The Culture Secretary has formally intervened in Sky’s takeover of ITV and tasked two regulators with scrutinising the deal.

Lisa Nandy recently said she had a number of potential public interest concerns after Comcast, the American owner of Sky, agreed a £1.6 billion deal in July to acquire the broadcast arm of ITV.

The deal, which includes ITV’s free-to-air channels and on-demand streaming service ITVX, would create the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster.

Nandy has now issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice after considering representations from both Sky and ITV. 

YFM Equity Partners has strengthened its investment team in the North with the appointment of two investment directors on either side of the Pennines.

Oliver McRae recently joined the firm’s Leeds office from Traditum Private Equity, while James Warburton joined its Manchester office from Gresham House in the summer.

Both bring more than 15 years of experience in private equity, corporate development and advisory roles.

They will work with advisers, founders and management teams to back ambitious businesses across Yorkshire, the North West and the wider North.

Neil Inskip, partner and head of new investments in the North at YFM Equity Partners, said: “The North continues to be one of the most exciting regions in the UK for investment. We are seeing a strong pipeline of ambitious, high-quality businesses.”

Author: Chris Maguire

Triple amputee, record-breaking adventurer and military veteran Andy Reid MBE has been appointed ambassador for Hilary Meredith Solicitors in Alderley Edge.

Reid’s life changed forever on 13 October 2009 while serving as a corporal with the 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

He stepped on a Taliban improvised explosive device and lost his right leg below the knee, his left leg above the knee and his right arm.

Reid has gone on to become one of Britain’s most inspirational veterans, undertaking gruelling endurance challenges, raising funds for military charities and sharing his experiences with audiences across the country.

His voluntary service to veterans and people with disabilities was recognised with an MBE in 2019.

In 2020, he co-founded the Standing Tall Foundation, a charity supporting veterans and vulnerable people facing some of life’s toughest challenges.

Hilary Meredith-Beckham, founder and CEO of Hilary Meredith Solicitors, said: “What happened to Andy in Afghanistan would have been enough to break the spirit of many people. But his story is not defined by what he lost that day. It is defined by everything he has achieved since.

“Andy embodies everything we stand for – courage, compassion and an absolute refusal to give up.”

Bruntwood has appointed Nuno Miller as its first chief technology officer.

The property giant says this marks a significant step forward in its ambition to make digital, data and technology a strategic differentiator for the business.

Miller will report directly to CEO Chris Oglesby, and work closely with the executive team to shape business strategy and lead the next stage of Bruntwood’s digital transformation. 

 

Supa, an AI-native platform in UK apartment block management, has raised £21 million in seed funding. 

The round includes equity funding co-led by 2150 and OpenOcean, with KOMPAS VC, Actia Capital Partners, and HEARTFELT, and a debt facility from a major UK lender. 

Supa is rebuilding block management by acquiring established local block management firms, keeping their identity, and rebuilding their operational layer with Supa’s proprietary AI operating technology infrastructure. 

 

My Property Box, a specialist residential lettings and sales group, has secured follow-on investment from BGF to support the next stage of its expansion.

Founded by Ben Quaintrell in 2012, My Property Box provides lettings, property management and estate agency services across the North of England.

The funding follows BGF’s initial investment in 2024. Since then, My Property Box has completed eight acquisitions, taking the total completed to 18, and has expanded beyond its existing offices in Darlington and Newcastle, establishing a presence in North Yorkshire and Cumbria.

 

A FinTech company serving banks and specialist lenders has secured £1.5 million in funding.

Manchester-based Crediflow AI automates the manual work that goes into preparing and assessing business loans, which limits how many deals lenders can take on and makes smaller loans to SMEs expensive to underwrite.

The company has developed a platform that pulls together the information credit teams currently gather and process by hand, such as financial statements, bank transactions and borrower documents, and turns it into structured credit analysis.

 

FinTech giant Revolut has announced the close of its latest fundraising process, establishing a new company valuation of $115 billion (£85bn).

Just a year ago, an employee share sale valued Revolut at $75bn.

The transaction was led by Glade Brook Capital Partners, Coatue, Durable Capital Partners, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and Baillie Gifford – with participation from both long-standing partners and new global investors.

The London-headquartered firm, which has 80 million retail customers around the world, recently announced that it had secured its 34th banking licence in New Zealand.

 

Three West Midlands startups are among five from the UK who have won patents to develop technologies for global corporations.

The five winners of IPHatch UK 2026 have secured eight patents originating from Panasonic, Nokia, NEC and DENSO – giving them access to innovations that would ordinarily be far beyond the reach of young businesses. 

The fourth annual UK competition saw 21 startups shortlisted for the final pitch day at City of Glasgow College.

 

bit.bio has secured $25 million (£19m) in Series D funding as demand for its human cell models reaches record levels.

The Cambridge BioTech is aiming to become the world’s leading supplier of human cells for life sciences research.

It said paid vial volumes have increased 76% in 2026.  Orders are up 34% and active customers up 40% in the year to date, it added, including 63% growth in academic customers. 

 

A £1m AI-powered HR platform designed to help employers avoid costly mistakes has attracted more than 1,000 registered users in its first month.

Developed over three years by HR strategist and employment law specialist Jude Fiddler, Adam HR is designed to challenge potentially flawed HR decisions before organisations put them into practice.

Fiddler, who founded outsourced HR consultancy Direct Law & Personnel (DLP) more than 25 years ago, subsequently established HR AI Pro and assembled a seven-strong team to develop Adam, investing £1m to bring it to market.

Adam – short for Advanced Decision and Risk Manager – underwent 18 months of testing and refinement in the lead-up to its launch at the start of October.

It has already attracted registrations from HR professionals working in large organisations, national chains, SMEs and the public sector, spanning industries including hospitality, manufacturing, retail and healthcare.

1nhaler, a Scotland-based drug delivery device developer, has secured £2.2 million in follow-on funding to progress its novel pop-up cardboard inhaler towards first regulatory approval.

The funding round was led by Archangels with support from Scottish Enterprise and BBB Investments.

The investment will facilitate late-stage development of 1nhaler’s lead product, 1nhaler Salbutamol, which combines the novel device with salbutamol, a well-established asthma medicine.  The funding will complete the technical transfer of this product into contract manufacturing for the production of clinical trial material and progress a small clinical trial to support regulatory filing which is targeted for late 2027.

 

An agentic AI platform for managed service providers (MSPs) has been launched in Leeds by the founders of Vapour and CloudWize.

Levelled, pitched as ‘the revenue engine for MSPs’, is designed to take on the repetitive work that erodes their margins.

It automates the full Microsoft cloud solution provider (CSP) licensing lifecycle in one closed loop, from uncovering opportunities, to quoting, procuring, provisioning, billing and reconciliation. 

 

A startup using AI to make websites and apps more accessible to people with visual impairments and neurodivergent conditions has secured a £300,000 boost for its next stage of development.

BrowsAble has received backing through Innovate UK’s investor partnerships programme, which brings together grant funding and private investment to accelerate the development of pioneering UK businesses.

A £150,000 grant from Innovate UK is being matched by investment from Manchester-headquartered EHE Group through its AI Growth Fund, with support from EHE Venture Studio. EHE Group is an Innovate UK investor partner.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Allergy Therapeutics plc is looking to de-list in London – and then intends to join the public markets in Hong Kong.

The West Sussex-based MedTech, led by CEO Manuel Llobet, has maintained a London listing since 2004 but its board has complained of costs amid a 71% drop in its share price this year.

The firm, which develops allergy vaccines and immunotherapy treatments, will need 75% of its shareholder base to vote through a cancellation of its shares on the junior AIM market at its annual general meeting before it re-registers as a private company.

Revolut has secured a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand – making it the country’s first digital bank.

The UK-headquartered global powerhouse has committed to invest NZ$120 million (£50m) into its local operations over the next five years.

Revolut, which has more than 80m customers worldwide, is now operating as a licensed bank in 34 markets, including the UK, Europe and Australia.

 

Tesco is considering a bid to buy up to 150 stores from the owners of stricken discount retailer Poundland.

Poundland filed a notice to appoint administrators on Thursday, which gave it 10 days of breathing space with creditors to explore a rescue deal.

According to Press Association sources, Tesco – the UK’s largest supermarket – held talks over the potential acquisition of a quarter of Poundland’s 600 UK and Ireland stores.

 

Travel Counsellors, one of the UK’s largest and fastest-growing travel companies, has celebrated receiving the King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation at a special presentation ceremony held at its office in Manchester.

Mrs Diane Hawkins JP LLB, His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, formally presented the award.

The presentation follows Travel Counsellors being named a recipient of the King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation earlier this year, marking the fourth time the company has received one of the UK’s most prestigious business honours and the second time it has been recognised for Innovation. The company previously received the Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2003 and awards for International Trade in 2014 and 2020.

The Oxford Road Corridor has launched a new 10-year strategy, setting out the next phase of growth and development for Manchester’s Knowledge Quarter.

Covering one square mile south of Manchester city centre, the Oxford Road Corridor is one of the UK’s most significant concentrations of research and innovation. It supports more than 104,000 jobs and generates £7.8 billion in annual economic output.

The Oxford Road Corridor Strategy 2026–2036 builds on decades of collaboration between the major institutions that shape this part of Manchester. Over almost two decades of formal partnership, more than £2.8 billion of public and private investment has been aligned across the area. During that period, more than 60,000 jobs have been created and annual economic output has increased by £4.6 billion.

Future growth will build on established strengths in health and life sciences, digital and technology, advanced materials and the creative industries.

SETsquared has announced the 21 DeepTech spinouts and startups that will pitch at Investment Futures 2026 on 24th November in central London.

The line-up spans core growth sectors including advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defence, life sciences, and digital technologies, identified in the UK’s Industrial Strategy as having the greatest growth potential over the next decade. Each company is actively raising between £250k and £5m.

Featured companies include Attomarker Ltd, a Bristol-based life sciences spin-out developing biomarker-based diagnostics for earlier, more accurate diagnosis of conditions including Long Covid, Lyme disease and Type 1 diabetes; DATAMBIT, an AI-powered defence company whose NATO-validated infrastructure detects and verifies synthetic audio and video in real time and Sorair Technologies, a Surrey-based autonomous security firm whose drone automation platform lets industrial, commercial and government organisations build their own autonomous security and site safety workforce.

The 21 ventures were selected from a pool of 57 applications through a competitive process run with external investors.