Pollen Street has launched a share buyback programme.

Over the coming 12 months, the asset manager will purchase up to £30 million worth of shares via Investec Bank plc and Panmure Liberum.

The sole purpose is to reduce the company’s share capital, with any shares acquired under the agreement to be held in treasury.

Cizzle Biotechnology, a UK-based diagnostics developer of early cancer tests, has raised up to £250,000 through the issue of further unsecured convertible loan notes to Frazer Lang, an existing investor in the company.

In May Cizzle secured funding of £150,000 from Lang to roll out its CIZ1B biomarker test to help detect lung cancer early.

The company has now announced that it has entered into a Letter of Intent with a leading medical diagnostic services provider, acting in partnership with the NHS, as result of that initiative.

Entrepreneur Jenna Meek said it’s a ‘dream come true’ after being confirmed as a guest Dragon on the 2026 series of Dragons’ Den.

The co-founder of Manchester-based beauty brand REFY will join Gary Neville, Tinie Tempah, and Susie Ma in entering the Den alongside heavyweights Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman and Steven Bartlett.

Meek, who was also named in BusinessCloud’s Northern Leaders list, said: “Always dreamed of being on Dragons Den as a Dragon and my dreams came true this year.

“After years of pestering the BBC they finally let me loose on the show. An incredible, incredible experience. January 2026 I will be on your screens.  What type of Dragon do you think I will be?”

REFY has become one of the fastest-growing beauty brands in the UK with an annual turnover of more than £40m.

 

Luxury cruise retailer Panache Cruises has promoted Anna Perrott to the newly-created role of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

Perrott, who joined the Chorley-based company three years ago, previously worked as senior partnerships and marketing director and her promotion follows a period of record-breaking growth.

At the same time Alex Langton has been promoted to the role of Sales and Operations Director.

In the last 12 months turnover at tech-enabled  Panache Cruises has grown 64 per cent to £39m and staff numbers have increased from 68 to 93.

 

Author: Jamie Roberts, managing partner, YFM Equity Partners

It felt like tax rises are being framed as unavoidable – maybe that is right as the level of debt and cost of interest is so high and there is no short-term fix to this other than tax rises.

But sustained growth rarely comes from taxation and today’s words seems to ignore the long term risk of making it less attractive to create businesses in the UK.

Entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders, like everyone else, are feeling the strain of slower productivity and high inflation. If the UK wants to improve productivity and drive growth over the medium term, then it must continue to back the entrepreneurs starting and running businesses.

These are the people creating jobs and prosperity for all. The UK is still the best place in the world to start and run a business with tax incentives to drive investment (venture capital trust and EIS), a world leading legal system and a huge pool of talent – but we risk eroding that edge if we keep targeting the very people we need to build businesses and create employment.

I’m hoping that as well as the now expected tax rises that the Chancellor signals that Britain remains a place where people are rewarded for building businesses and creating jobs to deliver long-term prosperity.

Author: Andreas Adamides, CEO, Helm

Founders have mortgaged their homes and invested life savings to create jobs based on manifesto commitments that are now being ripped up.

Many are already on a knife-edge after being clobbered with a £40bn tax raid in the last Budget. Now they’re facing tax rises on top of a 6.7% minimum wage increase that will decimate margins.

Faced with higher taxes, soaring wage bills, and spiralling costs, businesses will be forced to slash jobs, abandon growth plans, or simply shut down. Those that survive will have no choice but to push prices up and inflation will stay high. This government is engineering a crisis.

We’re 18 months into a five-year Parliament. Stop blaming everybody else. Breaking manifesto pledges isn’t forced upon you – it’s a cop out, a betrayal and a death knell for investment.

Author: George Holmes, managing director, Aurora Capital

Businesses need clarity, but all they got today was a warning shot from the Chancellor. Rachel Reeves’s refusal to rule out tax hikes throws yet more uncertainty into the mix just as small business confidence was beginning to stabilise. Talk of ‘necessary choices’ and ‘everyone doing their bit sounds like code for squeezing taxpayers, including thousands of owner-managed firms already dealing with rising costs.

If the government walks back a key manifesto pledge within 18 months of taking office, it could stall hiring, investment, and growth plans across the SME sector. Small firms can’t make long-term decisions when policy is uncertain. And with cash flow already under pressure, any increase in income tax or national insurance would hit sole traders and small company directors hardest.

A ‘Budget for growth’ cannot be built on the backs of small businesses. If the Chancellor is serious about long-term stability, she needs to support productivity by investing in the SME backbone of the economy, not by taxing it into paralysis.

Risers:

Diversified Energy Company – +8.41%

Pantheon Infrastructure – +3.37%

Vietnam Enterprise Investments – +2.85%

SEGRO – +2.47%

Derwent London – +2.42%

Fallers:

Hochschild Mining – -4.46%

Ninety One – -4.15%

Anglo-Eastern Plantations – -3.76%

Metro Bank – -3.47%

Senior – -3.41%

Gumtree has partnered with Mangopay as part of its transformation into a fully transactional customer-to-customer (C2C) marketplace, moving away from its traditional model. 

With over 10 million monthly visitors and 2m active listings, the company will begin introducing wallet-first payments in selected categories before a full launch in 2026. 

The partnership allows users to pay and receive funds directly on the platform, eliminating offline transactions and improving safety and convenience for buyers and sellers. 

Mangopay’s white-label wallet system enables Gumtree to manage its payment flows and offer users instant re-spend options.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Rachel Reeves has refused to rule out tax rises in this month’s Budget.

In an unusual pre-Budget news conference in Downing Street, the Chancellor hinted that she would break a Labour election manifesto commitment not to increase income tax, VAT or national insurance.

Against the backdrop of an estimated £20-30 billion shortfall in the public finances and £2.6 trillion of national debt – 94% of GDP – Reeves said the country was in a worse state financially than they had expected after “years of [Conservative] economic mismanagement”.

Managed IT and cloud services provider Arc has appointed Mark Darrah as its new CTO, succeeding Matt Clayden after 25 years of leadership. 

Darrah brings more than 25 years of experience in the technology and managed services sector, having previously founded and led NITC, which Arc acquired in October 2024. 

As CTO, he will oversee strategic technology leadership, enhance service capabilities and integrate customer project delivery across the business.

The London-based firm’s CEO, James Clayden, praised the appointment as a key step in the company’s growth, citing his “leadership, vision and deep understanding of the MSP landscape” as instrumental to Arc’s expansion.

London-based consultancy Thistle Initiatives has appointed Scott Friedrichs as its new CEO following the addition of four new partners and CFO Alex Knight. 

The former PA Consulting Group veteran brings more than 30 years of leadership experience in consulting, having previously served as senior managing director and global head of life Sciences at North Highland Consulting. 

He was also SVP/director Americas at Chaucer/BIP Group, where he built a $10 million US consulting business.

The 70-person advisory firm, which provides consulting across regulatory compliance, financial crime and change & transformation, plans to broaden its focus beyond compliance to management consulting.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Salford-based refill-station startup H2Origin Refills is set to expand its network of smart water refill points after securing new investment from water hygiene specialist HydraClean.

The backing for the firm, which was on the GM Business Growth Hub’s first edition of its ASCEND Programme, follows earlier backing from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).

The funding will accelerate the rollout of its technology across public spaces, workplaces, universities and leisure destinations as demand for sustainable, refillable alternatives to bottled water rises.

Reading-based HR, payroll and benefits software provider Ciphr has appointed Karen Williams as its new chief revenue officer to lead commercial growth as it looks to strengthen its market position. 

Williams joins from IRIS Software Group, where she served as vice president of group operations and previously held a number of senior leadership roles over 15 years, including head of accountancy sales, interim managing director of the accountancy division and MD during the company’s first North American expansion. 

At Ciphr, she will oversee all revenue-generating functions, including new business, business development, renewals and revenue operations, working alongside CEO Sion Lewis, her former colleague at IRIS.

Homemove, a PropTech platform which aims to simplify home-moving, has acquired long-established property website Home.co.uk.

Founded in 1995, Home.co.uk is one of the UK’s original independent property search and analysis websites. 

The platform will remain free to list for estate agents, which Homemove says is a key principle in its mission to build a smarter, fairer alternative to the incumbent portals. It also says they will now benefit from enhanced listings and new revenue opportunities through Homemove’s connected services platform.

A former head of operations at Monzo has joined online casino business MrQ.

Lyndsey Edgar has been named COO at the UK firm, while Adam Ryan (ex-FinTech marketing leader) has joined as CMO, Katie Harbron (ex-Flutter, Sky Bet) as CPO and Toby Bentall (ex-Oddschecker) as CFO.

MrQ says it is ‘bringing Monzo-grade product thinking to one of the most outdated industries in consumer tech’ with the move as ‘most online casinos run on bloated third-party platforms, stitched together by committees and slowed by compliance red tape… MrQ is building everything in-house – from the product stack to the player experience’.

Founded in 2018, MrQ has scaled without venture backing or external shareholders, and been profitable from day one.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has invested more than £930,000 over the past three years to enhance its data capability in an attempt to create smarter, safer and more efficient rail and road networks. 

The regulator has spent around £460,000 on new data systems, tools and consultancy, alongside £470,000 on staffing dedicated data roles as part of a wider effort to modernise how it gathers and analyses information.

Retail-focused customer experience platform Voyado has reported a 40% year-on-year increase in its UK customer base, driven by major new retail partnerships and rising demand for AI-powered personalisation tools. 

Recent clients include Never Fully Dressed, The Edinburgh Woollen Mill, John Smedley, ThruDark, Pooky Lighting and Menkind.

The Stockholm-founded company, valued at £260 million, is expanding rapidly across Europe following investment from Viking Global Investors. 

In the UK and Ireland, it has also entered a strategic partnership with XCM as well as maintaining 25% annual growth, fuelled by strong customer retention and international expansion.

Derby-based startup Vigilant AI.ai has secured £585,000 in pre-seed funding, led by venture capital firm Haatch, alongside contributions from the East Midlands Combined County Authority and the British Business Bank. 

The company builds AI “teammates” – generative AI systems designed specifically for regulated industries, helping businesses use AI safely and compliantly.

The funding will help the business expand its engineering and go-to-market teams, finalise pilot programmes and prepare for a wider commercial rollout in 2025.

The company’s founders say their technology bridges the “GenAI trust gap” by allowing financial and regulated firms to adopt AI tools without compromising governance or compliance

Huddersfield-based SaaS firm Adventoris has been selected to develop and manage a new B2B trade ordering platform for Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I – the producer of Lucozade, Orangina and Ribena. 

The project will use the company’s SwiftCloud platform to modernise the drinks giant’s wholesale ordering system, allowing trade customers to view products, check availability and place orders 24/7 via a branded online portal.

The partnership follows a competitive selection process, with Adventoris chosen for its strong record in the food and drink industry – its clients already include PepsiCo, AG Barr and Hallgarten & Novum Wines. 

The platform, due to launch in early 2026, will streamline Suntory’s order-to-billing process and provide real-time insights for customers.

Founded in 2012, Adventoris employs around 50 people at its Huddersfield headquarters and serves more than 220 clients across the UK.