Nottingham-based Vision Zero Connect has secured six-figure backing from the British Business Bank’s Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, via Maven Capital Partners.

The SaaS firm has developed the ESG Navigate and Portfolio One platforms for property-sector reporting and energy performance.

It will use the funding to accelerate product development, roll out a major national contract and create new jobs.

Manchester’s EHE Ventures has invested more than £1.1m across seven AI-first startups through its new (S)EIS AI Growth Fund.

The fund, which aims to back up to £15m in early-stage UK companies over the next three years, combines capital with in-house technical and operational support.

The portfolio includes SUBJCT, Scooch, Fotenix, Spotlight Pathology, Good With, Peppercorn AI, and NeuWave Technologies.

More to follow

Applications have opened for the Civil Service AI and Data Challenge, which invites ideas from civil servants on how to use tech to improve public services, from tackling benefit fraud to reducing NHS waiting times.

Previous winners include a project using AI and aerial images to map peatlands, technology now deployed across England.

Technology Minister Ian Murray said the initiative will “use tech to fix our broken public services as rapidly as possible” as part of the government’s Plan for Change.

Entries close on the 5th November, with the winning project set to receive £50,000 in funding and technical support.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Microsoft is to invest £22 billion into the UK to ‘power the AI future’.

Brad Smith, vice chair & president of fellow tech giant Microsoft, said the investment will be made during the four years from 2025-2028 and marks the largest financial commitment it has made in the UK. 

It includes $15bn in capital expenditures to build out the UK’s cloud and AI infrastructure, which will enable Microsoft to build the country’s largest supercomputer — with more than 23,000 NVIDIA GPUs — in partnership with Nscale.

The capital investment will also expand its data centre footprint to meet growing AI demand and adoption from its customers across every sector in the UK – including Barclays, the NHS, the London Stock Exchange Group, the Premier League, Vodafone, UK Met Office, Unilever and Wayve.

The other half of the investment will support its ongoing operations across the UK, including its workforce of 6,000 employees, located in multiple sites and cities. 

Salesforce is extending its planned investment in the UK from $4bn to $6bn by 2030.

Salesforce UK will also become the CRM firm’s AI hub for UK and Europe, with new R&D teams created to support business innovation across the region. It has already established an AI centre in London.

It is also to launch a £1 million Salesforce Accelerator to back AI innovation for non-profits in the UK.

“We are doubling down on our long-standing commitment to the UK with this significant investment,” said Marc Benioff, chair and CEO, Salesforce. “We’re delighted that the UK, already a vital talent and innovation centre, will become our AI hub for Europe, driving product innovation for customers across the region.”

Listed gifting firm Moonpig says trading has been positive at the start of its financial year ahead of its annual general meeting today.

It says trading momentum has continued from May onwards, in line with expectations, and that it remains on track to deliver its FY26 guidance.

Moonpig (its UK brand) continues to deliver consistent revenue growth at approximately 10% year on year. Greetz (its Dutch brand) trading has improved sequentially, with revenue now showing modest year-on-year growth.

Investor IP Group plc posted a positive outlook for the first six months of 2025, highlighting the IPO of portfolio company Hinge Health in New York and similarly strong performance of Oxford Nanopore, which beat guidance with £105.6m revenues in H1 and lower EBITDA losses.

IP Group, which invests in breakthrough science and innovation companies, said £372m total capital was raised by its portfolio (HY24: £380m) while it invested £36m across 21 companies. It saw total cash proceeds from exits of £30.3m, exceeding HY24 proceeds by 9x.

It remains confident of its target to deliver over £250m of exits between 2025 and 2027.

Eden Research plc has announced its interim results for the six months ended 30th June 2025.

Revenue for the period was £1.2m, down from £1.9m in the prior year. Operating loss was £1.7m (H1 2024: £1.3m).

Eden, based in Oxfordshire, develops and supplies biopesticide products and natural microencapsulation technologies to the global crop protection, animal health and consumer products industries.

Its chair Lykele van der Broek remains confident of the outlook, with wins in the period including the award of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership grant by Innovate UK and formation of a strategic partnership with Royal Holloway to expand the development of its flagship seed treatment product to include new cereal and vegetable seeds.

The CFO of professional services group Gateley is to step down from the position.

Neil Smith, who has been with Gateley for 17 years and served as CFO since its IPO in 2015, will also leave the company’s board on 30th April 2026. He will remain with Gateley to focus on a range of projects supporting the group’s growth strategy.

John Paton will succeed him. He was most recently CFO at Alpha Financial Markets Consulting between 2018 and 2025. Prior to that, he spent 11 years at HSBC Bank plc, where he held various roles, including as a director in each of the bank’s Corporate Capital Origination and UK Mid-Market M&A Advisory teams. He also spent seven years at KPMG in various roles including audit, corporate finance advisory and risk management consulting.

itim Group plc, a SaaS based technology company that enables store-based retailers to optimise their businesses to improve financial performance, has appointed Christopher Hedley Brook-Carter as a non-executive director.

He has over two decades of leadership experience across media, retail intelligence and social impact organisations. As MD and SVP of Retail Week and the World Retail Congress (2012-2020), he transformed these legacy brands into digital-first platforms. Since 2020, as CEO of the Retail Trust, he has led the modernisation of a 193-year-old charity, championing the wellbeing of over 600,000 retail workers across the UK.

TruFin plc has appointed Sean Brennan as an independent non-executive director of the company with immediate effect.

The group comprises three businesses focused on early payment provision (Oxygen), invoice finance (Satago) and mobile games publishing (Playstack).

Brennan has been in the video games industry for over 35 years, most recently as CEO of Focus Entertainment. Prior to this, he was MD of ZeniMax Europe (Bethesda Softworks), responsible for the international publishing business and management of all the international offices. ZeniMax Media Inc was acquired by Microsoft for $7.5bn in 2020. He has also held senior positions at Virgin Interactive Entertainment, Mirrorsoft and Telecomsoft.

Paul Dentskevich, independent non-executive director, has chosen to step down from the board with effect from today.

TruFin also reported a 42% increase in gross revenue for the first six months of the year to £36.0m. Satago’s performance declined year-on-year but the other two arms of the business grew impressively.

Bolton-based EdTech Near-Life has created intelligent virtual characters in an attempt to make digital learning more engaging and memorable.

The innovation, backed by GM Business Growth Hub, is expected to double the company’s customer base and increase turnover by 84% to £350,000 in the next financial year.

Global FinTech firm Paysend has appointed its former president Ben Chisell as its new CEO.

Chisell, who joined the company in 2021, will work alongside co-founders Abdul Abdulkerimov, who serves as executive chairman, and Ronnie Millar.

Before joining the London-based firm, he was vice president of product at OakNorth, following a near-three-year stint as product director at Starling Bank.

Mayor Andy Burnham has welcomed digital bank Zopa’s plans to create 500 jobs in Manchester, calling the move a “massive vote of confidence” in the city’s digital and tech sector.

The FinTech will scale its Dalton Place office from 50 to over 500 staff, with roles in product, engineering and retail finance.

Burnham said the expansion underlines Greater Manchester’s status as one of the UK’s fastest-growing digital hubs and a rising force in FinTech.

It comes as Zopa anticipates significant growth for its upcoming financial year, having tripled its profitability compared to the same period last year.

Author: Ben Bilsland, head of technology industry at RSM UK

“This latest investment in UK AI will no doubt come as a vote of confidence in the United Kingdom. AI is a key component of the present and future of our tech industry, where UK is well positioned as a global player given our strong ecosystem of successful, high growth technology companies.

“The latest data points to the number of new UK tech companies being incorporated reached a record high in Q2 2025, showing the industry is well placed to ride out the wave of ongoing economic uncertainty.

“The often cited headline is that AI is extremely powerful and has the potential to unlock massive economic growth in the UK. However, while the impacts we are seeing today around automation and efficiencies are important, they are unlikely to be the turnkey to once in a generation economic growth and change.

“As a country and as business leaders, we will need to ensure our focus moves away from efficiencies being the be-all and end-all, and instead focus on innovation, new markets and products that emerge in a world where AI technologies can be used with deep and lasting impacts.

“Our government will have a crucial role in establishing the regulation and regulatory environment that balances innovation against protecting the safety of users.

“It is the deeper investments outside physical infrastructure that will have a lasting impact and unlock the UK’s potential.

“Large corporate inbound investment and global venture funding will have a crucial role in backing the groundbreaking, innovative research projects that lead to the next phase of companies.

“Funding for facilities and education programmes in key tech skills will upskill our workforce of the future.”

Specialist global healthcare investor GHO Capital has agreed to acquire Scientist.com, the AI-powered R&D platform used by MedTechs and pharma companies to manage outsourced research.

The deal will see Scientist.com, which is headquartered in San Diego, tap into the London firm’s global reach and sector expertise to accelerate growth through partnerships and acquisitions.

GHO said the move strengthens its portfolio of healthcare and life sciences companies driving efficiency and innovation.

Aaron Tanner has joined AI analytics platform ASK BOSCO and parent company Modo25 as vice president of sales.

Tanner, who previously led EMEA sales at BlueOptima, joins following a £4.1m VC investment aimed at scaling the platform’s AI-driven reporting and forecasting tools.

His appointment comes as the Leeds-based company plans to accelerate growth and expand its global reach.

Implement AI, a startup co-founded by former BBC Dragon Piers Linney, has raised £1.3 millon in an oversubscribed seed funding round led by prominent angel investor Nigel Wray.

Fresh from winning AI Start-Up of the Year at the UK Startup Awards London 2025, the company will use the funds to scale its AI operating system, grow its AI-augmented team and expand its reseller channel.

The London-headquartered firm deploys digital workers to help businesses boost revenue, cut costs and gain a competitive edge.

London-based startup m3ter has struck a new partnership with PwC UK to help businesses modernise billing and protect revenue.

The deal combines the firm’s pricing platform with the global professional services company’s expertise in governance and risk management.

Oxford Quantum Circuits has launched the first quantum computer in a New York City data centre, working with Digital Realty and NVIDIA.

The facility, based in Manhattan’s Chelsea district, is being billed as the world’s first to combine quantum and AI infrastructure, supporting industries such as finance and security.

Science Minister Patrick Vallance said the move highlights UK tech leadership and strengthens ties with the US.