Bite-size news and insight from UK business and tech – including funding, deals and appointments
Published: March 4, 2026 at 10:52 pm
BrewDog co-founder James Watt has admitted to making ‘many mistakes’ after the multinational brewery and pub chain was acquired for a knockdown £33m by Tilray Brands – with the loss of hundreds of jobs.
It followed the news that global law firm DLA Piper had been advising Brewdog on entering administration.
Writing on social media, Watt said: “It is really difficult to find the right words and know what to say.
“On Monday, the business I co-founded in 2007 was sold. I am heartbroken for all of the hard working and passionate team members who have lost their jobs.
“I am heartbroken for all of our brilliant equity punks who did not get the return on their investment they wanted.
“And heartbroken to have dedicated the best 20 years of my life to something that ultimately did not have the ending we all wished for.”
Watt, who stepped down as CEO in 2024, added: “With the benefit of hindsight there are also so many other things I would have done differently.
“At times we expanded too fast and diversified too broadly. During certain periods I did not control spend well enough across the business and furthermore I feel that I did not respond to certain crises that we faced (and we faced many) in a way that was authentic and true to who I am.
“Those decisions sit with me. I will always be cheering it on from the sidelines, even if the next chapter is now going to be written by others.”
Published: March 4, 2026 at 10:21 pm
Manchester-headquartered digital product consultancy Apadmi has appointed Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke as its new global chief marketing officer.
Flowerdew-Clarke has more than 20 years’ experience leading marketing teams across EMEA and most recently spent seven-and-a-half years at DEPT .
She said: “I was fortunate to spend the past decade at a hugely ambitious agency. What started as 80 people in the Netherlands in 2015 grew into a global powerhouse by 2025; 4,000 people across five continents, generating €500m+ in revenue and working with some of the world’s biggest brands.
“It was a wild ride. We had to fail fast, scale at pace, and become experts at acquisition integrations and rebrands.
“During my time there, we acquired and rebranded nearly 40 agencies. So, I’ve joined Apadmi with real, lived experience of scaling quickly and growing a global brand.”
Apadmi is forecasting 20 per cent revenue growth in 2026.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 9:46 pm
The share price of Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc surged from 114.5p to 124.4p today (Wednesday) before closing on 116p.
Earlier this week Francis Van Parys succeeded founder Gordon Sanghera as CEO.
The FTSE 250 MedTech is eyeing profitability after also reporting its results for 2025.
The company’s share price opened at 112.90p today and climbed most of the day before a late fall saw it close on 116p.
The DNA sequencing specialist reported revenues of £223.9m, up 22.2 per cent year-on-year, while adjusted EBITDA losses shrank 31.2 per cent to £86.7m. Actual losses shrank 1 per cent to £145.2m.
The group has developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology that is currently used for real-time, high-performance, accessible, and scalable analysis of DNA and RNA.
The technology is used in more than 125 countries, to understand the biology of humans, plants, animals, bacteria, viruses and environments as well as to understand diseases such as cancer.
Oxford Nanopore’s technology also has the potential to provide broad, high impact, rapid insights in a number of areas including healthcare, food and agriculture.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 9:08 pm
FTSE 100 firm Sage Group has commenced a share buyback programme for an aggregate consideration of up to £300m.
The programme ran from March 2nd and is expected to end no later than June 5th.
The share buyback programme reflects the board’s confidence in Sage’s future prospects, together with Sage’s strong cash generation and robust financial position.
Sage’s share price dropped 1 per cent today to 837.50p.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 3:42 pm
Anna Malmhake is a retail industry heavyweight – and the secret to her success is, on the face of it at least, quite simple.
Malmhake served as CEO and chair at The Absolut Company Pernod Ricard before moving to gaming giant Activision Blizzard to perform MD roles around go-to-market EMEA then brands and consumer products.
She is now CEO of Oriflame, a Swedish-founded multinational focused on beauty and personal care products.
“Throughout my career, I have chosen to work in categories that I personally care about,” she tells BusinessCloud.
“That sense of connection has always been my motivation. Whether it is cocktails, gaming or beauty, these are products and experiences that matter to me in my own life.
“When you genuinely love the consumer offering, it becomes natural to invest the time, curiosity and energy required to excel. I have always been driven by understanding what people want, how brands can enhance their everyday lives and how we can communicate that in a way that feels meaningful.
“This enthusiasm, combined with a commitment to building strong teams and ambitious brands, has consistently helped me to grow within the organisations I have been lucky to be part of.”
Published: March 4, 2026 at 2:07 pm
LaunchLemonade, a no-code AI platform enabling creators to build and monetise AI agents, has announced the appointment of Joe Leung as CTO and co-founder.
Leung has been involved with the platform since its early days as one of its first users, but formally joined full-time in January 2026 to lead the company’s technical vision and infrastructure following its oversubscribed pre-seed investment round.
He brings a wealth of experience from his role as executive director at JPMorgan, where he led initiatives in blockchain infrastructure, zero-knowledge proofs and privacy systems.
Prior to his career in finance, Leung served as a commissioned officer and aerospace engineer in the Royal Air Force.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 12:55 pm
UK venture funding surged into AI in 2025, with investment increasingly concentrated in the UK’s largest and most proven scaleups, according to NatWest’s inaugural Future of UK Innovation report, published today in partnership with PitchBook.
UK startups raised £17.5bn across more than 2,000 deals last year, even amid a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. The report reveals that investors are placing bigger bets on fewer businesses: rounds over £25m made up more than 70% of the funding — the highest share in a decade — signalling a market where proven business models and demonstrable traction matter more than ever.
NatWest’s research also shows that AI is now one of the defining forces in the UK innovation economy. AI startups raised more than £6bn - over a third of all UK venture capital - helping create five new unicorns and driving some of the strongest exit activity in the market, with a total of 67 exits worth £4bn. This rapid surge in AI activity underscores how decisively capital is shifting toward technologies with clear commercial readiness and global scaling potential.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 12:23 pm
Maven Capital Partners has announced a leadership change, with Ewan MacKinnon appointed managing partner and founder Bill Nixon taking the role of chair.
The alternative asset manager said the move was part of a planned succession strategy, reflecting the continued evolution of the business.
In 2009, Nixon led the management buyout of Aberdeen Asset Management’s private equity division, establishing Maven as an independent firm. Since then, the business has evolved into a diversified alternative asset manager with national reach and a strong regional presence across the UK.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 12:14 pm
NatWest has announced Adeel Hyder as its new MD of business banking, leading the bank’s strategy to strengthen support for small and micro businesses across the UK.
Joining NatWest from Starling Bank on 1st June 2026, Adeel is an experienced banking leader with a strong track record in customer‑centric digital transformation and deep SME expertise.
His background spans McKinsey, TSB and, most recently, Starling, where he helped build and scale its digital‑first business bank. He brings proven commercial leadership, deep experience overseeing business performance, and sharp insight into the needs of UK small businesses.
Adeel will report to Robert Begbie, CEO of NatWest’s Commercial & Institutional business, and will join its executive committee.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 11:53 am
ROXFIT, a digital training platform for hybrid athletes, has raised £1.9m in seed funding as participation in hybrid competition continues to expand rapidly worldwide.
Founded by entrepreneurs Ben Wilson and Joey Allott, the business has grown from 80,000 users in May 2025 to more than 260,000 across 185 countries – driven largely by organic adoption within the global HYROX community.
The funding round was led by existing investors DSW Ventures and strategic angel investor Peter Markham, with participation from SWIM Capital and continued backing from York Angels.
It follows ROXFIT’s £800,000 pre-seed round, which supported product development and early international growth. ROXFIT operates as a training and race-day performance platform built specifically for hybrid competition.
The app provides AI-powered training tools, pacing guidance, post-race performance analytics and wearable integration, allowing athletes to simulate race conditions, benchmark results and track progression.
Following the launch of Version 2, training functionality now sits firmly at the core of the platform, with deeper analytics and expanded integrations supporting both elite and first-time competitors.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 11:00 am
The upcoming reforms to Business Property Relief (BPR), alongside wider proposed changes to the inheritance tax (IHT) treatment of pensions, could create unexpected tax bills and increase the risk of disputes between families and business owners.
Preparation is critical, and the question is not if these changes will affect them – but how they will affect them, and whether they are ready. Here are five considerations for business owners, investors and entrepreneurs.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 9:45 am
Mutable Tactics, a robotics autonomy company based in London, has closed a pre‑seed funding round of £1.57m.
Seraphim Space led the round, with support from the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund, Koro, Entrepreneurs First and Transpose.
It will accelerate development of AI software that allows unmanned systems, such as aerial, maritime, or ground drones, to operate and make decisions even when communications are lost or unreliable.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 9:20 am
AgriTech startup Bindbridge has raised £2.8m investment to boost crop resilience.
The Cambridge-based company is behind AI discovery platform BRIDGE, which designs new agricultural molecular glues to support the creation of new herbicides and crop protection agents.
It has been backed by Speedinvest and Nucleus Capital.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 9:18 am
Literal Labs, a spin-out from Newcastle University and pioneer of logic-based AI, has appointed Jim Darragh as non-executive chairman.
Darragh has served as CEO of five international software businesses over the course of his 30-year career. He led each of these businesses (Zeus Technology, Abiquo, Ipanema Technologies, CMO Group, and TotalMobile) to exit, creating approximately £1.3 billion in enterprise value, with an average return of 5x for investors.
In his most recent role as CEO of TotalMobile, Darragh grew revenues by more than 500% in seven years, and oversaw seven acquisitions.
Since stepping down as CEO in 2023, Darragh has been supporting businesses as a board leader.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 8:44 am
Barnsley’s Digital Media Centre (DMC) is celebrating two years of The Furnace Incubator – Enterprising Barnsley’s innovative six-month tech and digital startup incubation programme.
The programme brings together a community of like-minded entrepreneurs in Barnsley – the UK’s first Tech Town – to collaborate as they navigate the early stages of developing and launching their business.
A celebratory event at the DMC provided an opportunity to hear from The Furnace alumni, including speakers from the past, present and future of the programme.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 8:31 am
Antiverse, a BioTech developing AI-designed therapeutic antibodies for undruggable disease targets, has closed a Series A round of £7 million.
The Series A funding brings Antiverse’s total capital raised to over $20m and will enable the Cardiff company to scale its discovery platform for pharmaceutical and foundation partners through collaborative programmes.
Antiverse has entered into a research agreement with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to design novel antibodies targeting the extracellular region of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein, a historically difficult target in cystic fibrosis research.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 8:02 am
Dotdigital Group plc has agreed a $60 million cash deal for the company behind a Shopify tool.
The London-listed MarTech, behind a customer experience and data platform for personalised marketing, will pay $30m up front for Alia Software Inc, an AI‑powered pop-up and email/SMS list-growth tool built exclusively for Shopify merchants.
The remaining $30m will be based upon performance.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 7:40 am
Rosebank Industries plc has appointed Liam Butterworth as COO and a director of the company.
Jersey-headquartered Rosebank, listed in London, was established by former senior management at Melrose, with former chief executive Simon Peckham serving as CEO.
Rosebank, which made its first acquisition last summer in Electrical Components International, says it operates a proven model of ‘buy, improve, sell’.
This was also a tagline at Melrose, a Birmingham-based turnaround company which bought out, operated and – in some cases – sold engineering companies.
Now Butterworth has joined and subscribed for shares.
A director at United Utilities, he was most recently CEO of Dowlais Group plc before the combination of Dowlais and American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings.
Prior to that, he was CEO of GKN Automotive until its demerger from Melrose Industries PLC in 2023.
Peckham and three Melrose colleagues – including Chris Miller, now senior independent director at Rosebank – were criticised in 2018 after each of them were paid more than £40m in bonuses as part of a £8bn swoop for Redditch-based engineering giant GKN.
Published: March 4, 2026 at 7:05 am
Oxa, a global leader in autonomous vehicle technology, has raised £77 million in Series D funding including backing from the National Wealth Fund.
The Oxford-based company said the National Wealth Fund, a policy bank owned by HM Treasury but operated independently, contributed £37.5m to the round.
It also received backing from NVentures – NVIDIA’s venture capital arm – and additional capital from existing shareholders IP Group, Hostplus and bp Ventures.
Published: March 3, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Total quality assurance provider Intertek Group saw its share price plummet by 18 per cent despite announcing a third consecutive year of double-digit growth.
London-headquartered Intertek operate a network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices in more than 100 countries.
On Tuesday morning the FTSE 100 listed company provided its full year results for 2025.
Highlights included revenue growth up 4.3 per cent to £3,432m and profit before tax of £493.4m.
Intertek reported a third consecutive year of double digit adjusted EPS (Earnings Per Share) growth of 10.1 per cent at constant currency.
In terms of 2026, the company predicted ‘mid-single digit’ LFL (Like-for-Like) revenue growth, which may have spooked investors.
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