A UK firm has raised £30 million in Series A funding to develop low-cost drone interceptors.

Greenjets believes it can become the UK’s next aerospace ‘prime’ – primary contractor – which essentially puts it at the top of a supply chain.

The round was led by Blossom Capital with participation from the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), and existing investors including Tanglin Ventures and NSFO Family Office.

The announcement comes days after Greenjets was named one of three companies selected by the Ministry of Defence under the Low-Cost Air Defence Effectors (LCADE) programme to develop a British low-cost drone interceptor. 

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

When Erin Meryl McGurk was growing up in South Manchester she could not have imagined where she is today.

The pupil at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls is now building an AI startup in Silicon Valley after securing backing from the prestigious Y Combinator accelerator.

“Growing up in South Manchester and going to AGGS, I did not see many people, especially women, taking the route I’m taking now – building a technology company, raising from Y Combinator, and moving to Silicon Valley,” she says.

“I’d love to make that path feel more visible and possible for girls who are where I was a few years ago.”

GetBusy plc, an AIM-listed provider of SaaS platforms incorporating AI to regulated professionals, announces that Dr Miles Jakeman is today stepping down as chairman and director.

He leaves GetBusy after nine years, with Paul Huberman appointed as his successor with immediate effect.

Huberman has been a non-executive director and chairman of the audit committee since 2020.  He is a chartered accountant and chartered tax adviser, and was previously finance director at three companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, Asda Property Holdings plc, Regent Inns plc and Grantchester Holdings plc.

He is currently a non-executive director at London-listed Town Centre Securities plc and a director of several private companies.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Eagle Eye Solutions Group PLC has recovered from the loss of a major contract in the United States last year.

Last June the loyalty and promotions platform announced that it had lost its contract with Neptune Retail Solutions (NRS), leading to a drop in its share price to almost 200 pence.

However it implemented cost efficiencies and has expanded its client base with major enterprise wins in the US and Europe.

Now it has reported annual results ahead of its recently upgraded market expectations.

British mobility tech startup Tyred has raised £2.5 million to make bike ownership simpler, smarter and more reliable for riders and fleet operators in the UK and across Europe.

To do this, Tyred is building a connected ownership platform for cycling, bringing together maintenance, repairs, insurance, warranty management and finance into a single digital experience.

Cycling has become an increasingly important part of urban transport but unlike for cars the ownership experience remains fragmented, with riders often relying on disconnected providers for servicing, insurance and repairs. Tyred aims to solve that issue through an all-in-one platform that stays with riders and their bikes throughout the lifetime of ownership.

This service will be supported by proprietary IoT devices embedded within bikes and collecting real-time performance data that powers predictive AI models. The technology enables wear-and-tear monitoring, proactive maintenance and richer insights that could ultimately reduce insurance costs and improve reliability for riders.

Tyred has already established one of London’s largest specialist bike maintenance operations, servicing more than 100,000 bikes over the past year. Among its customers is shared mobility operator Lime, for which Tyred provides maintenance and battery-swapping services across a fleet of around 50,000 bikes in London.

The new investment will accelerate product development, support expansion across the UK and lay the foundations for European growth as Tyred scales its platform for both consumers and commercial fleet operators.

The funding round includes investment from venture capital firms Raw Ventures and Ada Ventures, alongside a group of angel investors, including Anton Buzdalin, who was the lead investor in London proptech startup Dwelly.

Wavenet has announced a major investment in AI-enabled customer service technologies as it continues to scale operations following significant customer growth across the business.

Over the past 12 months, Wavenet’s support teams have handled more than 450,000 support cases and over 165,000 customer phone calls, reflecting both the growth of the business and the increasing demand for fast, high-quality support across increasingly complex technology environments.

Following a period of significant expansion, Wavenet now supports more than 22,000 organisations across the UK. In the last year alone, the business doubled turnover while maintaining a customer satisfaction score of 92%, highlighting the importance of investing in scalable service capabilities.

To support this growth while maintaining the service standards customers expect, Wavenet has signed a new three-year, £7.4 million agreement with ServiceNow, underpinning a major programme of investment in AI-powered service management capabilities.

The investment includes the rollout this month of ServiceNow’s Agentic AI capabilities, Now Assist, which will support faster and more intelligent customer support through automated fault triage, case summarisation and improved case management.

The new capabilities are designed to reduce delays caused by cases moving between teams, provide engineers with better visibility of previous customer interactions and accelerate issue resolution times.

Risk Ledger has secured £24 million growth investment from Axiom Equity and returning investor Mercia to enter the United States.

It says the Series B funding will enable more organisations to move beyond traditional third-party risk management and towards active supply chain security. 

Risk Ledger was built for how supply chains actually work. The platform is network-first: each supplier completes one standardised assessment and maintains it across the network in real time, replacing repeated questionnaires with a single, current profile that every connected organisation can see.

 

Silicon Microgravity Limited (SMG), the UK advanced semiconductor company pioneering next-generation MEMS technologies, has secured £6 million in funding to accelerate commercial growth across the defence, space and semiconductor sectors.

The round includes investment from the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S), managed by Future Planet Capital, with participation from both the UKI2S Defence & Security and Space portfolios, alongside lead investor West Hill Capital.

The investment marks UKI2S’s first participation in SMG through its Space Portfolio, building on the company’s existing relationship with the fund’s Defence & Security portfolio, and comes as SMG achieves growing commercial traction with a number of globally recognised customers.

SMG’s proprietary technology enables the production of high performance microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices designed for extreme operating environments. These technologies are increasingly critical for modern defence systems, satellite communications, navigation, sensing and autonomous operations.

The company’s MEMS accelerometers are already supporting advanced space programmes, with applications spanning launch vehicles, lunar and planetary exploration, satellite enabled critical mineral exploration alongside wider dual-use commercial and sovereign capability deployments.

The funding will support SMG’s continued scale-up of UK manufacturing capability, expansion of its engineering and semiconductor production capacity, and acceleration of commercial partnerships across Europe and the US.

Lockheed Martin is expanding the reach of its venture capital fund to support development of promising defence technologies in British and European markets. 

Lockheed Martin Ventures, the company’s $1 billion startup investment arm, is opening a London office with the goal of investing at least $100 million of its funding in the UK and Europe.

 

Recognise Bank, the SME property lending bank, has appointed ex-Starling Bank COO Julian Sawyer as a non-executive director.

In addition to Starling Bank, Julian brings a wealth of banking and FinTech experience to the board. His previous roles include CEO roles at Zodia Custody and Bitstamp.

Recently, Recognise Bank has announced that it has grown its loan book to over £500m, whilst recently exceeding £600m in deposits.

Millions of shoppers using BNPL services will be better protected by new rules that have now come into force.

The government says they deliver on its commitment ‘to end the Buy Now, Pay Later Wild-West’. 

Buying items with providers like Klarna, PayPal or Clearpay can be a useful tool to help people manage their finances, allowing consumers to spread the cost of purchases interest-free, typically at the point of online checkout. 

However these users have had fewer rights than someone buying the same item with a credit card or a personal loan when seeking a refund after buying faulty goods.

These products will now be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), giving consumers protections in line with other forms of credit. 

Under the new rules, providers must also carry out affordability checks before offering credit, meaning no one should be borrowing what they cannot realistically afford to repay, helping people avoid getting into avoidable, unaffordable debt.

And anyone who falls into financial difficulty will be directed towards debt advice and support first, rather than being immediately handed to a debt collector.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Frasers Group plc has reported an increase in revenue following acquisitions and international growth – but saw sales in its core UK Sports Direct business fall last year.

For the 52 weeks ended 26th April 2026, group revenue was up 8.7% to £5.3 billion, driven by international revenue growth of 59.2%. However sales in its UK sports division fell 4.7% and premium lifestyle dropped 6.9%.

Frasers, which owns House of Fraser and Flannels, saw overall retail growth of 8.3% to £5.1bn, while its property arm grew 55.1% to £96m and financial services – including Frasers Plus – fell 5.7% to £80.4m.

It was reported yesterday by Sky News that Mike Ashley’s retail and property group had entered the auction for the struggling iconic luxury department store Harvey Nichols despite objections from its brand partners.

Frasers, also looking to take over Hugo Boss, is tempted by the flagship Knightsbridge store, while ‘Harvey Nicks’ also has more than a dozen international locations.

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.