The Competition Appeal Tribunal has approved the £260 million settlement secured by Professor Barry Rodger in his opt-out collective action against Google, brought on behalf of thousands of UK app developers.

A £160m fund will go directly to compensating eligible developers, including sole traders and SMEs. 

This is the largest settlement pay-out for class members the Tribunal has ever approved, following its finding that the agreement is just and reasonable, and in the interests of the class.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Cirata plc’s share price tanked 32% today after reporting its half-year results.

The data integration company rebranded from WANdisco following a 2023 fraud scandal and was looking to rebuild from the ground up.

Despite positive signs in the last two years, its share price has sunk further. Even before today’s half-year results were reported, it had fallen below 12p. And by the end of the day’s trading, it was at just 7.88p – giving it a market cap of £12.85m.

This morning it reported revenue for the six months ended 30th June 2026 of just $1m, compared with $4.8m in the corresponding period a year earlier. Total bookings were just $500,000, down from $3.8m. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $5.3m (H1 FY25: $4.6m loss).

Medovate and JEB Technologies are to become one company – combining their teams, operations and expertise under the Medovate name.

The combined expertise across both companies will become part of an expanded offering spanning medical device design, development, manufacturing, regulatory approval, international launch and commercialisation.

The move follows two years of close collaboration between the businesses, during which their products have launched in more than 12 international markets, including the USA, Australia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and several European countries.

Its current portfolio includes SAFIRA, a system designed to help improve safety during regional anaesthesia; and CamPROBE, a simple and cost-effective solution that is intended to facilitate transperineal prostate biopsies under local anaesthetic. Products currently in development include LumeVac and TransiCap.

Medovate plans to secure regulatory approval for a new medical device and launch it in the USA and Europe during 2027. Further products are expected to progress towards regulatory approval and international launch in 2028.

Private equity investor LDC has exited its investment in Vista Technology Support (Vista) to TRG, a global managed services provider.

The transaction follows a nine-year partnership during which revenue and headcount have more than doubled.

Cardiff-based Vista is a specialist technology managed services provider operating in fast-paced physical trading environments, including retail, hospitality and healthcare. Founded in 1995, the business is a trusted partner to more than 100 businesses across the UK and Ireland, with a customer base that includes fast-growing supermarkets, the world’s largest restaurant chain and many well-known brands.

Vista has demonstrated strong growth during the partnership, more than doubling revenue from £17m to £44m and headcount from 200 to 432.

Tech Nation has today unveiled the latest cohort of high-growth scaleups joining its Future Fifty programme, the UK’s most prominent initiative for high-impact tech ventures. 

The 25 successful companies represent the UK’s most dynamic tech businesses, spanning sectors including AI, FinTech and health. Among this year’s cohort are digital wellbeing platform Healf, AI training platform Prolific and finance app LemFi.

The 25 startups have raised a combined £1.47 billion, and employ nearly 4,000 people across the UK and internationally. Nearly a quarter of the cohort is headquartered outside London – from Oxford AgriTech pioneers to Glasgow deeptech, Scottish biotech to South West defence AI – reflecting the depth of scaleup talent across every region of the UK.

The University of Salford is launching a community consultation to share proposed plans and generate feedback for a new Business School building, in what is set to be the University’s most significant investment to-date into its campus estate.

Taking place on Wednesday 23rd September between 3-7pm in the reception of the University’s Maxwell building, the event provides an opportunity for students, colleagues and the wider Salford community to view the plans, ask any questions and share feedback, ahead of the planning application being submitted later this year.

The site located at 43-44 The Crescent in Salford has been earmarked for the new building, with plans forming part of the University’s ongoing Salford Campus Connectivity Plan, which is the most ambitious expansion of its estate to date. 

Maven Capital Partners has announced two new appointments to its local team, further strengthening its capability as it continues to support the growth ambitions of businesses across the North East of England.

Catherine Earl and Graham Palmer have joined as portfolio managers.

Earl brings more than a decade of board-level experience across private equity-backed and family-owned businesses, with a strong track record in M&A, business expansion and finance transformation, alongside overseeing financial reporting and operational performance.

Prior to joining Maven, Palmer was group CFO at Indigo Software, where he played a key role in the company’s successful sale to Aptean.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Brave Bison’s largest shareholder has slammed the ‘hypocrisy’ of its board amid its latest offer for fellow listed MarTech firm System1.

Lord Michael Ashcroft took aim at the group – parent company of SocialChain – which earlier this week made a fourth cash-plus-shares bid of £47.5 million for marketing effectiveness research company System1 Group plc. Brave Bison is System1’s largest shareholder.

System1 said it had secured written rejection support from shareholders representing nearly 23% of its issued share capital — including Lord Ashcroft, who owns 23% of Brave Bison and 8% of System1.

Lord Ashcroft said: “I have no intention of accepting this wholly inadequate fourth offer.”

He continued: “From my own dealings with Brave Bison I have questions regarding their board and despite several requests for improved governance within their business and representation on their board, my efforts continue to fall on deaf ears. 

“The hypocrisy of how they interact with other boards in their position as a major shareholder does not escape me.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

boohoo group plc’s selling spree has continued after it sold Nasty Gal to a New York company for $16 million (£12m).

The group, which now trades as Debenhams, acquired Los Angeles-based Nasty Gal in 2017 for $20m after it collapsed into bankruptcy.

Fast forward almost a decade and Nasty Gal is described as a “non-core” asset as Debenhams Group – which owns the boohoo, PrettyLittleThing and Karen Millen brands – transitions from pure online retailer to a marketplace-led business model.

Cambridge Cognition Holdings plc increased revenue and narrowed losses in its latest half-year.

The neuroscience technology company said that for the six-month period to 30th June 2026, revenues were £5m, up 16% (H1 2025: £4.3m). This included first revenues from the company’s new healthcare and consumer wellness pilots of £100k.

Adjusted EBITDA loss improved to £300k (H1 2025: loss £400k).

The company expects to deliver significant growth in full year revenue compared to the prior year – and this is after taking account of £700k of secure contracted revenue which has been rescheduled to next year based on its clients’ study requirements.

Finseta, a payments FinTech offering multi-currency accounts to businesses and individuals, has reported a drop in revenue while it moved into the red in its latest half-year results.

For the six months ended 30th June 2026, it reported revenue of £5.4m (H1 2025: £5.9m), which it blamed on “macroeconomic headwinds”.

Adjusted EBITDA loss was £1m (H1 2025: £300k profit).

Cash and cash equivalents at 30th June were £2.1m (31st December 2025: £1.5m), with net debt of £200k (31 December 2025: £400k).

However it grew active customers to 1,389 (H1 2025: 1,101).

Author: Chris Maguire

The Diary Of A CEO host Steven Bartlett has joined forces with Authentic Brands Group to invest up to $400m to back other creators in growing their businesses.

The Dragons’ Den star – through his holding company, Steven.com – has teamed up with billionaire Jamie Salter, founder of Authentic Brands Group, on their joint venture OBSN (Obsession).

OBSN will combine Bartlett’s expertise in building a creator business – audience growth, data, content and commercialising digital media – with Authentic’s background in retail, product, licensing, IP and global distribution.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club has agreed a new commercial partnership with the clean energy technology company UrbanChain, which will see Headingley powered by 100% renewable energy for the first time.

The agreement sees UrbanChain become Yorkshire Cricket’s exclusive energy partner, with renewable energy to be supplied from 1st January 2027.

Fast-growing clean energy technology company UrbanChain connects renewable energy generators to buyers, thereby providing users with greater choice, visibility and control over where their power comes from.

 

AcademyAI has raised £1.7 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round to assess employees’ AI skills and train them for their real roles.

Most companies have given employees access to tools like ChatGPT or Copilot. Few know whether their people can use them well. 55% of AI decision makers say investment outpaces readiness.

AcademyAI assesses employees against a six-axis AI capability framework, built with the Alan Turing Institute Methodology. It identifies gaps in critical thinking, judgment, prompting, evaluating outputs and building skills, and then delivers personalised micro-learning and practical use cases built around each person’s real role.

AcademyAI is co-founded by Alex Packham and Andy Lambert – who founded ContentCal which was later acquired by Adobe for over $100m – Michael Walton and Rob Barnett, who both invested in ContentCal. Investors include Nexus Family Office and Panthera Family Office.

Regulators could block the takeover of Southern Co-operative by the Co-operative Group.

The deal, agreed in April, could ‌reduce competition in some markets, says the Competition and Markets Authority.

The companies have a week to offer legally binding undertakings to ​address its concerns.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Shares in Trustpilot fell as much as 20% today despite posting fundamentally strong half-year results.

The London-listed online review platform said it was on track to deliver its full-year guidance, but that wasn’t enough for the market.

Trustpilot’s shares had risen recently as US growth and AI initiatives were anticipated to deliver upgraded guidance.

Magnitude Biosciences has secured £1.3m to scale its drug discovery platform.

The Durham University spinout is to accelerate the commercialisation of VivoScan, its pioneering in vivo high-throughput screening platform, which provides pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with faster and more cost-effective ways to identify promising new treatments for ageing, longevity and neurodegenerative diseases.

Northstar Ventures led the round of investment, committing capital from the North East Spinout Inspire Fund, the North East Innovation Fund and the Northstar EIS Growth Fund.

Fuse Diagnostics, a developer of next-generation molecular diagnostics for point-of-need testing, has raised £1 million.

The money will accelerate commercialisation of its proprietary Flip product platform across six strategic sectors – life sciences research, bioprocessing, food safety, water quality, veterinary diagnostics and plant agriculture – and expand manufacturing capabilities at its headquarters in Cambridge.

The fundraise was led by The FSE Group and joined by existing angel investors alongside new angel investors, including Cambridge Capital Group.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A listed bitcoin firm which counts Nigel Farage as a major shareholder has agreed a £12 million deal to buy Direct Bullion – the precious metals group which pays the Reform UK leader £22,500 an hour to promote it.

Direct Bullion’s founder and sole shareholder is Paul Withers, who is also chief strategy officer at Stack BTC.

The firm sells gold coins and bars directly to the public and to pension funds. It was included in the Financial Times FT 1000 European fastest-growing companies list in 2024.

Farage recently declared that he had been paid £270,000 by the company for 12 hours of promotional work. He has previously declared payments from the company of £91,200 and £135,000. His promotion of the company at Reform UK events has come under scrutiny from the media.

Recognise Bank has appointed Ronelle Arbib as its new chief revenue & operations officer.

In the newly created role, Arbib will bring together Recognise Bank’s lending and savings, operations, product and marketing functions.

The new structure is designed to enable Recognise Bank to identify and respond to market opportunities more quickly, from developing new products and entering new markets and channels through to origination, completion and ongoing customer management.

Arbib has been with Recognise Bank for six years and has played a key role in its development from its early stages through to profitability. She joined as head of customer experience in 2020 before becoming COO in 2022.