Rebecca Griffin has been appointed chief risk officer at specialist lender Afin Bank. Joining from 118 118 Money – where she held the same role – Griffin brings over 15 years of financial services experience.

With a foundation in accountancy at some of the UK’s big four firms, Griffin transitioned into compliance and finance spending almost 12 years at Hinckley & Rugby Building Society, helping to build the mutual’s compliance function and rising to CRO.

Afin Bank helps underserved borrowers who can struggle to get mortgages because of their unique circumstances, such as the self-employed, qualified professionals, high-net-worth borrowers and people from overseas living and working in the UK on a valid work visa.

New York firm XR has acquired UK business affairs specialist Telly Traffic.

London-based Telly Traffic works with many of the UK’s leading agencies and production partners.

XR says the move brings nearly two decades of TV clearance and delivery expertise directly into its platform, rather than treating business affairs as a manual back-office task.

The combined offer is specifically designed for advertisers and agencies that need to move faster across channels without increasing their compliance exposure.

Paraglide, an agentic AI product for accounts receivable, has raised a £3.6 million seed round co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners and DN Capital, with participation from Born Capital and The Nordic Web Ventures.

The funding will support the London startup’s expansion across Europe as demand for agentic automation in finance operations grows.

Built for high-volume B2B finance teams, Paraglide deploys AI agents that automate two-way billing communication across the AR lifecycle.

The agents respond to customers’ billing questions, chase overdue invoices, and take action across the financial stack to reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and improve cash flow.

Qflow has raised £2 million from Nasdaq-listed Autodesk, Inc.

The London startup said this marks a major step in its ambitious plan to link construction data back with design intent and builds on its existing product collaboration with Autodesk Construction Cloud.

Founded by Jade Cohen and Brittany Harris, Qflow reconciles construction data on real-time material quality, quantity and supply-chain intelligence back into design data.

It strives to enable construction teams to identify and resolve material-related issues before they cause delays, rework, or budget overruns.

Incard, a financial platform for high-growth digital companies, has raised £10m Series A funding.

The firm says the move that will bring greater financial control and agility to more eCommerce brands, agencies, affiliates and resellers.

The funding round was led by Smartfin, with participation from Founders Capital, MountFund and top-tier angel investors.

Incard directly addresses a problem that CEO Theo Cesarini and his co-founders Soraya Tribouillois, Liam Seskis and Matteo Martino experienced first-hand as serial entrepreneurs.

The banking system is fragmented, and owner-founders are often juggling between various apps, systems and spreadsheets to keep track of their cashflow, invoicing and ad spending. Incard’s co-founders decided to create a solution that would do this in one place, and in a way that keeps pace with the growth of digital businesses. The company is building what it describes as a financial operating system, an orchestration layer that sits on top of banking, payments and financial tools, and adapts them to the way modern digital businesses actually run.

The Incard platform gives users access to business banking, corporate cards with built-in rewards, and connected banking accounts in a single interface. Companies can extend the platform with tools from the Incard App Store that are suitable for their industry and growth stage. Users can also access invoicing and spend management, alongside cashback on key business expenses. Additional tools support treasury, working capital and other financial needs.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The chair of ZOO Digital Group plc  is to step down from the listed Sheffield company.

ZOO, which works with some of the world’s biggest streaming platforms on subtitling and dubbing content, is eyeing a return to profit after slashing $7.7 million from its annual cost base.

Gillian Wilmot CBE, who joined the board in July 2019, has decided to step down no later than the company’s 2026 AGM. Mickey Kalifa, who joined the board in October 2017, will also step down as a non-executive director in line with best practice corporate governance as he approaches his maximum nine-year tenure.

Their departure dates will be announced in due course, ZOO said.

Former Channel and Capital Radio figure Nathalie Schwarz, currently a NED and senior independent director of the company, will assume the role of chair with effect from Wilmot’s departure.

Last summer BusinessCloud spoke with frustrated freelancers who claimed the firm had not paid them for work completed, with one even involving a lawyer. 

Multiple translators and linguists working for ZOO claimed they have had to repeatedly chase invoices, with some considering legal action after months of silence.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

An investor in CAB Payments is considering making an improved £213 million bid for the FinTech.

Helios Consortium saw a $1.05-per-share offer for CAB Payments rebuffed last month and said it is seeking recommendation for an improved $1.15-per-share bid.

That would represent a 21% premium to the volume weighted average share price for the 30-day trading period ended 30th January 2026; and a 37% premium to the 90-day average.

The FinTech floated in 2023 with market cap of £851m but has endured torrid time as a listed company. Its share price plummeted more than 70% in the first three months of public trading.

However after reporting that it expects to deliver a stronger-than-expected performance for FY25, its share price has begun to rebound at the start of 2026.

Author: Chris Maguire

BusinessCloud has continued where it left off last year with a record-breaking start to 2026.

A total of 66,800 people visited our website in January – up nearly 25 per cent on the same month last year.

It builds on a record-breaking 2025 for BusinessCloud, which saw a 71 per cent increase in website visitors to 818,000.

January also saw BusinessCloud join forces with the UK’s largest community of board advisors to hold a series of exclusive UK-wide masterclass business events in 2026.

VirtualNonExecs is the UK’s largest community of board advisors, giving corporate partners unparalleled access to the boardrooms of over 50,000 SMEs and the first event will take place in Leeds on February 25^th.

January also saw reporter Patrick Killeen depart BusinessCloud after 14 months for pastures new.

Symcox is the joint owner of Rochdale-based BusinessCloud alongside executive editor Chris Maguire. They were joined last year by executive chairman Frazer Durris.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

FitzWalter Capital has opted against making a final bid to buy Auction Technology Group.

FitzWalter, ATG’s largest shareholder, recently slammed the company for failing to grant it access to conduct due diligence.

On 16th January 2026, FitzWalter announced that it was considering making an offer at a price of 400 pence in cash per ATG share after its previous 12 bids were rejected.

With a deadline of 5pm on 2nd February for any firm and final offer fast approaching, FitzWalter said the financial terms would not be improved – and this morning said it would not formalise a final bid.

A former Revolut duo have raised £4.3 million seed funding for their crypto startup Bleap.

Joao Alves and Guilherme Gomes worked at the FinTech giant as lead operations manager and product manager, respectively.

Alves claims to have scaled Revolut’s card issuing programme, from issuing less than 5m cards in five years to issuing 100m+ cards in the following three years. 

The duo said they saw a growing disconnect between modern user interfaces and the infrastructure moving money behind the scenes.

Bleap uses blockchain technology as the settlement layer, effectively rebuilding this infrastructure from the ground up.

 

Video games legends have joined a £1.8 million seed round into Levellr.

Founded by Tom Gayner and Ben Barbersmith in 2021, Levellr reflects the founders’ experience at YouTube, Octagon and MyCujoo, addressing the community and audience challenges they saw first-hand.

CTO Barbersmith is a former senior technology partner at YouTube. The tech he has built uses AI to help brands and games studios understand and monitor Discord.

Newcastle-based iamproperty has acquired lead generation firm The ValPal Network.

The PropTech, which is backed by private equity firm Perwyn, is building an ecosystem of estate agent services.

The ValPal Network, based in Kent, is an automated valuation and lead generation platform for estate agents and has worked with iamproperty for several years. 

It says it currently generates more than a million leads a year for more than 4,000 estate agency partners across the UK.

Author: Chris Maguire

Luxury cruise retailer Panache Cruises has stepped in to hire eight staff from dnata Travel Group after they announced plans to close their Travel Republic and Netflights consumer brands.

The new recruits have more than 150 years’ experience between them in the travel industry and join the Chorley-based company after a period of record growth.

The new additions are head of sales Luke Roberts; partnerships manager John Poulton; senior graphic designer Darren Woodcock; head of TV and content Amanda Parker; content and website manager Vicky McNeil; partnerships manager Ryan Norman; CRM manager Wayne Pashley; and partnerships executive Lauren Joyner.

In a separate move, Sarah Allen has joined from Morson Group as people and culture director and Wendi Hardy is the new events and customer loyalty manager after nine years at Scenic and Emerald Cruises.

James Cole, founder and CEO of Panache Cruises, said the recruitment drive reflected a ‘significant six figure investment’ but would enable them to bring forward their international expansion plans.

Cole said: “The travel industry is very close knit and dnata Travel Group is only based a few miles away in Leyland so we quickly became aware of their plans to close Travel Republic and Netflights.

“My first thought was for the people who may lose their jobs.

“Then I realised there were going to be some good people looking for roles so I made contact to see how we could help and it snowballed from there.”

Author: Chris Maguire

The latest series of The Apprentice started with a double firing in Hong Kong.

Georgina Newton and Nikki Jetha were the first candidates in series 20 to hear Lord Sugar utter the dreaded work: ‘You’re fired.’

The record-equalling 20 candidates were tasked with securing nine items under the watchful eye of aides Karren Brady and Tim Campbell.

Both sides struggled but team leader Newton and project manager Jetha came under particular scrutiny after the female team only secured two items, with  half the team late to the finishing line.

Newton, who is an East London-based actress and events manager, did at least live up to her promise to bring sunshine to the show during her brief appearance.

The double firing means there are now 18 candidates vying for Lord Sugar’s £250k investment and mentorship.

ANS Academy, which is part of Manchester-headquartered digital transformation company ANS, has become the first apprenticeship provider to be awarded a ‘strong standard’ across all categories under the new Ofsted assessment framework.

The recognition underscores the industry-leading quality of the provider and its role in developing future technology talent, as demand for digital skills continues to rise across the UK.

The Ofsted report highlights the Academy’s excellent performance across inclusion, leadership and governance, achievement, curriculum and teaching, and participation and development.

Inspectors also praised ANS’s ‘Academy-as-a-Service’ offering, which provides the same high-calibre apprenticeship training to other employers, including ANS’s partners and customers.

Launched in 2024, it supports organisations in developing skills across Infrastructure, cyber, DevOps, and AI, building a diverse pipeline of technical talent across the wider technology ecosystem.

Richard Thompson, CEO of ANS, said: “As the first apprenticeship provider to achieve such consistently strong results under the new framework, the Academy’s continued success is a real testament to our focus on developing the next generation of technology talent.”

Manchester-based marketing agency Trunk has been announced as the official creative partner of Sale Sharks.

Trunk will support Sale Sharks across a number of initiatives, utilising its significant sponsorship experience working with brands including TeamViewer, Jack Daniels and Greene King.

This includes collaborating on and sponsoring a new digital fan engagement initiative, plus making improvements to the Sale Sharks website following research with fans.

As part of their sponsorship, Trunk will also maintain pitch-side branding at the CorpAcq Stadium.

Jon Butler, CEO at Trunk, said: “We’re committed to proving the impact that sponsorship can have for businesses and clubs and working with Sale Sharks was a natural choice for us. There’s a real synergy between teamwork on the pitch, and the way we deliver results for clients in the office.”

Luisa d’Aprano, commercial director at Sale Sharks, added: “We’re delighted to welcome Trunk to the Sharks family as our official creative partner. The team has already demonstrated their expertise with the club and their award-winning work for other brands.”

 

Author: Chris Maguire

Jenna Meek last night fulfilled her long-held dream of lining up alongside regular Dragons Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Peter Jones and Steven Bartlett.

The 33-year-old was the first in a revolving door of guest Dragons to appear in the show, following the departure of Sara Davies.

Meek may have seen her Instagram followers soar from just under 14,000 to 15,400 following her appearance on the show but was she a hit or a miss?

BusinessCloud’s Chris Maguire kept watch on Jenna Meek, which ended with her making her debut Dragons’ Den offer.

A Dragons’ Den-style competition launched by disgraced former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is to be dissolved within days.

Pitch@Palace was launched in 2014 and described as an accelerator and incubator. It held events around the country where founders would pitch for investment, with some of them then selected to pitch investors at St. James’s Palace.

UK operations were suspended in 2019 and later dissolved. However despite the growing scandal around Andrew and his affiliation with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Pitch@Palace Global remained open.

Andrew, now stripped of his royal titles and income, was said to be attempting to sell the international operation – but interested party Dutch company Startup Bootcamp pulled out last year.

According to reports, almost all of the £220,990 cash it held in its accounts in March 2024 had been withdrawn 12 months later.

Documents to dissolve its international branch have been filed with Companies House, and will become active on 3rd February.

IG Group Holdings plc has completed its acquisition of Independent Reserve, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Australia, for an initial enterprise value of £86.8m.

The bolt-on transaction accelerates its entry into cryptocurrency markets in the Asia Pacific region.

FTSE 250 firm IG provides online trading platforms and educational resources to clients, including access to c.19,000 financial markets worldwide.

The deal is further to regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Roundhouse, an AI company with an Ethereum-denominated treasury, has listed on the Aquis Growth Market.

The company has raised gross proceeds of £1.106 million through the placing and has a market cap at IPO of £10,009,909.

Its services are around AI infrastructure, platform licensing and consulting.