Author: Patrick Killeen

The widely-reported landmark Technology Prosperity Deal signed between the UK and the US during Donald Trump’s State Visit has been billed by ministers as the start of a “next Golden Age of Innovation”.

However, former Meta executive and ex-deputy Prime Minister, Sir Nick Clegg, has dismissed the mammoth investments as “sloppy seconds from Silicon Valley”.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge, he described the relationship as “all one-way traffic”, arguing that the announcements largely reflected infrastructure projects already in motion by US firms, merely accelerated to coincide with the state visit.

“We’re a kind of vassal state technologically, we really are,” he warned.

“The moment our companies, our tech companies, start developing any scale or ambition, they have to go to California, because we don’t have the growth capital here.

“In a sense, this US-UK tech deal is just another version of the United Kingdom holding on to Uncle Sam’s coat-tails … which is basically just taking sloppy seconds from Silicon Valley.”

NVIDIA, which yesterday confirmed a £500m investment in UK firm Nscale, has said it will invest $5 billion in fellow tech giant Intel.

The deal will see Intel and Nvidia jointly develop PC and data centre chips.

IG Group Holdings plc has acquired Independent Reserve, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Australia, for an initial enterprise value of £86.8m.

The bolt-on transaction accelerates its entry into cryptocurrency markets in the Asia Pacific region.

It said the move ‘brings a talented team of crypto-native specialists to the group… and complements the strategic progress we have made to enhance our crypto offerings organically in the UK and US’.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

‘Golden triangle’ property investor Life Science REIT is to wind down four years after a £350m IPO in London.

The firm invested in properties across London, Cambridge and Oxford which were then leased to tenants operating in the life science sector.

Following a strategic review and formal sale process that commenced in March – and following several offers for the company – it has decided to wind down operations over the coming 12-18 months.

Vodafone is to acquire the assets of Telekom Romania from Hellenic Telecommunications Organization for €30 million.

The deal is for Telekom Romania Mobile Communications and its post-paid customer base.

Meanwhile Digi has agreed to acquire its pre-paid customer business. Both companies will also gain additional spectrum and towers as part of the transaction.

A non-exec director at Inspiration Healthcare Group plc is to retire.

Liz Shanahan will retire from the board on 20th November 2025. The company does not intend to replace this position.

Inspiration is a global medical technology company pioneering neonatal intensive care medical devices.

Sale Sharks have announced a major multi-year partnership with CorpAcq, which will see the Salford Community Stadium renamed the CorpAcq Stadium from the start of the 2025/26 Gallagher Premiership Rugby season.

Founded in 2006, the Altrincham-based business compounder acquires and holds controlling stakes in established companies, helping them grow through long-term ownership and shared expertise.

Its portfolio spans more than 50 businesses across multiple industries, generating revenues of over £900 million, and it was recently acquired by private equity firm TDR Capital LLP.

The new deal will see the CorpAcq brand showcased prominently across the stadium, including the West Stand and the North Stand roof visible from the M60.

London-based BNVT Capital has launched its debut $150 million (£111m) fund to back AI-first and technology-driven companies tackling ‘humanity’s biggest challenges’.

The fund is grounded in a landmark study, Benevolent Disruption, co-authored with Harvard, MIT, Oxford and VenCap, which found that ventures addressing major global problems historically deliver 51% higher returns.

Founded by Rory Mounsey-Heysham, Chris Corbishley and Nasir Alsharif, and seeded by Sackville Capital, BNVT has already invested in 11 companies across Europe and the US, including Swap Commerce, Cloover and Dawnguard, alongside global investors such as TPG and Iconiq.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Subcontractors in the UK and Australia are preparing landmark class actions against their governments, claiming they were misled by protections that failed to safeguard payments when major contractors collapsed.

The actions are being brought with litigation funders and law firms after the 2024 collapse of ISG in the UK, which left over £1.1 billion in unpaid debts, and the 2021 collapse of Pindan in Western Australia.

These left subcontractors unpaid for completed work, despite assurances that Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) would provide protection.

In both cases, money intended for subcontractors was diverted into insolvency estates.

Louise Stewart, founder of construction FinTech ProjectPay, said: “Subcontractors were promised protection that simply did not exist. PBAs only protect money already in the account. They fail to stop subcontractor payments being captured by insolvency administrators. Small businesses, families and taxpayers have all been let down and misled.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Manchester startup zally is to move its headquarters to San Francisco after raising £2.8 million in a bridge round of funding as it prepares for a US raise.

The firm’s executive chairman David Webb and Web3 specialist Dan Hibell are among the angel investors backing the behavioural AI startup.

Founder Patrick Smith told BusinessCloud the round was oversubscribed by 40% and included figures from Manchester Angels as well as London.

Webb, who joined as chairman 18 months ago and became executive chairman three months ago, is the founder of 6point6 — acquired by Accenture in December 2023, the same month zally closed its £1.6m pre-seed raise.

New York-listed Amentum has announced plans to create 3,000 new jobs in the UK over the next four years, driven by growth in nuclear power and defence.

CEO John Heller, following meetings with President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, emphasised the importance of UK-US collaboration in energy resilience and national security.

The company is a key delivery partner for the UK’s nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, and is advancing work on small modular reactors and fusion research.

It expects to increase its UK headcount by 50% while investing in digital engineering, AI and automation to strengthen critical infrastructure and defence programmes across both nations.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Are you surprised that women exit from their businesses for 25% less than their male peers?

The latest ‘No Diversity, No Deal’ event in Glasgow last night saw business founders, investors and advisers from across Scotland gather together at The Ivy to discuss the preliminary findings of a research study from wealth management firm Evelyn Partners which showed that male business owners exited at an average of £5.2m, compared to £3.9m for female-owned businesses.

Alison Fitzsimons, head of entrepreneurs business development at Evelyn Partners, said the entrepreneurs at the event were “disappointed but not necessarily surprised”.

“This seems indicative of structural barriers, such as access to funding in order to scale and negotiation bias when it comes to an exit. Anecdotally, from years of advising business founders, we know these are both headwinds that can leave female entrepreneurs with lower returns from their hard graft in building businesses.

“Securing funding is no easy task for all entrepreneurs, but especially for female founders: less than 2% of venture capital funding, and only 3% of equity capital overall in UK, goes to women-led businesses. Can we as a business community in Scotland do more to support those women who want to fundraise, and equally, those who may have decided this is not the route for them?”

What is your experience? Have your say by clicking above.

EMV Capital has joined Xampla’s £10m Series A round, backing the Cambridge spin-out’s mission to eliminate 10 billion units of single-use plastic.

The deal marks the first co-investment between EMV Capital’s EIS practice and the Martlet Capital Fund since EMV assumed management of Martlet in May 2024 – a milestone in fully integrating Martlet into its VC platform.

The move demonstrates how EMV plans to bring together Martlet’s Cambridge roots with its wider EIS strategy and co-investment network to back more science-driven ventures with global impact and commercial scale.

The funding will scale Xampla’s Morro materials, already adopted by brands like Just Eat Takeaway, at a time when global plastic waste costs are estimated at more than $1.5 trillion annually.

West Midlands-based business Popcorn CRM has joined forces with FreeAgent accounting software to enable FreeAgent users to sync their accounts with Popcorn CRM’s sales tools.

The collaboration is off the back of Popcorn CRM founder Simon Washbrook joining the NatWest Accelerator in Birmingham.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Shares in Next have fallen despite the fashion and homeware retailer reporting a double-digit increase in half-year profits.

The FTSE 100 company posted a 13.8% rise in group profit before tax to £515m for the six months to 26 July 2025, with sales climbing more than 10% to £3.25bn. Post-tax earnings per share also jumped nearly 17% to 330p, while the board declared an interim dividend of 87p per share.

However, the retailer struck a cautious note on the UK economy, warning that growth ahead would be “anaemic”.

It cited weakening job opportunities, regulatory pressures, high government spending and rising taxes as factors set to weigh on productivity and competitiveness.

Its share price has dropped from £120.20 at the close of play yesterday to £115.35 at the time of writing.

Humanoid has unveiled the UK’s first humanoid robot designed for industrial use, debuting its prototype HMND 01 Alpha. 

The wheeled robot stands at 220cm tall, moves at speeds up to 7.2 km/h and can carry payloads of 15 kg, with pilot tests set to inform a Beta release next year. 

Backed by $50 million in founder-led capital and a team with experience at Apple, Tesla, Google, Boston Dynamics and Nvidia, the London-based company is pursuing a robots-as-a-service model to accelerate adoption.

The Bank of England has kept interest rates unchanged at 4% in a move widely expected by markets.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 7–2 to hold, with two members favouring a cut to 3.75%.

The decision leaves rates at their lowest level since February 2023, reflecting progress in bringing down inflation but caution about loosening policy too quickly.

TalkTalk Business has appointed Dean Giblin as its new director of operations as the company continues to build momentum following its 2023 demerger from TalkTalk Group.

Giblin, who brings experience from PXC and Vodafone, will focus on embedding customer-first thinking and driving further agility across the organisation.

His arrival follows a period of transformation led by interim operations director Romy Thorpe, who oversaw a new target operating model and the retirement of legacy systems.

Supported by several internal leadership promotions and a new CRM system, the Manchester-based telecommunications firm says its strengthened operations function will deliver greater efficiency, insight and customer value.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Acuity Knowledge Partners has agreed to acquire a Bristol and Munich-based provider of AI-powered digital transformation services in a deal set to complete at the end of the month.

Ascent, which was founded two decades ago and now works with over 170 businesses across Europe and North America, will now look to build a global technology services business unit.

It currently has over 550 specialists in data, software and cloud.