Author: Patrick Killeen

Valmet has agreed to acquire Worcestershire-based industrial valve specialist Severn Group from private equity firm Bluewater in a deal valued at $480 million (around £358m).

The acquisition is on a cash and debt-free basis, with completion expected in the second quarter of 2026.

It spans all three Severn divisions – Severn Glocon, ValvTechnologies and LB Bentley – and is designed to strengthen Valmet’s Process Performance Solutions segment and expand its Flow Control business beyond its traditional biomaterials focus.

StretchSense, a wearable technology company that makes motion-capture data gloves, has raised £1.7 million in funding in a round led by PXN Ventures with support from Scottish Enterprise, taking its total external funding to almost $20m across three rounds.

Founded in 2012, the firm develops gloves that use proprietary stretch sensors and machine learning to deliver accurate, real-time hand and finger tracking for VR and XR use cases such as animation, gaming, training and simulation.

The gloves are designed to enable natural, controller-free interaction and are built with usability in mind, including durable sensor performance and machine-washable textiles.

The business is increasingly targeting sectors such as healthcare, education, aviation and defence, with its platform also incorporating haptics to simulate touch through vibration in digital environments.

Whitehaven-based maritime robotics startup ScrubMarine has raised $1 million in a pre-seed round to develop autonomous systems for cleaning and inspecting ship hulls.

The company is aiming to reduce the fuel and emissions hit caused by biofouling and the funding will help it to complete its prototype and grow engineering teams in Whitehaven and Edinburgh, as it works towards pilots with major operators.

The round was led by PXN Ventures and SFC Capital, with backing also from industry figures including Graham Westgarth and Colin Greene.

ScrubMarine is developing two platforms – “The Turtle”, a compact hull-cleaning robot that captures inspection data; and “the Whale”, a surface system designed to deploy and recover the robot without divers or port infrastructure.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Christie Group plc has disposed of its visitor attraction software business Vennersys.

Christie, which has operated for more than 125 years, is today a provider of professional & financial services, as well as stock & inventory systems & services to the hospitality, leisure, healthcare, medical, childcare & education and retail sectors.

Vennersys provides ticketing and electronic point-of-sale solutions to UK visitor attractions. As at 31st December 2024, Vennersys held gross assets of £1.43 million and generated a loss before tax and extraordinary items of £1.57m.

London-based Christie Group said its sale to Exeter-based Digital Ticketing Systems, which trades as DigiTickets, will enable it to focus investment on its core brands.

Hiscox Ltd has completed its $275m share repurchase programme.

It announced a $175m programme in February and extended it to $275m in early August.

Metir plc, a provider of fast response water and environmental testing technology, has raised £1m via a share placing.

The parent company of Modern Water and Microsaic Systems provides real-time water safety data and routine testing for a variety of contaminants from Aflatoxin to Zinc and from Pesticides to PFAS – enabling in-depth understanding of the water supply and the potential risk to citizens.

The listed entity is based in York.

PZ Cussons plc has appointed Jan Bramall as CFO and a member of the board of directors. She will join the company on 23^rd March 2026.

She will succeed Sarah Pollard, who is leaving PZ Cussons to take up a new role.

Bramall is currently interim CFO at Severfield plc. Before that she was CFO of Manchester Airports Group for more than five years, playing a key role in delivering major transformation projects.

Prior to MAG, Bramall held senior finance roles at Tyco and Johnson Controls. 

Author: Chris Maguire

Apprentice winner Tom Pellereau has taken full ownership of his beauty technology company after buying out Lord Sugar’s 50 per cent stake.

Life-long inventor Pellereau found fame as the quirky winner of the 2011 series of BBC’s The Apprentice, creating the world’s first curved nail file.

He became the first winner to receive investment from Lord Sugar, who secured a 50 per cent stake in exchange for £250k.

Since then, Pellereau has grown STYLIDEAS into one of the UK’s fast-growing electrical beauty tech brands, including LED masks and makeup brush cleaners.

He revealed: “Today I graduated as an Apprentice. 14 years after his investment Lord Sugar and I’ve agreed terms that return me to 100 per cent owner of STYIDEAS.

“I will always be so grateful for the investment Lord Sugar made, and the potential he saw in me and my inventions.

“His time, knowledge and guidance have been invaluable. While now is the right time to regain full ownership of my business, I look back on the amazing journey we’ve taken together over the last 14 years with deep gratitude and happy memories.”

Days after The Graduate Guide was acquired by Apprentify Group, co-founders Peter Wood and Marlene Leiss have announced their next venture.

The UCL graduates built the The Graduate Guide into a fast-growing community platform of 30,000 graduates, with many going on to land roles at the UK’s fastest-growing startups.

Now the entrepreneurs have revealed details of their latest venture – Calibr – to shake-up the UK’s scale-up space.

Calibr is being built in partnership with Apprentify Group; the UK’s 30th fastest-growing company.

Peter Wood explained: “We’re taking the assessment, onboarding and development systems that work at enterprise level and bringing them into the scale-up world – where the stakes are higher and talent mistakes cost 10x more.”

Apprentify Group, which consists of  Apprentify, Netcom Training, The Juice Academy, Flourish and ioda, is on a mission to redefine early-career pathways through a blend of community, employability and upskilling.

Frasers Group shares jump after £70m Barclays buyback scheme.

Monzo CEO ‘ousted over IPO plans’ .

Fulham FC extends Bob deal.

TT Electronics shares plunge as DBAY snubs takeover deal.

Frontier Developments CEO leaves after 27 years at firm.

Tech-first PR firm Pathos, founded by comedian, in £20m IPO.

Pimberly secures £5m in funding as it steps up UK & US expansion.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A fledgling Manchester entrepreneur was inspired to found his startup after suffering a football injury one weekend.

Marketer Wesley Clarke-Sullivan injured his back playing five-a-side and was unable to move the next day. He spent hours trawling through clinic websites, manually comparing availability just to find the earliest appointment nearby.

“The initial idea came from a friend who works at a major private healthcare insurer. He explained that many policyholders struggle to book appointments – not because care isn’t available, but because the process is confusing, fragmented and stressful,” he explained to BusinessCloud. “When patients can’t easily use their insurance, they’re less likely to renew.

“The football injury experience then made the problem very real.”

He opted to take redundancy from his role in September – and MediMo was born shortly after.

Author: Richard Whittle, economist at the University of Salford

This move brings contactless cards in line with services such as Apple Pay, which are already unlimited.

The idea here is that phone security features provide greater protection from fraud. And with device payments on the rise perhaps the overall impact of changing card contactless limits will be limited. 

Yet for many, the £100 limit may act as a psychological bulwark against higher spending. Particularly at times like Christmas, where the lead-up momentum and subsequent sales may encourage us to spend more than we want to.

Author: Chris Jones, managing director at PSE Consulting

Lifting the contactless limit is not really about letting people spend more with a tap. It is about shifting responsibility across the payments ecosystem. By lifting the contactless cap, the FCA is stepping away from a blunt, one-size-fits-all rule and putting the onus on banks and card providers to manage their own risk exposure levels.

That significantly raises the bar for the industry. Higher or unlimited contactless only works if firms have robust fraud detection, real time transaction monitoring and strong customer controls in place. The technology already exists, but adoption is uneven. Providers that invest in behavioural analytics and dynamic risk scoring will be able to move faster and with confidence.

For consumers, the real win is not higher limits, but greater control. Being able to set personal thresholds, switch contactless on or off instantly, and manage settings through an app delivers far more value than mandating a simple ceiling.

Banks that treat this as a trust building opportunity will strengthen customer relationships. Those that rush to increase limits without clear safeguards and communication risk eroding confidence and attracting scrutiny from both regulators and customers.

Author: Jonathan Frost, director of global advisory for EMEA at BioCatch

The direct impact is clear, giving consumers greater convenience while maintaining fraud protection; however, FCA estimates indicate the change could cause up to £31.3 million per year in additional contactless fraud, representing a 131% increase. 

The core question is whether raised limits will trigger long-term impacts, such as shifts in criminal behaviour. In Spain, higher-value contactless transactions require a PIN to combat fraud.

There is also a broader ecosystem impact to consider. Some retailers are reluctant to accept contactless payments due to the abuse of chargeback fraud.

This friction risks undermining the very convenience the policy is designed to deliver.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The £100 limit for contactless payments is to be removed, with banks and payment providers to be allowed to set their own limits from March 2026.

The Financial Conduct Authority says that they must demonstrate strong fraud controls to do so.

The move will allow them to better respond to changing consumer demands, inflation and new technology, the FCA said.

They are also being encouraged to let customers set their own limit, or turn contactless off altogether, as many high street banks already do.  

Existing consumer protections remain in place, while consumers must be reimbursed in unauthorised fraud cases, such as if their card is lost or stolen.

Nodu, a stablecoin infrastructure startup aiming to make digital assets work within traditional finance, has closed a $1.45 million pre-seed round led by Digital Space Ventures.

Nodu’s long-term vision is to connect over 170 countries into one seamless payment network, where stablecoins act as the universal bridge between currencies, systems, and economies.

It provides banks, FinTechs and businesses with a ready-to-use global compliance and payments framework for stablecoins, allowing them to launch services without building their own infrastructure.

Clients can send, receive, and hold stablecoins as easily as traditional money, all while compliance and reporting happen automatically in the background. The platform merges fiat and crypto rails into one regulated flow, linking European institutions with worldwide payment and blockchain networks.

The streets of Greater Manchester town Rochdale will be transformed into an immersive nighttime light and audio experience this winter, as Stories We Tell: Rochdale invites residents and visitors to explore the borough through the real memories, voices and lived experiences of local people.

Running from Wednesday 28 January to Friday 6 February 2026, the free, guided audio walk will use large-scale projections, moving imagery and powerful 3D sound to animate buildings and streets, including Milkstone Road, Drake Street, Baillie Street and Rochdale Town Hall Square. Audiences will take a journey through town after dark, encountering stories of belonging, change and hope, gathered directly from local communities.

Commissioned as part of Rochdale’s year as Greater Manchester Town of Culture, the project is supported by Rochdale Borough Council and Rochdale Development Agency, with funding provided through the Community Regeneration Partnership from the UK Government, and supported by Arts Council England.

Produced by Rochdale-based multidisciplinary production company Breaking Barriers, Stories We Tell: Rochdale returns four years after its original debut in Deeplish. This new edition promises to reflect on what has changed, what has remained, and the stories that continue to shape Rochdale’s identity. Built from real stories, archival images, video and audio recordings shared by residents, the experience re-imagines familiar streets in new and unexpected ways through immersive storytelling.

One of the UK’s leading managed service providers has celebrated four decades in business by completing a landmark £1.8m investment.

First started in 1985 as a mobile phone specialist by Alan Jackson, Intercity has replaced its legacy platforms with an AI-powered ecosystem designed to give it the foundations to realise a £100m vision by 2030.

The company has not stopped there, upgrading its five sites in Bedford, Bolton, Nuneaton, Northampton and Birmingham to create greener, smarter workplaces, as well as a new technical training and cyber awareness Academy.

It marks what has been an exciting 12 months for the firm, which delivers access to communications, managed IT and the latest cyber security services to organisations, including HORIBA MIRA, King’s Cross Business Park and Saïd Business School.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A former boss of Inc & Co and his business associate have been banned from operating as company directors for a combined 23 years.

Scott Dylan, 41, has been banned for 13 years while David Antrobus, 39 and also formerly of Salford, allowed £13.9 million to pass through two companies using unauthorised bank overdrafts – with Dylan himself receiving £1.675m.

The duo opened bank accounts for the two companies in spring 2021 and made millions of pounds in transfers before the accounts were frozen by Barclays Bank, which subsequently demanded repayment. 

They subsequently defied the freezing injunctions, leading to contempt of court proceedings and jail terms for both.

Their bans as company directors begin on Christmas Day after a High Court ruling earlier this month.

Dylan was described by the judge as the “driving force” behind the operation, which was “little short of a scam”. There was “no legitimate purpose” for the removal of the funds, the judge added.

Author: Patrick Killeen

BGF-backed digital product consultancy hedgehog lab has acquired Edinburgh-based global innovation network Label Sessions.

The deal combines hedgehog lab’s AI delivery and product design and development expertise with Label Sessions’ methodology and a network of more than 500 innovation experts, with both firms confirming roles will be retained.

hedgehog lab, headquartered in Newcastle with operations in London, Leeds, Edinburgh and Sofia, has grown significantly over the past two decades and recorded its best-ever quarter earlier this year.

The consultancy counts Deliveroo, Under Armour, Aviva and AJ Bell among its clients, and secured investment from growth capital investor BGF in 2023 as it accelerated expansion.