Bite-size news and insight from UK business and tech – including funding, deals and appointments
Published: April 2, 2026 at 4:10 pm
Tributes have been paid to Eamonn Boylan OBE, former chief executive of Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM).
Boylan led GMCA and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) from 2017, and TfGM from 2019, through the defining years of English devolution.
Under his leadership, both GMCA and TfGM became trailblazers for devolution, unlocking new powers and responsibilities for Greater Manchester and taking buses back under public control for the first time in 40 years.
He also steered the city region through the aftermath of the Manchester Arena attack in 2017 and the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2023, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to local government.
He retired from GMCA in 2024, going on to serve as interim chief executive of Manchester City Council and Homes England.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: 鈥淭his is a devastating loss, and my thoughts today are with Eamonn鈥檚 family, friends, and all those who knew him.
鈥淓amonn was the public servant鈥檚 public servant, and a giant of English devolution. He led from the front but was rarely in the spotlight, taking every opportunity to lift up and empower those around him.鈥�
Published: April 2, 2026 at 1:02 pm
The chairman of Physiomics plc has been accused of 鈥榩ersonally derailing鈥� a boardroom coup and putting himself before the needs of the company.
Physiomics is a mathematical modelling, data science and biometrics company which supports the development of new therapeutics and personalised medicine solutions.
Non-executive chair Dr Jim Millen is set to become executive chair 鈥榝or as long as is needed鈥� when CEO Dr Peter Sargent departs on 29th May 2026.
Dr Millen was formerly the CEO of the Oxfordshire company from 2016 to 2024, during which time he grew the business from total income of under 拢300k to a peak of over 拢900k, as well as securing a major contract with long-term client Merck KGaA and kicking off the company鈥檚 personalised medicine initiative.
However last month Physiomics was forced to cancel a share placing and retail offer when an activist shareholder group – led by Michael Whitlow – sought to replace its entire board and accused corporate leadership of 鈥渟evere erosion of shareholder value鈥� via dilution.
A revised placing and retail offer was then announced. An insider told 老九品茶Cloud that the dissident group has confidence in the operational team – but trust had been eroded in the corporate leadership.
Now sources have informed us of what they call a 鈥渄isheartening sequence of events鈥�.聽
Published: April 2, 2026 at 9:09 am
Circular economy eCommerce group Huddled is to rebrand as Peeko while it has also revealed changes in its leadership team.
Huddled Group plc, which is listed on London鈥檚 junior AIM market, will consolidate all of its existing websites into one single destination store under the new brand.
Huddled said the move will significantly reduce the company’s operating costs.
The Leigh-headquartered group acquired the Discount Dragon, Nutricircle and Boop Beauty brands with the mission of selling surplus stock and therefore reducing waste. It says that millions of perfectly good products go to waste every year due to packaging changes, excess production and cancelled orders.
Mike Ashley, previously a non-executive director at Huddled, stepped into the CEO role last summer and will now move to a part-time consultancy position and step down from the board with immediate effect.
COO Paul Simpson has also stepped down from the board and will transition to a consultancy role. Simpson co-founded Food Circle Supermarket (now Nutricircle) in 2017 with just 拢4,000 of startup capital from his parents鈥� garage and completed a 100% exit to Huddled in April 2024.
Published: April 2, 2026 at 8:59 am
老九品茶 technology solutions provider Brother UK has appointed Julie Harrison as chief commercial officer to its senior leadership team.
Harrison previously serves as head of commercial and business planning, a role she has held as part of a career spanning more than three decades with the business.
She brings extensive experience across commercial operations, including promotions, rebates and bid management, as well as sales forecasting and budget planning.
Based in Tameside, Greater Manchester, Brother UK provides print, scan and labelling technology to home users and organisations of all sizes through a partner-led go-to-market model.
Published: April 2, 2026 at 8:36 am
Monzo is pulling out of the United States to focus on the UK and Europe.
The digital bank launched in the US in 2020 with a debit card but withdrew its application for a banking licence the following year.
Despite initially claiming it still had 鈥渂ig ambitions鈥� for the region, it has now taken the decision to close its accounts for existing customers by June. It has stopped onboarding new customers.
Published: April 2, 2026 at 7:59 am
Tracsis plc, a Leeds-based transport technology provider, has acquired Vesputi GmbH.
The bolt-on acquisition expands Tracsis’ digital ticketing capability and establishes a small operational foothold in the German public transport market.
Gross initial consideration for the deal is 拢5.1m and includes net cash of 拢700,000, funded from Tracsis’ existing cash resources, with additional consideration of up to 拢2.1m.
Published: April 1, 2026 at 3:37 pm
The biggest tech stocks winner on the FTSE 100 index in March was IG Group Holdings PLC.
The only other tech and engineering stocks on the London Stock Exchange鈥檚 premium index to gain value in the month were BAE Systems, The Sage Group, Entain and Vodafone Group.
The biggest tech, investment and engineering losers on the index were M&G, Rolls-Royce Holdings and Rightmove.
Published: April 1, 2026 at 3:36 pm
The top three winners on the FTSE 250 index in February were tech and investment stocks, specifically聽Trustpilot Group PLC, Raspberry Pi Holdings PLC and Trainline PLC.
The biggest losers on the London Stock Exchange index which have an association with the tech sector were finance firm Shawbook Group Plc, telecoms company Gamma Communications PLC and technology retailer Currys PLC.
Published: April 1, 2026 at 1:00 pm
London Stock Exchange Group has announced a multi-year cloud collaboration with Dell Technologies.
The deal will see LSEG optimise its existing on-premises infrastructure and build a new private cloud platform.聽
The new platform will strengthen resilience and performance across a number of LSEG鈥檚 data & analytics and markets platforms that operate outside of LSEG鈥檚 existing public cloud environments.
Published: April 1, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Scotland鈥檚 industry-led technology accelerator STAC has completed its second investment round, backing three companies whose technologies sit at the heart of national priorities – from quantum computing and housing management to offshore wind infrastructure inspection.
The 拢772,000 round, co-invested by STAC Invest syndicate, brings investment to Quantcore Technologies, Vuabl and Airspection.
All three have completed STAC鈥檚 intensive 18-month accelerator programme with Vuabl and Airspection establishing their first HQ鈥檚 at thebeyond, STAC鈥檚 22,000 sq ft technology hub at Skypark in Glasgow.
Quantcore Technologies receives 拢250,000 from STAC Invest in a 拢2.5m co-investment round. A spin-out from the University of Glasgow, Quantcore is the only company in the UK manufacturing niobium-based superconducting circuits, operating from the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre. Its technology is central to the quantum hardware supply chain that UK government strategy now explicitly depends upon.
Vuabl receives 拢222,000, co-invested by STAC Invest. The company has developed software that uses the LIDAR sensors built into modern smartphones to scan properties and generate comprehensive condition reports, covering 3D modelling, energy performance (EPC ratings), structural condition and early detection of damp or mould.
Airspection receives 拢300,000. The company has developed an autonomous drone that harnesses wind as energy to fly in extreme weather conditions, hovering with precision over offshore wind turbines to carry out structural inspection and maintenance surveys. It removes the need to send engineers into hazardous environments and dramatically cuts the cost and time of inspection at scale.
Beyond offshore wind, the technology has clear applications in surveying critical national infrastructure, power lines, railway networks and coastal assets, immediately following extreme weather events, enabling faster damage assessment and recovery at low cost.
Published: April 1, 2026 at 11:47 am
Semarion, a University of Cambridge spin-out company from the Cavendish Laboratory, has raised 拢2.9 million.
The firm combines materials engineering and cell biology to tackle unmet drug screening needs.
The fundraise was led by Parkwalk, and joined by The FSE Group, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Oxford Innovation Finance, Found Capital, Cambridge Capital Group, and Start Codon.
The investment will facilitate commercial expansion and scale manufacturing of the company鈥檚 SemaCyte platform which enables adherent cell models to be handled as assay-ready, barcoded reagents for more flexible, data-rich, scalable drug discovery.
Semarion鈥檚 technology has already been adopted by leading global pharmaceutical organisations, including top 10 pharma companies, across the US and Europe, with multiple pilot programs progressing towards broader commercial rollout.
Published: April 1, 2026 at 11:37 am
Databricks has announced plans to invest more than $850 million in the UK over the next three years, significantly expanding its presence.聽
The data and AI giant will quadruple its London office footprint with a new 137,000-square-foot headquarters which will act as the company鈥檚 new EMEA hub.
Databricks has a growing UK and Ireland team of over 500 people, and this is expected to surpass over 1,000 people over the next few years.聽
Strategically located in Fitzrovia, the expanded space continues to place Databricks at the heart of the UK data and AI ecosystem, strengthening partnerships with many customers in the region, including Unilever, Rolls Royce, Nationwide, Virgin Atlantic, Department for Education, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Octopus Energy and Flo Health.
Its local customers include over 50% of the FTSE 100 Index.
Published: April 1, 2026 at 11:14 am
UK running specialist SportsShoes.com says building a native app has driven up revenues and deepened customer loyalty.
The retailer – founded in 1982 and now a 拢100 million-plus business – developed the app as part of a broader shift away from legacy systems towards a composable digital architecture.聽
SportsShoes.com says the move improved commercial performance and reduced reliance on paid acquisition, without increasing internal headcount or compromising brand control.
Since going live, the app has attracted close to 300,000 downloads and, at peak periods, can account for up to 20% of total revenue.聽
App users consistently outperform web-only customers, with higher conversion rates, higher average order values and increased purchase frequency, the firm says.
Published: April 1, 2026 at 9:40 am
The Competition and Markets Authority has launched a strategic market status investigation into Microsoft鈥檚 business software ecosystem.
Hundreds of thousands of UK businesses and public sector organisations use its software including Windows, Word, Excel, Teams and, increasingly, AI assistant Copilot.
An SMS designation, administered under the Digital Markets Competition Regime, would allow the CMA to act on a major concern from its 2025 cloud market investigation 鈥� Microsoft鈥檚 use of software licensing reducing competition in the cloud.聽
It says it would also provide a route to ensuring a level playing field among providers at a critical moment, as AI-driven innovation reshapes competition in productivity software.
The CMA added that, following engagement with Microsoft and Amazon, the tech giants have set out actions on cloud egress fees and interoperability to support greater choice for businesses and public sector organisations in the UK.聽
It claims these changes will reduce expense and effort for UK customers when using more than one cloud provider.聽
Published: April 1, 2026 at 9:32 am
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce has appointed Wayne Jones OBE as its new chair, succeeding Phil Cusack.
The new chair is a past president and long-time board member of the Chamber, and his appointment comes at a pivotal time in the organisation鈥檚 history.
Jones also serves on the Liverpool Manchester Railway Partnership Board, holds the title of Global Ambassador for Manchester, and is the founder of his own consultancy business.
He said: 鈥淕reater Manchester has always been a place that punches above its weight, and the Chamber has a vital role to play in making sure businesses here have the support, the platform and the representation they deserve.
鈥淚 am proud to take on this role at such an important time for the organisation, and I am looking forward to getting to work.鈥�
Emma Holt, president of the Chamber, added: 鈥淲ayne has been part of the foundation of this organisation for a significant period. He knows what we stand for, he knows what Greater Manchester needs, and he has the credibility and the drive to help us move forward with purpose. We are delighted to welcome him into this role.鈥�
Published: April 1, 2026 at 9:20 am
Mike McTighe has stepped down as chair of FTSE 100-listed IG Group Holdings after six years in the role.
The online trading platform and education provider first announced the move last September, and the FCA has now confirmed the appointment of his successor, Andrew Barron.
Writing on LinkedIn yesterday, McTighe said: 鈥淚t is with some sadness that today (March 31) is my last day as chair of IG Group plc.
鈥淵et I am also very pleased to be handing over the role to Andrew Barron, who, with great skill, will lead the board through the next chapter of the company鈥檚 story.
鈥淎t the end of the day, we are simply stewards of the shareholders鈥� assets. Our duty is to leave the company in a better place than when we found it.
鈥淎s I reflect on the last six years, we have collectively achieved a great deal. When I took up the role in February 2020, the share price was 拢6.69. Yesterday, it closed at 拢14.30, an increase of 113.75 per cent over the period.
鈥淚n addition, we have returned 拢1.35bn to shareholders by way of dividends and share buybacks over the same period. The total shareholder return generated equates to 154.8 per cent, or a CAGR of 16.4 per cent.
鈥淔inally, the company was promoted to the FTSE 100 on March 4, 2026. Not too shabby all in all!鈥�
Published: April 1, 2026 at 9:20 am
A UK firm transforming the way the legal sector operates has been acquired.
HyperLaw, which is located on the Staffordshire Technology Park in Stafford, was founded by experienced tech entrepreneur Mike Washburn in 2014.
Washburn previously launched and sold ScriptSwitch for 拢50 million. In 2022 he said he had invested more than 拢1.3m in the development of HyperLaw, a provider of advanced case preparation and bundling software.
Now it has been acquired by Australian company Legal Ready, described as a global leader in litigation management technology.
Published: April 1, 2026 at 9:06 am
Leading growth investor Synova has exited technology-enabled security solutions provider Orbis Protect at a 3.2x return.
DC Advisory advised Synova, a UK-based growth capital and private equity firm, on the sale of Orbis Protect to PE firm Tiger Infrastructure Partners.
Synova invested in Orbis in 2021, helping drive a period of transformational growth, marked by expansion into Europe, entry into new market segments and continued development of its proprietary AI-enabled technology platform.
During Synova鈥檚 ownership period, revenue and EBITDA have grown by 172 per cent and 214 per cent respectively.
Published: April 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
OptiBiotix Health plc has reported a rise in revenue and profits.
The AIM-quoted life sciences business develops products which reduce hunger and food cravings, enhance the gut microbiome, and sweet fibres as healthy sugar substitutes.
In the 2025 calendar year revenue was up 30% to 拢1.13m, with an 82% in gross profit to 拢603,000.
Operating costs – including selling, R&D and patent costs, but excluding non-cash shared based payments – were stable at 拢2.6m.
Published: March 31, 2026 at 4:12 pm
UK-founded cashback marketplace OnBuy has accelerated its European expansion, launching eight new markets across Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic and Switzerland.聽
The move brings OnBuy鈥檚 total European presence to 21 countries. It says this gives UK retailers fast access to millions of additional customers.
The expansion follows OnBuy鈥檚 expansion into 12 initial European markets, which it says have delivered 152% quarterly sales growth and a 300% increase in average monthly site visits in the second half of the year.
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