Northern Gritstone, the investment company scaling early-stage life sciences and technology companies in the North of England, has promoted Simon Braham to chief investment officer.

Braham joined Northern Gritstone in September 2025 to drive the growth of its portfolio companies in the newly created role of head of portfolio. In his new role, he will oversee all of the company’s investment activities.

Based in Manchester, Braham is an experienced venture capital and private equity investor.  He joined Northern Gritstone from Bridges, where he led its sustainable growth funds in the North.

Sports technology business Urban Zoo has secured a £20 million investment from BGF.

BGF’s investment will support the development of Urban Zoo’s proprietary technology, while enabling the company to capitalise on the significant growth potential across international markets, particularly in North America.

Founded in 2013, the Warrington-based company provides world-leading digital platforms for sports brands, clubs and federations – across mobile, web, streaming, eCommerce, and retail – to drive fan engagement and strengthen revenue streams.

Birmingham Tech Week will return this October with its strongest international presence to date, following the launch of the inaugural Beijing–Birmingham Tech Week in June and growing global interest in the West Midlands as a destination for technology investment and innovation.

In 2025, the festival welcomed delegates from 16 countries, including China, India, Canada and South Korea, with organisers expecting even greater international participation in 2026.

This year’s programme has been shaped by the recently launched West Midlands Tech Review, which states that the region’s £15.8 billion digital economy can become the UK’s leading test bed for frontier technologies by increasing AI adoption, strengthening cyber resilience and investing in future talent.

UK and Ireland professional services firm AAB has launched a new Manchester office.

AAB said the opening at the landmark No.1 St Michael’s development – which builds on AAB’s existing presence in Bolton, where 70 staff are based – is part of an ambitious plan to build a business serving scaling businesses across the North West, while growing to employ over 200 people.

The firm, which is backed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, plans to establish a full-service offering in the city, combining partner-led relationships with expertise from across its wider UK and Ireland business to support leadership teams as they grow and their needs become more complex.

Led by head of the North West, Chris Harland, the team’s expertise covers audit, tax, business advisory, corporate finance, outsourced finance support, payroll, employment and financial planning in the city. 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A ground-breaking HealthTech co-founded by Spotify’s Daniel Ek has raised $700 million in Series C funding.

Ek founded Neko Health with Hjalmar Nilsonne to redefine how people understand and act on their health.

At the heart of Neko’s offering is the Neko Health Scan – a 60-minute, comprehensive, non-invasive and radiation-free health assessment that captures millions of health data points.

More than 350,000 people have joined the waitlist or registered for a Neko Health Scan, and more than 100,000 in the UK and Sweden have already experienced one. The firm has added clinics in Manchester and Birmingham, as well as multiple locations in London. 

 

Beeks Financial Cloud Group plc has reported full-year results in line with market expectations after a record H2.

The firm, a cloud computing and connectivity provider for financial markets, said for the financial year ended 30th June 2026 that revenue is expected to increase by 11% to approximately £40 million.

Underlying EBITDA growth is expected to grow 18% to approximately £16m with underlying profit before tax growth of 13% to approximately £6.2m.

LendInvest plc, an AIM-listed alternative property finance platform, has swung to profit in its latest annual results.

The company provides a range of mortgages to both professional buy-to-let landlords and homeowners, and also provides larger, more structured finance to property developers and investors.

Profit before tax was £3.2m, compared to a loss of £1.2m in FY25. Adjusted EBITDA increased 200% to £8.7m (FY25: £2.8m).

The firm saw record originations of £1.44 billion (+17%); record quarterly originations of £415m in Q4; and record monthly originations of £196m in March.

Assets under management increased 18% to £3.82bn, while LendInvest reduced its headcount from 203 to 192, with the majority of staff now based in Glasgow.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Global podcast company Audioboom has posted a huge leap in profits after rejecting several takeover offers.

For the six months ended 30th June 2026, adjusted EBITDA profit was $3.2 million, up 80% on H1 2025.

Reported revenue of $45.7m was up 30% on the prior year. Audioboom pointed to strong growth of Showcase, its tech-based global advertising marketplace, which saw H1 revenue of $18.6m, up 60%.

In Q2 Audioboom saw an average monthly distribution of 183m downloads and video views, up 84% on Q2 2025.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The UK competition regulator has cleared eBay’s $1.2 billion (£890 million) deal to buy second-hand fashion marketplace Depop from Etsy.

The all-cash deal, announced in February, comes five years after online marketplace Etsy bought Depop for $1.6bn (£1.18bn).

The Competition and Markets Authority referred the deal to an initial phase 1 investigation but has given it the green light.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

British technology company Valarian has secured a £37 million Series A investment, led by US venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

This new funding takes Valarian’s total investment to $70m (£52m) and will accelerate the rollout of the company’s UK-sovereign digital architecture across government, defence and enterprise.

It also marks NEA’s first defence and dual-use investment in Europe, reflecting growing international confidence in Britain’s sovereign technology sector.

 

Pure Data Centres Group has launched what will become one of Finland’s largest ever inward investment projects, and the largest ever by a UK company.

Phase 1 will see investment of over £1.3 billion for a 110MW AI campus, with the site in Seinäjoki capable of scaling to a £6.4bn, 550MW+ campus for AI workloads, subject to the necessary permissions and contracting. 

The full Seinäjoki campus will be one of Europe’s largest ever AI infrastructure projects, helping to put Finland at the forefront of Europe’s AI transition.

Prolo, an AI-powered procurement platform designed to support SME construction firms source materials, equipment, and hire at the best market rates, has secured £4.2 million in seed funding.

The round was led by Triple Point Ventures and joined by a consortium of leading venture capital firms, including the a16z Scout Fund, Anamcara Capital, Concrete VC, Foundation Ventures, Haatch, Koro Capital, Love Ventures, and Portfolio Ventures.

The funding will fuel the company’s focus on go-to-market sales and marketing efforts, and accelerate new tech and product rollouts to ensure robust support for its growing base of SME contractor customers.

Prolo was founded by James Morris-Manuel, a successful serial entrepreneur in PropTech, having previously founded the startup Virtual Walkthrough, building it into a European market leader before leading its successful acquisition by the spatial data giant Matterport.

Following the exit, Morris-Manuel served as EMEA Managing Director at Matterport, establishing London as the company’s regional headquarters.

Two years on from launching, the University of Salford’s Centre for Sustainable Innovation (CSI) has supported more than 400 organisations to grow, innovate and improve productivity, marking a significant milestone in the region’s transition to a greener, more sustainable economy.

Since launching in 2024, the University’s pioneering sustainability and innovation hub has also helped to unlock more than £4.26 million in external funding and delivered over 30 cohorts of practical training, providing businesses, leaders and entrepreneurs with the knowledge, skills and networks needed to accelerate sustainable innovation and growth.

Platform for growth-stage businesses Scale has revealed the launch of SCALE Manchester in November, an event formed to both celebrate and accelerate the evolution of scaleups across the North West.

Following a successful London event in April in which thousands of founders, investors and ecosystem partners met at the Business Design Centre, SCALE Manchester will be hosted at Freight Island on 25th November 2026.

The day will be centred on connecting founders with those who can offer genuine support via roundtables, speed networking and more. It will centre around the key theme of access to growth capital, as the North West’s scaleup ecosystem experiences a phase of dynamic growth.

InsurTech Ripe achieved strong double-digit growth in 2025, marking its 18th consecutive year of double-digit revenue rises.

The Manchester firm said turnover climbed by £4.3 million to £24.9m in the 12 months ending 31 December 2025.

The digital managing general agent expanded its policyholder base by 15%, reaching a total of 430,000 across more than 20 SME, leisure & lifestyle insurance products.

The acquisitive group backed by Aquiline Capital Partners became one of the first MGAs to launch a ChatGPT app, giving customers of its Cycleplan cycling insurance product instant, bindable quotes through conversational AI with a direct link through to checkout.

Its product portfolio also grew further with the launch of Sports Club, Leisure & Community insurance, extending its specialist offering to a wide range of leisure organisations across the UK.

It also relocated to a new, larger headquarters at One Stockport Exchange and made several executive hires.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

RM plc has reported a drop in half-year revenues which it blamed on challenges in the UK schools market – but the EdTech improved profitability.

The global digital learning and assessment solution provider said that for the six months ended 31st May 2026 revenue from continuing operations would be around £70.1 million, down 4.2% from £73.2m last year. 

It said this was primarily due to the ongoing challenges facing the UK schools’ market impacting its technology division.

It said in March that it was preparing the ground to dispose of that division ‘and other non-core assets’. The division provides hardware, software, connectivity and services to around 8,000 schools.

This morning it said it has progressed with the legal and operational separation of its divisions, ‘which opens the door for the business to pursue the disposal of non-core assets to materially reduce debt’. 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield has joined the compute team at Claude’s parent company Anthropic.

Blomfield, 40, has taken a leave of absence from the prestigious US accelerator Y Combinator – which he joined as a partner in 2023 – to move to the generative AI giant.

Anthropic closed a $65 billion Series H funding round in May 2026 which valued the company at $965 billion, more than ChatGPT’s parent company OpenAI. It is preparing for an IPO later this year.

Author: Chris Maguire

North West-based EdTech company Gaia Learning has expanded following a £400k equity investment round from GC Angels, NESTA and a syndicate of angel investors.

Founded in 2019, Gaia Learning was created to address a growing challenge in education and formed part of the inaugural cohort of the Liverpool-based Baltic Ventures’ startup accelerator in 2023.

The online platform is dedicated to ensuring neurodivergent children have access to learning environments that understand and support their individual needs.

Gaia Learning has evolved into a specialist online alternative provision, supporting children and young people across the UK who may be unable to access mainstream education due to autism, ADHD, anxiety, school avoidance, mental health challenges, or other additional needs.

The business first secured £550k in 2024, led by NESTA Impact Investments alongside GC Angels.

Since receiving investment, Gaia Learning has experienced significant growth.

The company has expanded its team to 24 people across full-time and part-time roles and has developed strategic partnerships, including collaborating with Pearson Edexcel.

A key focus of the funding has been the development of Bloom, a SEND infrastructure platform designed to help schools and education providers deliver, track and evidence support for children with additional needs.

The AI Upskilling Challenge Fund – part of the government’s landmark Barnsley Tech Town initiative – has opened for applications.

There is £800,000 available for organisations that can deliver innovative AI training to local workers, businesses and residents.

With a focus on those who might otherwise miss out as technology transforms the workplace, these indicatives could help manufacturers make greater use of AI on the factory floor, support small businesses to grow, help older residents build digital confidence, and equip young people looking to enter the job market with the skills they need for jobs of the future.

The government is calling on organisations ranging from training providers and charities to colleges and technology companies from across the UK to bring forward ideas, with successful projects to be delivered in Barnsley.

The strongest ideas could then help inform how similar programmes are delivered across the UK, supporting the government’s ambition to equip 10 million workers with AI skills by 2030. This forms part of government efforts to help local people to develop practical AI skills and businesses to harness new technology, boost productivity and stay competitive.

Sosandar plc grew revenue 14% in the last financial year to £42.3m.

The women’s fashion brand said margin growth also drove improved profitability before tax from £200,000 to £400,000 for the year ended 31st March 2026.

Sosandar says it remains one of the top-selling brands across all third-party partners, including NEXT, while trading with M&S gradually resumed following its cyber incident.

There was also strong own website performance, up 24% year-on-year, driven by higher site traffic, improved conversion rates, and increased order volumes from both new and existing customers.