AIM-listed Huddled Group has reported FY25 unaudited revenue of around £19 million, up 47% year-on-year, with an adjusted EBITDA loss of approximately £2.5m. 

The circular economy eCommerce group said it has strengthened the product range across Discount Dragon and Nutricircle, while moving all brands to THG Fulfil to boost automation and delivery performance. 

It has also begun trialling new growth channels, including Temu, with plans to expand its marketplace presence via Amazon and OnBuy. 

The Nottingham-headquartered firm has now signed agreements with deal communities Latest Deals and HotUKDeals, after a January trial offer sold out in under 24 hours and generated £40,000 in revenue.

Its share price has returned to over 2p (2.16p as of today) this year and it has a market cap of £8.46m.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Stream, the workplace finance provider formerly known as Wagestream, has raised $90 million (£67m) in a Series D funding round as it looks to expand its offering and partner with more employers globally.

The raise brings the company’s total funding to £170m and will support the London FinTech’s push to provide workers with tools such as saving, budgeting and access to affordable credit through their workplace.

The round was led by Sofina, with continued backing from existing investors including Ascension Ventures, Balderton, Northzone, Smash Capital, LocalGlobe, Latitude, the British Business Bank and participation from Better Society Capital.

The company now has more than 75 investors, spanning major financial institutions and social impact firms, and supports over 2,000 brands and 4m workers across the UK, Europe and the US.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

An Aquis-listed FinTech business which changed its leadership team this summer has agreed a $200 million funding deal, with the provision of extending this to $1 billion – and plans to list in the United States.

Valereum Plc, which is focused on tokenised digital markets and headquartered in Gibraltar, has entered into an agreement to raise $200m of royalty and streaming capital from Valereum QGP-SP – a new company formed by Cayman Islands-based Quorium Global Photonics, an asset-backed financing firm.

In return, the company will grant Valereum QGP-SP a one-year option to purchase up to a maximum 49.9% of ordinary shares in Valereum Plc.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Drax has agreed to acquire Flexitricity, an Edinburgh-based optimiser of flexible energy assets, from energy transition investor Quinbrook in a deal valuing the business at £36 million.

The FTSE-listed group, which produces sustainable biomass, said the acquisition is expected to complete in Q1 2026, but will remain conditional on regulatory approvals and processes.

Flexitricity, founded in 2004, helps owners of flexible energy assets optimise and sell their power into wholesale, balancing and ancillary markets. 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Listed data firm 1Spatial is set to be taken private in an £87 million cash deal.

The Cambridge company is recommending an offer from VertiGIS, a London-based provider of geographic information systems, to its shareholders after the latter completed its due diligence.

The deal for 73 pence per share represents a premium of 57% to the closing price of 46.5p on the final day of trading before the announcement of the possible offer in December.

JD Sports has reported a fall in like-for-like sales.

Sales fell 1.8% in the 9 weeks to 3rd January, while they fell 2.1% in the year-to-date (the 48 weeks to 3rd January).

JD said it expects full-year profit in line with current market expectations.

Currys plc has updated its profit guidance for the year after strong trading over the peak Christmas and New Year period.

For the 10 weeks ended 10th January 2026, group revenue growth accelerated to +6%.

Group adjusted profit before tax for the year is now expected to be £180-190m, +11-17% YoY.

City of London, a specialist asset management group, has appointed Cooper Abbott as CEO and executive director with immediate effect.

Abbott served as president and chairman at Carillon Tower Advisors, which he founded and built into a $70+ billion global multi-boutique asset management company providing equity, fixed income and multi-asset class solutions to a range of institutional and retail investors.

He also served as chairman and CEO of Matthews International Capital Management.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Reach plc shares rose by more than 7% to 58.2p today after the newspaper and digital publisher said it expects to deliver full-year results ahead of current market expectations.

The company, which is headquartered in Canary Wharf, has been helped by the resilience of its print business and continued cost control.

It expects digital revenues for the year to be 1% lower than last year’s figure of £130 million, after being hit by a “material reduction” in Google referral volumes and ongoing “macroeconomic weakness”. 

Despite the pressure on online traffic, Reach highlighted strategic progress during the period, including the launch of digital subscriptions, expanded video output and growth in off-platform audiences.

It expects adjusted operating profit of £99.1m for the year – slightly below the £102.3m it stood at for FY24.

Author: Patrick Killeen

School of Coding & AI (SoC) is set to open its first Middle East campus later this year as part of its international expansion plans. 

The Wolverhampton-based education and skills provider is investing £3 million into the new operation, which will be based in Dubai Media City and is due to open in March, with the first student intake expected in May.

The Dubai campus will look to upskill around 2,000 students from the UAE and overseas through flexible programmes focused on AI, computer science and digital skills, alongside university progression pathways. 

The expansion has been backed by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), with SoC founder and chief executive Manny Athwal recently taking part in a UK-led trade mission to the UAE.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Twinkl has appointed EdTech expert Harris Goodman as its first US general manager to focus on its growth across the country. 

Goodman, who will be based in New Jersey, joins as the Sheffield firm continues to expand its US team and accelerate its plans in key states across the country.

He brings more than 15 years of experience in senior leadership roles within the education technology sector. 

Most recently, he served as senior vice president of marketing and growth at BrainPOP, where he worked across growth initiatives and helped support the company’s expansion strategy.

Founded in 2010 by husband-and-wife team Jonathan and Susie Seaton, Twinkl provides learning materials and educational services, which are all teacher-created and checked.

Author: Patrick Killeen

A London-based creator monetisation platform co-founded and led by a former FIFA YouTuber has raised $22 million (£16.4m) in a Series A round as it looks to scale its business and expand internationally.

Fanvue, which was co-founded by Joel Morris, Will Monange and Harry Fitzgerald, only launched in 2022 but has now surpassed $100m in ARR. 

Morris has been a household name in the creator industry for over a decade, growing his now mainly dormant YouTube channel, JMX, to 2.4m subscribers.

He previously created videos on popular video games including FIFA and Fortnite, and then turned to YouTube boxing before fully focusing on Fanvue. 

The funding for the business was led by Inner Circle, with backing from a group of founders and investors spanning tech, finance, sport and entertainment. 

Finova has announced a partnership with fellow London-headquartered AI firm Covecta to integrate agentic AI capabilities across its cloud-based mortgage, savings and lending software.

The collaboration will begin with new AI support agent functionality across the company’s lending and broker platforms, aimed at automating routine tasks and improving operational efficiency.

Covecta’s configurable AI agents and enterprise search tools are designed for banks, building societies and specialist lenders, supporting workflows across the front, middle and back office.

Finova said the integration forms part of its wider product roadmap to embed emerging technologies and enhance the user experience for lenders and brokers.

European FinTech provider payabl. has appointed Breno Oliveira as chief product officer to lead its product strategy.

Oliveira joined the business in 2022 and has since played a key role in launching its cloud-native core banking platform, card issuing capabilities and unified interface, payabl.one, alongside expanding payment method support.

In his new role, he will focus on scaling the platform across the UK and EU, enhancing mobile functionality and broadening the firm’s card issuing and network coverage.

It comes as the London-based business looks to strengthen its product for merchants operating across multiple markets and payment channels.

The government will invest up to £43 million for green aviation research, aimed at cutting emissions while supporting growth and airport expansion plans at Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton.

The funding will be opened to businesses, universities and researchers, with competitions launching from February, and will focus on technologies such as zero-emission aircraft, hydrogen fuels and cleaner aviation systems as part of the UK’s net zero 2050 ambition.

It could also support trials to reduce warming contrails and help the Civil Aviation Authority develop regulation needed for wider hydrogen adoption.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the investment would back UK firms, create skilled jobs and help decarbonise flying while improving air quality.

Saffery has made two senior leadership changes in its Manchester office as it looks to support its next stage of growth. 

Audit partner Diane Petit-Laurent is now head of office, succeeding Mike Hodges after more than a decade in the role. 

The firm also confirmed audit partner Simon Kite has joined the international board of Nexia, the global accounting and consulting network Saffery is part of. 

The appointments come as the company’s Manchester team has expanded significantly over the past decade, growing to more than 100 people and six partners.

THG Studios has strengthened its leadership team with the appointments of Adam Mandelstam as executive creative director and Rob Sanderson as group creative director.

Mandelstam joins with more than 20 years’ international agency experience, having held roles at firms including Ogilvy SA, TBWA Paris, M&C Saatchi and VML London, and most recently worked as global executive creative director at WPP.

Sanderson arrives from Momentum Worldwide, where he served as Experience Design Director and worked on accounts including Dyson and the Wimbledon x Amex partnership.

The Manchester firm said the hires will support its focus on insight-led creative and experiences designed to drive engagement, conversion and long-term brand loyalty.

Verde Digital, a London-based SEO agency specialising in fashion and eCommerce, has appointed Chloe Steele as SEO manager as it looks to strengthen its organic search offering.

Steele joins with more than seven years’ experience spanning SEO, App Store Optimisation and digital marketing across both agency and in-house roles.

Most recently, she worked at PrettyLittleThing, where she helped deliver a 50% year-on-year increase in non-brand clicks in the US and a 35% uplift globally, while building the brand’s ASO strategy from scratch.

In her new role, she will lead tailored SEO strategies across Verde’s client portfolio, which includes Adanola, Paul Smith, Jaded London and The Couture Club.

Author: Patrick Killeen

The British Business Bank (BBB) is set to make a £25 million investment in Kraken Technologies, marking its largest-ever direct investment.

The funding is part of a wider package aimed at helping high-growth UK companies scale up at home rather than turning overseas for backing.

The announcement was made by Business Secretary Peter Kyle during a visit to the company’s London headquarters, where he unveiled a broader set of measures designed to support the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, including regulatory reform and new funding commitments for priority sectors. 

It follows reforms to the BBB’s mandate, giving it greater flexibility to take larger, higher-risk stakes in strategically important scale-ups.

It also comes shortly after it was revealed that Kraken would demerge from Octopus Energy Group.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Listed firm Big Technologies has agreed a £38.5 million settlement with former investors, leading to a 20% jump in its share price.

Big Technologies plc – trading as Buddi – is currently suing its founder Sara Murray OBE for hundreds of millions of pounds after accusing her of forgery and deliberate falsification of documents to push through the company’s £577m IPO in 2021.

Murray was dismissed as CEO of Big Technologies in March over the accusations, and her assets have been frozen amid the subsequent and ongoing £320m High Court battle. Murray – who founded and sold comparison website Confused.com earlier in her entrepreneurial career – launched people monitoring specialist Big Technologies in 2005. It provides the Buddi electronic tagging system to the prison service, among other products.

She led a management buyout for £12.3m in 2018 and the five former shareholders in the firm brought legal action against it, claiming they had been forced to sell their holding during the MBO and were therefore denied the opportunity of cashing in from the float.

Big Technologies initially denied the accusation but, following its accusations against Murray, has now accepted it. It said late last year that the potential forgery could “materially adversely impact the position of the company in the… litigation [brought against it by the former shareholders]… [we] are unlikely to be able to successfully defend material elements of the claim”.

It has agreed to pay £31.5m immediately and a further £7m in 18 monthly instalments. Its share price jumped around 20% on the news, with its market cap topping £300m.