Manchester-based Silvia Health has appointed Kyle Yeldon as a non-executive director.

Yeldon spent 13 years at NHS England, most recently as head of primary care services, overseeing national primary care transformation and systems handling over £10 billion in public funds.

He now runs KSY Consulting, advising HealthTech organisations on NHS navigation and market entry.

Silvia Health builds structured menopause care tools for NHS primary care and private clinics. It is preparing for NHS pilot activity and private clinic partnerships, with Silvia Lite available now via early access.

Genasys, a modern policy administration platform for insurers, MGAs and brokers, has appointed Becky Downing as COO.

She joins the InsurTech 50 leader from By Miles, the UK pay-per-mile motor insurer, where she was COO with responsibility for customer experience, operations and people.

Downing has spent over a decade as an insurance operator and founder. She was the founding CEO of buzzvault, the connected home insurance proposition that raised one of the largest InsurTech seed rounds in European history from White Mountains Insurance Group, and that went on to commercial partnerships including with Munich Re Digital Partners.

She also served as venture director at Admiral Pioneer, seeding and scaling new businesses inside Admiral Group.

Evaran has launched today – bringing together software providers CareLineLive, MOA Benchmarking and Health Metrics under a new, unified care technology platform.

The company has been created to help care providers manage services, compliance, reporting and oversight through more connected systems.

CareLineLive, founded by Josh Hough, is based in Sussex, while the other two platforms are headquartered in Australia.

Hough will serve as managing director of Evaran Europe.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

ZigZag has expanded its global presence with the acquisition of French firm Shipup.

ZigZag is a returns network for retailers. It featured in third on our recent RetailTech 50 ranking.

Its partner retailers will now be able to service each stage of the post-purchase journey – from the moment an item is bought through to a completed return – in the ZigZag platform.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Techspace has petitioned for Aircall UK to be wound up.

The workspace firm claims to be a creditor of the UK subsidiary of the French unicorn, which launched into this country with great fanfare in 2020. A hearing is set for 13th May.

Aircall UK’s confirmation statement is overdue at Companies House.

The Aircall parent company recently announced $204 million annual recurring revenue for 2025 – representing 26% year-on-year growth – and a seventh consecutive quarter of positive EBITDA.

Halo Drive, a Glasgow startup building ‘vehicle-aware AI’ for commercial fleets, has raised £250,000 in SEIS funding.

The round was supported by early-stage investor SFC Capital.

The investment will enable smarter, safer and more efficient connected and automated mobility, founder Terry Sunny told BusinessCloud.

The startup is now actively progressing pilot deployments, deepening collaboration with OEM partners, and bringing autonomous vehicle technology closer to real-world adoption.

Cambridge University spinout Barocal has raised $10 million seed funding from World Fund, Breakthrough Energy Discovery, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures and IP Group.

Barocal has patented solid-state cooling and heating platform technology designed to replace century-old vapour-compression systems at cost parity – all while reducing emissions.

The technology targets the $450bn global heating and cooling market, addressing the rapidly growing demand for cooling in data centres.

The funding will be used to make key hires and accelerate commercialisation.

The recipients of The King’s Awards for Enterprise have been announced, celebrating the achievements of outstanding businesses from across the UK and recognising their vital contribution to economic growth and improving lives.

This year marks a significant milestone for the Awards, as they celebrate 60 years since the first honours were conferred in 1966. The programme has since recognised more than 8,000 UK businesses.

A total of 186 awards have been issued with one company, Bristol-based Tailfin, being recognised for two Awards. The Awards span a diverse range of sectors and celebrate the ambition, ingenuity, and success of the UK’s business community.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

French GP platform Doctolib has acquired London-based peer Medicus and plans to invest more than £100 million in the UK.

The deal will see Doctolib deliver their combined technology, AI and services to the clinical and administrative teams of GP practices across the country.

Its plans include the hiring of 150 people and establishment of a full R&D centre in London to drive innovation in primary care.

Reach plc revenues hit by Google shift

Publisher Reach plc has reported a large drop in revenues across both digital and print for the first quarter of its financial year.

The firm – behind the Mirror, Express, Daily Star as well as leading regional publications such as the Manchester Evening News – saw an 8.1% fall in digital revenue compared with Q1 FY25.

Of that, there was a 10.5% fall in indirect revenue. It blamed ‘ongoing disruption in search and referral volumes’ – mainly a lessened Google presence.

Print revenue was down 6.6%, with overall group revenue 6.9% lower.

Trainline plc has reported robust trading performance for the 12 months ended 28th February 2026.

Net ticket sales were up 7% to 6.3 billion, while revenue grew 2% to £453 million.

Adjusted EBITDA for the period was £177m, up 11%.

Author: Roshni Bandesha, head of ESG & sustainability, BGF

In a volatile economic and geopolitical environment, tech businesses can be tempted to focus solely on their bottom line.

When key markets like the US are looking to minimise the importance of ESG, it can feel easier to turn a blind eye to environmental and social commitments and instead focus on immediate profitability.

But, as investor scrutiny on governance and data practices intensifies, those UK tech companies that are taking it seriously will unlock a competitive advantage. ESG commitments and certifications, like B Corp, are not only evidence of good business, but they can be a precursor for stability amidst volatility.

For us, ESG strategy isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s a clear indicator of good business. That’s why in 2023, we became B Corp certified ourselves.

B Corp is an incredibly rigorous process that addresses every area of the business, including Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. While a challenging process, we believe it is a marker of value creation – and so do plenty of our portfolio companies.

GC Business Finance, a responsible lender supporting SMEs across the UK, has appointed Aaron Malins as director of business finance.

Established in 2002 as part of The Growth Company, GCBF has a strong track record of supporting SMEs that struggle to access funding from mainstream lenders.

It currently manages a number of leading SME-focused funds, including as national Business Support Partner for the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme, along with smaller loans for the Bank’s Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.

Malins brings over two decades of experience across finance, lending and advisory. He previously served as CFO of Manchester-based regulated consumer finance firm DSG, as well as managing director of its lending division Unity Auto Finance.

LIFT – Lancashire’s annual innovation and technology festival – will take place on 11th June at Burnley Football Club’s Turf Moor stadium.

LIFT 26 will feature speakers from London, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Cumbria, Cheshire and Sunderland.

Among them are Alex Heerema, an investment manager at VC firm Ascension; Sarah Barber, managing partner at Jenson Funding Partners; serial entrepreneur James Butcher, a founding member of Lancashire’s Fhunded Angel network; Jane Theaker, a life sciences investment consultant from SpinXperts; Toby Biollo, a tech investment specialist from HSBC Innovation Banking; and rock guitarist-turned-music tech founder, Hazel Savage, who sold her Musiio AI business to SoundCloud in 2022 and currently heads up the Leeds Angels syndicate in West Yorkshire.

Drone deliveries, flying taxis and smarter emergency services could be a step closer to use in UK skies after the Government awarded almost £50 million to unlock growth in the drone and advanced air mobility sector.

Part of the £46.5 million investment will also see a crackdown on “faceless” drones, which can be used in suspicious or illegal activity, through the first bespoke drone identification system. The measures will make it easier for police to identify illegal or nuisance users and clear the way for legitimate drone operators.

Delivered through the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the funding will also cut red tape and support the regulatory, digital and security foundations needed to bring drones and advanced air mobility – such as electric flying taxis – into more routine use across the UK.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Shares in NCC Group plc are up 9% in trading today.

The listed Manchester firm – led by group CEO Mike Maddison – is seeing the benefits of a trading update issued late last week.

NCC is looking to become a pure-play global cybersecurity and resilience company by selling its escode business – set to complete shortly pending regulatory approvals – to a private equity company for £275m.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

EQT has increased its bid to almost £9 billion for Intertek Group plc.

Shares in the total quality assurance provider have jumped 7% today (writing at 3pm) to £51 after the Swedish private equity fund said it had submitted an offer for £58 per share in cash.

It follows the rejection of previous EQT proposals of £51.50 and £54 per share.

The latest bid represents a premium of 54% to the closing share price of £37.70 per share as at 9th April 2026 – the day before EQT submitted its initial proposal to FTSE 100 firm Intertek.

London-headquartered Intertek operates a network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices in more than 100 countries.

The firm said today it would review the latest proposal.

Corvera has raised £3m to scale its platform which will allow brands to switch from manual operations to agentic supply chain management.

The London-founded startup – now based in San Francisco – was founded by Christopher Kong, who was named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list last year.

Investors include 20VC, Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, Duke Capital Partners, and Multimodal Ventures.

Corvera participated in Y Combinator’s Winter 2026 cohort – selected from more than 30,000 applicants globally – where it also received backing from alumni founders.

Manchester-based battery specialist Cellerate has achieved a period of sustained growth with turnover increasing 60% following a £100,000 loan from NPIF.

The business is committed to accelerating the development of next-generation energy storage solutions globally.

It is investing in talent through PhD and postdoctoral research at the University of Manchester and contributing to a €20m Horizon Europe-funded Materials Acceleration Platform.

UK-based crop biostimulant venture SugaROx has secured a £2.5 million investment from Florida-based The Mosaic Company as part of its ongoing Series A funding round.

The investment will strengthen its path to commercialisation of a first-in-class crop biostimulant, which has supported more reliable field performance of crops including wheat and barley.

With the funding, the University of Oxford spin-out will expand R&D and significantly increase its field trials across key markets. It is targeting a UK product launch in 2027-2028 and EU and US expansion in 2028-2030.