Bite-size news and insight from UK business and tech – including funding, deals and appointments
Published: November 13, 2025 at 7:32 am
ASOS has refinanced its loan facility into a £150m secured term loan and £87.5m delayed draw term loan with a new syndicate of private lenders, lasting until 2030.
The online fashion firm said the refinancing brings materially improved financial terms, including £87.5m additional liquidity headroom, and will cost it £5m less in annual interest.
Now entering what it calls the final phase of a multi-year turnaround, it said the improved financial terms “reflect the enhanced profitability and significant strategic progress of the company”.
Natasja Laheij, the company’s senior independent director and a former Big Tech exec, is set to succeed Jørgen Lindemann as chair with the release of the FY25 results on 21st November 2025.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 6:22 pm
Guest WiFi leader Purple has merged with Splash Access, a WiFi provider to the shared residential and education markets.
Purple, headquartered in Oldham, Greater Manchester, serves nearly 500 million users across 80,000 venues worldwide. It provides automatic, secure access to over five million hotspots through the ConneX app.
Splash Access, based in Leyland, Lancashire, has built a specialised Cisco platform which enables clients to benefit from advanced features such as multi-factor authentication and secure visitor management.
All Splash Access staff members will remain with the company in their current roles. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 3:32 pm
Rhinoflux founder and CEO Alex Mazawa wins the KPMG Global Tech Innovator for 2025.
The Japanese EnviroTech is victorious in Lisbon!
Published: November 12, 2025 at 3:30 pm
Selection Lab of The Netherlands wins the plaudits of the audience!
Published: November 12, 2025 at 3:30 pm
Akara Robotics – Niamh brings home first runner-up for Ireland!
Published: November 12, 2025 at 3:29 pm
Step Out!
Published: November 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm
There will be a People’ Choice Winner, a First Runner-Up, Second Runner-Up and the overall winner.
Conor Moore is on stage to announce the winners now.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 3:09 pm
CARPL.ai CEO Vidur Mahajan is the final entrepreneur to take to the stage.
The company which he founded is an AI platform helping doctors to integrate AI into their work to improve healthcare.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 3:06 pm
Niamh Donnelly takes to the stage to represent Ireland’s Akara Robotics.
The Trinity College spinout builds smart robots to help hospitals clean and manage spaces more efficiently.
Akara also develops software that tracks cleaning schedules and room usage, helping hospitals run more smoothly.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 3:02 pm
CEO of Traceless, Jakob Roskamp, is pitching to the audience now.
The Germany-founded firm is developing a bio-based alternative to conventional plastic that is made from agricultural waste.
’BE PART OF THE SOLUTION, NOT PART OF THE POLLUTION’ – is a standout.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 2:58 pm
The UK is being represented by Rachel Curtis’ inicio.ai and she clearly has a few fans in the crowd!
The company’s AI-powered platform – Budgie – helps users complete income and expenditure assessments.
It has 25 signed clients already and has doubled revenues.
A GP Bullhoud innovation award, investment from Morgan Stanley and the UK’s largest award for a pitching competition at £1.35 million are among the company’s accolades.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 2:54 pm
Alfredo Saenger is pitching his UAE-founded firm Electrogenos.
It develops and manufactures next-generation alkaline electrolysers for green hydrogen production.
It’s team is composed of scientists, engineers and manufacturing experts.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Balca Yilmaz, who co-founded Werover, is next to present to the audience and the judges.
The company produces and develops AI, IoT and robotic solutions for early damage detection, health monitoring, risk planning and digitalisation of renewable energy assets.
It has customers across Europe and has a subscription-based model.
It’s raised over $2 million in under two years.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 2:44 pm
Sweden’s Rebaba creates circular battery energy storage systems by repurposing used electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
Paula Runsten co-founded the firm in 2023 and is pitching on stage.
The company has helped its clients cut energy costs by 40%.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 2:42 pm
South African alternative investment platform Altify is up next.
Sean Sanders created the company in late 2023 and is on stage now.
The company is building an ‘investing and saving super app’ making it easier to manage wealth.
It has raised $6.5 million, generated $1.4 million in revenue and has over 80,000 users.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 2:37 pm
Nanopalm, a DeepTech from Saudi Arabia, is up next.
Founder and CEO Ali AlHasan is explaining how the company develops and manufactures nanoparticles for gene therapy.
It’s focused on treating genetic diseases like sickle cell disease.
The company has already raised $2.1 million.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 2:33 pm
This offering from the Philippines is a business intelligence platform using AI to help to improve employee experience and predict employee turnover.
In 2024, it saved its 17 clients over $70 million.
Bo Discarga is representing the company on the stage now.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 2:29 pm
Selection Lab is the company representing The Netherlands.
Co-founder Lotte Welten is on stage pitching the company which provides an AI-powered assessment platform.
This helps businesses to better evaluate job applications.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 2:26 pm
Lots of EnviroTechs in the running here – Cristobal Fonseca is now pitching Mexican-based microendo.
It’s already grown to nearly $2 million in revenue in three years and operates in Colombia, Mexico and the US.
Published: November 12, 2025 at 2:23 pm
Rhinoflux founder and CEO Alex Mazawa brings his EnviroTech to the stage.
The firm’s proprietary liquid-based process uses a hydrochemical looping method to capture and store CO2 from sources like biomass, creating a carbon-negative energy source.
These plants, like the ‘Rhino House’, are designed for decentralised, efficient power generation and can be installed in various spaces.
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