Author: Jonathan Symcox

Some senior managers at the Co-op have complained of a “toxic culture” at executive level, the BBC reports.

The 180-year-old member-owned food and services group, which has a reputation for upholding ethical values, is facing allegations that it created “fear and alienation” among several senior staff.

Amid declining performance, a letter to Co-op board members – seen by the BBC – also said they were scared to raise concerns about the direction of the business, which is led by chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq.

Lawyers for the Co-op told the BBC they did not recognise these claims and “do not believe that they represent the views of our broader leadership and colleagues”.

A senior manager told the BBC: “You learn to look at your shoes. Nobody can speak their mind in this business – anyone who does has their card marked.”

Responding to the reports, Thomas Beale, partner and head of workplace bullying and harassment at law firm Bolt Burdon Kemp, said he has “seen firsthand how toxic workplace cultures can lead to horrific and sustained bullying, harassment and abuse, which causes long-term psychological injuries”. 

Construction tech specialist MukAway has announced a three-year partnership with leading energy solutions provider Stuart Energy.

Warrington-based MukAway is the UK’s digital platform for sustainable soil management and reuse and connects developers, groundworkers, hauliers, and merchants to reduce landfill and CO₂ emissions.

Fraser Linaker, founder and CEO of MukAway, said: “This partnership with Stuart Energy represents a significant step forward for MukAway as we continue to build our network across the UK.

“We have done this with our national rollout in mind, safe in the knowledge that MukAway has sites from the North East all the way down to London.

“Mark and the team at Stuart Energy share our commitment to innovation and sustainability, and by combining our networks and expertise, we’re creating real value for the construction industry.”

Mark Stuart, joint managing director at Skelmersdale-based Stuart Energy, said: “We’ve been impressed with what Fraser and the MukAway team have built.

“They’re disrupting an outdated system and bringing transparency, efficiency, and sustainability to waste management in construction.”

Stuart Energy is involved in some of the region’s most prestigious developments after signing a partnership with Domis to power all their construction sites throughout the UK.

Britain’s tech industry should adopt a pragmatic approach to sovereign AI that actively backs the country’s AI businesses, according to the head of the UK’s AI trade body.

Speaking after a parliamentary roundtable at the House of Lords, Tim Flagg, chief executive of UKAI (pictured), said the UK’s competitive advantage lies in pairing strong domestic capability with openness: ensuring UK firms are not locked out of their own market, while remaining deeply integrated into global AI supply chains.

He is calling for clearer routes to scale, win contracts and compete internationally, while retaining control over critical capabilities and continuing to work with global technology partners.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Sundar Arvind has taken investment raised by his second startup past £5 million – and he is only 23.

Yet that is only half of the story.

Arvind was a precocious tennis player who turned professional aged 12 and was ranked third in India and the top 1,000 in the world. He faced the likes of Jack Draper and Carlos Alcaraz across the net.

However repeated injuries led to enforced rest periods and so he turned his attention to music.

“One day I just decided to become a music producer, so I swapped out my racquet for decks and became the first Indian to sign with Warner Bros Music,” he wrote on Instagram.

After achieving four A* grades in his A-Levels, he took the advice of his father and studied computer science (artificial intelligence) with management at King’s College London, which included a year in industry.

He graduated with first class honours in 2024. That same year he began building his first startup Blitzo – an AI-powered delivery platform which quickly reached £1.8m in annual recurring revenue – with Arjun Khanna, who has represented India in global maths competitions and Harvard debates. 

Now the CEO is returning to music with Mozart AI, a startup founded with COO Khanna and CTO Pascual Merita Torres, a producer and DJ, classically trained pianist and AI researcher. 

Author: Chris Maguire

Tech entrepreneur Dez Derry has announced his exit as an investor in Fletchers Group after a three-year partnership.

Derry, who is the founder of LegelTech Blume, played a key role at Fletchers Group in shaping strategic direction and supporting M&A opportunities that helped the business surpass £100m turnover.

His investment has delivered three times money-on-money (3x MOM)and a 53 per cent internal rate of return (IRR) — reflecting both strong capital growth and a rapid investment cycle.

Speaking about his departure, Derry said: “It’s been great working with the team, shaping the strategy and helping identify M&A opportunities.

“I wish the new management team all the best as they continue to drive the business forward.

“It’s been a privilege to be involved in their trajectory over the last three years and to witness them break through the £100m turnover milestone.”

Derry was adopted by a white family in the 1990s and became a charity ambassador for Adoption Matters, which he plans to continue to support.

He also plans to invest in the global electronic dance music space, identifying and supporting young talent from underprivileged backgrounds to access opportunities in music, entertainment and entrepreneurship.

Specialist litigation firm Helix Law is seeking almost £110 million from a cryptocurrency investment company whose shares trade in London.

Jade Road Investments Limited, an offshore funding firm with links to Hong Kong and Dubai, is being pursued over the alleged failure to issue millions of shares to their client, a Guernsey-based consultancy.

Jade Road Investments is listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), and specialises in the use of cryptocurrency investments to fund more traditional assets.

It is alleged that Jade Road Investments failed to deliver on an agreement to issue 70m shares to the claimant in exchange for consultancy services.

Manchester-based premium pet products business OurPetsLife (OPL) has accelerated international expansion after entering a series of new overseas markets and significantly growing its distributor network over the past year.

Founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Elliot Roxby, OPL has six proprietary product ranges spanning cat health, everyday dog grooming and specialist pet care. It was also recently appointed as an approved supplier to Jollyes, one of the UK’s largest pet retailers.

Supported by a £300,000 investment round in 2025, led by GC Angels, the business has secured 16 new distributor agreements and expanded into markets including Portugal, Romania, Norway, the UAE and Kuwait.

OPL now supplies its own-brand premium pet products through 23 distributors across 27 countries, with the majority of revenues generated outside the UK.

After advice from GC Angels, OPL repositioned itself as a B2B-led distributor of innovative, own-brand pet care products in 2025. As a result it now supplies thousands of pet stores worldwide and B2B revenues have grown by 55% year-on-year – from £125,000 in 2023 to £350,000 in 2025.

The business is currently tracking towards a £600,000 B2B revenue run-rate in 2026.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

London-headquartered tech firm Reward has been acquired in a $230 million (£168m) deal.

Described as a leader in customer engagement and commerce media, Reward was founded in 2001 and operates across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Its cloud-based API platform integrates content, advertising and commerce to deliver experiences for customers. It is behind many bank loyalty programmes seen today from brands such as Visa, NatWest Group and Barclays.

Reward also works with the world’s largest retailers such as McDonald’s, eBay, Deliveroo and Amazon. 

Last year it won backing from Dragons’ Den star Touker Suleyman, who struck a partnership that brought his clothing brand Hawes & Curtis into the company’s global retail network.

 

The International Group has announced the launch of International Aerospace & Defence Alloys – a dedicated business focused on high-integrity alloys for aerospace and defence programmes.

IADA separates the Sheffield-based group’s defence and aerospace capabilities from its energy products division, giving primes, Tier 1s and specialist suppliers a distinct commercial front, approvals pathway and customer interface built for A&D requirements, while continuing to draw on the group’s integrated manufacturing base in Sheffield.

By aligning stockholding, forging and heat treatment, precision engineering, additive manufacturing and advanced NDT under one accountable owner, the new company aims to reduce handoffs, shorten qualification cycles and provide fully traceable documentation from billet to release.

Enquiries are open immediately ahead of formal go-live before year-end, with a dedicated team in place to manage approvals, audits and programme onboarding for both aerospace and defence customers.

Copilot Capital, a private equity firm focused on pan-European software companies, has announced two senior promotions.

Copilot, described as a ‘copilot’ to the founders of European software and data businesses, said Dave Sun has been promoted to partner, while Zerxis Billimoria is now a director.

Both have been with Copilot – which launched a €200m fund – since the London firm’s founding.

Sun will expand his areas of focus to strategy and continue leading execution across the Nordics; Billimoria will step into a leadership role for deal execution and portfolio engagement across Europe.

SciLeads, a provider of market-intelligence solutions for the global life sciences sector, has reported a year of strong performance marked by team growth.

The firm is approaching its 10-year anniversary in 2026 and has plans to create 60 new jobs in the next three years across software engineering, product, sales, customer success, and marketing.

To meet increasing demand, the company expanded its workforce this year, welcoming new hires across multiple departments.

Founded in 2016 by three friends from Belfast – Daniel McRitchie, Laura Haldane and James Campbell – SciLeads is a SaaS platform delivering high-value market intelligence to life science companies worldwide.

SciLeads provides real-time insights into global scientific activity, enabling users to target and engage their ideal customers.

Two North East businesses have agreed a long-term partnership to drive digital performance.

AWS and software development specialist Leighton will work with The eaga Trust to maintain, modernise and improve the performance of its digital estate.

Established in 1999, the eaga Trust supports its members and their families by providing funds that allow them to access life-enhancing benefits for example health and wellbeing support, holiday homes, an education bursary programme – including funding for degree courses for the children of members, Skill-Builder – funding for work-related training and development, along with services like will writing and serious injury insurance.

The long-term partnership will see Leighton take responsibility for the trust’s AWS infrastructure, providing strategic guidance, as well as capitalising on any cost and efficiency opportunities through architecture modernisation.

Innovate UK has awarded a £300k+ SMART grant to Exeter HealthTech Research Centre and Sanome to advance AI-enabled early detection of hospital-acquired infections.

The funding supports the co-design and roll-out of MEMORI, a Class IIb CE-certified SaMD platform, tailored to local clinical teams and systems.

MEMORI analyses multimodal clinical data in real-time to accurately predict the risk of hospital-acquired infections, alerting clinical teams up to seven days before signs of infection.

The grant will also support enhancements to MEMORI’s existing capabilities by allowing the integration of additional clinical data sources and further optimisation of its machine-learning models to improve accuracy and scalability.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A former CFO at Bidstack when it was a listed company has been fined for insider dealing.

Bhavesh Hirani and Dipesh Kerai have been penalised by the Financial Conduct Authority for profiting from inside information about the then-listed firm.

In December 2021, Hirani was the interim CFO at Bidstack, a tech company that placed advertising inside video games. This meant he had access to inside information about a major upcoming deal between Bidstack and a large video game publisher.

Before it was announced to the public, Hirani passed this confidential information to Kerai, according to the FCA.

It said Hirani then opened a trading account in Kerai’s name and, with his help, bought 1.3 million Bidstack shares in advance of the announcement while in possession of inside information.

When the deal was made public, Bidstack’s share price rose by more than 125%. Kerai made more than £9,000 in profit, which the FCA has now required him to return as part of his penalty.

Hirani has been fined £56,000, while Kerai has been fined £52,731.

The UK Space Agency is launching Skills for Space, a new internship programme offering 50 paid placements across the UK space sector to give young people hands-on experience and industry exposure.

The new programme is a UK-wide initiative designed to give students their launchpad into the space sector through structured internships with the space industry.

Skills for Space will offer placements across a range of disciplines and locations, providing participants with practical experience in one of the UK’s fastest-growing industries.

The UK space sector already employs more than 55,000 people and generates £18.6 billion for the economy. Internships are one of many routes into a space career. The sector offers opportunities through apprenticeships, graduate schemes and direct entry roles across a range of areas.

Applications for internship candidates are now open, with placements being announced in May.

IG Design Group plc expects to report revenue at the high end of expectations, and above current market consensus, in its annual results.

The designer, innovator and manufacturer said for the financial year ending 31st March 2026, it expects revenue of $280-285 million.

Adjusted profit is also expected to exceed current market expectations.

Full-year net cash is expected to be c.$55-60m, which is $15-20m ahead of market expectations.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The owners of Instagram and YouTube built ‘addiction machines’, a landmark trial has been told in California.

Mark Lanier told a judge and jury in Los Angeles that his client, known as ‘Kaley G.M.’, suffered from mental health issues as a child due to social media addiction.

“These companies built machines designed to addict the brains of children, and they did it on purpose,” he said in his opening address.

However lawyers for Meta – owner of Instagram – and YouTube told the jury that the then-minor’s addiction was caused by other issues in her life.

Attorney Paul Schmidt said she had suffered neglect, physical and verbal abuse, and bullying by her parents. Pointing to records of domestic violence in her family history, he said she had started seeing therapists when she was just three years old.

However Lanier said: “This case is about two of the richest corporations in history who have engineered addiction in children’s brains.

“I’m going to show you the addiction machine that they built, the internal documents that people normally don’t get to see, and emails from [Meta CEO] Mark Zuckerberg [in which he demanded more watch time] and YouTube executives.”

Lanier accused YouTube of taking advantage of busy parents looking for a “digital babysitting service”.

Meta and Google/YouTube maintain they are not responsible for content published by third parties on their platforms.

The six-week trial is the first of potentially many more set to take place around the US this year.

Owners of Snapchat and TikTok both settled with K.G.M. last month.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Apple and Google will make changes to their app stores in the UK following intervention from the Competition and Markets Authority.

The tech giants says they will no longer give preferential treatment to their own apps.

They will also be transparent about how others are approved for sale.

Last year the CMA said Apple and Google had built an “effective duopoly” in the UK.

The FCA has begun legal proceedings against global crypto exchange HTX (formerly Huobi) for illegally promoting cryptoasset services to UK consumers.

Firms providing crypto products to UK consumers need to comply with rules which protect consumers from unfair and misleading marketing. Advertising cryptoassets on social media or websites without complying with these rules is a criminal offence.

The FCA previously warned about HTX’s illegal promotion of crypto services to UK consumers. However, it has continued to publish financial promotions in breach of these rules on its website and on social media platforms – including TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube – says the FCA.

“HTX operates an opaque organisational structure, hiding the identities of its owners and the operators of its website. Repeated attempts by the FCA to engage with HTX have been ignored,” it said. “Since issue of the proceedings, HTX has taken steps to restrict new UK customers from registering an account.

“However, existing UK users can still log in and access unlawful financial promotions, and HTX has given no assurance that the changes will be permanent. The FCA therefore remains concerned that the risk of ongoing breaches continues.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Audoo is changing how the music industry approaches royalty payments – and founder Ryan Edwards says this mission remains his core focus.

Edwards founded the business in 2018 to provide a solution to the challenges faced in public performance royalty data collection and payment distribution via its Audoo Audio Meter device and insights platform.

So impressive is the growth of the London firm – which counts legends including Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus among its investors – that it has topped our last two MediaTech 50 rankings.

However, despite substantial interest, he says they “do not have an exit strategy for the time being”.

“And that’s quite intentional,” he adds. “Audoo is a mission-led business and we’re focused on long-term impact rather than a quick exit.

“Of course, we’re consistently approached, and we explore every conversation, just as we do with funding. But the reality is we love working on this company. 

“We get to spend time with our heroes, solve a problem that’s affected creators for generations, and genuinely change how the industry works. That’s what motivates us, not an exit timeline.”