Author: Chris Maguire

Last year, Gokce Güven’s face graced the front cover of Forbes after being included in the 30 Under 30 cohort for 2025.

The founder and CEO of Kalder, a New York-based technology startup focused on business loyalty and rewards programs, was included in the advertising and marketing category.

“So excited to share – I’m on the COVER of Forbes 30 Under 30,” she gushed.  “This is just the beginning.”

Fast forward 12 months and Güven is back on the front page – but this time the news is less celebratory.

That’s because the young entrepreneur has been charged by US authorities with securities fraud, wire fraud, visa fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

The charges arise from an alleged scheme by the defendant to defraud investors in her technology startup Kalder out of $7m by misrepresenting Kalder’s financial performance.

The US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York also accused Güven, who is a citizen of Turkey, of forging documents to obtain an O-1A visa, reserved for individuals of ‘extraordinary ability’, that would allow her to live and work in the US.

If found guilty, Güven could be jailed for up to 52 years.

The news spread like wildfire on social media, with many commentators referring to the ‘curse’ of Forbes 30 Under 30.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The share price of SkinBioTherapeutics plc has crashed after its former CEO was accused of misrepresenting results by the company’s board.

Stuart Ashman, who joined in 2024, was briefly suspended by the listed Newcastle firm last week and he resigned soon afterwards.

SkinBioTherapeutics said on Friday that it was investigating Ashman over ‘matters relating to his conduct’.

This morning it said new information had given the board ‘reason to believe that the former CEO has misrepresented material information to the board and senior management, the company’s auditors and advisors’. 

Specifically, he is accused of inflating accrued royalty income recorded in the audited accounts for the year ended 30th June 2025.

This amounted to £770,000 and is now expected to be removed from the FY25 accounts, subject to confirmation by auditors, when they are restated.

47% has been wiped off its share price today, leaving it 67% down over the last five days.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Rosebank Industries plc is eyeing a £3 billion double swoop.

The Jersey-headquartered firm is listed in London and was established by former senior management at Melrose, with former chief executive Simon Peckham serving as CEO.

Rosebank, which made its first acquisition last summer in Electrical Components International, says it operates a proven model of ‘buy, improve, sell’.

This was also a tagline at Melrose, a Birmingham-based turnaround company which bought out, operated and – in some cases – sold engineering companies.

Peckham and three Melrose colleagues – including Chris Miller, now senior independent director at Rosebank – were criticised in 2018 after each of them were paid more than £40m in bonuses as part of a £8bn swoop for Redditch-based engineering giant GKN.

Rosebank is now eyeing two of American Securities’ portfolio companies: processing equipment supplier CPM, which supports the food and renewable energy sectors; and precision component engineer MW Industries.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Shares in Pinewood Technologies Group PLC have dropped 33% today after a £575 million private equity takeover fell through on Friday.

US-based Apax Partners said it would not progress with a prospective offer of 500 pence per share for the Birmingham-headquartered tech provider to car dealerships.

Apax blamed ‘prevailing challenging market conditions’ as software valuations fall around the world against a backdrop of advancing AI tools which more easily allow companies to develop their own tools.

AMPLY Discovery, an AI-driven drug discovery company, has raised strategic investment from Keeps Biomed, a subsidiary of South Korean company Keeps Biopharma.

The companies have also agreed to explore future collaboration opportunities in oncology, while Dr Oliver Rausch has been appointed chief scientific officer.

Dr Rausch joins from Storm Therapeutics.

The board of EDX Medical Group plc has approved the issue of new ordinary shares, raising £3,500,000 for the company.

Existing high net worth shareholders have subscribed to the fundraising, it said.

EDX, listed on the AQSE index, develops innovative digital diagnostic products and services supporting personalised treatments for cancer, cardiovascular and infectious diseases.

Cambridge Cognition Holdings plc, a neuroscience technology company specialising in digital cognitive assessments, has signed an agreement to expand in India.

The deal is with Ivory, a venture-backed brain health company headquartered in India, for the commercialisation of CANTAB Pathway across the healthcare and consumer health markets in the country.

Of India’s population of approximately 1.47 billion, estimates indicate that 138 million people are aged over 60, and as many as 34 million may be living with mild or major cognitive impairment.

Built For Athletes, a backpack brand targeting the fitness sector, has secured a £1.025 million funding package from NatWest.

The facility, comprising a £525,000 trade loan and £500,000 invoice finance, will enable the Warrington business to accelerate its global growth strategy, invest in new product development and further advance its sustainability initiatives.

Founded in 2018 by brothers Daniel and Nicholas Costello – both of whom have backgrounds in fitness, finance and marketing – Built For Athletes designs and manufactures backpacks tailored to the needs of dedicated fitness enthusiasts.

It has partnerships with global brands such as Alpine F1, Williams F1, Red Bull F1, Borussia Dortmund FC and Hyrox.

Definely, an AI-powered LegalTech company that allows lawyers to efficiently and accurately review complex contracts, has appointed John Connolly as chief product officer.

Connolly joins Definely with over 20 years of product experience, most recently as director of product management at Meta, where he led the account integrity (trust & safety) team, covering all Facebook, Instagram and Advertiser accounts globally.

Prior to Meta, he served as CPO for multiple VC- and PE-backed scale-ups, raising over $100 million in funding and driving growth. –

Scottish firm Willo has appointed a recruitment technology veteran as its VP of partnerships to kick off a ‘pivotal year’.

The Glasgow-founded HR tech scaleup said Jim Berrisford will target global partnerships. The firm recently secured £3 million investment from Mimecast founder Peter Bauer.

Willo, which provides video-led candidate screening and verification tools available to employers in all 195 countries, has reported 64-fold revenue growth since launch and counts brands including easyJet, Toyota, Samsung, DPD Group and the NHS among its customers.

The business has also moved into new UK offices in Glasgow and Manchester.

Berrisford, who has worked most recently as a consultant, brings more than two decades’ experience across the talent market, having worked in agency recruitment, in-house talent acquisition and, for the past several years, senior commercial and partnerships roles on the vendor side with firms including Vonq, Reezomo, and a business ambassador for a UK Autism charity.

Virtual worlds tech firm Improbable, the a16z & Softbank-backed venture builder, has appointed Irina Scarlat, formerly of Uber, Revolut and Bitpanda, as chief marketing officer.

The firm says her expertise in hyper-growth will be central as Improbable sharpens its focus on building and scaling companies at the intersection of AI and Web3.

Improbable is preparing to launch the first ventures built on Somnia, its high performance Layer 1 blockchain, which reached a peak valuation of $1.9 billion following mainnet launch last year.

Penny, an AI-driven digital procurement and source-to-pay AI technology company, is expanding its global footprint with the opening of a new office in the UK.

Founded in 2020, the Saudi firm now serves enterprises across more than 75 countries. Its new base is in Derby.

The platform digitises and optimises the full procurement lifecycle, from purchase requisitions, sourcing, approvals and purchase orders to invoicing, payments and advanced spend analytics.

Sister, Manchester’s £1.7bn innovation district, and Platform94, Galway’s largest innovation hub, have officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to give customers international access to working spaces, enabling Manchester and Galway based startup businesses to expand overseas.

The 12-month partnership is designed to benefit both hubs by offering reciprocal access to workplaces, encouraging collaboration and enhancing international links between the West of Ireland and Greater Manchester.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

American investment giant Carlyle has injected £150m into debt-laden Liverpool eCommerce group Very, according to reports.

Carlyle is seeking a buyer for Very, which sells a wide range of goods online and offers ‘buy now pay later’ terms to potential customers.

Carlyle, which was previously Very’s main corporate lender, took control of the firm in November 2025 from the Barclay family.

The Telegraph reports that the investor has pumped cash into Very and also converted some of its debt into equity, easing financial pressure on a firm which posted £500m losses. The total support package is said to be worth £150m.

Barclays and JPMorgan have been tasked with selling the business, with an estimated price tag of £2bn.

Abu Dhabi media vehicle International Media Investments is also a shareholder in Very.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Medpal AI plc has acquired the assets of Universal Pharmacy out of administration.

The deal, for a total sum of £45,000, sees it enter the online pharmacy market and triple its robotic warehouse footprint.

Medpal, listed in London and Frankfurt, is an AI-powered healthcare services group which had sought approval from NHS England of its pharmacy licence application – confirming fitness to practice and change of ownership in respect of the NHS pharmacy contract previously held by Universal Pharmacy.

Katy Leeson, former MD at Social Chain, and her business partner, Kate Brown, have decided to close Blank Space Content Studio, in Manchester.

Located on Portland Street, the pair opened the facility last year to offer a flexible, modern home for content creation and brand events.

The purpose-built venue featured five versatile content zones, including a TikTok Live suite and podcast studio but it will close its doors this week.

Leeson, a former MD of Social Chain who now works as a creative strategist and speaker, said: “This studio has been one of the biggest learning curves of my life, and I’m so proud of everything we built, the incredible community, the clients who believed in us, the creative work we brought to life.

“The truth is, the studio evolved into something different than we’d envisioned, more community-led, which was wonderful but pulled us away from our core purpose.

“Rather than compromise on the care, consistency and service we’re committed to, we’re choosing to channel that energy into our individual businesses instead.

“A huge thank you to Bruntwood SciTech, who have been an incredible partner over this journey.

“To everyone who supported us, whether you booked with us, spread the word, or just cheered us on, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You made this worthwhile.”

Brown also too took to LinkedIn to explain they’d decided to close Blank Spare Content Studios ‘after a lot of thought’.

The experienced brand marketer and content strategist wrote: “Blank Space began as an idea for a content studio. Very quickly, it grew into something much bigger – a community-led space filled with shoots, launches, events, conversations and connection.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The former CEO of SkinBioTherapeutics plc has been accused of misrepresenting results by the company’s board.

Stuart Ashman, who joined in 2024, was briefly suspended by the listed Newcastle firm last week and he resigned soon afterwards.

SkinBioTherapeutics said on Friday that it was investigating Ashman over ‘matters relating to his conduct’.

Now it says new information has given the board ‘reason to believe that the former CEO has misrepresented material information to the board and senior management, the company’s auditors and advisors’. 

Author: Chris Maguire

The number of UK FinTech unicorns has now hit 46.

The research, which has been carried out by valuation data platform Multiples, includes neobanks, payments infra, insurance, wealth management, lending, and crypto.

The majority of UK FinTech unicorns are still private.

Only a handful are public (like Wise or Admiral), and several have already been acquired (e.g. Preqin or esure).

The list is broken down into valuation; revenue multiple; and ownership.

Revolut top the list after being valued at $75bn in November, 2025.

Another company to make the list is Cleo, which was founded by Barney Hussey-Yeo to change the way customers manage their money through its AI-powered technology.

Author: Chris Maguire

Tanmay Hingorani was the fourth candidate to be fired by Lord Sugar in The Apprentice after a disastrous negotiation with a corporate client.

The AI product consultant at Capgemini Invent found himself in the losing team during a chicken and egg-themed challenge.

The latest instalment saw teams tasked with creating dishes from either 25kg of chicken or egg, serving both the public and crafting bespoke canapés for corporate buyers.

Hingorani found himself in Lord Sugar’s boardroom alongside team leader Carrington Saunders and Megan Ruiter.

He joins Georgina Newton; Nikki Jetha; and Marcus Donkoh in leaving series 20 of the BBC show.

There are now 16 candidates vying for Lord Sugar’s £250k investment and mentorship.

 

Revolut has become the official back of shirt sponsor for Manchester City Football Club’s men’s and women’s first team.

London-based Revolut is Europe’s most valuable FinTech and private tech firm, reaching a $75bn valuation in November 2025.

A spokesman said: “Revolut and City are built on a shared DNA: high performance, infinite ambition, and a desire to innovate where others haven’t. That’s why expanding this partnership makes perfect sense.

“But for us, sponsorship isn’t just visibility — it’s a way to create a better fan experience, which will include:

• 4 new co-branded virtual cards, now available in the UK & EEA.
• Hospitality, VIP experiences, and exclusive discounts for our customers.
• Future implementation of Revolut Pay, Revolut’s secure checkout tool, allowing fans and customers to earn more RevPoints¹ as they spend.

“Proud to rep the Sky Blues.”

Revolut now has over 65 million customers worldwide.