Blackfinch Group has strengthened its senior leadership team with two strategic appointments as the business builds on its Group-wide expertise and enters its next phase of growth.

Harry Penberthy has joined as Group Head of Marketing, while Graham Robinson has been appointed Strategic Distribution Director in a new Group-wide role.

Together, they bring more than 50 years’ combined experience across investment, financial services, pensions, distribution, brand and tax-efficient investing. Their appointments strengthen how Blackfinch tells its story, builds its market presence and brings its adviser proposition to market.

Harry joins Blackfinch with more than 20 years’ experience as a senior marketing and brand leader across investment and financial services. His career includes senior roles at Octopus and Triple Point, where he worked across adviser-focused propositions, brand strategy, proposition launches and marketing delivery. He has led large, multi-disciplinary marketing teams and brings a strong record in helping investment businesses communicate clearly with the adviser market.

As Group Head of Marketing, Harry will lead the Blackfinch marketing team through its next stage of growth. His focus will include strengthening the Blackfinch brand, developing the Group’s market position and making it easier for advisers to understand the breadth of support, insight and investment solutions available across Blackfinch.

Graham joins as Strategic Distribution Director, a new Group-wide role. He brings 30 years’ experience across life assurance, pensions, platforms, asset management and tax-efficient investing. His career includes senior roles at Octopus and Seven Investment Management, where he focused on building adviser relationships, product development, distribution strategy and sales leadership.

In his new role, Graham will work closely with the senior leadership team to support the evolution of Blackfinch’s product range and strengthen distribution across the Group. He will also help connect the opportunities created by Blackfinch’s wider growth, including Thrive and future businesses developed through the Group’s in-house incubator programme.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A tech firm backed by England captain Harry Kane has raised £20 million in fresh funding.

Kane got the Three Lions off to a flier at the 2026 World Cup with a brace as they ran out 4-2 winners against Croatia.

His focus will currently be on giving England the best chance of claiming their first World Cup since 1966 – but once the dust settles, he can also celebrate the latest achievement of Seat Unique.

Last year he joined the cap table of the events and hospitality ticketing platform alongside cricket equivalent Ben Stokes – not having a great time of it currently after sitting out the second Test against New Zealand following a nightclub fracas – and a host of other high-profile athletes.

The latest funding round is led by Nickleby Capital and sees participation from Pentland Ventures, Hearst Ventures, Active Partners and The Players Fund. It will support acquisitions, international expansion and continued growth across premium ticketing, hospitality and travel.

The investment follows the strategic acquisitions of P1 Travel and Circuit Hospitality, creating a market-leading platform that combines premium ticketing, hospitality and travel under one roof for rightsholders, venues, artists, sports teams and fans.

The group is on track to hit £175m in sales this year and is targeting more than £350m over the next three years, with ambitions to build a business valued at over £500m.

A co-founder at Onfido has raised £30 million for his AI firm Isometric.

Eamon Jubbawy is aiming to bring agentic certification to the industrial economy and has been backed by AVP, Plural and Lowercarbon Capital, as well as angels John Doerr and Walter Kortschak, in a Series A round.

AVP counts global insurer AXA as an anchor investor.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

FinTech Monevium has entered special administration.

The London firm was authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to provide payment services.

It allowed anyone over the age of 18 living in the European Economic Area to open an IBAN account – regardless of citizenship or financial history – in minutes, without lengthy credit checks. 

Launched in 2016 and led by Alexey Stepanov, a former Thomson Reuters financial markets specialist and CEO of FXOpen UK, the firm had restrictions placed on its activities by regulator the FCA in February 2024.

On 18th June 2026, Adam Henry Stephens and Christopher Allen of S&W Partners LLP were appointed as special administrators of Monevium Ltd.

Louis Taylor is stepping down as chief executive of the British Business Bank at the end of September 2026.

Taylor has spent the last four years leading the transformation of the UK’s economic development bank and will remain as chair of BBB Investment Services Limited, the bank’s regulated third-party arm which provides investment services to clients, until the end of December 2026.

David Hourican, chief financial officer, will take on the role of interim CEO from 1st October 2026, ensuring a smooth transition. He was appointed in December 2022.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Ocado Group plc is reportedly set to appoint a successor to co-founder and CEO Tim Steiner.

Steiner founded the company in 2000 with former Goldman Sachs colleagues Jonathan Faiman and Jason Gissing. 

Now, weeks after it unveiled a new online retail partnership with Asda, Sky News reports that Niklas Heuveldop – chief executive of Vonage, a subsidiary of Sweden’s Ericsson – has been approached about potentially taking over as CEO.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Seedcamp, Europe’s ‘original first cheque investor’, has raised $320 million to invest in the next generation of global companies. 

Seedcamp was the earliest backer of giant companies including Revolut, Wise and Synthesia.

Since launching in 2007 with a $2.5m first fund, Seedcamp now manages over $1 billion in Assets Under Management and has delivered some of the strongest venture fund returns in Europe.

The new capital is allocated between $220m for Seedcamp VII, the flagship ‘first cheque’ fund, and $100m for the Select fund, which focuses primarily on backing portfolio winners as they scale toward Series B and beyond. 

Amazon growth specialist Venture Forge has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of respected marketing leader Stephen Kenwright as fractional chief commercial officer.

The Halifax-based firm helps ambitious brands unlock profitable growth on the world’s largest online marketplace.

Kenwright will lead on new business and marketing, helping to shape the agency’s commercial strategy, expand its market presence and support the next stage of growth.

 

GRIDSERVE revenues topped £64 million in the 2025 calendar year after they grew 45% year-on-year.

The firm said this shows the strength and scalability of its model and the commercial viability of large-scale public electric vehicle charging in the UK ‘despite a challenging policy environment’.

The network also delivered EBITDA of £26m and a margin of 40%. At a group level, GRIDSERVE delivered EBITDA of £3m, reaching positivity for the first time.

The results come after a period of strategic and operational focus under CEO Daniel Kunkel, who joined GRIDSERVE in March 2025 from Shell and ubitricity. 

URUNN, a performance-driven running app startup co-founded by four-times Olympic gold medallist Sir Mo Farah, has announced a seven-figure fundraise.

The startup has been backed by continued investment from fitness platform 10XU alongside a group of private investors.

Following a seed round in 2025, URUNN has rapidly established itself as a challenger in the running app market, having secured users in more than 110 countries and partnerships with leading global brands including Huawei, Vodafone, Puma and Adidas. 

Co-founded by Farah and elite marathoner Adam Clarke, URUNN directly integrates Olympic-level human expertise into the product, delivering an experience that mirrors working with a professional coach, at scale, to the global everyday running market.

The app brings together elite athletes and coaches, including Farah, Clarke, and Team GB athlete and elite coach Charlotte Purdue, translating decades of performance and coaching experience into a personalised, adaptive training programme.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A positive mindset can be the difference between winning and losing in elite sport – and the same is true in business.

Former pro golfer Karl Gilbert represented Ireland at U18 and U21 before moving into investment banking then entrepreneurship with Raylo. The scaleup helps major brands like Apple, PlayStation, Dyson and now LG launch subscription eCommerce strategies that make devices more accessible for both businesses and consumers.

Since launching in 2019, he’s raised over £180 million from investors including Citibank, NatWest Group and Channel 4, achieving £56.5m annual recurring revenue in 2025 and 94% EBITDA growth.

But without the sport he loves, it may never have happened. “My world revolved around golf. I even played alongside a then little-known talent named Rory McIlroy,” the co-founder and CEO tells BusinessCloud. 

“It was my first real lesson in performing in a high stakes environment: how to focus, deliver under pressure and maintain composure when a round goes sideways.”

After stepping away from competitive sport, he spent a decade in investment banking. Keenly aware of the massive waste in the electronics sector, he eventually spotted a huge opportunity to re-engineer how tech is accessed – and Raylo was born. 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The parent company of LADbible has agreed a deal potentially worth more than £34 million to acquire agency Uncovered.

The creative agency has deep TikTok and Instagram expertise, and counts the likes of Tesco, KFC and Taco Bell among its client base.

LBG Media plc said it has acquired 75% of the share capital of Uncovered Holdings Limited. It has also agreed options to acquire the remaining 25%.

The acquisition is for an initial cash consideration of £26.8m, with an earnout cash payment of up to £7m, based on the financial performance of Uncovered in the calendar years 2026 and 2027. 

It will be funded through a combination of LBG Media’s existing cash resources and a new debt facility of up to £50m with HSBC UK Bank plc. This comprises a £35m revolving credit facility and an accordion option of up to a further £15m. The facilities have a maturity of three years that expire in June 2029. 

 

Author: Chris Maguire

After 10 years at THG and THG Ingenuity,  Hannah Pym has joined Liverpool Football Club as SVP Marketing and Digital.

The role will see Pym assume responsibility for leading the club’s award-winning marketing, media, product, technology, fan services and experience teams.

She held a number of senior executive roles at THG, including chief brand officer for the group and CEO of THG Ingenuity Commerce.

During her time at the Manchester-based online retailer, she was instrumental in delivering digital growth, brand development and product innovation across multiple markets.

Prior to joining THG, Pym was the marketing manager at Apadmi.

Author: Chris Maguire

CAPSLOCK, an online cybersecurity bootcamp provider, has been acquired by mthree, an award-winning talent and training partner.

Founded in 2019, CAPSLOCK has reskilled more than 1,200 adults into cyber careers and worked with organisations across financial services, telecoms, aerospace and defence, consumer electronics, manufacturing, and media and broadcasting.

Its learners have gone on to secure roles with leading organisations including Barclays, BT, BAE Systems, Dyson and the BBC.

Lorna Armitage MBE, CEO and co-founder of CAPSLOCK, said: “CAPSLOCK was founded to remove barriers to cyber security careers and help employers access talent with the skills to make an impact.

“Joining mthree gives us the platform to take that mission further, supporting more learners and more organisations as cyber and AI risks become more complex.”

Dr Andrea Cullen MBE, co-founder of CAPSLOCK, added: “Our focus has always been on delivering practical, industry-relevant training that leads to real career outcomes.

“Becoming part of mthree allows us to build on that work and help more employers develop the cyber capability they need, whether through new talent pipelines or reskilling existing teams.”

Alex Headley, CEO of mthree, said: “Cyber security and AI are now workforce issues as much as they are technology issues. Employers in tech, banking, and the public sector cannot rely only on hiring experienced specialists from a limited pool – particularly when the skills they need are changing so quickly.

“CAPSLOCK brings deep cyber expertise, a proven training model and a clear focus on job outcomes. We already know the strength of that approach through our joint venture, and this acquisition allows us to scale it further for clients that need practical cyber and AI capability across their teams.”

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.