Author: Jonathan Symcox

Members of the executive team at River Capital are set to leave the investment firm as the Merseyside Special Investment Fund refocuses on debt funding provision.

Three roles are understood to be at risk at River Capital, the fund manager for MSIF, a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1994 and described as a cornerstone of the small business finance ecosystem in the Liverpool City Region.

Louise Towers was recently appointed as group CEO at MSIF, which backs initiatives including River Capital, Gateway Angels and the Liverpool City Region Finance Hub.

Announcing a new strategy to help more small companies grow and create jobs across the region, MSIF said it is to expand its SME debt funding provision while opening the management of its next private equity fund – expected to be launched in the first half of 2027 – to an external tender process rather than running it in-house.

This transition will result in a ‘small number’ of River Capital’s executive team leaving the organisation.

BusinessCloud understands negotiations with the individuals in question are ‘ongoing’.

A statement said: “MSIF acknowledges their valuable contribution and wishes them well in the next stage of their careers.”

The British Business Bank has announced a cornerstone commitment of £40m to FPE Capital’s Fund IV, to support high growth smaller businesses across the UK. 

The Bank previously committed £20m to FPE’s Fund II in 2017 and this latest commitment to Fund IV forms part of a first close which surpasses the total size of the predecessor fund.

This latest commitment is made under the Bank’s growth equity strategy. This expanded mandate enables the Bank to invest in lower-mid-market private equity funds backing smaller businesses that are aligned with the Government’s eight growth-driving Industrial Strategy sectors. 

Global WiFi software company Purple has opened its new office at Annie Kenney Mill in Chadderton, Oldham, as the business cements its UK base ahead of an ambitious international growth programme. 

The opening marks the next phase of a strategy that has already seen Purple – a star of our MarTech 50 ranking – grow into a business operating across 80,000 venues in multiple countries, achieve recognition as a Visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services and post over £1m in profit. 

The choice of location is significant for Purple; Annie Kenney, after whom the mill is named, was an Oldham-born suffragette and one of the few working-class women at the heart of the movement. 

The building’s environmental credentials were an important part of the initial search – an EPC rating of A, photovoltaic solar panels and electric vehicle charging points also sit well with how Purple operates as a certified B Corp.

Having established a city-wide WiFi model with Newcastle City Council, the first deployment of its kind combining seamless public connectivity with real-time analytics across an entire city, Purple is now pursuing similar partnerships with cities across the UK and internationally. 

The target is for 60% of revenue to be generated outside the UK within the next three years. 

Optalysys, a Leeds-based photonic computing company using silicon photonics to redefine high‑performance computing, has appointed Chris Walker as CEO.

Walker will lead the company’s next phase of commercial growth and international expansion. Co-founder and current CEO Dr Nick New will transition to the role of chief product officer, where he will continue to play a pivotal role in developing Optalysys’ photonics technology and building the US team. 

Walker brings over three decades of semiconductor, AI and investment experience. The majority of his career was spent at Intel, culminating in his role as corporate vice president and general manager of the Mobile Client Platforms Group. 

While Walker will be based in Santa Clara, Optalysys will continue to grow its established sites in Leeds and Bristol. 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The open banking infrastructure of Ordo has been snapped up by a division of The Access Group after it was closed down by its parent company last year.

Ordo was acquired by Nordic company Neonomics in January 2025 but by the autumn it had ceased trading. The London firm was founded by the former management team of the UK Faster Payments scheme.

Authorised by the FCA, Ordo delivered a wide range of payments and data services including variable recurring payments. It was an official crown services supplier.

Now Access PaySuite, the payments division of The Access Group, has agreed to acquire Ordo’s tech.  It said this completes its proprietary payment acceptance layer across cards, Direct Debit and Open Banking. 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

CuspAI, a platform for developing new materials to tackle global sustainability and clean energy challenges, is to be valued at $2.6 billion (almost £2bn) by fresh funding which includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

CuspAI leverages generative AI, deep learning and molecular simulation to streamline the material design process. The platform functions like a search engine for materials, allowing users to request specific properties for new materials on-demand.

This enables the rapid generation and evaluation of a vast number of novel structures, ultimately leading to the discovery of materials with precise functionalities.

The Cambridge firm was founded just two years ago by Professor Max Welling, a renowned pioneer in AI and former Distinguished Scientist and VP at Microsoft Research and Qualcomm, and Professor at the University of Amsterdam; and Dr Chad Edwards, a chemist who has spent his career in DeepTech commercialisation including at Google and BASF and most recently quantum computing leader Quantinuum.

Geoffrey Hinton, known as the ‘Godfather of AI’, serves as a board advisor. 

In September last year CuspAI raised secured more than $100m (£74m) in Series A funding, valuing it at $520m. The new $400m funding round, which is yet to be finalised, includes Silicon Valley venture capitalists Kleiner Perkins and Bezos Expeditions, the Amazon founder’s family office, according to the Financial Times.

Author: Chris Maguire

The funeral has taken place for legendary North West dealmaker Andy Thomas.

Thomas, whose career included spells at Maven Capital Partners and, more recently, YFM Equity Partners, died in May after a long battle with cancer.

He joined YFM in 2017 and, over nine years, became one of the most respected figures in the North West investment community.

A spokesman said: “He led investments in Protein Works, Unbiased, Biorelate, Fuuse and E2E, an enviable track record by any measure.

“He was also instrumental in building the foundations of our North West business into what it is today.

“But beyond the investments, Andy was simply a good person. Generous, thoughtful, and someone who made YFM a better place to work.

“We’re all feeling his loss deeply. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and everyone who was lucky enough to know him.”

A Stockport-based start-up specialising in flexible, ultra-thin X-ray film that could make medical imaging sharper, less rigid and more comfortable for patients has raised £5m to accelerate production of its next-generation technology and expand into healthcare.

Silveray’s technology currently has a number of industrial uses, such as testing the integrity of pipes in the oil and gas sector as well as detecting faults in hard-to-reach parts found in aerospace and automotive machinery.

Beyond industrial, the company is now exploring new uses in healthcare for its Digital X-ray Film (DXF®), which utilises the company’s patented NPX® X-ray sensitive semiconductor ink. This includes making X-ray scans more accessible, portable, and affordable to check for early signs of chronic disease.

Another area of interest for the company is in breast cancer screening, where pain from the compression caused by mammography machines is often cited as a reason for non-attendance for screenings, and in dental scans, where intra-oral discomfort and the natural gag reflex regularly force dentists to refer patients to specialist imaging centres.

Silveray is also looking closely at radiotherapy, which uses the radiation from X-rays to destroy cancer cells. Silveray states its solution has the potential to remove cost barriers as well as allowing for a more accurate measurement of radiation dose, therefore reducing side effects and making treatment more targeted.

Flagright, the AI operating system for financial crime compliance, has raised a £9.3 million Series A round of funding.

The round was led by Infinity Ventures, with participation from Sella Direct Ventures and continued backing from existing investors including Frontline and Y Combinator.

The round will expand explainable AI use cases across compliance operations and aggressively increase its US market presence.

Flagright brings transaction monitoring, watchlist screening, risk scoring, case management, AI forensics, and governance workflows into a unified AI operating system for financial crime compliance.

Digital agency Spekk has appointed Nick Boyce as chief technology & AI officer following its acquisition of Pablo, the ad technology platform he founded.

Boyce brings extensive experience spanning paid media, technology, data and AI. He is the founder of AI automation and analytics consultancy Trampoline and creator of Pablo, the AI-powered workflow platform Spekk is acquiring.

Designed for digital advertising agencies and brands, Pablo automates Facebook ad uploads and streamlines creative workflows, allowing teams to launch campaigns faster and with greater accuracy. Pablo’s MCP enables agentic performance analysis, tailored to the needs of each client. The platform has been adopted by brands and agencies including Camper and Lovable and already forms an integral part of Spekk’s media operations.

Previously, Boyce was Data & Analytics Director at social agency Spin Brands, having joined following Spin’s acquisition of his paid media agency, Pollenary. He also leads the analysis for BenchPress, the UK’s largest benchmarking report for agencies.

Bristol-based Phasecraft has secured a £3.4 million award from the US Department of Energy’s ARPA-E to develop quantum algorithms to help discover new catalysts for industrial electrolysis.

One of the biggest obstacles to scaling green hydrogen is the industry’s reliance on iridium – a scarce and expensive critical mineral used in electrolyser catalysts.

Through this project Phasecraft will develop quantum algorithms to discover new catalysts that will help reduce reliance on critical minerals, particularly iridium – a major cost and supply chain constraint for scaling green hydrogen production.

Science in Sport Group (SiS), the performance nutrition business behind leading brands Science in Sport and PhD, has secured a new financing arrangement.

The deal, with HSBC UK Leveraged Finance and Muzinich & Co.’s MLoan Parallel Lending, is for a suite of debt facilities in excess of £30 million. 

The funding will support Science in Sport’s next phase of growth, accelerating investment in science-led innovation, international expansion, elite performance partnerships and digital capabilities. 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Revenues at Brave Bison Group plc grew 92% in its latest half-year period.

The marketing and technology group said net revenue will not be less than £23 million, with adjusted EBITDA in line with management expectations. 

Its share price climbed yesterday on the news that London-based advertising and communications agency Moonlight Graham Pty Ltd – a company owned by MiniMBA founder Mark Ritson – had exercised its option to acquire 4.1m new shares for £2m. 

Last year Brave Bison acquired eLearning business MiniMBA from Centaur Media plc. Ritson became a top-5 shareholder in Brave Bison following the deal and, following the new share acquisition yesterday, now holds 7% of the business.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Last year founder John Roberts said it would increase ‘offshoring’, blaming increases in the minimum wage and National Insurance – but said there were no plans to get rid of existing UK-based staff.

This morning the Bolton-headquartered electrical retailer said total revenue for the year ended 31st March 2026 grew 11.4% to almost £1.3 billion. That included the full-year impact of musicMagpie following its acquisition.

Profit before tax topped £50m, up 145% from £20.6m in the prior year.

The profitability was enhanced by the offshoring programme, it said, “delivering a lower cost base and greater operational flexibility without compromising service standards”.

 

The Citation Group, an international provider of compliance software and services for SMEs, has announced the acquisition of PayCaptain.

PayCaptain, based in London, is a payroll software and managed services provider trusted by hundreds of UK employers.

Founded by Simon Bocca in 2020, PayCaptain is the UK’s first B Corp certified payroll provider.

The British Business Bank has agreed a £75 million facility with Propel Finance, the UK’s fastest-growing asset finance provider.

Propel has lent £2 billion to more than 70,000 businesses over the last decade. The new £75m ENABLE funding facility has been announced alongside investment in its first public securitisation, Velocity 2026-1. 

This is the first time the Bank has invested in a Public Asset-Backed Securitisation (ABS) issuance, having supported Propel with its first private securitisation in 2022.

It says the transactions demonstrate the Bank’s strategy of supporting business securitisation markets to enhance funding options for lenders that provide finance to UK small and medium enterprises.

 

A London AI firm which has already generated more than £1 million revenue is to rebrand as it prepares for a major investment round.

GOODFOLIO, which believes that most businesses are approaching artificial intelligence the wrong way, is building what it calls an ‘AI operating system’.

Now rebranded to SEPANTA, CEO Omid Pakseresht – who founded the business alongside his brother Dr Nima Pakseresht – says it makes software you actually need based on how your organisation runs.

Omid Pakseresht is a University of Oxford mathematics graduate and former quantitative analyst who previously founded the FinTech TransferGuru, since dissolved. 

Originally a transparent, ethical investment platform, it has since evolved into a system which deploys specialised AI systems and agents directly into enterprise workflows across areas such as finance, compliance and healthcare.

Shares in Currys climbed 4% today after major investment bank RBC Capital Markets upgraded its assessment of the electrical retailer’s stock.

RBC upgraded Currys to ‘outperform’ from ‘sector perform’ and lifted the price target to 180p from 165p, pointing to an attractive valuation and the potential for further share gains.

Its shares are up 23% in the year to date.

The bank said Currys is transitioning from being a recovery play to a multi-year compounder with strong cash returns.

Sage, the accounting, financial, HR and payroll technology provider for small and mid-sized businesses, has partnered with Google and Multiverse to help small businesses in the North East with practical AI skills.

Sage has returned as headline sponsor of the TechNExt festival for the fourth consecutive year, reinforcing its commitment to supporting the region’s growing tech ecosystem.

The event, supported by techUK and hosted in the region’s AI Growth Zone, comes at a time when many small businesses are still figuring out how – and where – to use AI.

While interest is growing, adoption remains uneven. New research from Enterprise Nation, in partnership with Sage, has found that 53% of SMEs believe stronger AI skills would help to improve the quality, consistency and speed within their business.

When asked about what is holding them back from adoption, 53% said costs; 46% said lack of skills; and 37% said having the time to learn new tools.

Working alongside Google and Multiverse, the aim is to give businesses something tangible to take away – whether that’s trying a new tool, improving an existing workflow, or simply feeling more confident about where to start.

Pulsant, the UK data centre and digital infrastructure platform, today announced the completion of a £2 million investment programme across its nationwide network of sites.

Delivered over the last two years, the roll-out has focused on improving the day-to-day, on-site experience for clients, visitors and Pulsant people, modernising facilities and refreshing interiors.

Refurbishments have been completed at Pulsant sites in Croydon, Edinburgh, Maidenhead, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Reading and Rotherham.

The investment further strengthens Pulsant’s offering to data-driven organisations which are looking to scale and grow. Its distributed digital infrastructure platform enables digital transformation, underpinned by low latency connectivity.