London tech firm Omnea has launched a fund giving its employees the chance of winning investment for their own startups.

The AI-native procurement orchestration platform, used by many of the world’s fastest-growing companies, says the Omnea Future Founders Fund – launched in partnership with European angel fund Firedrop – will allow employees of more than five years to pitch founder and CEO Ben Freeman and Pietro Invernizzi, founder and investor at Firedrop, for 30 minutes.

They say employees with winning ideas can secure $250,000 of seed funding on the spot.

 

Kerry Baldwin, Ruth Handcock OBE and Robin Murray have been appointed as non-executive directors to the board of British Business Bank plc, while Piers Lowson has joined the board of BBB Investment Services Limited.

Each term will last for three years from the date of appointment, at the end of which they may be appointed for another three-year term.

In addition, the Government has confirmed the reappointment of Stephen Welton CBE as non-executive chair of the Bank for a second three-year term, from 5th October 2026.

Baldwin is co-founder and managing partner of IQ Capital, a UK DeepTech venture capital firm.

Handcock is a UK financial services leader known for building mission-driven businesses that expand access to investing and financial advice. She most recently served as CEO of Octopus Money, where she built a £5bn assets under management business to deliver the company’s mission to make financial advice simple and accessible to everyone.

Murray brings more than 30 years of Silicon Valley experience as an entrepreneur and investor across venture capital, growth equity and global private markets. He is head of growth equity at Adams Street Partners, a $75bn global private markets investment firm.

Lowson has more than 35 years of investment experience across asset management, investment banking and consultancy. Until 2025, he was a director of Baillie Gifford, one of the UK’s largest and most successful growth equity managers.

Exonate, a biotechnology company developing novel, non-invasive, small-molecule therapeutics for patients with retinal vascular diseases, has appointed Olav Hellebø as CEO.

He will lead the company as it strengthens its executive team and advances toward key clinical and corporate milestones, including initiating a Phase IIb clinical trial of lead candidate EXN407 for diabetic eye disease.

Hellebø has held senior commercial and development roles across the United States and Europe. Notably, he served as Executive Vice President at Schering-Plough (now Merck), leading the US Biotech and Oncology business unit, Chief Operating Officer of Novartis UK and a member of the Novartis Global Pharmaceutical Executive Committee, and President of Immunology at UCB where he built and led the Immunology Division following the company’s acquisition of Celltech plc.

The Competition and Markets Authority is consulting on new conduct requirements for Apple and Google under the UK digital markets competition regime. 

The proposed requirements would remove restrictions currently preventing UK app developers from ‘steering’ their customers away from Apple and Google’s platforms for payment.

‘Steering’ – the ability for developers to engage with customers about off‑platform options – is currently banned by Apple and restricted by Google in the UK. 

Lifting these constraints, the CMA says, would allow developers to bypass mandatory fees set by platforms.

The CMA also said that after hearing concerns from businesses that Apple’s high fees and strict terms prevented access to near field communication (NFC) functionality, it is designing a potential requirement to allow access for developers.

Firms supporting people to buy, trade and hold crypto will need to meet clear standards under landmark rules set out by the Financial Conduct Authority.

All firms must meet financial resilience requirements including capital and stress testing. The FCA is also introducing new market integrity rules covering areas such as insider trading and market manipulation.  

The new framework also sets out specific rules for stablecoins, a type of cryptoasset designed to maintain a stable value, typically by being linked to a currency such as the pound. The approach was published jointly with The Bank of England.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

FTSE 100 listed UK property group Segro has again slammed a £12.6 billion takeover bid from a US rival and says it will not be sold ‘on the cheap’.

Segro owns a portfolio of warehouses and data centres, mainly in the South East of England, and has benefited from the growth of online shopping.

The company recently rejected the all-share bid from Prologis ‘unanimously and unequivocally’ and said it fell ‘a long way short’ of own valuation and was ‘opportunistically timed’.

This morning Prologis issued a response setting out the strategic and financial rationale for the proposed combination – but Segro has been unequivocal in its reply.

Manchester-based CareLoop Health is reporting strong early traction following a £1.8m funding round from NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, the GMC Life Sciences Fund by PXN Ventures, Verge HealthTech Fund and SFC Capital, supporting the business to scale its technology and expand clinical adoption across the UK and internationally.

Launched in 2021, Careloop Health is a University of Manchester spinout focused on transforming care in  severe mental illness, including schizophrenia and psychosis. Built on more than a decade of research and clinical trials prior to spinout, the CareLoop digital platform integrates into existing care pathways, enabling clinicians to remotely monitor patients while using algorithm-driven insights to predict and prevent relapses.

Since securing the investment in 2025, CareLoop Health has grown its team from two to ten employees, strengthening its clinical, technical and commercial capabilities as it moves towards wider adoption. The business has also secured an SBRI Healthcare grant along with funding from NHS England, enabling pilot programmes across five NHS trusts, while building a strong commercial pipeline as it looks to convert pilots into long-term contracts. The company’s growth reflects increasing momentum across the UK’s digital health and life sciences sectors, both identified as priority areas in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy.

Alongside its UK growth, CareLoop Health has begun expanding internationally, with two sites in the United States. The company has also been accepted into the NHS Innovation Accelerator, with COO Dr Pauline Whelan awarded a fellowship.

Trainline plc has announced the appointment of Niall McBride as audit and risk committee chair and independent non-executive director of the company with effect from 1st July 2026.

He will also join Trainline’s nomination and remuneration committees.

McBride is currently CFO of MONY Group. Prior to this, he was CFO of Ocado Retail and a managing director at Rothschild & Co.

Digital banking platform Tide has launched a dedicated investment account for SMEs.

The Tide Investment Account (TIA) brings business investing directly into the platform where more than 900,000 UK SMEs already manage their finances.

The new offering is designed to help business owners grow surplus cash through investing, removing many of the barriers that have historically made wealth creation more complicated for smaller businesses.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Harrogate entrepreneur Jonathan Yates has launched Caskd, a digital platform that gives whisky enthusiasts a way to buy, sell and manage their collections.

As whisky collecting continues to grow, many enthusiasts are questioning the high costs associated with traditional auction houses. Seller commissions, buyer’s premiums, shipping costs and lengthy settlement times can make buying and selling both expensive and frustrating.

Caskd offers an alternative by removing unnecessary middlemen and enabling enthusiasts to trade directly with one another through a trusted community.

Huddled Group plc has raised £1,244,000 – including £175k from executive chairman Martin Higginson – from management and institutional investors in a share placing.

The AIM-listed circular economy eCommerce group, behind brands including Discount Dragon, has also launched a retail investment offer for up to £100k.

It says the raise will help it become operationally cash flow positive.

The Beauty Tech Group plc has appointed Dr Marnie Millard OBE to its board as a non-executive director.

The group owns brands including CurrentBody Skin, ZIIP Beauty and Tria Laser, which are used by stars such as Serena Williams and Kim Kardashian.

Millard will replace Simon Cooper on the board, who will step down on 31st August 2026 after almost 10 years with the business.

A former CEO at Nichols plc, she currently serves as senior NED and chair of the renumeration committee for Applied Nutrition plc and is chair of University Academy 92 Limited.

In 2018, she was awarded an OBE for Services to Business in the Northwest and International Trade in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. She also holds an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from Salford University.

Millard will serve as senior independent director and chair of the remuneration committee, effective from 1st July 2026.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A former key executive at Oxford Nanopore Technologies has been named CEO at fellow biotechnology firm Oxford BioDynamics Plc.

Oxford BioDynamics, also known as OBD, is looking to advance personalised healthcare through precision clinical diagnostic tests and EpiSwitch Orion, its cloud-based 3D genomics platform.

Targeting pharma and BioTech partners, it is now looking to incoming CEO Richard Compton to secure the sales necessary to the long-term viability of the business.

A $1.4 billion deal caused shares in Bridgepoint Group plc to jump 17% today.

The valuation of the mid-market investor hit £2.4bn following the news of its move to acquire Kayne Anderson Real Estate, with the combined firm to hold $117bn in Assets Under Management spanning private equity, credit, infrastructure, real estate and secondaries.

Expected to complete at the end of 2026, subject to shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and fund consents, the deal comprises $759 million of cash and approximately 189 million newly issued Bridgepoint Shares, with further consideration subject to management fee-related performance hurdles.

UK-headquartered and -listed Bridgepoint’s share price remains 3% down in the year to date.

A London-based deep tech company pioneering energy intelligence technology for battery packs has closed a £21 million funding round. 

This brings total capital raised to over $44m since the company was founded in 2022 as a UCL and Faraday Institution spinout.

The round was co-led by BGF and AlbionVC, with follow-on participation from mobility specialist fund Autotech Ventures, UCL Technology Fund, DN Capital and Future Ventures. 

Led by Steve Jurvetson, an early investor in SpaceX and Tesla, Future Ventures becomes the second early Tesla investor involved with Gaussion alongside board member Simon Rothman.

The British Business Bank has invested more than £600 million into the UK’s fastest-growing science and technology scaleups, increasing its direct equity portfolio to more than 50 high-growth companies. 

The Bank has more than doubled its direct equity investments since October 2025, investing more in the last nine months than in the previous four years.

The Bank has ramped up the pace and scale of its direct equity investing activity to tackle longstanding gaps in the UK late-stage capital market and support high growth companies to scale up and stay in the UK.

Companies developing innovative solutions to improve health and social care have been crowned winners of the Isle of Man’s 2026 Innovation Challenge, following a global programme designed to connect innovators with real-world healthcare challenges and accelerate the adoption of new technologies.

The winners were selected from a group of 15 global finalists following a highly competitive process, which attracted a record-breaking 125 entries from 25 countries.

Now in its fourth year, the Challenge focused on health and social care, recognising the opportunity for innovation to play a greater role in supporting evolving patient needs, workforce demands, and service delivery.

Finalists took part in an intensive 10-week programme, working directly with Isle of Man Government, Manx Care, Public Health and frontline professionals to better understand sector needs and refine their solutions accordingly.

Unlike a traditional pitching competition, finalists were given direct access to decision-makers and end users, enabling them to test assumptions, refine their propositions and better understand user needs, service challenges and potential pathways to adoption.

The Challenge culminated in a live Finale Day in Douglas, where finalists presented their innovations to a panel of expert judges, industry leaders and healthcare professionals.

The 2026 category winners are:

· Working Smarter: Concentric Health – An AI-powered digital consent and shared decision-making platform that helps clinicians and patients make informed healthcare decisions through personalised, evidence-based information, replacing traditional paper-based processes.

· Wellness: BeatModules – A digital wellbeing and education platform that uses interactive learning, AI-supported behavioural simulations and peer-led content to help young people build healthier habits and make informed health decisions.

· Home First: Plainstep Ltd – A digital platform that helps healthcare providers recover unused outpatient appointments by automating waitlist management, reducing missed appointments and improving access to care without requiring new apps or systems.

Nebu-Flow, an advanced aerosol drug-delivery company, has been selected as an Innovate UK Scaleup Programme company, joining a highly competitive national programme supporting innovation-driven businesses on their journey to international growth.

The designation places Nebu-Flow among a select group of high-potential ventures receiving strategic, director-level support to accelerate technical, regulatory and commercial scale-up. The programme provides access to a specialist Scaleup Board and experienced Scaleup Directors who operate together as a virtual executive team, helping companies take decisive steps toward investment readiness and global expansion

As part of the programme, Nebu-Flow will work closely with Innovate UK’s scale-up team to strengthen two core value drivers for investors. ISO 13485 readiness, including structured pre-audit preparation to support future medical-device regulatory submissions and a global IP roadmap, protecting Nebu-Flow’s growing portfolio of inhalation and aerosol-engineering technologies

This support will help Nebu-Flow refine its operational systems, strengthen quality and regulatory foundations, and sharpen commercial positioning as it prepares for its next phase of growth. This includes aligning its quality management system with medical-device requirements, securing IP assets across priority markets, and ensuring the platform is fully investor-ready.

Manufacturers across the North West are investing £1.9 million in digital technologies to boost productivity, create jobs and accelerate growth, with support from Made Smarter.

30 manufacturers have secured a combined £604,000 of Government-backed funding to invest in automation, robotics, digital production systems and advanced manufacturing technologies.

The latest projects include Pure Lakes Skincare in Cumbria investing in automated labelling technology, Forest Sofa in Greater Manchester introducing digital fabric cutting, Rustic Tubs in Lancashire expanding production with new manufacturing technology, Glyngary Joinery in Cheshire modernising its timber window and door production, and JFM Workwear in Liverpool City Region investing in smarter manufacturing systems.

Together, the projects are expected to create more than 90 jobs, upskill over 170 existing workers and generate more than £16.4 million in additional growth.

The investments span sectors including food and drink, furniture, construction products, engineering, workwear, battery materials, electrical equipment and industrial machinery, highlighting the diversity of manufacturing across the region.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

There has been another twist in the protracted boardroom battle between Big Technologies and its founder Sara Murray OBE.

The company – trading as Buddi – has this morning announced the retirement of Ian Johnson (pictured) from the board, with Charles Lewinton appointed as acting CEO.

Big is currently suing Murray for hundreds of millions of pounds after accusing her of forgery and deliberate falsification of documents to push through the company’s £577m IPO in 2021. Murray was dismissed as CEO in March 2025 over the accusations, and her assets have been frozen amid the subsequent and ongoing £320m High Court battle.

She continues to hold 25% of the voting rights in the firm and last week was successful in removing Camilla Macun as a non-executive director at its AGM. She and her supporters however failed to remove three other directors.

The London-listed firm reported a drop in annual revenue and EBITDA in January after agreeing a £38.5 million settlement with disgruntled former investors.