Author: Jonathan Symcox

Startup founders require many qualities if they are to succeed – but chief among them are resilience and a capacity for hard work.

Sisters Adi and Kati Hristova, who are looking to redefine how hospitality businesses operate with growyze, know all about this.

Now based in London, their upbringing in post-Communist Bulgaria shaped them as people and, perhaps, as entrepreneurs.

“From a very young age we helped our parents with whatever extra jobs they took on to support the family – whether we were four years old or 11,” Adi tells BusinessCloud. “That experience shaped a lot of who we are today. 

“It taught us not to be afraid of hard work, to stay resourceful, and to keep going despite challenges or uncertainty. In many ways, that upbringing set the foundation for the resilience we’ve needed as founders.”

She adds: “Our family dog was called Democracy — a very on-brand name for the times. She’d even bark if someone said ‘Catch the Communist!’”

growyze has raised over £1m from angel investors including Mark McDermott; SyndicateRoom; and 00 Investments. Today the platform is used by brands including Holiday Inn, Ramada by Wyndham, IBIS hotel, Great British Inns Limited, Birleys and Padel Social Club.

Learn more about their bridge round on Crowdcube, pivot and plans for the future.

Sporta, a newly formed FinTech business aiming to become the UK’s first bank built specifically for sport, leisure and wellbeing, has closed a Crowdcube raise of £122,923 as part of its second seed round.

Sporta is led by Andrew Smith, founder of ClearBank, alongside a senior team spanning both FinTech and elite sport – including Victoria Gosling OBE, former CEO and current chair of the Invictus Games.

Their central thesis is that sport’s financial model – from grassroots to elite – is increasingly unsustainable, and that regulation is accelerating faster than clubs’ ability to cope. Nearly half of English professional clubs now operate with less than one month of cash, while community clubs face mounting regulatory, insurance and banking barriers that would cripple most small businesses.

The raise is designed to give those most affected by the financial fragility of sport the chance to invest and have ownership at a formative stage ahead of Sporta’s planned UK banking licence application in 2026.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Filtronic plc has secured a significant boost to its defence order book after receiving an authorisation to proceed worth around £7 million from a major European defence customer.

The AIM-listed designer and manufacturer of advanced RF solutions said the ATP relates to the supply of high-performance active components for the next phase of a long-standing electronic sensor programme supporting a major defence project.

The authorisation allows the Sedgefield-headquartered company to begin work immediately, ahead of the formal conversion to purchase orders, which is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2026.

The total value of the two-year programme is anticipated to reach approximately £11m.

Author: Patrick Killeen

LendInvest has launched a new £175 million long-term development finance funding partnership with AB CarVal and HSBC as it looks to scale its support for SME housebuilders and accelerate the delivery of new homes across the UK.

The new funding vehicle launches with £175m of senior capital committed by HSBC, supported by funds managed by AB CarVal and LendInvest.

It evolves the London-based FinTech’s existing institutional development finance arrangements into a larger and more flexible structure, allowing the business to back a greater number of SME developers and a broader range of residential project types

Author: Patrick Killeen

Alusid has raised £500,000 in a pre-IPO equity funding round as the sustainable tile manufacturer steps up preparations for a potential flotation on AIM.

The fundraising values the Preston-based company at £10 million and attracted backing from existing investor Octopus Investments, through its Octopus AIM VCT plc and Octopus AIM VCT 2 plc funds, alongside the University of Lancashire.

As part of the round, existing investor Frontier IP converted £250,000 of loans into equity, meaning the group now holds a 36.16% stake in Alusid.

The funding will be used to support the business as it prepares for a potential IPO, while also accelerating the development of new product ranges, expanding its international distribution network and continuing to invest in its proprietary low-carbon manufacturing technology.

DBAY Advisors has confirmed it will not make an offer for TT Electronics, ending speculation after it said last week that it was considering a possible bid for the company.

The move follows a takeover panel ruling that DBAY had until 5:00pm today to either announce a firm intention to bid under Rule 2.7 or confirm it would not proceed, a deadline it accepted.

The firm said it reserves the right to set those restrictions aside in specific scenarios, including if Cicor’s offer is withdrawn or lapses (with TT’s board agreement), if a third party launches a firm offer, if TT announces a Rule 9 waiver or a reverse takeover, or if the Panel determines there has been a material change of circumstances.

Switzerland-listed Cicor announced its intention to purchase the Greater Manchester-based company back in October for a price of £287 million.

An entrepreneur and energy expert has launched WattsWatt.co.uk, a new national service designed to stop households overpaying for energy and unlock up to £3.8 billion in savings this winter.

The free-to-use platform, launched by CEO Lisa Malyon, offers a ‘Never Overpay Guarantee’, giving 19.7 million households on the price cap access to all tariffs from all suppliers, ranked transparently by price.

It is an independent social enterprise that can use live smart meter data to deliver smarter, fairer tariff results.

The service also helps households access decarbonisation schemes and community energy projects.

Mercia Asset Management PLC has appointed Penny Freer as a non-executive director.

The private capital asset manager – which has £2 billion of assets under management – welcomes a figure who currently serves as chair of AP Ventures LLP and The Henderson Smaller Companies Investment Trust plc.

Freer is also a non-executive director of FTSE 100 company The Weir Group PLC.

She has previously held a number of non-executive Director roles in both public and private companies, including as chair of Crown Place VCT Plc and senior independent director and chair of the remuneration committee at Advanced Medical Solutions Group PLC.

Intuitive Investments Group plc has agreed to invest £30m into a paperless lottery technology firm.

IIG plc says it has entered an agreement with Helikon Investments, a UK investment manager, to provide up to £30m in equity funding to finance Hui10 Inc’s roll-out across China.

Under the terms of the agreement, the equity funding will be drawn down in three tranches, each of which is subject to Hui10 achieving strategic milestones.

Hui10 will look to cement its position as the central technology partner in China’s nationwide transition to digital lottery.

It will deploy its POS terminal infrastructure across China’s 200,000+ lottery-only shops, and also accelerate commercial partnerships through its omnichannel Lucky World TEAM CHINA and Lottery HongBao platforms.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

London FinTech GoCardless has been sold to Dutch rival Mollie in a €1.1 billion (£920 million) deal.

More than 90% of the consideration will be paid in shares, with the remainder in cash.

The figure is around half the valuation achieved by the payments platform in its latest funding round in 2022, which featured Balderton Capital, BlackRock and Permira.

GoCardless was founded by CEO Hiroki Takeuchi, Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield and Matt Robinson in 2011. A few years later Takeuchi, its chief executive, was paralysed from the chest down following a cycle crash.

It finally achieved quarterly profitability this year, although it made a £34.5m pre-tax loss in 2024.

 

The British Business Bank has announced a £5 million commitment to the British Design Fund (BDF), an early-stage fund and angel network that backs UK product-focused businesses, through its Regional Angels Programme.

The fund is managed by Sapphire Capital Partners LLP and seeks to support UK-based startup enterprises that design and manufacture physical products.

The Regional Angels Programme, launched in 2019 with the objective of addressing regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance, targets angel networks and other early-stage investors outside of London. This commitment supports this mission, enhancing access to capital for early-stage businesses across diverse sectors.

 

Applied Computing, the British AI company pioneering foundational AI for energy operators, has opened a new office in Bangalore.

It marks the firm’s official expansion into India and deepens its commitment to one of the world’s most strategically significant energy markets.

Backed by Stride.VC – one of the UK’s most prestigious early-stage funds – it has appointed industry veteran Dan Jeavons, a former Shell executive, to run operations in India.

Deel has announced a multi-year partnership with Arsenal, becoming the club’s official HR platform partner. 

The American global payroll and HR platform will support the club’s operations, streamlining the management of its workforce.

The agreement marks Deel’s first major venture into world sport and reflects the company’s ambition to grow its global presence. 

Deel branding will appear across Emirates Stadium and Arsenal’s digital channels, including all home fixtures across the Premier League, Women’s Super League (WSL), FA Cup and League Cup.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The married founders of Conveyd have raised £2.5 million seed funding to dramatically speed up the process of buying a home.

Having performed as a tenpin bowling professional in her teens, CEO Manasi Kulkarni is now looking to score a strike with the AI conveyancing platform, which she says is a world-first.

She and husband Stephen Cowley began their careers at Thoughtworks, where they each spent nearly a decade rebuilding outdated industries across finance, insurance and retail using ‘first-principles thinking’. They also set up the tech giant’s Barcelona office.

Kulkarni then joined Monzo, leading a team of more than 30 engineers building platforms and tools to enable fast and efficient customer service.

So did they always plan to found a business? Or did the notion take them by surprise?

 

Mills & Reeve’s Manchester office has been named the winner at the Hallé Workplace Choir Competition.

As the winners, the law firm’s choir will perform at Christmas Cracker concert on Friday 12th December at The Bridgewater Hall.

With the group ranging from newly joined trainees, long standing partners and business support teams, this was only the second year the Mills & Reeve choir has taken part in the Workplace Choir Competition.

Enterprise AI company Ageiro has raised £2.3 million in investment funding.

The company is building an agentic AI platform, described as “humanity’s last app”, that turns high-level business goals into autonomous digital execution, enabling organisations to deploy new capabilities faster and scale AI-driven digital workforces under human oversight.

The funding will be used to strengthen its decision-intelligence models, compliance and risk frameworks, and connector systems for regulated environments.

It will also support growth in go-to-market activity, including sales, partnerships and broader category-building to drive enterprise adoption.

Intelligent cloud-based transport management system Qargo, which helps European transport operators cut operating costs, has raised £24.6 million in Series B funding led by Sofina, with existing investor Balderton Capital also participating.

The round takes the firm’s total funding to $54m and follows rapid expansion across key European logistics hubs, as its AI engine automates workflows from order creation and route planning to invoicing and warehouse slot booking.

Since its May 2024 Series A, invoicing processed through the platform has grown from £420m to more than £1.9 billion annually and its customer base has expanded from around 100 to over 400.

The new capital will support team growth, market expansion and faster development of its AI-driven product capabilities, alongside continued investment in security and platform resilience.

Reddit has filed a lawsuit in Australia’s High Court seeking to overturn the country’s new social media ban for under-16s, arguing the law unlawfully interferes with free political communication implied by the constitution.

The San Francisco-based company said the ban should be declared invalid, or alternatively that Reddit should be exempt because it does not meet the legal definition of a social media platform.

The case, filed just days after the world-first ban took effect, names the Australian government and Communications Minister Anika Wells as defendants.

Reddit’s challenge significantly escalates opposition to the policy, adding the weight and resources of a $44 billion Silicon Valley company to what is likely to become a lengthy legal battle.

Card Factory has giving a profit warning ahead of its full year results.

The card retailer now expects adjusted profit before tax to be between £55 million and £60m, compared with previous expectations of £70m.

It warned that softer UK high-street footfall and pressured consumer confidence have reduced store sales performance during its key trading period.

Despite the tougher backdrop, Card Factory said progress against its long-term strategy continues, with its “Simplify and Scale” efficiency programme helping to offset inflationary cost pressures.

Trading in the Republic of Ireland and North America remains in line with expectations and the Funky Pigeon integration is on track, while the group plans to continue its share buyback and expects to declare a progressive full-year dividend.

The company has, however, seen its share price drop by nearly 25% already this morning to 73.73p.

London-listed Tribal expects FY25 adjusted EBITDA to be ahead, with revenue to be comfortably in line with market expectations, driven by strong second-half trading in its Student Information Solutions division and a return to growth in Etio.

The company is forecasting net cash of at least £5 million by 31st December, up from net debt of £3.2m a year earlier.

Its shares have risen by 8% to 67.52p so far this morning.