Revenue at Newcastle PropTech iamproperty now exceeds £60 million following major investment in innovation, strategic acquisition and expansion into new markets. 

Financial results for the year ending 31st October 2025 show a 20% year-on-year growth to £61.2m.

Adjusted EBITDA scaled to £17.2m, up by over 14%. Gross profit climbed to £50m, rising by 20%. 

The PropTech 50 star’s digital solutions support estate agents to save time, maximise opportunities and meet the changing needs of consumers across the entire buying, selling and lettings process.  

iwoca, one of Europe’s largest SME lenders, has closed a new £250 million facility with a leading UK bank and WAM Capital. 

iwoca, led by co-founder and CEO Christoph Rieche (pictured), says it can now extend its lending to more small businesses across the UK – whether they’re scaling up operations, investing in new equipment, or seizing a growth opportunity. The new facility is structured to grow as demand scales.

The new facility builds on a period of sustained growth at iwoca. The number of SMEs iwoca has funded across the UK since 2012 has grown from 60,000 (2024) to 96,000. In 2025, iwoca issued 58,000 loans worth over £1.3 billion across the UK, a 60% year-on-year increase in lending value from 2024. 

AI-powered coaching platform VEYR has launched a Crowdcube investment campaign, inviting consumers to invest in the next generation of fitness technology as part of a £1 million funding round.

The raise, which values the business at a £4.5 million pre-money valuation, includes £400,000 through Crowdcube alongside pre-committed investment and non-dilutive funding. The 3-week campaign opens for expressions of interest on 27th July, with a public launch on 10th August.

More than 40% of the funding round has already been secured through pre-committed investment and grant funding, including support from Google, Cloudflare, Kylla Investment Partners and private angels. VEYR has also been entirely self-funded to date, with founders investing more than £250,000 into building the platform before seeking external investment.

Founded on more than 15 years of elite coaching experience, VEYR transforms expert coaching methodology into an intelligent AI coach that learns the individual, not simply their training data. The proprietary Fitness Intelligence Engine combines human coaching expertise with artificial intelligence to deliver fully adaptive, personalised workouts in real time. The platform is designed to remove barriers to fitness by creating a flexible, responsive training experience that evolves with the user.

The company’s vision is to become the user-aware intelligence layer sitting behind the future of fitness – helping people not only train harder, but show up more often, stay motivated and establish long-lasting, life-changing habits.

Foresight Group, a regional private equity investment manager, says it has opened 2026 in strong form, with significant new investments, a series of successful exits, and a continued pledge to support the growth of SMEs across the UK and Ireland.

During this period, Foresight invested more than £43 million into 11 growing UK businesses and completed three exits, reflecting continued investment activity, and in turn confidence, across regional growth markets. Multiple follow-on investments were also completed, backing the growth of existing portfolio companies.

The 11 new investments include, Federal, SAMP Technology, Pinocchio’s Nurseries, Play Revolution, Optera, Envoke, Alan Wood & Partners, VS Group, Vestd, Connective3 and Regenerus, spanning numerous regions across the UK and Ireland, as well as sectors including technology, defence, food and beverage, and healthcare.

Among the highlights of the first half was the sale of the Northern Ireland-based TES Group, a key supplier of power distribution equipment to critical infrastructure across the UK, Ireland, and Europe. The transaction delivered a 4x return on Foresight’s invested capital. During the investment period, TES Group grew revenue by 84% to £72m and increased its headcount by 60%.

Foresight also exited Fieldway, the Liverpool-based fire safety and compliance specialist primarily serving the social housing sector. Acquired by Axis CLC, the exit marks the 12th realisation from the Foresight Regional Investment Fund, which has delivered an average return of 4.2x invested capital across its realised investments.

Foresight continued to strengthen its Private Credit strategy, including providing a £40 million senior debt facility to Revolve, a leading provider of stock and working capital finance to UK SMEs. The strategy’s innovative approach was also recognised through shortlists at the Alternative Credit Investor Awards Europe for Best Market Innovation and Wealth Market Proposition of the Year.

The Ventures strategy also remained active, completing a new investment in Optera, a UK space technology company, and providing 23 follow-on investments to support the continued growth of existing portfolio companies. The team’s activity and impact were recognised through a number of industry award shortlists, including Deep Tech Investment of the Year and Impact Investment of the Year.

Across Foresight’s 13 offices in the UK and Ireland, the team continued to grow welcoming six new joiners across deal origination, private credit and growth and buyout strategies further strengthening Foresight’s local capabilities.

North West digital agency Stonechat Digital has rebranded as Grid53, marking its seventh anniversary with a renewed focus on helping businesses across the UK energy sector grow.

The rebrand reflects the company’s evolution into a specialist agency serving energy suppliers, price comparison websites, renewable installers and energy technology businesses.

Founded in 2019 and headed up by CEO Scott Byrom, the agency has secured clients including British Gas, Which?, E.ON Next and Samsung.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Pinewood Technologies Group PLC has agreed a £545 million sale to San Francisco private equity firm Ridgeview Partners.

The FTSE 250 firm is a Birmingham-headquartered tech provider to car dealerships and was formed out of the breakup of dealer group Pendragon. It is led by Florida-based Bill Berman.

In February shares in Pinewood Technologies Group PLC nosedived from around £4.50 to below £3 after a £575m takeover by another US-based PE house Apax Partners fell through. By April it was hovering just above the £2 mark, although it has since recovered some of that value.

Apax blamed ‘prevailing challenging market conditions’ as software valuations fell around the world against a backdrop of advancing AI tools which more easily allow companies to develop their own tools.

The non-binding Ridgeview offer is for £4.48 in cash per Pinewood.AI share.

“The board of directors of Pinewood.AI has indicated… that it would be minded to recommend that Pinewood.AI shareholders vote in favour of the possible cash offer,” Pinewood stated.

Cambridge Cognition Holdings plc increased revenues and cut losses in its latest half-year.

The neuroscience technology company’s digital cognitive assessments drive scientific discovery, accelerate drug development and improve patient care.

For the period ended 30th June 2026, revenues were £5 million, up 16% (H1 2025: £4.3m), including first revenues from the company’s new healthcare and consumer wellness pilots of £100,000.

CCH said contracted orders indicate that revenue for the 2026 financial year will be not less than £10m.

Adjusted EBITDA loss for the six months improved to an estimated £300,000 (H1 2025: loss £400,000).

Nuclear Turbines, a Manchester startup developing compact, cost-effective, advanced nuclear power systems, has raised a £15 million foundational round.

Founded by former BAE Systems principal engineer Jeremy Owston and internationally renowned nuclear engineer Professor Tim Abram, in partnership with Empirical Ventures’ venture studio and spun out of BAE Systems, Nuclear Turbines aims to solve nuclear’s critical cost and scale challenges by replacing steam turbine systems with highly efficient high-temperature turbine technology normally found in jet engines and gas-fired power plants.

By removing the need for steam infrastructure, Nuclear Turbines’ solution is so compact that it could be deployed ‘behind the meter’ on industrial sites, the firm says, powering critical infrastructure such as industrial facilities and data centres and manufacturing facilities with a cost-effective, resilient alternative to grid-connected electricity. 

Conventional small modular reactors were the first step towards addressing this need – making nuclear smaller, faster to deploy, and more adaptable – and now Nuclear Turbines is taking this technology to the next level by solving fundamental cost and scale challenges.

The funding round was led by IQ Capital, joined by Rhapsody Venture Partners, Zero Carbon Capital and Empirical Ventures. It will be used to advance and validate the reactor design, build large-scale test rigs, and expand the team as the company prepares to manufacture its first fuel elements.

Nuclear Turbines has also appointed Lauren Dickerson as chief commercial and strategy officer. Dickerson joins from Centrica, where she spent over four years as strategy director, bringing experience in commercial strategy, partnerships and external relations to the company’s growth plans. 

Afin Bank has celebrated its first full year in operation by hitting a lending milestone of £135million in mortgage approvals in just 12 months. The Bank, which also offers FSCS protected savings accounts, has also topped £60million in savings deposits.

Afin launched last July, less than nine months after receiving its Approval with Restrictions (AwR) from the regulators. Initially the Bank focussed on providing mortgages to foreign nationals working in the UK on valid work visas, but it has now expanded its support to a wide range of underserved borrowers, such as the self-employed and contractors, qualified professionals, people with complex incomes and high-net-worth customers.

The Bank now has over 40 staff based at two centres, with its main headquarters in London and its Centre of Excellence in Birmingham which is home to its underwriting and customer services teams.

TidalSense has raised £14 million to take on the UK’s third-biggest killer.

The Cambridge firm is aiming to transform respiratory diagnostics, starting with a breath test for COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

COPD is the UK’s third biggest cause of death, killing around 30,000 people a year and costing the NHS £1.9 billion annually. Over half of NHS regions’ lack the capacity to meet current demand for spirometry testing, and an estimated 1.9 million people are living with the condition — diagnosed and undiagnosed combined. 

It is also the second-leading cause of emergency hospital admissions, while an exacerbation serious enough to require hospital treatment is linked to worse prognosis and higher risk of death.

The funding round will be used to accelerate commercialisation in the UK and support globalisation of the technology, including to the USA. It includes investment from new investor Cross-Border Impact Ventures (a North American health tech impact fund), and returning investors BGF, Airstream Capital and Foresight Group. 

4D Medicine Ltd, a Series A-stage medical device and biomaterials company primarily focused on advancing innovative solutions in peripheral nerve protection, has appointed Andrew Newland as non-executive chairman of the board.

He brings a track record of driving innovation and value creation in the medical device sector to the Nottingham firm, including successful exits to leading industry players at substantial valuations.

Newland is a founder and leader of multiple technology, medical technology and biopharma companies over the last 30 years. Formerly the founder and chief executive of ANGLE plc, a specialty medical diagnostics company focused on cancer liquid biopsy, he led the business through successful US FDA product clearance and IPO.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The purpose of my Founder Friday series is to meet entrepreneurs where they live. 

With Kate Heath, that turns out to literally be the case.

Her EdTech business Gaia Learning is fully remote and so when I ask where she would like to be interviewed, she answers: “You’re welcome to come to me in Crewe. We have a nice garden to sit in with my pup!”

So it is that over cups of tea – with the friendly pup pleading for attention – I come to see the ‘four Ps’ driving one of the North West’s most promising founders.

Manchester-based online retailer OHS (Online Home Group) has topped £100m in sales for the first time.

The family-owned business specialises in on-trend soft furnishings and is based in Worsley.

OHS now handles six million orders a year and has also tripled its operating profit.

A spokesman said: “It’s been a year of investing, growing and scaling – from opening our new fulfilment centre to expanding our team and product range.

“Massive thanks to every colleague, customer, supplier and partner who’s helped us get here.”

The results come hot on the heels of the opening of the company’s brand-new 327,000 sq ft fulfilment centre at Trafford Park.

The company’s workforce is growing from 200 to more than 300 people as it grows.

Moshe Cohen is the CEO of OHS.

Author: Chris Maguire

MHA’s corporate finance team has advised Lancaster-based Yordas Group on its sale to 3E, a US-headquartered global provider of expert-led AI compliance solutions.

Yordas has operations in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific and supports manufacturers, importers, and distributors in navigating complex chemical and product compliance requirements.

The company holds the King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade with its proprietary platforms serving clients across global regulatory intelligence, hazard communications, and scientific services.

MHA provided corporate finance and tax advice to Yordas with its team led by Rob Richardson, Phil Yarwood, Ralph Walker-Moretti and Rachel Marsdin.

Lewis Silkin provided legal advice to Yordas with its team led by Corporate Partner Ashi Amershi and supported by Hope Bell, Emma McGrory and Johanna Cunningham.

Jonathan Lutwyche OBE, CEO and co-founder of Yordas Group, said: “For nearly two decades, Yordas has built a reputation for scientific rigour and trusted regulatory expertise, and joining 3E is the natural next step in that journey.

“3E shares our commitment to helping customers navigate an increasingly complex regulatory landscape, and its AI-led platform gives our science and content the scale to reach more businesses worldwide.”

Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, 3E is an AI-driven software and data company that delivers trusted compliance and sustainability intelligence, enabling companies to operate safely, responsibly, and with confidence.

A UK EnviroTech firm has been acquired by Japanese company ASUENE.

Secaro, based in London, is a platform which helps manufacturers to work more effectively with their suppliers to reduce emissions across global supply chains. It rebranded from Manufacture 2030 late last year.

It is ASUENE’s eighth acquisition – and largest – to date and will deepen its UK presence while extending its reach across Europe and North America.

ASUENE has meanwhile raised $87 million in Series D funding, led by Decarbonization Partners – the joint venture between BlackRock and Temasek – marking the fund’s first investment in Japan and bringing ASUENE’s total funding to date to $161m.

BioTech Moa Technology, focused on discovering novel mode of action herbicides, has announced a £22.2 million Series C financing round.

The round was co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and new investor Supernova Invest. Other new investors joining the round are Agri Investment Fund, GrainInnovate (a fund investing on behalf of the Grain Research Development Corporation and managed by Artesian), Infinity Investment Partners and Magdalen College Oxford.

The round has also been supported by existing investors OSE, Lansdowne Partners, Parkwalk and Oxford University Innovation.

In the last 24 months, Moa has formed R&D collaborations with four leading companies – Nufarm, Gowan, Certis Belchim and Corteva Agriscience – to develop different novel solutions to help farmers protect their harvests from crop-killing weeds, and expects to continue to sign further commercial research partnerships.

Recognise Bank, an SME property lending bank, has reporting a post-tax profit of £8.9 million for the year ended 31st March 2026 following a £5.3m loss in 2025.

The bank also grew its loan book by 51.1% over the year to £461.9m and increased deposits by 18.8% to £575.5m. Since the year end, it says its loan book has grown to more than £500m and deposits have exceeded £600m.

Following the implementation of a new strategic direction in May 2025, the bank has achieved profitability for the first time. Within the last year, it also relocated its London head office and opened a new operations centre in Milton Keynes to support the next phase of its growth.

Palatine has exited retirement advisor My Pension Expert.

The mid-market private equity investor made the original investment into the Doncaster firm from its fourth Buyout Fund and first Impact Fund. The exit has generated a circa 5x return for investors.

The team supported My Pension Expert through a four-year period of strong organic growth – achieved following significant investment in people, technology, data and AI – and supplemented with strategic M&A. 

A Swedish company that has built a preventative pet health and insurance ecosystem has announced its UK launch.

Trusted by more than 300,000 pet owners across Europe, Lassie says it is redefining pet insurance by combining AI-powered claims handling, which resolves over 60% of claims in around six minutes, with personalised, life-stage-specific care advice to help prevent illness and injury before they happen.

At its core, Lassie is a pet wellbeing app as much as an insurer, and it’s available to any pet owner to use, whether or not they hold a Lassie insurance policy.

Lassie’s founding in 2020 was inspired by CEO Hedda Båverud Olsson, who grew up watching her veterinary mother grow frustrated at treating pets after preventable conditions had progressed into serious, costly illnesses.

In February Lassie raised $75 million in a Series C funding round led by Balderton Capital, Felix Capital, Inventure, Passion Capital and Stena Sessan, bringing total funding to $115m.

The company has now launched in the UK, one of Europe’s least-penetrated major pet insurance markets, where more than 20 million dogs and cats in the UK have no insurance at all.

Even among those insured, understanding of cover is poor, with pet insurance having the highest complaint-upheld rate of any general insurance category, Lassie claims.

Leeds-based Vyne, a digital health partner for bladder and bowel care, has appointed industry-renowned urology nurse Sarah Hillery as its chief clinical officer.

Hillery has held previous leadership roles as president of The British Association of Urological Nurses, executive board member for the European Association of Urology Nurses, and over 25 years of urological nursing in the NHS.

She has been appointed to strengthen the urology expertise behind Vyne, an online platform and mobile app designed to empower clinicians and patients to manage bladder and bowel care over time. Through prescribing, dispensing, shopping and support, it reduces admin, creates time savings, provides continuity in care, and facilitates patient self-service.