Author: Chris Maguire

Activist investor Kelso Group Holdings has announced its latest investment in CVS Group, a leading integrated veterinary service provider.

It follows the purchase of 130,000 shares at an average price of 1,387p in recent weeks. CVS’s market capitalisation was £971m at the close of business yesterday (February 16^th).

On the back of the news CVS’s share price spiked to 1,408p, giving it a market cap of £989m.

Kelso, which is also an investor in NCC Group and THG, recently invested in over-50s group Saga and saw a 40 per cent rise in its investment in the first six weeks.

Sir Nigel Knowles, chairman of Kelso, said: “CVS has built a high-quality resilient platform operating in a structurally attractive market and has delivered an exceptional long-term record of consistent growth.

“Kelso’s investment reflects our conviction that the current valuation does not reflect the strength of the business, the quality of its earnings or its long-term strategic value.

“We believe disciplined capital allocation will be increasingly important in unlocking future shareholder value.

“Kelso is a supportive long-term shareholder, and we look forward to engaging constructively with management over time.”

fulfilment.com has secured up to £4m in a late seed investment round.

Founded in early 2024 by James Olsen, fulfilment.com was born from a direct frustration with the opaque, fragmented and outdated process of eCommerce firms finding third-party logistics partners.

fulfilment.com replaces these slow, manual processes with a data-driven marketplace utilising instant quoting, smart matching algorithms and real-time performance insights.

The round was led by Blackfinch Ventures, with participation from Haatch Ventures.

It will be used to scale fulfilment.com’s proprietary technology, accelerate team expansion, and strengthen the platform’s infrastructure to support a growing global user base, with an initial focus on the UK, EU, US, Canadian, and Australian markets.

Slough-based EnviroTech Organicco has secured £250,000 funding.

Founded in 2018 by Jonathan Ure and Gopal Jeyasundra, Organicco has developed a suite of modular ‘waste‑to‑value’ systems to convert industrial and organic waste into useful products such as biofertiliser, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), energy, hydrogen, food‑grade CO₂ and carbon credits.

The funding comes from the FSE Group, and via the Thames Valley Berkshire Funding Escalator.

HealthTech startup Nul has raised $1m seed funding to develop its platform helping people to reduce their alcohol consumption.

Founded by Matus Maar, a former VC and co-founder of Talis Capital, Nul combines clinical care and prescription medication, digital treatment pathways and behavioural support.

Following the 2023 venture capital downturn, Maar found himself drinking daily – and took the opportunity to go travelling with his family and reset.
When he returned he founded Nul in London. The company’s programme is based on naltrexone, a medication used to reduce alcohol cravings by targeting reward pathways.

The round was led by dmg ventures and BYVP, with participation from angel investors.

Innovators across the UK are being offered £20 million of government funding to develop cutting‑edge medicines, medical technologies and digital tools to tackle drug and alcohol addiction.

Thousands of people die every year from substance misuse and addiction – with hundreds of thousands more suffering.

Grants, delivered through Innovate UK, will support the development and deployment of new technologies designed to improve treatment, strengthen recovery and reduce harm from drug and alcohol addiction.

Meaningful Planet has closed a seed funding round led by SFC Capital to address structural failures in the business mobile market.

Meaningful Planet provides business mobile connectivity through its own network offering, with MILO, its integrated management platform, using predictive analytics and machine learning to monitor usage across entire SIM estates, detect inefficiencies before they become costly, and automatically optimise plans.

Legacy mobile providers often profit from complexity and limited oversight. Meaningful Planet takes the opposite approach, giving businesses confidence, clarity, and control by automatically optimising entire SIM estates to eliminate inefficiency and reduce ongoing admin, rather than monetising overages or accidental roaming.

The British Business Bank has made a cornerstone commitment of up to £45m to Redrice Ventures’ targeted £75m Fund II to support the UK’s creative industries.

The Bank previously backed Redrice’s Fund 1 in 2021 with a £36m cornerstone commitment, catalysing private investment into the oversubscribed fund.

Founded in 2018, Redrice Ventures is a London-based venture capital firm that specialises in seed-stage investments across the creative industries sector, supporting premium, purpose-driven consumer brands and related B2B technology.

Redrice invests at the intersection of creativity and commerce, backing high-growth brands primarily across media, sport, health and wellness where creativity is central to value creation.

Newcastle-based performance intelligence company Leaf has announced the launch of Leaf Signal, a fully-managed server-side conversion tracking & AI-powered monitoring solution for eCommerce brands. 

Signal addresses what Leaf describes as the most critical but underinvested part of the performance marketing chain: conversion tracking. According to Leaf, broken tracking affects 97% of the eCommerce brands it audits, silently and significantly undermining paid media performance, analytics accuracy and marketing profitability.

Leaf Signal improves the abundance, accuracy, richness and reliability of data flowing into ads, email and analytics platforms through a combination of advanced browser and server-side tracking, first-party data enrichment, AI-powered monitoring and ongoing expert support. The result is enhanced attribution, improved data integrity and stronger foundations for profitable performance marketing, in a privacy-first era.

More than £3m has been invested into 13 Northern Ireland companies by Co-Fund III in the first year since the co-investment fund was launched last December, according to new figures released today.

A key part of Invest Northern Ireland’s Access to Finance suite of loan and equity funds, Co-Fund III is a £39m equity investment fund managed by Clarendon Fund Managers which invests in SME businesses alongside private investors and business angels.

The first-year total of £3.1m invested by Co-Fund III has been matched by £5.4m of private investment, with an additional £1.9m of leveraged funding. The fund makes equity investments of between £150,000 and £500,000 in high-growth businesses and to date, 16 investments have been completed in 13 local SMEs across various sectors, including health sciences, fintech and agriculture.

Among the companies that have received investment, four are female-founded businesses – representing 31% of the total investment portfolio this year alone. It is expected that Co-Fund III will invest in approximately 65 companies over a 10-year period, with average initial investments set at around £250,000. One recipient of funding was Senergy Innovations, a female-founded, Carryduff-based company that specialises in the design, supply and installation of complete solar thermal hot water solutions to homes and businesses.

The company’s innovative Sentherm conductive polymers have tailored filler networks and anisotropic material design and manufacturing process control that achieve hybrid polymers for EVs, batteries and automotive related electronics with 95% of aluminium’s thermal performance and 25-45% reduced component weight.

Senergy received funding of £500,000 from Co-Fund III, as part of a £1.25m round, which has been used by the business to increase sales of their solar solution, build out the team and develop new products for the automotive market.

Greater Manchester’s high‑potential businesses are now invited to apply for Cohort 2 of the International Scale Up Programme, a fully funded initiative designed to accelerate the region’s global trade performance and help companies expand with confidence into international markets.

Delivered through Greater Manchester’s Enhanced Trade Partnership, the programme combines the capabilities and networks of the GM Business Growth Hub, Department for Business and Trade, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Building on the momentum established by Cohort 1 — where businesses have already begun exploring new markets, sharpening their export strategies and forming early international connections — Cohort 2 will benefit from a broadened programme offer. 

This includes an expanded schedule of export‑readiness workshops, deeper sector‑specific insights, and enhanced access to overseas partners and commercial networks. Participants will be supported to develop robust export action plans, identify high‑potential markets, and gain practical guidance to navigate global opportunities with confidence.

The programme is designed to support businesses at every stage of their export journey — from those exploring international markets for the first time to those looking to scale existing overseas activity. Applications are open until 27 February, with the programme beginning at the end of March 2026.

For more information about the programme, eligibility criteria and how to apply, please visit: GM Business Growth Hub | International Scale Up Programme.

EI Group, a source of data and intelligence for investment professionals across private markets, has appointed Edouard Tavernier to succeed Tim McLoughlin as CEO.

Tavernier joins PEI Group from S&P Global, where he most recently served as President of S&P Global Mobility and led the transformation of the business into the leading data and analytics provider to the global automotive industry, with revenues of $1.8 billion in 2025.

He brings deep experience of building and scaling information and technology businesses, driving product-led organic growth and executing strategic acquisitions across global markets.

PEI Group has become the largest independent provider of intelligence and connections to the global private-markets community, serving GPs, LPs and service providers alike.

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) has launched an AI Academy for 134 staff, in partnership with upskilling platform Multiverse. 

Training will be delivered to staff from across the whole university, from academics to professional services staff working at all levels and in all aspects of the university community.

The academy will help LJMU staff use AI to reduce time spent on manual administrative tasks, strengthen data handling capabilities, improve financial resilience and build a consistent, institution-wide approach to responsible AI use.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

CoinCover, a digital asset disaster recovery firm, has appointed Silicon Valley veteran Jeremy Verba as its new CEO.

Verba replaces co-founder David Janczewski, who remains a key advisor to the Cardiff-headquartered firm and will continue to serve on its board.

“I founded the company to revolutionise the world of blockchain protection by making digital asset ownership safe and secure for everyone,” said Janczewski. 

“Our platform and technology are now proven in the market and we are well positioned to continue underpinning the future of the industry. Jeremy’s appointment brings in decades of experience that sets us up to do that at scale.”

His co-founder Adam Smith, who served as CTO, left the firm a year ago.

Finova has announced the appointment of Anja Schneider as chief delivery officer as the business continues to strengthen its leadership team and scale its operations.

Schneider brings over 20 years of experience leading delivery organisations and complex technology programmes, with 15 years of expertise in financial services across both product and consultancy environments.

She will be responsible for shaping and leading a new delivery function focused on high-quality execution, smooth onboarding, and successful adoption of Finova’s platform by clients.

Digital services provider Littlefish Group has acquired Stripe OLT, a scaling firm in managed IT and cybersecurity.

Nottingham-headquartered Littlefish secured backing from private equity firm Bowmark Capital in 2022 and is now led by Ursula Morgenstern.

Like Littlefish, Stripe OLT specialises in Microsoft-led solutions. Based in Bristol, it has offices in Manchester and London.

The firm’s combined workforce is 900 specialists. Littlefish says the deal strengthens the group’s position supporting public sector and national healthcare services.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A former UK managing partner at DLA Piper is to lead LEXcelerate – a new Sheffield-based AI law firm.

LEXcelerate has been launched by Yorkshire AI Labs and aims to do for conveyancing what Uber did for taxis.

The firm will be led by Paul Firth, a highly respected figure in British commercial property law who also served as national head of real estate at Irwin Mitchell, tripling the size of the practice in four years. Firth is also a former CEO and chair of Creative Sheffield.

LEXcelerate is co-founded by Mark Hewitt, the architect of the firm’s proprietary AI platform and a 30-year veteran of legal and manufacturing technology.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Octopus Energy Generation is injecting nearly $1 billion in California CleanTech – a move which it says will boost growth back here in the UK.

One of Europe’s leading investors in renewable energy, Octopus will back two Californian carbon removal companies pioneering grassland restoration and reforestation to transform degraded land into high-quality CO2-absorbing assets.

It says several Big Tech companies have already been lined up as carbon credit offtakers.

Author: Chris Maguire

Last year, Gokce Güven’s face graced the front cover of Forbes after being included in the 30 Under 30 cohort for 2025.

The founder and CEO of Kalder, a New York-based technology startup focused on business loyalty and rewards programs, was included in the advertising and marketing category.

“So excited to share – I’m on the COVER of Forbes 30 Under 30,” she gushed.  “This is just the beginning.”

Fast forward 12 months and Güven is back on the front page – but this time the news is less celebratory.

That’s because the young entrepreneur has been charged by US authorities with securities fraud, wire fraud, visa fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

The charges arise from an alleged scheme by the defendant to defraud investors in her technology startup Kalder out of $7m by misrepresenting Kalder’s financial performance.

The US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York also accused Güven, who is a citizen of Turkey, of forging documents to obtain an O-1A visa, reserved for individuals of ‘extraordinary ability’, that would allow her to live and work in the US.

If found guilty, Güven could be jailed for up to 52 years.

The news spread like wildfire on social media, with many commentators referring to the ‘curse’ of Forbes 30 Under 30.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The share price of SkinBioTherapeutics plc has crashed after its former CEO was accused of misrepresenting results by the company’s board.

Stuart Ashman, who joined in 2024, was briefly suspended by the listed Newcastle firm last week and he resigned soon afterwards.

SkinBioTherapeutics said on Friday that it was investigating Ashman over ‘matters relating to his conduct’.

This morning it said new information had given the board ‘reason to believe that the former CEO has misrepresented material information to the board and senior management, the company’s auditors and advisors’. 

Specifically, he is accused of inflating accrued royalty income recorded in the audited accounts for the year ended 30th June 2025.

This amounted to £770,000 and is now expected to be removed from the FY25 accounts, subject to confirmation by auditors, when they are restated.

47% has been wiped off its share price today, leaving it 67% down over the last five days.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Rosebank Industries plc is eyeing a £3 billion double swoop.

The Jersey-headquartered firm is listed in London and was established by former senior management at Melrose, with former chief executive Simon Peckham serving as CEO.

Rosebank, which made its first acquisition last summer in Electrical Components International, says it operates a proven model of ‘buy, improve, sell’.

This was also a tagline at Melrose, a Birmingham-based turnaround company which bought out, operated and – in some cases – sold engineering companies.

Peckham and three Melrose colleagues – including Chris Miller, now senior independent director at Rosebank – were criticised in 2018 after each of them were paid more than £40m in bonuses as part of a £8bn swoop for Redditch-based engineering giant GKN.

Rosebank is now eyeing two of American Securities’ portfolio companies: processing equipment supplier CPM, which supports the food and renewable energy sectors; and precision component engineer MW Industries.