Work is underway on a refreshed and expanded version of the Leeds Tech Map – almost five years after the original design became a fixture across offices and meeting rooms throughout the region.

Leeds tech ecosystem builder Stuart Clarke MBE, who featured on our Northern Leaders list again this year, is behind the updated map which will again provide a visual snapshot of the city’s tech ecosystem.

Leeds-based tech firms are now invited to put themselves forward for inclusion through a competition called ‘The Techs Factor’.

To be considered, businesses must have a software development element at the core of their work and the majority of their tech team based in Leeds. All businesses that make it onto the final map will receive a printed copy when the new version is launched in February 2026.

Company directors and persons with significant control of a business will have to verify their identity with Companies House from today.

It is aiming to make it harder for people to set up companies or appoint directors using fake or stolen identities, while making it easier to expose disqualified directors and link multiple directorships to one person – helping to identify criminal networks.

Not complying with identity verification requirements on time is deemed as an offence and Companies House says it will take enforcement action against those who don’t do so – including financial penalties, referral to The Insolvency Service and prosecution through court.

TMT ID, a mobile data and identity intelligence company, has secured a £30 million investment from BGF as it plans to expand in the United States.

The London firm’s customer base has surpassed 260 organisations, ranging from small businesses to global technology leaders. 

Demand for TMT ID’s services has driven 30% growth so far this year compared with 2024, it said. Revenue from its identity and fraud product suite, which includes ‘know your customer’ and age verification, is up 80%.

This investment represents the first institutional partnership for TMT, which has been largely self-funded to date. 

Pollen Street Group has reported its quarterly results for the period ended 30th September 2025.

The alternative asset manager, which invests within the financial and business services sectors, said it continues to deliver strong progress in fundraising and deployment across both private equity and private credit strategies.

Total Assets under Management reached £6.7 billion as at 30th September 2025, up 9.9% from £6.1bn at 30 June 2025 and up 32% from Q3 2024 (September 2024: £5.1 bn).

Fee-paying AuM increased to £5.1bn as at 30th September 2025, up 9.7% from £4.7bn at 30th June 2025 and up 41.7% from Q3 2024 (September 2024: £3.6bn).

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Nanomaterials trailblazer Nanoco has seen its share price drop 2% in early trading after it reported its annual results.

The listed Runcorn firm, behind cadmium-free quantum dots used in monitors, TVs and infra-red sensors, is suing electronics giant LG after winning $150m in a legal dispute with Samsung in 2023.

For the year ended 31st July 2025, revenue decreased to £7.6m (FY24: £7.9m), while adjusted EBITDA improved to £1.5m (FY24: £1.2m) due to a reorganisation which saw the firm reduce its gross monthly cash cost base to £500,000 (FY24 Q4: £700,000). Reported cash at the period end was £14m (FY24: £20.3m).

During the year it completed a share buyback, fulfilling a commitment to return £33m to shareholders.

Nanoco also reported contracted organic and licence revenue of £7.6m for FY26 (FY25: £6.7m).

It said that it remained positive following the appointment of Dmitry Shashkov as CEO, Jalal Bagherli as non-executive chairman and Jai Subramanian as global head of business development during the period.

It added that it continues to explore a potential sale of its trading business: “Following an extensive reach-out process, we remain in discussions with several parties, assessing options which will deliver the best value for shareholders and wider stakeholders.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The takeover of TT Electronics Plc by Swiss electronics firm Cicor Technologies Ltd has been amended after a major shareholder said it would reject the £287 million deal.

DBAY, which owns a 16.5% stake in TT and saw three takeover bids of its own rejected, said recently that it is “not supportive of the acquisition”, which was for 100 pence in cash plus 55p in Cicor shares.

Now the boards of Cicor and TT have revised the terms to give shareholders the option of cashing out their shares in TT in entirety.

“The revised offer follows constructive engagement with the TT directors and TT’s major shareholders. While Cicor firmly believes that the original offer represented full and fair value for TT, it acknowledges the concerns of some TT shareholders that cannot, or otherwise do not wish to, hold Swiss-listed shares,” said TT.

Any shareholder who cashes out their shares in entirety will receive 150p per share, while the original deal is effectively still available to those who wish to take a stake in Cicor.

Softcat plc, a provider of IT infrastructure technology and services, has published its trading update for the first quarter ended 31 October 2025.

 The group traded well during the period, it said, delivering strong double-digit year-on-year growth in gross profit and underlying operating profit.

“Growth continues to be broad-based across technology areas and customer segments. The board is pleased with progress to date, which is consistent with the outlook provided in our full year results announcement,” it added.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

PPHE Hotel Group – +7.91%
WPP – +5.27%
Ceres Power – +4.23%
Diversified Energy – +4.12%
The Renewables Infrastructure Group – +3.75%

Tech companies whose share price has risen today include Oxford Biomedica (+1.99%), 3i Group (+1.56%), THG (+1.33%) and Plus500 (+1.2%).

Genuit Group – -13.52%
HICL Infrastructure – -7.13%
B&M – -4.3%
Burberry – -3.82%
Travis Perkins – -2.3%
Dunelm – -2.3%

Tech, investment and media companies to experience falls today include Oxford Nanopore (-1.99%), Future Publishing (-1.95%), Molten Ventures (-1.85%), Trustpilot (-1.82%), Frasers Group (-1.71%) and Convatec Group (-1.63%).

Pluxee, a benefits and engagement firm based in France, has launched its new employee experience platform in the UK, offering a solution to the growing financial and wellbeing challenges facing the British workforce.

The firm says the platform brings real-time savings, cashback, wellbeing support, and recognition into one centralised hub, allowing HR teams to track and boost employee engagement by up to six times.

It offers up to 15% cashback at over 80 retailers, including major supermarkets, through the Pluxee Card; savings for both employees and employers through salary sacrifice schemes, such as Green Car, Cycle to Work and annual leave purchasing; up to £1,200 in savings per year for an employee on the average UK salary, with discounts at over 500 leading retailers and gyms; and access to Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP), which offer dedicated support for menopause, mental health, relationships, stress, and financial wellbeing.

1nhaler, a Scotland-based drug delivery device developer, has secured an additional £1.5 million in seed funding to drive development of its novel pop-up cardboard dry powder inhaler (DPI).

The funding round was led by Archangels with support from Scottish Enterprise and BBB Investments. It follows an initial raise of £2 million in 2023 in a funding round also led by Archangels.

The investment will enable 1nhaler to advance its innovative platform technology towards a first Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) targeted for late 2027. This includes the manufacture of clinical material for regulatory studies and the design of large-scale commercial manufacturing processes.

Carbon3 has announced a £1 billion commitment to develop a nationwide network of data centres that will transform legacy industrial and energy infrastructure into secure, fully sustainable AI-ready hubs.

Designed, owned, and operated by Carbon3.ai, the firm says the network will deliver high-performance, low-carbon compute capacity to fuel the digital readiness of UK enterprise, research and public services. 

To drive this next phase of growth, Carbon3.ai has strengthened its leadership with a team that brings together deep expertise across government, finance, and national security. Sana Khareghani (pictured), former head of the UK Government Office for Artificial Intelligence, joins as chief strategy officer.

Khareghani is supported by advisors Richard Collier-Keywood, former vice chair of PwC’s global board and a seasoned leader in finance and governance whose experience will enable Carbon3.ai’s disciplined growth and investment strategy, and Sir George Zambellas, former Navy chief, who brings critical expertise in national resilience, infrastructure security, and technology leadership at scale.

Scottish Brain Sciences (SBS), a clinical research organisation dedicated to transforming the early detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, has opened a state-of-the-art clinical research centre at ONE BioHub in Aberdeen.

The new centre will enable people living with Alzheimer’s disease, and those concerned with memory issues, to participate in studies focused on the early detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions.

It becomes SBS’s third research facility, complementing the company’s research hub in St Andrews and its Edinburgh headquarters.

Debenhams Group has introduced a new agentic AI system to manage sales, stock and pricing during peak season.

Developed by Peak – the Manchester AI firm acquired by UiPath this year – the tech can predict, guide and autonomously act on decisions – enabling much faster reactions as shopping behaviour shifts through Black Friday and into Christmas.

With the busiest trading period for the group approaching, this technology is expected to save the merchandising team’s time each month while significantly increasing the speed and accuracy of decision-making across the group.

Debenhams Group is home to PrettyLittleThing, boohoo, boohooMAN, Karen Millen and Debenhams.

Penfold, the digital workplace pension provider, has surpassed £1 billion in pension assets under administration as more UK employers move away from legacy pension systems that are slow, complex and unengaging for staff.

The company, said to be one of the fastest-growing FinTechs in the UK, now supports thousands of employers nationwide, serving more than 100,000 savers across the UK, from fast-growing startups to SMEs and large established enterprises.

Penfold’s growth has also been driven by adoption from several category-leading global businesses operating in the UK, including Deel, Anthropic and Tide.

Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP has announced the promotion of almost 2,000 people across its UK offices.

These including 24 newly promoted partners across its Audit, Tax, Consulting, Risk & Outsourcing, Deals and Central Operations business areas.

Effective from 1 November 2025, the partner promotions follow the appointment of 16 new external partners since January, taking BDO’s partnership to more than 500.

Belfast-based compliance software developer AuditComply has been sold for an undisclosed sum to Toronto-headquartered cloud-based manufacturing software firm Nulogy.

AuditComply has developed a quality management platform which empowers manufacturers in multiple industries to track suppliers, drive higher quality, and increase throughput.

Led by Kevin Donaghy and Susan Fitzsimmons, the company has customers across the world using its software in 20 different languages.

The deal has resulted in a successful exit for Co-Fund NI, which was established by Invest NI and is managed by Clarendon Fund Managers. It invested in 2015 alongside a number of private angel investors, with further investment following from BGF and First Derivatives in 2017 and subsequently from British Business Investments through its Regional Angel Programme.

AI and data upskilling platform Multiverse is partnering with Palantir to upskill NHS staff on the Federated Data Platform (FDP) – a data infrastructure that connects health information, supplied by Palantir.

The two organisations are launching new, FDP-specific apprenticeship programmes to equip NHS staff with the critical AI and data skills needed to use the FDP effectively.

The first cohorts will launch early next year, with a curriculum tailored for a diverse range of NHS roles, including analysts, administrators, managers, and clinical staff.

The firms say the partnership will enhance staff training in support of FDP implementation and broader healthcare data initiatives, ultimately leading to improved patient care and operational efficiency.

Cirata plc has signed its largest-ever contract with IBM and says marks the latest step in its recovery since the appointment of Stephen Kelly as CEO.

The Sheffield company, which also has a HQ in California, has signed a $6.7m, three-year data integration software contract with IBM for a financial services customer.

It is under IBM’s existing OEM sales agreement for the Big Replicate platform.

The firm was founded as WANdisco by Dave Richards. He stepped down as CEO in 2023 during an investigation into a fraud scandal – related to the actions of a single sales employee – and the firm subsequently rebranded to Cirata plc.

Following the £1 billion sale of DCC Healthcare, DCC plc is proposing to return up to £600 million to its shareholders through a tender offer process, subject to shareholder approval.

The Irish sales, marketing and support services conglomerate, founded in 1976 as a venture capital firm and listed in London, is undergoing a restructure announced last year to simplify its business.

It recently also completed the sale of its UK & Ireland tech business for £100m.

The firm intends to acquire up to 11,952,191 ordinary shares from shareholders, representing up to approximately 12.3% of its current issued share capital.

“All successfully tendered shares will be acquired at a single price which will reflect the level of demand from shareholders to sell some or all of their shares within a certain price range,” it said.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Lift Global Ventures plc, an investment company focused on technology and financial media, has rebranded as Yorkshire AI PLC and appointed Dave Richards as executive chair.

The Sheffield-based firm has an ongoing working relationship with Yorkshire AI Labs and has decided to change its name – subject to shareholder approval – to reflect its sharpened focus on AI. He was previously non-executive chair at the firm.

It has also this morning announced a share exchange with IntelliAM Al PLC, a manufacturing AI firm based in Dinnington, South Yorkshire and listed on the Aquis exchange. It now holds 0.45% of the entire share capital of IntelliAM AI.

Multiple-exit entrepreneur Richards is the founder and former CEO of WANdisco. He stepped down following a fraud scandal – related to the actions of a single sales employee – and the firm rebranded to Cirata plc.