Shares in Safestay plc jumped 100% in one day after news broke of a potential takeover.

Real estate investment firm Infill Capital Partners revealed that it is considering a £40.9 million take-private move for the platform for booking hotels and hostels.

The deal may include a cash offer and an unlisted share alternative. 

Safestay says it has provided ICP with access to limited due diligence materials and discussions remain ongoing. No firm offer has been made.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Cambridge Innovation Capital has appointed Dr Ilana Wisby as entrepreneur in residence.

Dr Wisby co-founded Oxford Quantum Circuits and led the firm as CEO for seven years until 2024.

Now, in her own joking words on LinkedIn, she has “defected twice… first, to the other place, Cambridge; second, and rather more scandalously, to the other side of the table”.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A British maritime defence company has become the UK’s latest unicorn after raising $175 million (£130m) at a $1 billion valuation.

Kraken Technology Group – not to be confused with Kraken, the technology platform founded within Octopus Energy Group which demerged at the end of last year – is developing uncrewed surface vessels and payload capabilities.

Now rapidly expanding localised manufacturing facilities around the world, last year Kraken secured several significant contracts from the UK Ministry of Defence, NATO European partners and USSOCOM, with its platforms now deployed in support of multiple ongoing conflicts. 

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel is to become the largest shareholder in Vodafone Group plc after agreeing a £4.4 billion deal with e& (formerly Etisalat).

Niel, whose family group’s telecom investments and businesses span 26 countries in Europe and Latin America, has agreed to buy the Emirati telecoms giant’s 16.2% shareholding through newly created acquisition vehicle Vega.

The largest private investor in the telecoms sector in Europe, Niel’s family group has 139 million subscribers, 45,000 employees, €24bn of annual revenues and more than €9bn of EBITDAaL. Assets include iliad, Salt, Monaco Telecom, Eir, Tele2 and Millicom.

GlobalData Plc is proposing a tender offer up to a value of £30m which will allow shareholders to cash in their shares.

The data, insight and technology company’s proposal is for a tender price of 85 pence per share and represents a premium of approximately 16% to the most recent closing price of 73.30p.

It has opened today and will close at 1pm on 10th August 2026.

Pixel-Flo has raised £5.25 million in seed funding to tackle a critical bottleneck in MicroLED display manufacturing.

The University of Sheffield spinout’s proprietary Continuous-Flow Mass Transfer technology aims to unlock MicroLED displays for the mass market.

The round was led by Northern Gritstone with additional investment from SCVC, the Parkwalk Northern Universities Venture Fund and German investment firm HTGF.

Pixel Flo will use the fresh capital to transition from laboratory development towards industrial scale-up, expanding their team and relocating to new lab and office space.

ClearBank has announced the appointment of Ken Johnstone as chief product officer.

Johnstone will lead the next phase of ClearBank’s product strategy across the UK and Europe, supporting the neobank’s growth in digital asset rails and embedded banking.

He brings more than 25 years’ experience across fintech, banking and telecoms, and was previously CPO for NatWest Boxed and Mettle.

Connective3 – a ‘demand + performance’ marketing agency based in Leeds – has announced the promotion of David White to CEO, following his previous role as chief growth officer.

White, who is also a founder of the agency, takes over from current CEO and co-founder Tim Grice.

The latter will move into the position of group CEO following the recent growth investment from leading regional private equity and real assets investment manager Foresight Group.

White will lead its teams across Leeds, Manchester and London while supporting the business’s wider ambitions around AI technology, international expansion and strategic growth.

Grice will focus on the group’s wider growth strategy and strategic acquisitions.

Rubrik, a California-based security and AI operations company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has announced plans to invest more than £375 million in the UK over the next five years.

The company has also named London as its EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) headquarters.

Rubrik’s UK business delivered a record first quarter, including strong customer growth in significant enterprise and public-sector organisations. New customers adopting Rubrik’s cyber resilience platform include Fortegra Financial Corporation, Harbour Energy, Manchester City Council and the Scottish Government.

Rubrik now serves 2,000 customers across EMEA. Establishing London as the company’s EMEA headquarters will help it scale its regional operations, the company says, access the UK’s deep technology talent pool and support its growing customer base.

Author: Chris Maguire

Private equity investor Palatine has announced the first exit from its Growth Credit Fund following the acquisition of AI-powered software platform Send Technology Solutions (Send).

Developed for the insurance industry, Send’s software platform helps insurance teams make faster, better decisions when dealing with complex risks.

The company has now been acquired by Duck Creek Technologies, a US enterprise technology business serving the global insurance industry.

Palatine first supported Send through its Growth Credit Fund in December 2025. Following this deal, Send was able to accelerate growth in the UK as well as deepen its expansion into the US.

In the six months since funding Send, Palatine has achieved an internal rate of return (IRR) for investors of 90.97 per cent and a Multiple on Invested Capital (MOIC) of 1.37x.

William Chappel, managing partner of Palatine Growth Credit, said: “It is a privilege to see Send embark on such a successful growth journey that has seen the team join Duck Creek Technologies just six months after our funding.”

 

Author: Chris Maguire

SysGroup plc’s chief financial officer, Owen Phillips, has notified the board of his intention to step down with immediate effect.

Phillips is leaving to pursue a new opportunity but will support the group over the next few months to provide an orderly handover.

He will be succeeded by Craig Ormesher as interim CFO. Ormesher has served as group financial controller since joining the group in 2024.

Ormesher was previously group financial controller at LBG Media plc from 2020, after spending 10 years in PwC’s audit practice.

SysGroup provides cloud, cybersecurity and AI transformation services for UK mid-market clients.

Singular, an early-stage venture capital firm, has appointed Laura McGinnis as partner, based in its London office.

McGinnis joins from Balderton Capital and brings nearly a decade of investing and operating experience, spanning consumer technology, energy and cybersecurity. Previously, she partnered with founders from formation through scale, supporting companies including Grand Games, Lawhive, Coro Cyber, Tilt and Sylvera across product, brand and go-to-market.

She began her career on the operating side at Away and H&M, working across product marketing and strategy, go-to-market and brand.

Since launching in 2020, Singular has built a portfolio of companies delivering measurable impact across industries, including Aikido, which reached unicorn status earlier this year and is reshaping cybersecurity in an AI age; to Basecamp Research, applying AI to life sciences; and Vibe, a self-serve platform for performance marketers, recently acquired by Walmart.

Clue Software, an enterprise intelligence and investigation platform, has appointed Mark Watson as chief operating officer.

The Bristol company is boosting its leadership team after seeing annual recurring revenue increase at 45% CAGR over the past three years amid increasingly complex global security and geopolitical threats.

Watson brings more than 30 years’ experience driving growth across global software and SaaS businesses, with a strong track record of delivering commercial outcomes and strengthening go-to-market execution. 

He has scaled organisations through key inflection points, from early traction to international expansion, including roles during Oracle’s hypergrowth and Micromuse’s rapid rise to IPO.

Across senior roles at Sage, Lifeworks and IriusRisk, he has improved revenue performance by refining GTM strategy, strengthening customer expansion and embedding operational discipline.

Wayve launched an $85 million secondary share sale for employees today – a first for the UK.

Crowdcube managed the sell-side for the landmark transaction on the London Stock Exchange’s Private Securities Market, which is providing the autonomous driving firm with liquidity.

The PSM is an exchange designed to provide liquidity in some of the world’s leading later-stage private companies while also helping current employees with vested equity to unlock some of the value they have helped to create.

The transaction represents a major milestone for UK capital markets – not only the first employee share sale on the PSM but also the largest transaction under the FCA’s PISCES (Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System) regulation to date. 

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Shares in FTSE 250 firm Gamma Communications rose 7% today after the deadline for a potential takeover was extended.

Gamma, whose core markets are the UK and Germany – with additional presence in Spain and the Benelux region – completed a restructuring last year to slash annual operating expenses by £7 million. 

Its valuation suffered, making it a target for acquisition. However the deadline for Epiris to make a bid, set for mid-June, was extended to today (8th July) – and has now been extended again to 5pm on 5th August 2026.

Two other PE houses have pulled out of a deal.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

HR Path, a Paris-headquartered HR consulting, technology implementation and outsourcing specialist, has announced a nearly $1 billion funding transaction led by Ardian.

The investment will enable the group to accelerate its international expansion, pursue its acquisition strategy and strengthen its presence in strategic markets, including the United Kingdom.

The UK has become one of HR Path’s fastest-growing markets in Europe. Recent acquisitions, including IntSys, Three Plus Consulting, have significantly strengthened the group’s local capabilities across the Workday ecosystem. 

A Greater Manchester manufacturer with a history spanning more than 150 years is turning to artificial intelligence to modernise its operations and unlock new growth.

Smith Bullough, a specialist producer of industrial bolts and fasteners, has adopted AI technology to improve the consistency, reliability and traceability of its manufacturing processes – a move expected to generate £100,000 in additional sales within the first year.

The project has also supported job creation and secured more than £19,000 in innovation funding, helping the business accelerate its transition from development to full commercial deployment.

Dogtooth Technologies, a pioneer in AI-powered robotic harvesting systems, has secured over £14 million in growth capital to accelerate the commercial deployment of its harvesting robots across the UK and international markets.

The funding is a mixture of equity from 24 Haymarket, EMV Capital and ACF Investors, grants from Innovate UK, and a venture leasing facility from Kineo Finance.

It will enable Dogtooth to expand commercial deployments, strengthen its technology platform and accelerate the adoption of autonomous harvesting systems across the global horticulture sector, helping growers build more resilient production systems and supporting long-term global food security. 

Fleek has raised $25 million (£18.75m) to build the AI infrastructure powering the global secondhand clothing industry.

The Series B funding will accelerate development of its AI-native marketplace, expand its engineering teams, scale its technology platform and grow its global buyer and supplier network.

The investment was led by Burda Principal Investments, an early Vinted backer and lead investor in its Series C round, with participation from eBay, FJ Labs, and H14, alongside existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, HV Capital, Y Combinator, and more. 

 

Kord, an end-to-end platform making onboarding clients, identity verification, and payment processing simpler and more secure, has raised £6.4 million in Series A funding.

This latest round, bringing the company’s total funding to £9 million, was led by Guinness Ventures with participation from Beringea, SFC Capital, and angel investors. The investment will be used to continue growing the Kord team and drive product development to support new customer acquisition.

Regulated by the FCA, Kord is used by estate agents & letting agents, law firms & conveyancers, and financial services companies.