Author: Jonathan Symcox

hedgehog lab has appointed industry stalwart Julian Leighton as its new chair as the Newcastle-headquartered global product design consultancy continues to roll out its ambitious growth plans.

Leighton brings nearly 30 years’ tech experience to the firm, having cut his teeth with IBM business partners before co-founding digital agency Orange Bus with Mike Parker in 2006. 

Together, they scaled the business from two to 150 people before it was sold to then FTSE 100-listed outsourcer Capita 10 years later. 

Author: Chris Maguire

Whisper it quietly, but could THG drop out of the FTSE 250 Index (again)?

The Manchester-headquartered online retailer only returned to the prestigious FTSE 250 in September 2025 — three months after exiting when its share price dipped to 25p.

The company’s share price has been up and down like a rollercoaster ever since — topping 50p in January on the back of a stellar Q4 2025 trading update — but it is now back at 28p, giving it a market cap of £467.51m.

The share price woes have raised the possibility that THG could suffer the ignominy of dropping out of the FTSE 250 again unless it can turn its fortunes around.

However, talk of THG’s demise is premature for several reasons.

 

Annual revenues fell at Blackbird plc in 2025 while losses widened.

The AIM-listed firm is a technology licensor, developer and seller of a cloud-native video editing platform, Blackbird, and elevate.io, a ‘multiplayer’ editor available via browsers.

Revenues were £1.38m for the 12 months to 31st December 2025, down 14% year-on-year, primarily due to the loss of some deals in the Blackbird division together with the non-recurring revenues from the global Summer games in 2024.

The net loss for the year was £2.61m compared to a net loss of £2.35m in 2024.

The firm had 388 paying subscriber numbers as at 16th March 2026.

A placing, management subscription and retail offer recently raised around £2.13m – before expenses – to fund elevate.io through its product-market fit phase.

Half-year losses have widened at Quadrise Plc.

The London company is focused on the decarbonisation of shipping and heavy industry through deployment of low emission fuels and biofuels.

For the six months ended 31st December 2025, loss after tax was £2 million (H1 2025: £1.7m).

This included production and development costs of £1m, the firm said, which was £200k more than the corresponding period in the prior year. Administration expenses remained steady at £900,000.

The company’s strategy is to generate demand within the shipping industry and other sectors, while stimulating the supply of its fuels around global marine bunkering hubs.

Heidi Giles, the CFO of Optima Health plc, is to leave the company at the end of July.

The tech provider of corporate health and wellbeing solutions said that subject to the successful completion of the recently announced acquisition of PAM Healthcare, Optima will appoint Andrew Bones as interim CFO.

Gaming publisher Gfinity has reported positive half-year results.

The listed company, which closed its eSports division in 2023 after years of hosting tournaments and fielding teams, now comprises Gfinity Digital Media (a network of websites and related social platforms covering games and gamers), Connected IQ (a technology platform for connected TV and online video advertising) and Yentra.ai (an AI consulting and engineering business unit which is 51% owned by the company).

For the six-month period ended 31st December 2025, revenue increased 8% to £421,381, reflecting continued recovery in Gfinity Digital Media and initial contributions from Connected IQ.

Operating loss reduced to £220,082 (H1 FY25: £271,285), reflecting the combined benefits of revenue growth, improved margin quality and disciplined cost management, Gfinity said.

 

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Applied Nutrition plc has reported record half-year results 18 months after it floated in London.

The Liverpool firm was founded by fitness enthusiast Thomas Ryder in 2014 and went public in October 2024. Wayne Rooney’s wife Coleen recently increased her shareholding in the sports nutrition, health and wellness brand, while it also secured planning permission from Knowsley Council for a new 84,000 sq ft global distribution centre and corporate headquarters.

For the six months ended 31st January 2026, Applied Nutrition reported revenues of £74.5 million, an increase of 56.5%, while statutory profit before tax was £20.9m – a jump of 77.1%. Adjusted EBITDA was £21.5m, up 55.8%.

JD Wetherspoon saw its share price drop by 10 per cent after a sobering financial update for the six months to the end of January 25th, 2026.

Higher costs are being blamed for profits coming in below current market expectations, with shares closing at 557p.

Tim Martin, chairman of JD Wetherspoon plc, said: “As previously indicated, increases in national insurance and labour rates will result in cost increases of approximately £60m per annum, and non-commodity energy costs will add £7m.

“The ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ tax, a levy on packaging, will cost £2.4m in the current year, an increase of £1.6m.

“These cost increases will undoubtedly add to underlying inflation in the UK economy, although Wetherspoon, as always, will endeavour to keep price increases to a minimum.

“There is clearly considerable pressure on consumer finances, combined with higher taxes, wages and energy costs for the hospitality industry.

“This may result in profits that are slightly below current market expectations.”

• Shawbrook Group was one of the other biggest losers  on Friday as its share price dropped more than 8 per cent.

Author: Chris Maguire

Harry Clough was the 11^th candidate to be fired by Lord Sugar in the latest series of The Apprentice.

Clough who launched his latest business – Harry Can’t Sit Still, described as a drink ‘made for the ADHD and anxious’ – after being diagnosed with ADHD.

In the latest episode candidates were tasked with buying a number of items during a visit to the Isle of Wight.

Clough ended up in the losing team led by estate agent Kieran McCartney and was fired due to his purchasing of the SUP (stand up paddle board) being at too high

There are now just nine candidates  left vying for Lord Sugar’s £250k investment and mentorship.

Karishma Vikay has been tipped to win.

Mark Simester is on a mission  to make healthy kids snacks by combining them with technology.

He previously worked at Warburtons and Nestle but is now the CEO and founder of Imaginakery, which combines products, games and technology.

The company’s Jungle Squad lower sugar cake-bar boxes are already being snapped up by families across the UK.

Each five pack also includes three collectible character trading cards and an augmented reality game, designed to spark imaginative play beyond the snack itself.

Simester said: “One year ago, Jungle Squad didn’t exist. Now we’re seeing real orders, real families choosing a lower sugar option and real momentum building

“We’re still at the stage where every Shopify sale ping notification gets cheered like a goal in a World Cup final.

“If you’ve been thinking about trying Jungle Squad, now’s a great time to jump in.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

I first met Samson Opaleye at the Climb23 conference in Leeds three years ago.

Sam, who grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, had moved to the UK the previous year. He told me about his Instagram addiction and plans to tackle it with startup Applatch, which locked down certain apps on your phone when you needed to focus.

Fast-forward three years and Applatch, now Applatch Kids, is a very different business.

“It was a free app and we had 3,000 users,” he tells me over coffee in our Founder Friday interview in Sheffield. “I asked a couple of my friends if they would be willing to pay for it, and they said ‘no’ – because they felt they had enough self-control [to manage their social media activity themselves].

“But they said they would pay for something which controlled the apps their children use.”

A dad himself, he also saw the value in that proposition. “After speaking with many more parents as well as children – in order to further understand the problem – I saw the gap,” he says.

“I realised that there’s a bigger problem here with the children: they actually can’t control when to stop using entertainment apps and focus on study.”

VerbaFlo, a conversational AI platform transforming customer engagement for real estate businesses, has raised a £5.2 million seed round.

The round was led by Pi Labs, with participation from Haatch, Navigate Ventures, Old College Capital – the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund – and a group of global family offices, alongside follow-on commitments from anchor investors.

Founded in October 2024 by Sayantan Biswas, Abhishek Garg, VP Singh and Dan Smith, VerbaFlo enables real estate owners and operators to automate leasing, operations, and resident engagement through conversational AI.

It powers communication and operations across 200,000+ units globally, adding approximately 30,000 units every month, and supports conversations in more than 180 languages.

The company serves leading operators across the UK and Europe and has recently expanded into the United States, with further growth underway across the Middle East, Australia, South Africa, and additional European markets. Its customers include operators such as Homes for Students (HFS), Moda Living, Fusion Students, Housing Hand, Downing and over 40 others.

Author: Chris Maguire

Hannah Mercer has been named as the new chief executive of Footasylum and will take up the role in May.

She joins from Gymshark, where she led global strategy and expansion of retail, franchise and wholesale business, with full P&L responsibility.

Mercer  previously held a series of senior global roles at adidas, alongside earlier leadership positions at Nike, Harrods and Value Retail.

Commenting on her appointment, Mercer said: “Footasylum is a brand with a powerful identity, a highly engaged customer base and a unique position in youth culture.

“I have long admired the business and the way it connects with its communities, and I’m excited to work with the team to build on these strong foundations.”

Established back in 2005, Rochdale-based Footasylum is now trading 65 high street stores and is one of the leading retailers of fashion streetwear and sportswear.

The University of Huddersfield has launched a new Institute focusing on the application of artificial intelligence, which brings together academic expertise from right across the University.

The Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence (IAAI) is the first fully cross-disciplinary research centre or institute at the University, encompassing researchers in Computing, Engineering, Health, Business, Sciences, Education, and the Arts, as well as professional staff.

Led by Professor John Murray, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), who has a particular interest in Robotics and the ethical dimensions of AI systems, it is driven by Huddersfield’s strong foundation in AI-related research and the growing national need for AI-literate graduates.

Numonic has secured £250,000 in pre-seed funding from Fuel Ventures – towards a £560k round – as mounting regulatory pressure from the EU AI Act creates a significant compliance challenge for the creative sector.

From August 2026, new transparency rules will require organisations using AI-generated content to implement watermarking, maintain detailed records, and disclose AI usage – with penalties of up to €35m or 7% of global revenue for non-compliance.

Numonic’s platform is designed to help creative teams meet these requirements, offering automated tracking, audit trails, and compliance-ready metadata. The need is already being recognised, with BAFTA-winning Territory Studio (Disney, Marvel, Netflix) onboard.

Flexzo AI has raised £9 million in Series A funding, led by Octopus Ventures with participation from Fuel Ventures.

The firm is aiming to transform healthcare workforce management through an agentic AI orchestration platform.

The funding will enable it to deepen adoption across NHS Trusts while accelerating expansion into the United States, where demand for intelligent workforce solutions in healthcare continues to grow.

Author: Terry Hancock, head of cyber resilience and service operations, Axiologik

For many years, cybersecurity sat firmly in the remit of IT teams. It was seen as technical, specialist and pretty much invisible to the wider organisation unless something went wrong. This, however, is changing quickly. 

In October 2025, ministers and national security leaders wrote directly to FTSE350 executives and chairs, urging that cyber risk be treated as a board-level priority and that formal governance frameworks be adopted.

That message is being reinforced by policy, including the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill which is currently progressing through Parliament, and through the Government’s own Cyber Action Plan which aims to minimise risks to public services. 

Government is sending clear signals that cyber resilience is no longer something to be ‘passed to IT’. Instead, it’s increasingly being moved to the board level agenda – viewed as a core part of corporate governance.

Author: Chris Maguire

THG’s former chief people officer has landed a new job at ‘Europe’s fastest-growing company’.

Ashley Ramrachia, who recently closed Manchester-based tech training provider Academy after five years, has joined tech-powered wellbeing marketplace Healf.

Ramrachia launched Academy in 2020 after helping grow THG from 50 to 5,000 people ahead of its IPO in 2020.

He joins ‘rocket ship’ Healf as chief performance officer, with the startup recently named the fastest-growing in Europe by the Financial Times and ranked number one on the Sifted 100 list for the UK and Ireland.

Gamma Communications plc has appointed a new CFO to succeed the departing Bill Castell.

The communications technology firm said Damien Maltarp will succeed Castell, who leaves at the end of March to take up an executive role at private equity-backed Arrive, a global mobility platform.

Maltarp is currently group financial controller for London Stock Exchange Group plc and spent over 10 years at BT Group plc, including roles as CFO of BT Enterprise, its UK B2B division, and as CFO of BT Wholesale & Ventures. He originally joined BT in 2010 as investor relations director, leading the function for four years.

Earlier in his career, he spent 10 years as an equity analyst in the telecoms sector, including roles at Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Cazenove and Bank of America.

He will join the group and the board at the latest in September 2026, with the exact date to be confirmed.

Tech Nation has unveiled the latest cohort of high-growth scaleups joining its Future Fifty programme. 

The startups were announced at an event hosted by Chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday evening at 11 Downing Street.

The 25 companies span sectors including AI, HealthTech and cybersecurity. Among this year’s cohort are digital health platform Numan, fast-growing energy provider Fuse Energy and AI-powered email assistant Fyxer.