Author: Patrick Killeen

Legal & General Group plc has appointed Scott Wheway to succeed Sir John Kingman as chair of the company.

Wheway will join the board at the start of 2026 as an independent non-executive director and chair designate, and will take over formally as chair following the company’s AGM on 21st May 2026.

At that point, Kingman will step down as chair and as a director of the board after nine years of service.

Google may be forced to make changes to how its search engine operates in the UK following a landmark decision by regulator the Competition and Markets Authority.

The CMA has designated Google with ‘strategic market status’, which means it may intervene in a ‘proportionate and targeted’ way to preserve competition in the market.

It expects to begin a consultation on any possible changes this year.

Google responded with a warning and claimed that UK businesses and consumers have been amongst the first to benefit from Google’s innovations, often months before their European counterparts.

“As a result, they see significant value: Google Search contributes billions of pounds a year to the UK economy — £118 billion in 2023 alone,” it stated.

“The UK enjoys access to the latest products and services before other countries because it has so far avoided costly restrictions on popular services, such as Search. Retaining this position means avoiding unduly onerous regulations and learning from the negative results seen in other jurisdictions, which have cost businesses an estimated €114bn.

“Many of the ideas for interventions that have been raised in this process would inhibit UK innovation and growth, potentially slowing product launches at a time of profound AI-based innovation. Others pose direct harm to businesses, with some warning that they may be forced to raise prices for customers.

“Google supports the CMA’s goal to ensure the UK’s competition framework mirrors the best interests of UK consumers and businesses. We hope to see outcomes that reflect such ambitions in the crucial months ahead.”

Author: Patrick Killeen

A company looking to transform insurance claims from a chronic pain point into a competitive advantage has raised £10 million in one of the largest InsurTech seed rounds on record.

The round for ClaimSorted was led by Atomico, with participation from Eurazeo, Y Combinator, firstminute capital, Start Ventures Capital and a network of insurance veterans.

The new funding will accelerate product development, expand operations across key global markets and scale partnerships with insurers seeking a modern alternative to legacy TPAs.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Electric vehicle charge point management platform Fuuse has raised £6 million in follow-on investment as it continues its journey towards profitability.

The round, led by existing investors YFM Equity Partners and Par Equity, follows a period of strong performance from the Lancaster-based business, which has more than doubled recurring revenues since its last investment.

The business provides a software platform that helps organisations optimise and manage their EV charging infrastructure.

It has rapidly expanded its footprint, working with major partners such as Arnold Clark and Be.EV, and recently entered new international markets including Italy and Sweden.

Aptamer Group plc has reported that it has won a new contract with a top-10 pharma firm.

Aptamer is a developer of synthetic binders for the life sciences industry.

The £112,000 contract ‘represents success-based repeat business with an existing partner, focusing on the development of Optimer binders against two protein targets to support the partner’s internal biomarker research’.

It builds on the group’s recent success in delivering validated Optimer binder pairs for a top-5 pharma partner. Aptamer retains ownership supporting future licensing and royalty opportunities.

Digital banking platform Shawbrook has confirmed that it will float on the London Stock Exchange and expects to join the main market of the exchange in early November.

Shawbrook will have an anticipated valuation of around £2 billion, which would make the Pollen Street Capital-owned FinTech’s IPO one of London’s biggest in recent history. The deal is expected to raise £50 million of net proceeds.

Pollen Street will sell all of its shares in the Brentwood-based company, which also released its Q3 results this morning. Its loan book increased to £18.3bn.

The Smarter Web Company has purchased another £9m worth of Bitcoin.

The London-listed web design firm has followed the trend of US companies such as Tesla in adopting a Bitcoin treasury policy.

It has bought another 100 Bitcoin at an average purchase price of £82,857, taking its total Bitcoin holdings to 2,650 – with £220m worth purchased to date.

Birmingham firm Spica Technologies has been acquired by American company HubStar.

Spica’s digital tools connect employees with their workplace environment and simplify access to services including wayfinding, comfort controls and wellness. It has deep expertise in IoT, indoor positioning and smart building integration. 

HubStar has built tools for AI-powered employee engagement, spatial intelligence and dynamic occupancy planning. Spica’s existing network of building technology providers and enterprise clients will join HubStar’s H2O platform.

Risers:

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holding – +3.67%

The Sage Group – +3.46%

Hays – +3.38%

THG – +2.96%

Bakkavor Group – +2.82%

Fallers:

Ibstock – -4.04%

Ithaca Energy – -3.7%

Marshalls – -3.46%

Hochschild Mining – -3.35%

Breedon Group – -3.23%

Author: Chris Maguire

Serial entrepreneur Gavin Wheeldon has unveiled his target to reach one billion global users.

The CEO of Purple, a global leader in digital connectivity, was part of a stellar line-up of speakers at BusinessCloud’s FUEL Manchester 2025 event on Thursday.

No.1 Circle Square, in Manchester, hosted FUEL, which was sponsored by growing accountancy firm S&W; GM Business Growth Hub; and Bruntwood SciTech.

Wheeldon was joined on the final panel by Steve Oliver, CEO of MusicMagpie, and Hayley Roberts, CEO of Distology.

Explaining his vision, Wheeldon said: “I want to create a single, unified WiFi network all over the world that’s secure, seamless and everywhere. I want billions and billions of users every day on it.”

Purple’s WiFi has already topped 500m users and 80,000 venues, including cities, airports and stadiums like the $5.5bn SoFi Stadium, which has staged the Super Bowl.

The firm recently partnered with Newcastle City Council to deliver an extensive city-wide Wi-Fi network for residents, students and visitors.

Roberts has clocked up more than 10 years at the helm of cybersecurity distributor Distology and explained her mindset for growth: “Just keep going! Just grow and grow and keep expanding your networks and expanding the horizons constantly. Ultimately, we’re aiming for more domination across Europe and growth with people.”

Oliver spoke about the importance of ‘persevilience’, while Jack Maher, head of flexible workspace at Bruntwood SciTech, told the 90-strong audience the property giant had created a cohort specifically for female founders.

The other speakers were Janine Smith, director, GM Business Growth Hub; Lisa Morton, CEO, Roland Dransfield; Gary Fenemore, tax director, S&W; Nicola Weedall, founder & CEO, Hydr; Helen Oldham, co-founder, Lifted Ventures; Billy Gilchrist, business innovation advisor/GenAI expert, Hopwood Hall College; and Chris Hill, CEO, Northcoders.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Today is World Mental Health Day – and one entrepreneur says supporting vulnerable staff has been key to his success.

“Some of my best employees are neurodiverse. If you support them, they can work wonders,” said Josh Hough, founder and CEO of CareLineLive.

One of them is Jess Davies, 31, a sales development representative who lives with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety. Davies said her mental health condition gives her an edge at work.

“My OCD is a mix of perfectionism, ‘just right’ compulsions and contamination fears,” she said. “But it also makes me incredibly organised. Every piece of intel from a client goes into our CRM. If someone mentions they have a dog or are getting married, I remember. It’s about making people feel seen and that builds trust.”

ClearBank, an enabler of real-time clearing and embedded banking, has partnered with payroll software platform PayCaptain, powering real-time salary payments for more than 50,000 employees across its network of over 300 corporate clients.

PayCaptain will become ClearBank’s first embedded banking partner in the corporate sector, marking a significant milestone on the bank’s journey to deliver embedded financial services at the point of need across any industry.

Liverpool-based startup Harker has launched its platform which aims to transform how homelessness charities support vulnerable individuals.

James Barber, a recent University of Liverpool graduate, founded the business with Matt Gaynor and Alfie Jones. They discovered the problem they are now trying to solve whilst consulting for a homelessness charity in the South East of England, where they saw first-hand the challenges bad software was causing them.

They say Harker is the first CRM Case Management system built from the ground up to support homelessness charities, featuring an intuitive data collection system and a powerful reporting engine.

The software aims to empower charities to provide a personalised, data-led approach to solving each person’s homelessness at its root cause, and also help them to effectively demonstrate their social value to funders.

Author: Chris Maguire

Sisters Amelia and Lydia Miller secured investment from Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett – and the offer of his London penthouse office suite – for their one-week-old startup ivee.

The tech platform is aimed at getting people back to work and is already valued at £6.5m after signing clients including Red Bull, Deliveroo, TransPennine Express and OVO Energy.

The siblings were given less than 12 hours’ notice before appearing on the show but received offers from four different Dragons after their polished pitch.

They were inspired to set up ivee after seeing how difficult their own mother found it to return to work after taking time out from her career to have children.

More than 70,000 users have joined ivee’s platform since filming for the show took place in July 2024.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has accepted paid advisory positions with tech giants Microsoft and Anthropic, just over a year after leaving 10 Downing Street.

The move has been approved by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) – the watchdog overseeing post-government employment – which ruled that Sunak must not lobby ministers or officials on behalf of the companies for two years following his time in office.

Sunak, who remains MP for Richmond and Northallerton, will donate all proceeds from the roles to The Richmond Project – a charity he founded with his wife to boost numeracy across the UK.

West Midlands-based SecureCloud+ has received a £5 million follow-on investment from Gresham House Ventures to accelerate development of its secure collaboration platform for the UK defence and government sectors.

The Stoke-on-Trent company has tripled its headcount since Gresham House’s first investment in 2018 and will use the new funding to enhance automation and user capabilities.

It has also made leadership changes, with Greg Clarke appointed executive chair and founder Peter Williamson becoming a non-executive director.

Valereum Plc has announced a £600,000 fundraise through the issue of 12 million new shares at £0.05 each — a 33% premium to the market price.

The raise includes £225,000 investments from both chairman James Bannon and group CEO Gary Cottle, alongside £150,000 from an unconnected party.

The funds will support the scale-up of VLRM Markets, strengthening its regulated footprint, partnerships and GATE Token utility.

A groundbreaking mental health platform from Psyomics is now available to nearly one in ten Britons to speed up access to mental health care.

beseen, the new platform from Psyomics, has been taken up by five NHS mental health trusts and the UK’s largest private mental health provider the Priory Group, famous for treating celebrities such as Kate Moss and Robbie Williams.

Psyomics is now raising £7.5 million in pre series A funding. The funding round comes on the back of rapid growth since the commercial launch of the platform in 2023 to continue to scale operations to support mental health services worldwide.

Princes Group has confirmed that it will float on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

The £2.1 billion revenue food and drinks firm includes the brands Princes, Napolina, ‘Branston, Batchelors, Flora, Crisp ‘N Dry, Delverde, Naked Noodle and Vier Diamanten.

The Liverpool-headquartered group exports its products to more than 60 countries and has more than 8,000 customers globally across large food retailers, B2B partners and the foodservice industry.

The offer price will be determined by a bookbuilding process. It is currently expected that trading will commence by the end of October.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

See previous investments made by Meaden throughout her career in the Den here; and made by Bartlett here.

And with that the Symcox boys have arrived to watch Celebrity Traitors.

Send us your thoughts on tonight’s pitchers in the Den using the link at the top!