European online marketplace Fruugo reported strong Christmas trading, delivering 25% year-on-year festive sales growth in the six weeks to 24th December 2025.

The Ulverston-based eCommerce platform saw particularly strong demand across categories including seasonal decorations, cosmetics, vehicle parts and hair care.

It comes after the company reported disappointing 2024 results and could mark the beginning of a turnaround.

The performance also follows Fruugo’s strategic decision in 2024 to pause onboarding new sellers, prioritising seller quality, compliance and long-term sustainable growth.

Chief executive Fergal Gara said the results validate the company’s shift toward tighter controls and trust-led marketplace operations as it builds for its next decade of expansion.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Liverpool star Cody Gakpo has invested in a company which is using AI to build a ‘European health operating system’.

The Dutchman, who played in the 4-1 FA Cup victory over Barnsley at Anfield on Monday night, has joined several other angel investors – including prominent entrepreneurs – into Zurich-based Ahead Health.

The $6 million seed round was led by RTP Global, with VC firms Tiny.VC and Pareto 20 also participating.

Founded in 2024 by ex-Google executives, medical doctors and HealthTech builders, Ahead Health combines preventive check-ups such as MRI scans, advanced blood tests, and CT-scans into a single platform to democratise access to sophisticated preventative healthcare. 

Finova has appointed Lewis Harris as Head of Strategic Solutions, bolstering its commercial leadership.

Harris joins from roles at Salesforce, nCino and HSBC, bringing deep experience in banking, FinTech and large-scale digital transformation.

He will work closely with sales director Daniel Broadhurst to shape Finova’s pre-sales strategy and translate market and customer needs into scalable technology solutions.

The hire follows a series of senior appointments over the past year and supports the firm’s ambition to become the UK’s leading end-to-end mortgage and savings technology provider.

Karavel has secured £1.25 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by Fuel Ventures to accelerate the development of its AI-powered compliance platform for highly regulated industries.

The London-based startup helps legal, compliance and marketing teams replace fragmented, manual processes with AI-driven ad reviews, real-time regulatory horizon scanning and automated gap analysis.

Founded by former Revolut and ClearScore leaders Pedro Sousa and Nav Garcha, the business is already making its mark, with customers completing compliance reviews up to three times faster and significantly reducing legal costs.

The funding will support product development and expansion across the UK and Europe.

Author: Chris Maguire

Journalist Jon Robinson announced he’ll be taking on a new role as the first Head of News at Citypress.

Citypress is the UK’s biggest employee-owned PR consultancy, having transitioned to an EOT model in 2021.

Robinson’s last day at City AM is today and it brings the curtain down on a stellar 13-year career in journalism.

The experienced reporter joined City AM as the paper’s first UK editor in January 2024 and has clocked up nearly 2,000 articles.

THG acquired City AM in a pre-pack deal in 2023.

He’ll be taking up his new role as the first Head of News at Citypress on Monday.

 

A record 56,615 new UK technology companies were incorporated in 2025, up 17% year on year. 

According to analysis by RSM UK, nearly every region saw record tech incorporations, with particularly sharp growth in Wales, the West Midlands and the North West, although skills shortages appear to be holding back growth in parts of the South East. 

RSM said the figures highlight the UK tech sector’s continued appeal to entrepreneurs and investors, supported by government backing in areas such as AI, startup funding and tax incentives. 

However, the firm warned that failing to attract and retain skilled talent could limit future growth if barriers to overseas recruitment and graduate retention are not addressed.

Author: Patrick Killeen

JD Sports Fashion has announced a new global agreement with digital commerce platform provider commercetools to enhance the use of AI platforms.

The deal will allow customers to search for and purchase products directly through AI platforms such as Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, without leaving those apps.

The move comes as major AI firms in the US begin to enable direct purchasing ahead of a wider global rollout.

Launching first in the US, the London-listed retail giant will partner with commercetools and payments specialist Stripe to become the first retailer to deploy their joint Agentic Commerce Suite (ACS).

Gamma Communications plc anticipates reporting FY25 financial performance in line with market expectations.

The FTSE 250 firm, a channel partner network connecting major technology vendors with tens of thousands of SMEs, large corporates and the public sector, has announced the launch of a share buyback programme within existing shareholder authorities of up to £42.5m in FY26 and an intention to launch a further £42.5m share buyback in FY27, returning up to £85m in aggregate.

Closing net debt at 31st December 2025 was £9.4m, compared with net cash of £153.7m a year earlier, following the acquisition of STARFACE in February 2025 for £152.2m, a share buyback of £45.1m (completed in H1 2025) and the payment of £18.9m of dividends in the year.

Gamma said it continues to generate significant operating cash flow with liquidity supported by its £130m multicurrency revolving credit facility, of which £97m remained undrawn, and will continue M&A activity when appropriate.

The firm has also announced the appointment of Chris Jagusz as a non-executive director.

Jagusz spent two decades at BT Group before holding senior executive positions at Eurotel, Daisy Group, SSE Telecoms (now Neos Networks) and Azzurri Communications. His most recent executive role was as CEO of Redcentric plc; since then, he has held roles at a number of private and private equity-backed companies and currently retains chair positions on smaller businesses which operate in the telecommunications and technology sectors.

 

Paramount has launched legal action against Warner Bros in an attempt to revive its $108 billion (£80bn) hostile takeover bid, after the studio agreed to an $83bn (£61.6bn) deal with Netflix. 

Paramount boss David Ellison said the lawsuit seeks disclosure of key valuation details around the Netflix offer and Warner Bros’ networks division, including CNN, which he argues shareholders need to make an informed decision. 

The move escalates tensions after Warner Bros rejected Paramount’s approach for a second time, despite a $40bn personal guarantee from Ellison’s father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison. 

Paramount is also seeking to block the deal by nominating directors to Warner Bros’ board and pushing for shareholder approval of any network spin-off, while warning the outcome will likely be decided by a shareholder vote.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Social Chain owner Brave Bison has reported strong full-year trading performance for 2025, with revenue up 57% to £33.5 million.

The AIM-listed marketing and technology company saw net revenue above forecasts, while adjusted also EBITDA rose 44% year-on-year, from £4.5m to at least £6.5m.

Adjusted profit before tax increased 41% to £5.5m.

Despite a reduction in year-end net cash to £4.3m from £7.5m, the London-based firm said this was significantly ahead of consensus expectations, driven by strong Q4 trading and an improved working capital position that is expected to partially unwind during the first half of 2026.

Sosandar plc says trading is in line with full-year expectations after reporting a rise in quarterly revenues.

The women’s fashion brand said revenue was up 10% to £13.4m for the three-month period ended 31st December 2025.

It said its business through M&S continues to trade, with stock levels below the prior year following the retail giant’s cyber incident – but that stock levels are expected to normalise by spring 2026.

There was continued momentum in performance from its own website, with revenue up 27% on the prior year.

Author: Patrick Killeen

A Milton Keynes-based developer of document automation and management software has been acquired by Netherlands-headquartered Whitevision.

Document Logistix, which was founded in 2011, is the fourth firm to be snapped up by the intelligent document processing (IDP) specialist in its buy-and-build strategy.

It is Whitevision’s first international deal since partnering with private equity firm Main Capital Partners and it supports international expansion for both businesses.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Raspberry Pi Holdings plc defied its plummeting share price with a positive year-end trading update – but admitted that supply uncertainty remains around the memory boards used in its products.

The Cambridge-based firm, which is behind low-cost miniature computers used extensively in education, has seen its value fall to the lowest level since IPO in June 2024.

However for the year ended 31st December 2025, adjusted EBITDA was ahead of market consensus forecasts, at not less than $45m, up over 20% on FY2024.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The Mission Group plc has issued a profit warning amid ‘macroeconomic uncertainty’.

The firm, which in 2024 snubbed a £32 million takeover from fellow listed tech agency group Brave Bison, said completions of some of its major projects have carried over into 2026, which has impacted FY2025 revenues.

For the financial year ended 31st December 2025, it expects to report revenues of £68m and operating profit of £5.1m, below market expectations of £73m and £8.5m respectively.

Meanwhile the group has appointed two new figures to its board and revealed a plan to make cost savings by consolidating its divisions following a strategic review initiated following the appointment of John Carey as chief executive in September 2025.

Author: Chris Maguire

THG, the owner of brands including Lookfantastic, Dermstore, Cult Beauty and Myprotein, has provided a stellar trading update for Q4 2025.

The  Manchester-headquartered eCommerce retailer ended 2025 with its strongest quarter of trading with group revenue growth up 7 per cent, building on the previous quarter high of 6.3 per cent.

It meant that THG Group delivered FY revenue growth of 2.3 per cent, the first year of growth since 2021, and a significant recovery from the H1 revenue decline of 2.5 per cent.

Last January the loss-making THG Ingenuity split from the profitable THG Beauty and THG Nutrition to become a standalone business.

THG founder and CEO Matt Moulding said: “We enter the new year with strong trading momentum and a clear focus on continuing to deliver quality, value and newness for our customers.”

One analyst told BusinessCloud: “These are a really good sets of results. It’s really good to see both side of the business doing well. It feels like momentum is back with THG.”

Tech services and systems firm Science Group delivered strong annual profitability in FY25.

For the year ended 31st December 2025, it said that despite volatile market conditions it expects to report another record year of adjusted operating profit, ahead of board expectations.

The firm said it benefited from a recovery in its services division, particularly in the medical sector.

Author: Chris Maguire

Street Group, the Manchester-headquartered PropTech company behind Street.co.uk and Spectre, is recruiting for  more than 30 new roles.

The fast-growing company was founded by siblings Heather and Tom Staff and celebrated its 10^th anniversary in 2025.

It is the UK’s fastest-growing property technology company, dedicated to transforming the estate agency experience through automation, data, and design.

Award-winning Street Group is currently looking to recruit for 33 roles, including development, product, UX, marketing, lead gen, support and onboarding.

The new roles are in addition to 62 new starters in 2025.

Laura Whitworth, head of people at Street Group, said: “Starting the New Year off STRONG with a metric ton of growth.”

Author: Chris Maguire

One of the UK’s fastest-growing founder-led businesses has announced a £9m investment.

The Salad Bar opened the doors to its first store in London in 2021 and now operates from 11 sites across the capital.

Co-founders Florian de Chezelles and James Dare plan to expand internationally – starting with Paris in 2026.

De Chezelles said: “A huge thank you to our investor base who has accompanied and supported us since day one.

“Some guys invested when James and I were two 25-year-olds with nothing more than an idea in the midst of a pandemic.

“Special mentions to Nick Jones (Soho House founder) and William Shu  (Deliveroo founder) who continue to guide us as advisors and investors on a daily basis.

“Also super proud to welcome Active Partners aboard. These guys know brands. Their track record speaks for itself.

“Lastly, thanks to the insanely hard working and inspiring leaders at The Salad Project – Clementine Haxby and Vibhav Parikh. So much of our successes to date have been down to the dedication and tenacity of our directors.

“A new chapter begins at The Salad Project in 2026. Bring on Paris and the rest of Europe.”

Author: Patrick Killeen

North East-based Origin Tech has secured a multi-million-pound growth investment from BGF, as it looks to accelerate its expansion in the UK and overseas water markets.

Founded in 2019 by Phil Surtees and John Marsden, the business develops advanced technologies that help water companies tackle leakage more effectively and sustainably. 

Its AI and satellite-enabled leak detection platform, Origin Orbit, aims to allow utilities to pinpoint leaks within a 30-metre radius.

Meanwhile, its Origin No Dig solution can seal leaks without excavation or precise location data. 

Together, the technologies look to help water companies save time and money, cut carbon emissions and avoid disruption to customers and road networks.

OutSee has secured £2.5 million in seed funding as the genomics and drug discovery company accelerates development of its AI-driven predictive genomics platform, Nomaly.

The round was led by Ahren Innovation Capital with support from Kadmos Capital, Panacea, Empirical Ventures and 26 angel investors, and will be used to advance a pipeline of data-backed therapeutic targets through experimental validation.

Alongside the raise, the Cambridge-headquartered MedTech has signed a strategic agreement with preclinical CRO o2h discovery to launch a collaborative drug discovery programme for its lead target, supported by o2h’s InflexionTx co-discovery funding model.