Bite-size news and insight from UK business and tech – including funding, deals and appointments
Published: October 20, 2025 at 8:09 am
The CFO of Feedback plc is to leave the company.
Anesh Patel will step down from the board of directors from 10th November to pursue another opportunity.
听Emma Oswick (Stuart) will succeed Patel and join the board of directors in due course.
Published: October 20, 2025 at 8:07 am
Amprologix has raised 拢740,000 in pre-Series A funding round to accelerate the development of novel antibiotics.
Its lead candidate, epidermicin NI01, aims to tackle MRSA infections in hospitals.
The money will be used to complete pre-clinical development of epidermicin NI01听in readiness for Phase I human clinical trials in 2026.
Published: October 20, 2025 at 8:04 am
Eight Capital Partners plc has announced a series of board changes.
The company, listed on the Aquis Stock Exchange, backs businesses in FinTech, banking and asset management as well as other technology sectors.
Federico Bazzoni has been appointed executive chairman. He recently served as the CEO, investment banking at Vantage Capital Markets Hong Kong.
Luca Giacomo Zanni joins as an executive director while Bruce Gonyea has been appointed as a non-executive director. Zanni has served as the CFO at a number of businesses with revenues of up to 鈧�650 million, including at GPack SpA from 2022 to 2024. Gonyea currently serves as a member of the investment committee at Storie Co LLC.
Martin Groak and Luciano Maranzana will step down as directors while Dominic White will move into a non-exec director role.
Published: October 20, 2025 at 7:56 am
FinTech group Fiinu鈥�Plc has appointed two new directors while Mark Wallace has resigned as a non-executive鈥痉irector for personal and health reasons.
Paul鈥�Barnes joins as a NED听with immediate effect. He was part of the senior management teams at Santander Corporate and Investment Banking and Santander UK.
COO Michael鈥�Hopton, who has also been operating as interim CFO, has been added to the board as an executive director.
Published: October 20, 2025 at 7:38 am
Winvia Entertainment PLC will float on the junior AIM market of the London Stock Exchange early next month.
The company, which operates prize draw brands BOTB and Click Competitions in the UK as well as online gaming in Romania, says preparations for admission are at an advanced stage.
It expects to list during the first week of November 2025 and expects to raise 拢40m in the IPO.
Published: October 19, 2025 at 11:36 am
Tech entrepreneur Raina Heverin has opened up about the life-changing injuries she suffered in a freak fall six months ago.
The co-founder of Liverpool-based EdTech Supplywell is thought to have been sleepwalking when she fell from the balcony of a Paris Airbnb in April while on a family trip with her brother and sister-in-law.
A听听that was launched to support her recovery has so raised over 拢40,000.
Raina, whose husband Michael is the CEO of Supplywell, continues to undergo a range of intensive rehabilitation, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and psychological support.
Writing on LinkedIn she said: 鈥淭o anyone facing a life-altering challenge: You are not broken. You are being rebuilt.鈥�
Published: October 19, 2025 at 11:31 am
Tech founder Amman Ahmed has spoken听 about how he felt he lost his identity听 when Manchester-based MusicForPets was bought by US tech giant听 Create Music Group.
Described as the Netflix for pets or 鈥楶etflix鈥�, the 2023 deal size was undisclosed but was known to be an eight figure sum.
The entrepreneur, who founded MusicForPets in 2017 with Ricardo Henriquez, grew the business to more than 50 million pets worldwide.
Ahmed recalled how selling his business caused a loss of identity.
鈥淓veryone warns you 鈥榓fter you exit, you鈥檒l lose your identity鈥� and they鈥檙e right, it does hit you,鈥� he said.
鈥淥ne day you鈥檙e the guy building something with global impact, the next day you wake up thinking: 鈥楴ow what?鈥�
鈥淚 decided to embrace it. I reminded myself I wasn鈥檛 just a founder, I was also an artist. That mindset gave me a blank canvas again. From there, I started building for fun, not pressure. That shift turned into real creative momentum.”
Published: October 19, 2025 at 11:20 am
Martina King and Poppy Gustafsson CBE were among the big winners at GP Bullhound鈥檚 Allstars Awards 2025.
The awards celebrate the exceptional founders, investors, and leaders who are driving Europe鈥檚 technology ecosystem forward.
One of the big winners on the night was Martina King, former CEO of Cambridge tech giant Featurespace, who retired following its 拢700m acquisition by Visa last year.
She won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, while Tony Pepper, CEO and co-founder of Egress Software Technologies was highly commended.
The winner of the Allstars Hall of Fame Award was Poppy Gustafsson, CBE, who recently stepped down as UK Investment Minister after 11 months.
Published: October 18, 2025 at 10:18 pm
Lawyers acting on behalf of tech entrepreneur Scott Fletcher 听have issued a statement after his successful court action against social media personality and podcast host Matt Haycox.
Earlier this week 老九品茶Cloud revealed how the two Dubai-based 听entrepreneurs were embroiled in an increasingly acrimonious court case about a multi-million pound investment deal that went bad.
A court has ruled in favour of Fletcher, founder of Manchester-based ANS Group and chairman of Godel Technologies, after he accused Haycox of 鈥榗ommercial fraud鈥�.
Haycox admitted he was a liar but denied being a fraudster.
Fletcher鈥檚 lawyers Edmond Marshall McMahon said in a statement: 鈥淢r Haycox鈥檚 attempts to explain away his fraudulent misrepresentations as mere 鈥榳hite lies鈥� and 鈥榮trategic misstatements鈥� were rejected by His Honour Judge Pearce, sitting as a Judge of the High Court, noting that 鈥榓 lie is no less a lie if a person was angry when told the truth鈥�.
鈥淛udge Pearce concluded that Mr Haycox had no real prospect of success of defending the claims against him and nor was there any other reason why a summary judgment for deceit and fraudulent misrepresentation should not be granted.鈥�
Haycox previously told 老九品茶Cloud it was 鈥榓 genuine loan transaction鈥� but said the loan did not complete.
Published: October 18, 2025 at 11:50 am
VUCA Treasury, a specialist hedging advisor in interest rate, currency and commodity markets, has announced its expansion into Manchester as part of a new phase of growth.
Founded in London in 2019 by former banking and capital markets professionals, VUCA Treasury is establishing a regional base in Manchester to serve businesses across the North West and support the region鈥檚 dynamic real estate and corporate markets.
The firm has appointed David Mathewson as Regional Director and Treasury Advisor to lead its North West operations.
Published: October 17, 2025 at 5:11 pm
Risers:
Man Group – +6.39%
Pearson – +2.33%
Haleon – +1.94%
Wizz Air – +1.92%
Reckitt Benckiser Group – +1.83%
Smiths Group is up 1.69% after this morning’s disposal news, while BT Group is up 1.37%.
Fallers:
Fresnillo – -10.5%
Atalaya Mining Copper – -5.85%
Barclays – -5.66%
ICG – -5.53%
Endeavour Mining – -5.46%
Oxford Biomedica is down 4.7%, BAE Systems is down 4% and Sage is down 2.46%.
Published: October 17, 2025 at 3:52 pm
What were the week’s best-read stories on 老九品茶Cloud?
Published: October 17, 2025 at 12:45 pm
Sciontec has been re-appointed to manage serviced office space at The Spine in Knowledge Quarter Liverpool.
As part of the renewed contract with the Royal College of Physicians, Sciontec will now additionally manage space on the building鈥檚 12th floor and also introduce new hotdesking 鈥榙ay passes鈥� at the iconic building.
Sciontec, the development company spinout of KQ Liverpool, will also continue to offer its Sciontec AI serviced space offer on the building鈥檚 first, second and tenth floors, which already boasts customers including Zempler Bank, the University of Liverpool, Morgan Sindall Construction, Clixels and RTC North.
The Spine is located at Paddington Village, Liverpool City Council鈥檚 flagship development site, and is home to the northern headquarters of the RCP, adjacent to where Sciontec鈥檚 HEMISPHERE labs building will be built.
Published: October 17, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Halfords has announced the appointment of Sarah Haywood as chief information officer, effective from Monday 3rd November 2025.
Haywood joins Halfords with over 25 years of technology leadership experience across some of the world鈥檚 leading consumer brands, including Mondel膿z International, Kraft Foods听and Cadbury Schweppes.
Most recently, she served as global CIO at the Carlsberg Group, where she led a major transformation of the company鈥檚 digital and technology infrastructure.
She succeeds Adam Gerrard, who will leave the business at the end of October.
Published: October 17, 2025 at 11:15 am
Intuitive, a global technology leader in minimally invasive care and the pioneer of robotic-assisted surgery, has opened its new UK & Ireland headquarters 鈥� which includes the UK鈥檚 largest da Vinci robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) training centre.
RAS was recently placed at the heart of the UK Government’s 10 Year Health Plan as one of five 鈥楤ig Bets鈥� to transform the NHS, with ambitions to achieve a seven-fold increase in RAS procedures over the next decade, including 9 in 10 of all keyhole surgeries.
Intuitive鈥檚 new state-of-the-art training facility in Winnersh Triangle, Berkshire, has capacity to provide technology training for da Vinci surgical systems to thousands more surgeons. This will help to futureproof the next generation of UK surgeons, and support patients and hospitals.
Published: October 17, 2025 at 10:14 am
Siemens has appointed Ella Haapiainen to lead its consultancy arm, Siemens Advanta, in the UK and Ireland.
Its mission is to help organisations tackle key challenges including digitalisation, decarbonisation and operational efficiency.
Haapiainen brings more than 20 years鈥� experience in digital transformation, software and technology consultancy to the role. She moves from Siemens Advanta in EMEA, which she joined in 2023 as Senior Vice President. Previously, she held senior roles at Salesforce, IBM and Microsoft.
Published: October 17, 2025 at 9:15 am
Eversheds Sutherland advised Fourteen IP Group, a portfolio company of Beech Tree Private Equity, on its merger with US-based ClearlyIP.
The deal came just six months after Beech Tree initially backed Fourteen IP CEO Neil Tolley.
James Rosthorn, investment director at Beech Tree, said: “Really pleased to announce the merger of Fourteen IP ad ClearlyIP – just six months and seven days after we initially backed Neil Tolley 听and the team in April 2025.
Published: October 17, 2025 at 9:00 am
FTSE 100 firm Smiths Group plc has agreed a 拢1.3 billion disposal.
US electronics firm Molex, part of industrial conglomerate Koch, has agreed the mammoth deal for the London-headquartered company鈥檚 Smiths Interconnect subsidiary.
The cash deal – expected to complete in the second half of fiscal year 2026 – represents 15.1x headline EBITDA of 拢86.1m for the fiscal year 2025.听
Smiths said it was a notable step forward in its strategy to become a more focused industrial engineering company. It had come under pressure from US activist investor Engine Capital to break up the business. A demerger or sale of Smiths Detection, which makes baggage-screening scanners used in airports, will now be explored.
Published: October 17, 2025 at 8:44 am
AIM-listed Duke Capital has made a follow-on investment of 拢3.7 million into its existing capital partner, Step Investments.
The funding will enable Step’s radio-focused subsidiary, Bay Broadcasting, to complete the acquisition of Western Community Broadcasting Services, the firm behind Galway Bay FM.
Step is a diversified investment group, with core interests in the cinema advertising, digital outdoor advertising and radio stations across the UK and Ireland.
Published: October 17, 2025 at 8:39 am
Manchester-based eCommerce agency PushON has made a trio of senior hires to support its continued growth.
Phil Page joins as senior developer and dev-ops manager, Rob Bamber as senior back end developer, and Rob Aimes as front end developer听– bringing decades of experience to PushON鈥檚 growing development team.
PushON founder Simon Wharton, said: 鈥淭hese three appointments mark a significant step in strengthening our development capabilities.
鈥淓ach bring outstanding technical expertise, innovation, and leadership that will directly benefit our clients.
鈥淭heir arrival also reflects our ongoing investment in people to match the pace of client growth and new business wins. We鈥檙e delighted to welcome them to the team.鈥�
“The combination brings together two similarly sized unified communications and AI businesses, creating a $50M revenue group with nearly 200 employees, now serving over one million hotel rooms across 27 countries.
“The merger delivers on our investment thesis of supporting Fourteen IP鈥檚 expansion into new vertical markets, while creating a strong platform for further M&A over the next few years.
“I鈥檓 looking forward to continuing to work closely with Neil Tolley, Paul Franks and now Tony Lewis, who joins the board. Great to see both teams come together around a shared vision and plan for growth.”