable diagnostic testing solutions.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Travel Counsellors has appointed a technology heavyweight as its new CTO.

David Jack has joined the technology platform for travel entrepreneurs with immediate effect. He was most recently CTO at Tunstall Healthcare, where he led a programme of major technology transformation – including AI adoption across manufacturing, supply chain, product development and security.

Earlier in his career he served as the CIO of Trainline, while he has also held CTO and CIO roles at collapsed transport data firm wejo, eCommerce delivery management software company MetaPack, data science firm dunnhumby and insurer Howden.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A ground-breaking HealthTech co-founded by Spotify’s Daniel Ek which built its model in the UK has launched in New York.

Ek founded Neko Health with Hjalmar Nilsonne to redefine how people understand and act on their health. This summer it raised $700 million in Series C funding.

At the heart of Neko’s offering is the Neko Health Scan – a 60-minute, comprehensive, non-invasive and radiation-free health assessment that captures millions of health data points.

Neko has opened its first US clinic in SoHo, New York – the first step in a US roll-out, with more New York sites and Miami, Washington, DC and San Francisco also planned.

The firm said there was a New York waitlist of more than 25,000 before opening day.

Businesses across Trafford are being invited to help shape the future workforce needed to support one of Greater Manchester’s most significant regeneration and employment opportunities.

As plans continue to progress for Therme Manchester and the growth of Trafford City, partners from across education, skills, business and local government are working together to understand future workforce needs and ensure local people are well placed to benefit from the jobs and careers being created.

Therme Manchester alone is forecast to create around 1,200 jobs across 47 different disciplines when it opens in 2028, creating opportunities across hospitality, leisure, wellness, operations, customer experience, facilities management, digital technology and a range of specialist roles.

Alongside developments including Trafford Waters, new leisure and visitor attractions, and continued investment across Trafford City’s wider business and visitor economy.

A survey, commissioned by Trafford Council, Trafford & Stockport College Group, Therme Manchester, The Growth Company and the University of Salford will ask businesses in the borough of Trafford about their current and future skills and recruitment needs, as well as anticipated future demand from existing employers and new developments across Trafford City.

Partners will use the evidence to inform future curriculum planning, skills programmes, investment and collaborative activity, with the ambition of ensuring that TraffordCity’s economic growth translates into sustainable employment, progression and opportunity for local communities.

Cambridge Tech Week 2026 closed last week after five days of debate, dealmaking and networking – and it was the biggest to date.

This year’s programme placed a sharper focus on the practical challenge of turning world-class research and technology into scalable businesses and real-world applications.

Held from 14th-18th September under the theme ‘How Deep Tech Changes the World’, this year’s event drew 1,781 delegates from 52 countries – a 15% increase on last year’s event.

Across the week, discussions ranged from artificial intelligence and quantum computing to HealthTech, MedTech, energy, infrastructure and security.

Indeed, BusinessCloud joined forces with RSM UK for a roundatable canvassing the views of some of the city’s leading tech businesses and voices.

But beneath the breadth of the programme was a consistent question: what does it take to move deep technology beyond the laboratory and into the market?

The British Business Bank has agreed to commit £60m to Advent Life Sciences Fund IV and committed £75m to Advent Life Sciences Growth Fund, bringing its total commitment across these two strategies to £135 million.

Together, these investments will help create deeper pools of capital for the UK’s high-potential life sciences companies, supporting companies from early-stage development through to later-stage growth and commercialisation.

The Bank has been a close partner of Advent since 2019 having made a commitment to Advent Life Sciences Fund III. Since then, the Bank has co-invested alongside Advent into innovative life sciences companies such as Proximie in 2022 and Cyted Health in 2025.

Advent Life Sciences is a transatlantic venture capital firm focused on building and investing in innovative life sciences businesses across the UK, Europe and the United States. The firm specialises in early and mid-stage companies developing new medicines, medical technologies and enabling platforms.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Raspberry Pi Holdings plc has reported record revenue and profitability for the first half of its financial year.

The Cambridge-based firm said this morning that revenue increased 90% to $256.9 million and adjusted EBITDA climbed 108% to $40.3m in the six months ended 30th June 2026. Profit before tax increased 216% to $19.6m.

The firm’s share price rose 16% in the first 30 minutes of trading. It has climbed almost 150% in the year to date.