Forbes today unveiled its 11th annual 30 Under 30 Europe List.

The list aims to spotlight the continent’s most dynamic young innovators, entrepreneurs and changemakers.

This year’s list marks a defining milestone, as the first edition composed entirely of Gen Z honorees.

Ticketmaster has launched an app in ChatGPT which it says will transform how fans find events.

As fan behaviour evolves, discovery is no longer limited to search engines or social platforms, the firm says, with more fans turning to AI platforms to find events, compare options and make decisions in real time.

Ticketmaster is at the forefront of shaping this shift with its app in ChatGPT, it says, “ensuring your events are discoverable in these emerging spaces and piloting new ways to reach fans at the moment decisions are made”.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The Liberal Democrats are demanding an inquiry into Nigel Farage’s promotion of a Bitcoin company.

The Reform UK leader promoted Stack BTC in a video alongside short-lived Tory Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, who is executive chairman of the Aquis-listed company.

Last month the MP for Clacton joined Blockchain.com in backing Stack BTC, while soon afterwards the firm raised around £2 million through a share placing, subscription and retail offer, with Farage investing a further £60,650 through the subscription – taking his total investment to £215,000 and holding to 6.3%.

Now the Lib Dems have called for the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate Farage’s promotion of the £2m deal in the video.

They say his actions may amount to “attempted interference in the cryptocurrency market” or “attempted market abuse”.

A spokesman for Farage told the BBC the event was a “photo call”, adding: “Mr Farage is embracing the 21st Century. He bought the [£2m] crypto on behalf of Stack and not personally.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The UK is set for its first electric vehicle battery recycling plant.

Altilium has been awarded £18.5 million in grant funding through the UK government’s DRIVE35 Scale-Up Fund, delivered by the Department for Business and Trade in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and Innovate UK. 

The funding will support the construction of Altilium’s new ACT3 recycling plant in Plymouth, Devon. Construction of the facility is expected to commence in summer 2026, with commissioning planned for the end of 2027. 

The Plymouth-based firm, founded by a trio of investment and commodities professionals, says the facility will have the capacity to process 24,000 EV batteries per year and recover critical minerals from them.

My Digital, a leader in contractor payroll, is now targeting the national payroll market.

Founded in 2015 and based in Stockport, My Digital has spent a decade building deep, battle-tested expertise in high-frequency, high-complexity payroll.

Processing payments for more than 300,000 employees every month – with individual customers running pay for up to 10,000 workers in a single weekly run – the platform is now set to become a springboard for something bigger.

Dan Moss – who joined the company when it was founded in 2015 and rose through roles spanning product design, head of product and COO, before becoming CEO in late 2024 – is leading that expansion.

With recurring revenue exceeding £3.5 million and accelerating cash generation, the business is preparing to launch its My Digital Payroll product to the broader bureau and accountancy market at Accountex in London this May.

Finseta plc, a foreign exchange and payments solutions company, has raised £900,000 via a placing and subscription of shares.

The firm, which offers multi-currency accounts to businesses and individuals through a technology platform, intends to raise up to a further £100,000 by way of a retail offer.

Sosandar plc has moved from the red into the black amid a rise in sales.

The fashion brand for women of all ages provided a trading update for its financial year ended 31st March 2026.

Revenue was £42.3m, up 14% year-on-year, while profit before tax is expected to be £400k (FY25: loss £100k).

The firm has net cash of £8.4m after £1.8m of share buybacks.

Author: Chris Maguire

James Cole is the latest guest on The Naked Founder podcast.

He’s the straight-talking founder and CEO of Panache Cruises and has a  reputation for authenticity and honesty.

A two-time founder, he’s on track to build his second £100m turnover company, but this time it won’t be at the expense of his family or by turning to drink.

In this episode of the Naked Founder podcast, he discusses:

• How he nearly lost it all with his first startup Cruise118
• How stopping drinking on New Year’s Eve 2018 transformed his life
• Launching Panache Cruises during Covid
• Turning 50 by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for charity
• Growing to £50m turnover in five years
• Why his family will always come first
• Meeting his hero Sir Richard Branson

Listen here

If the bookmakers’ predictions are accurate, the outcome of the latest series of The Apprentice is a foregone conclusion.

MyBettingSites.co.uk says 28-year-old Karishma Vijay has a 75 per cent chance of being crowned The Apprentice champion.

Her odds of 1/3 compare with outsider Pascha Myhill’s odds of 3/1, meaning the bookies think she has only a 25 per cent chance of winning.

Both candidates are vying to win Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment and mentorship.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Booking.com says some of its customer data has been accessed by hackers.

The accommodation reservation site warned customers of potential suspicious emails and phone calls from “malicious actors”.

However it claimed that “financial information was not accessed”.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Shares in Wise plc have risen today after it revealed a plan to move its primary listing to the US.

The London-headquartered and -listed FinTech says it expects to begin trading on New York’s Nasdaq exchange on 11th May.

The money transfer service will maintain a public listing on the London Stock Exchange but shift its primary listing to the US to “accelerate” its path “to become ‘the’ network for the world’s money”.

Wise pointed to “greater visibility” in the US, where it employs more than 750 people. Shareholders backed the decision to adopt a dual listing last year.

Its shares are up 4% today, up 16% in the year-to-date and 5% higher than at IPO in 2021.

Law firm gunnercooke has moved into a new city-centre office in Manchester today to facilitate its growth. The 16,000 sq ft office is located at Pall Mall, part of Bruntwood SciTech’s transformational redevelopment in the heart of King Street.

Designed to accommodate up to 130 people over two floors, the space includes a dedicated client suite, flexible collaboration areas, including multiple meeting rooms and call booths, a TV production studio and a well-equipped event space for clients, partners and support staff to utilise. Other facilities include an innovation room, wellbeing area, multi-faith room, rooftop terrace, gym, bike storage and an on-site cafe.

Aligning with gunnercooke’s sustainability commitments, Pall Mall is a £30 million project transforming a Grade II-listed landmark on King Street into a 120,000 sq ft, net zero carbon innovation hub.

Manchester is the birthplace of gunnercooke, which now has 16 offices globally including in the US and DACH region, and the base for its support team, gcTrust, which employs 100 people, alongside 158 lawyers and legal staff across the region.

Virgin StartUp has opened applications for Momentum 2.0, the next round of its free accelerator programme designed to help dyslexic entrepreneurs scale their businesses.

Following the success of its inaugural cohort at the end of last year, Momentum returns with renewed backing from Virgin Unite and continued collaboration with Made By Dyslexia.

The first-of-a-kind accelerator has already supported 30 dyslexic founders and became the most applied-for programme in Virgin StartUp’s history, with 90% of participants reporting that they saw their Dyslexic Thinking as a strength after completing the programme.

With analysis from Made By Dyslexia revealing dyslexic entrepreneurs contribute at least £4.6 billion to UK GDP each year and that one in three entrepreneurs are dyslexic, Momentum was created to help founders embrace the strengths that set them apart. The free eight-week accelerator is tailored specifically to early-stage founders and intended to enhance Dyslexic Thinking strengths through tailored workshops, 1-1 mentoring and access to resources.

Virgin StartUp has also added a dedicated ‘Dyslexic Thinking’ space in its online community for business founders.

SaaS company Apex B2B has officially launched following an investment of £1.3 million.

The company is expanding its presence in the UK market, targeting wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers seeking to modernise their digital infrastructure and improve operational efficiency.

Developed as a purpose-built, AI-enabled commerce platform for mid-market businesses, Apex B2B is designed to address a growing gap in the market where companies have outgrown basic retail-first tools but find enterprise platforms too complex, costly, and slow to implement.

To support its growth, Apex B2B plans to hire 15 employees across product engineering, AI, customer success, go-to-market, and operations. The company is targeting mid-market businesses with annual revenues between £10 million and £300 million and plans to expand across European and US markets over the next five years.

The platform was incubated within Monsoon Consulting, a digital commerce agency, and formally spun out following a successful soft launch in December 2025.

IKEA has announced the appointment of David McCabe as its new country retail manager and chief sustainability officer for the UK and Ireland.

Currently the global fulfilment & core services manager for Ingka Group, leading IKEA’s global fulfilment team, McCabe will step into his new position on 1st July 2026.

McCabe takes over from Peter Jelkeby, who recently transitioned to lead IKEA Germany following a successful period of growth and expansion for the UK and Ireland business.

Twinnin, a new platform for protecting and monetising human identity in the age of artificial intelligence, has officially launched with early backing and rapid adoption.

As of today, Twinnin has signed up over 200 licenced faces, with 76 fully completed digital twins — numbers that it says continue to grow by the hour.

Developed by venture-backed AI company AI KAT, backed by SFC Capital,’one of Europe’s most active VCs’ , and notable angels, Twinnin addresses a rapidly emerging issue: generative AI can now replicate faces, voices, and behaviour at scale — yet there has been no infrastructure governing who owns, controls, or profits from human likeness.

Twinnin says it is building that infrastructure — and in doing so, establishing a foundation for ethical AI that brings humans along without replacing them.

The platform enables individuals to register their face and voice, creating a verifiable identity record secured with immutable provenance on the Polygon blockchain. Users can choose to protect their likeness, monetise it, or both.

Digital twins can then be licensed across advertising, film and television, retail, and AI model training — with consent, defined usage parameters, and payment built in.

GoCardless’ annual revenues have increased by 22% year-on-year, according to its latest Companies House filing.

In the 12 months ending 30th June 2025, GoCardless’ total turnover rose to £160.9m, from £132.3m in FY24.

The volume of payments processed by the company also doubled to £79.2bn, in part due to its acquisition of Nuapay, which closed in September 2024.

After recording its first EBIDTA-positive quarter on an adjusted basis in the final quarter of FY25, GoCardless is expected to continue this trajectory to achieve its first EBIDTA-positive year in FY26.

This comes after the FinTech announced it was set to be acquired by Dutch firm Mollie in December 2025.

Author: Chris Maguire

Eka Ventures has announced the closure of its ‘milestone’ £80m ($107m) Fund II.

Eka specialises in making pre-seed and seed investments between £1m and £3m and traditionally works with founders building category-defining consumer technology companies.

It makes Eka the UK’s largest early-stage impact VC, investing across health, wellbeing and sustainability.

Fund I’s portfolio includes Runna (seed round, recently exited to Strava), Urban Jungle, Axle, Hived, Foresight Data Machines, Jude and Flok Health. Several have gone on to raise from Index Ventures, Accel and Balderton.

WPP has announced the appointment of Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer.

In this newly created role, Choueiri will be responsible for designing, implementing and embedding the operations that underpin Elevate28, WPP’s three-year growth plan unveiled in February 2026.

She joins WPP from The Estée Lauder Companies, where she led enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, including shaping the company’s ‘One ELC’ operating model and transforming its enterprise marketing, data and analytics capabilities.

Previously, Choueiri held leadership roles at world-class consultancies including Accenture, Masaï – a Bain & Co spin-off – and Kearney. She also has a background leading data and digital marketing agencies.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Round, an AI-powered finance automation platform used by some of Europe’s fastest-growing companies and unicorns, has raised £4.5 million in seed funding. 

The round was led by Alstin Capital, with participation from BACKED VC and Love Ventures. 

Roughly 10% of Round’s existing customers also invested, alongside new angel investors including Paul Forster, co-founder of Indeed.

Existing investors, including Passion Capital, the early backers of Monzo, Tide, and GoCardless, doubled down on their investment.