Author: Chris Maguire

An AI startup co-founded by Steven Bartlett’s former business partner, Oliver Yonchev, has joined the London Stock Exchange.

The LSE welcomed Potentially AI PLC to its market close ceremony following the admission of its ordinary shares to trading on AIM via a £10m reverse takeover.

Potentially’s market capitalisation upon admission was approximately £20m, having raised gross proceeds of approximately £5m through a placing, subscription and WRAP Retail Offer.

Co-founder Yonchev, who previously co-founded Flight Story with Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett and served as CEO before exiting in 2024, said: “We’re proud to have raised growth capital from the City of London. By joining AIM, we hope Potentially will become a standard-bearer for tech companies in the UK to reconsider the opportunities a London stock market listing brings.

“Almost a year ago, Potentially was an idea and a bet on the future.

“Today, we began trading on the London Stock Exchange.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Digital wealth management platform Moneybox has today announced that it is preparing for a secondary share sale worth up to £45 million for long-serving employees that will value the company at around £800m.

It marks an increase of around 45% since 2024. 

In 2025, Moneybox exceeded £115m in annual revenue and delivered its third consecutive year of profitability. This momentum has continued into 2026 with more than 390,000 new customers joining the platform so far this year and £3.5 billion in net inflows in the first half of the year.

The firm says the increased valuation reflects the company’s continued growth, operational maturity and long term potential as increasing numbers of customers choose Moneybox to support them across every stage of their financial lives, from saving and investing to home-buying and retirement.

In the decade since it first launched, Moneybox has evolved from a simple saving and investing app to one of the UK’s fastest growing wealth management platforms, supporting more than 1.9m customers with over £23bn in assets under administration. 

Nichols, the international soft drinks business behind Vimto, has partnered with THG, owner of online sports nutrition brand Myprotein, to launch Myprotein Clear Whey Protein Water.

The new ready-to-drink range is designed to tap into growing consumer demand for health, wellness and functional beverages.

Launching in September 2026, Myprotein Clear Whey Protein Water will be available in two flavours: Vimto and Raspberry Lemon. The new 500ml range will have an RSP of £2.99 and is sugar-free, low in calories and contains 15g of clear whey protein. 

The firms say the product delivers all essential amino acids, while offering a lighter, more refreshing alternative to traditional milk-based protein drinks.

AIM-listed Shaires Holdings Ltd has made a raft of director and management appointments.

The firm, formerly known as Jade Road Investments, is a London-based public investment company providing investors with exposure to leading private mid and late-stage technology companies.

Suhail Rizvi has joined as executive chairman, Vivek Seth as CEO (not a board position) and Shervin Pishevar as vice chairman and non-executive director.

Current chairman John Croft will move into a NED position. 

The trio has collectively invested in, or advised on, transactions with an aggregate value exceeding multiple billions and have backed many of the defining private technology companies of the past two decades, including SpaceX, Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Airbnb and Snapchat, in many cases long before those businesses entered the public markets.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

System1 Group plc has rejected a mooted £43 million takeover bid from fellow listed firm Brave Bison.

Founded 25 years ago, the marketing effectiveness research firm confirmed that it is in talks with the group – its largest shareholder – but has now rejected two potential offers.

Brave Bison, parent company of SocialChain, said the possible cash-and-share offer values System1 at £43.1m, equivalent to 20x FY26 operating profit and a 65% premium to its share price prior to the announcement.

It said the enlarged group would generate net revenues of £79m and adjusted EBITDA of £14m.

Brave Bison currently owns 28% of System1, having made a strategic investment in March which included a share exchange with System1’s founder, John Kearon, who now has an 8% shareholding in Brave Bison.

Spirit Healthcare, a UK healthcare services and products provider, has secured a £2 million debt finance package from the British Business Bank’s Midlands Engine Investment Fund II (MEIF II) for the East and South East Midlands, managed by Maven Capital Partners.

Spirit Health works with the NHS, patients and healthcare providers to improve access to care, enhance efficiency and reduce costs across the healthcare system.

The funding will support Spirit Health’s next phase of growth as it expands its NHS-facing products and services designed to help improve patient outcomes, reduce system costs and support teams delivering the care.

Spirit Health provides diabetes care products, including blood glucose meters and test strips, insulin pen needles and continuous glucose monitoring systems, complemented by clinical education, implementation support and medicines optimisation services. By combining products, technology and clinical expertise, the business helps the NHS deliver practical and cost-effective improvements in patient outcomes.

Concurrent Technologies Plc expects to report record results for the first half of 2026.

The designer and manufacturer of computer products, systems and mission critical solutions – used in high-performance markets by some of the world’s major OEMs – said that for the six months to 30th June 2026 it expects revenue of approximately £23.1m (H1 FY25: £21.1m).

Profit before tax is expected to come in at approximately £3.3m (H1 FY25: £2.7m).

First-half trading at Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc was below management’s expectations yet revenue grew 10% year-on-year (12% on a constant currency basis).

The nanopore-based sensing technology firm said that for the six months ended 30th June 2026, revenue is expected to be approximately £116.5 million.

In China revenue declined 16%, ‘reflecting enhanced export control restrictions and changes to commercial operations in the region, and the ongoing geopolitical situation in the Middle East, where revenue declined approximately 14%’.

Outside China and the Middle East, group revenue growth was approximately 16% (constant currency).

The government says four global cloud service providers are to be brought under a new regime from today to help strengthen the resilience of the UK’s financial system and protect services supplied to millions of people and businesses.

As banks, insurers and financial market infrastructures become increasingly reliant on cloud services, disruption at a major supplier could affect multiple firms at the same time, potentially impacting services customers depend on.

To help guard against this risk, the Government has designated Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services and Oracle as Critical Third Parties (CTPs).

The designation means the Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority will work together to jointly oversee the critical services they provide to the financial sector, helping reduce the risk of widespread disruption and strengthening collaboration across the financial services ecosystem.

Designated third parties will be subject to oversight by the UK financial regulators, helping to ensure they have robust arrangements in place to identify, manage and recover from operational disruption affecting critical services used across the financial sector.

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.