Tandem has announced a series of senior leadership changes.

The digital challenger bank says the moves are part of a new investor-backed strategy focused on sustainable finance – helping customers live more sustainably and build everyday financial resilience. 

Simon Bowen joins Tandem as chief risk officer, bringing over 25 years of risk and finance transformation experience across the UK banking sector, most recently as CRO at Hodge Bank as well as senior roles at Lloyds Banking Group and Principality Building Society. 

Tandem has also strengthened its wider risk leadership with the appointment of Natalie Trist as director of credit risk strategy, bringing over 25 years’ credit leadership experience across HSBC, Close Brothers, Secure Trust Bank and Vanquis Banking Group.

Kevin Purcell joins as chief people officer, succeeding Catherine Diamond. Formerly CPO at Secure Trust Bank, he also served as CPO at Universities Superannuation Scheme and has held senior HR leadership roles at Barclays Investment Bank and UBS Investment Bank. 

Tandem has also confirmed further internal changes. 

Shield Therapeutics plc has reported a large increase in revenues and narrowing losses in its latest half-year results.

The commercial-stage pharmaceutical company specialises in iron deficiency and says it remains on track for operating profitability in 2026.

For the six months ended 30th June 2026, group revenues were $30.4 million, increasing 42% over H1 2025.

Its losses significantly narrowed from $9.5m to $2.3m, driven primarily by higher group revenues alongside continuance of streamlining business expenditures.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Singular Photonics, a developer of next-generation image sensors, has closed a £1.6 million funding round.

The Edinburgh-based fabless semiconductor startup has also announced that Dipesh Patel, the former CTO of global semiconductor giant Arm, has joined the company’s board of directors.

During his 25 years at Arm, Dr Patel held a number of general and technical management positions culminating in his role as CTO where he was responsible for the research and digital IT functions. 

Based in the US, Dr Patel is the chairman of Leeds-based Optalysys, a company looking to harness light to transfer data securely and at high speeds.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Former leaders at GCHQ & Darktrace have raised £16 million to expand Prevalent AI in the United States.

The bootstrapped cybersecurity company has built a data fabric and knowledge graph over the last nine years which is used by several leading global enterprises.

The funding comes from Los Angeles-based Integrity Growth Partners and marks Prevalent AI’s first primary capital raise.

Flip, an AI-native employee experience platform for frontline workers, has raised £19 million.

AI is reshaping careers for people who sit at a desk but, for the estimated 80% of the world’s workforce who don’t, it barely exists – and the risk isn’t just missing out on a new tool. 

Workers across production, retail, logistics, care and hospitality are being left behind colleagues who are building AI skills. Frontline roles risk staying exactly as they are, which could have a detrimental impact on their pay, progression and job security in sectors where turnover is already high.

The new round is backed by existing investors Notion Capital and HV Capital, who are expanding their stake in the software company. L-Bank, the development bank of the state of Baden-Württemberg, is also joining as a new investor along with a consortium of business angels and institutional investors filling out the rest. 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Medly AI has raised almost £6 million seed funding ‘to give every kid an AI tutor’.

Described as the world’s first AI tutor for exam prep, the platform launched in February 2025 and claims to have scaled its user base to more than 400,000 in the UK alone. 

It has also joined major British success stories ElevenLabs and Pearson in being awarded the Department for Education’s competitive AI Tutoring Tools Pioneers Programme grant in July this year, which is focused on improving the academic attainment of disadvantaged pupils across England.

The round was led by Felix Capital and backed by existing investors Eka Ventures and Ada Ventures. 

The UK government has announced the introduction of AI to be used on the police’s non-emergency line to cut waiting times and reduce pressure on call handlers to ensure the public reach the right department quicker.

The initiative is backed by £1.4 million of government investment to use the new AI call-routing system to automatically identify why someone is calling 101 and redirect issues to the correct agency before the caller enters a queue.

The 101 line receives 20 million calls a year but around 20 per cent are misdirected and should have gone to other organisations including local councils and NHS 111. The service also faces thousands of prank calls from complaints about slow pub service to requests for a lift which wastes vital police time.

The new system, developed by the Home Office will help forces respond more quickly to crime reports to safeguard concerns and victim who need urgent support. It is estimated to save pole up to £8.5 million annually and free resources for frontline priorities.

John Lucey, VP EMEA at Cellebrite, said: “AI powered systems are accelerating police and law enforcement processes and empowering them to keep pace with crime in this digital landscape, acting as an assistant while human expertise remains at the forefront.

“AI can quickly generate contextual summaries from callers and direct calls to the right handler to act more consistently and crack down on even the most difficult crimes. The key is to always maintain a human-in-the-loop approach with clear audit trails and oversight that gives investigators control of what evidence is brought forward.”

Mvmnt, a TV-first fitness platform, today announces a comprehensive brand evolution alongside the launch of RepCon: a new feature that brings live coach-led fitness competition to TV screens with hardware-free rep-tracking.

RepCon brings live fitness competition into the home environment, without the hardware dependency that has defined the category to date. Built on form-tracking technology developed in-house by Mvmnt, RepCon uses a standard smartphone camera to count reps in real time as users follow the coach-led workout on their TV screen; removing the need for wearables, sensors, or any additional hardware.

As a fully bodyweight-based format, RepCon requires no equipment investment, making it accessible across fitness levels.

Live scores feed into an on-screen leaderboard on users’ TV, letting members compete for top spots, beat personal bests, and unlock a competitive edge; all while connecting with the wider Mvmnt community. Available via live weekly broadcasts and on-demand sessions, RepCon combines high-energy coaching with real-time performance data designed to keep members accountable, engaged, and coming back for more.

UK agtech startup EcoNomad Solutions has received £230,000 in funding from the British Design Fund to help small livestock farms cut methane emissions, reduce rising energy and fertiliser costs, and turn organic waste into renewable energy.

The investment forms part of a wider £400,000 funding round alongside an Innovate UK Investor Partnership grant and additional support from existing investor Beeches Group.

Small and mid‑sized livestock farms across the UK and Europe face a triple challenge: rising energy and fertiliser costs, tightening regulations around slurry and waste management, and pressure to reduce methane emissions, with agriculture being one of the largest sources of man‑made methane globally. Yet most existing anaerobic digestion systems are built for large farms, making them too expensive, too complex, or simply too big for smaller operators.

EcoNomad’s flagship product, the BioNomad, is designed specifically to close this gap. The patented system captures methane that would otherwise be emitted, converts organic waste into biogas for heating, cooking or electricity, and produces high‑quality biofertiliser that reduces reliance on chemical inputs.

Maven Capital Partners has exited WaterBear Education, a specialist higher education provider for musicians and creative artists, after it was sold to School of Arts – a private higher education group focused on performing and visual arts across France and Belgium.

The music education provider now serves more than 1,000 students across Brighton and Sheffield.

The transaction is expected to deliver a total money multiple of 3.0x for the Maven VCTs and 1.6x for the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, including an element of deferred consideration.

The founder of Liverpool property group Signature has been banned as a company director after investors lost more than £4.8 million through a linked company that distributed false and misleading marketing material.

Businessman Lawrence Kenwright – once linked with a run for Mayor of Liverpool – has been the director of almost 100 companies, including more than 60 under the Signature brand alone, with the group behind the creation of the Shankly and Dixie Dean hotels in Liverpool.

He was also director of Signature Works Gold Limited, which sold desk space to investors in three Liverpool city centre properties.

The 60-year-old allowed Signature Works Gold Limited to distribute promotional material containing false and misleading information, causing significant losses for investors.

The Insolvency Service found that Kenwright had “failed to ensure adequate stewardship and corporate governance” of the company he directed.

Kenwright signed a disqualification undertaking just days before he was due to appear for trial following investigations by the Insolvency Service.

 

Newcastle-based FinTech Noggin HQ has launched its alternative credit scoring technology to UK lenders after raising £2.3 million in an oversubscribed seed round. 

The raise comes as the business successfully obtains its credit referencing authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority, meaning it can now provide its cashflow-based credit data to FCA-authorised lenders. 

This latest round of funding was led by Blackfinch Ventures, with continued participation from Oxford Capital and Bethnal Green Ventures and several domain-specific angel investors, including Alastair Douglas, former CEO of TotallyMoney.  

The firm previously raised £710,000 in pre-seed funding, led by Oxford Capital with support from Bethnal Green Ventures and other investors. 

Childhood friends Evangeline Atkinson and Laura Mills founded the company after they were declined for credit despite being in full-time work and paying rent and bills. 

The experience highlighted how people with thin credit files, limited borrowing histories or time spent living abroad can appear risky, even when their banking data shows they can afford to repay.

Y1 Group, a British sports and custom apparel company that rose to fame following its appearance on BBC show Dragons’ Den, has acquired university clothing specialist Redbird Apparel in a seven-figure deal.

The acquisition brings together two founder-led businesses that each began with just a few thousand pounds from their student loans. They have been built without venture capital investment and now form a combined business generating more than £7.5 million in annual revenue.

It also creates one of the UK’s leading providers of premium branded apparel by combining Y1’s expertise in bespoke sportswear, teamwear and custom merchandise with Redbird’s fashion-led university clothing, rapid-turnaround collections and eCommerce platform.

 

Assetz Capital, the specialist in property lending, has appointed Callum Thompson and Vincent Ricks as Business Development Managers, deepening its on-the-ground capability across the North West and reinforcing its commitment to SME housebuilders and brokers across the region.

Thompson joins from Together where he spent the last two years as a development underwriter, he brings expertise from across the SME market, with a deep understanding of the pain points and opportunities for developers across the UK market.

Vincent brings over 15 years’ experience working across business development within the property and mortgage sectors, having spent this time working with developers and brokers across the market to support development activity and SME developers.

These latest appointments follow two further additions to Assetz’s business development team in June. This includes Georgia Peach and Joe Reynolds, who joined as business development managers in the North West and London teams respectively.

Seismic has completed its merger with Highspot.

Operating under the Seismic name and led by Seismic CEO Rob Tarkoff, the combined company measures how effectively companies turn strategy into revenue. Post-merger, Seismic now enables 2,500 customers and 3.5 million users worldwide to excel in revenue execution.

It serves the world’s largest and most respected brands that operate on a global scale in all major industries, including Allianz Trade, Expedia Group, IBM, Invesco, Oracle, Royal London Asset Management, Thomson Reuters and Uber.

Nominations are now open for the everywoman in Technology Awards, the longest-running programme celebrating the tech industry’s most exceptional female talent. Women have until 26th October to submit their entries for this year’s programme, which is free to enter. 

Now in its 17th year, these prestigious awards represent women at every stage of their careers, from apprentices to the C-Suite, shining a light on their achievements so they can be valuable role models to inspire the next generation and help to attract more women to the sector. 

Solihull-based FLAGS Software has been sold to US-headquartered Recur Software.

Founded in 1989, FLAGS is a specialist provider of quality management and production control software used within complex manufacturing environments across the automotive, aerospace, rail and marine sectors.

Its technology captures quality and production data at the point of build, supporting manufacturers with product traceability, earlier identification of quality issues and reduced rework. 

FLAGS software has been deployed within manufacturing environments operated by companies including Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley Motors, Aston Martin and Harley-Davidson.

 

Specialist military vehicle manufacturer North Defence has invested in two significant hires as the £25m firm prepares to announce its next wave of innovation.

With vast autonomous technology expertise, Greg Homewood has joined as chief engineer. An accomplished defence sector designer with 15 years’ industry experience, he most recently led a robotics team on UGV projects for a major prime contractor.

Operating from North Defence’s West Yorkshire facilities, he will play a critical role in the development and deployment of next-generation technology for the modern battlefield.

Known for innovation with empathy – and with strong military DNA running throughout the existing team – North Defence has also welcomed esteemed British Army veteran Russell Bailey, as chief defence liaison officer.

Russell joined the army as a private soldier in 1989 and, having moved up through the ranks, commissioned to officer in 2013. Assigned to multiple missions including Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, he retired as major earlier this summer, as second in command of Old College at the Royal Army Military Academy Sandhurst.

Core to his new role is continued dialogue with the stakeholders North Defence is here to serve, especially on the front-line. Russell will also drive deeper collaboration between the firm’s UK manufacturing hubs and Luxembourg centre of innovation excellence, where he will work closely with Ana Vale Lopez who already heads up that operation.

Completing the people announcements, Oscar North – son of founder Oliver – has graduated as a production engineer, having begun his apprenticeship with the group two years ago.

Online examination platform Synap has released Synoptic—an exam proctoring solution that’s designed for transparent security, fair monitoring and equitable exam access.

The launch comes at a critical time, reinforcing recent calls from Ofqual Chief Regulator Ian Bauckham for exam boards to clamp down on cheating.

As AI tools become more sophisticated and online exam providers face growing scrutiny over the integrity of online assessments, organisations and institutions alike need better evidence, not heavier surveillance.

Synoptic has been built on years of Synap’s experience working with educational institutions, training providers and enterprise users, where they have successfully delivered proctored exams across extremely diverse environments, ranging from stable, high-bandwidth settings to regions with limited power and network availability. Synoptic aims to replace blanket surveillance with configurable proctoring features and clear audit trails to maintain academic integrity in digital settings.

Dr James Gupta, CEO of Synap – star of our EdTech 50 ranking – explained why this transparent proctoring is essential for scaling secure online exams.

“While online exams have expanded rapidly in recent years, third-party proctoring tools have faced growing criticism for intrusive candidate monitoring, inconsistent flagging and data compliance concerns,” he said.

“At the same time, as online exams became more pervasive across sectors, tools like generative AI and wearable tech have also made cheating much harder to detect and prove. The conversation shouldn’t be whether online exams can be trusted. It should be whether institutions are using technology that deserves to be trusted.

“We wanted to offer a more seamless exam experience, so we created Synoptic to embed proctoring directly into the exam lifecycle.”

 

Peter Cox has been appointed non-executive chairman and has acquired a substantial shareholding in Prepay Services Ltd, a recently incorporated FinTech.

Cox brings more than 40 years of success and experience in payments and financial technology. He launched ClubCard with Tesco and assisted in the creation of Nectar under ID Data, then founded Contis in 2008 and developed the company into one of Europe’s leading Banking-as-a-Service and payments platforms. Contis was acquired for a significant sum by Solarisbank in 2021.

Since then he has been a serial investor in a number of regulated financial services companies including Capitalise.com and driven their move to profitability and market dominance.

His appointment reinforces Prepay Services’ commitment to strong governance, responsible innovation, regulatory compliance and the highest standards of customer protection as the business expands across Southern Africa and the wider African market.