Bite-size news and insight from UK business and tech – including funding, deals and appointments
Published: September 22, 2025 at 3:49 pm
INSHUR, an insurance platform for the on-demand economy, has appointed ManyPets co-founder and former CTO Guy Farley to its UK board of advisors
Farley, named multiple times as one of Computer Weekly鈥檚 Top 100 Most Influential People in UK Technology, brings deep experience in building and scaling insurtech businesses.
At the New York-based InsurTech, he will help advise and validate the company鈥檚 technology roadmap, with its focus on AI and the fast-emerging autonomous vehicle market.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 3:34 pm
The attack over the weekend was another stark reminder of the dangers Europe’s most critical organisations face. While details at this moment in time are scarce, we know from experience the most common ways attackers breach these types of organisations.
Phishing campaigns, which despite being the most basic are also the most effective, have long been the favourite technique used by attackers. However, recent attacks on M&S, Co-op, and JLR are suspected to have been carried out using social engineering; a devastating vector which uses the identities of real or fake employees to trick other staff into compromising their own organisations, lowering defences or sharing critically sensitive information.
The reality is that, in 2025, the world is not on the most steady heading. Active conflict zones in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa are causing global diplomatic tensions.
While many are concerned about physical attacks on the UK and Western Europe, there is a much higher probability of damaging cyber attacks being aimed this way, likely by Russia or other malicious states.
The purpose of these attacks, often carried out by a private company on behalf of a nation state, seek to cause disruption, financial loss and sometimes loss of life.
Looking at the attack on Collins Aerospace, it’s easy to see why they would be a target for this type of attack; although we still don’t have any confirmation on where this attack has come from.
This attack is another wake up call that the risk of our CNI (critical national infrastructure) being targeted by malicious actors is growing and, without fresh approach to managing that risk, breaches will continue to occur.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 3:17 pm
Barney Hussey-Yeo, CEO of fast-growing UK FinTech Cleo, said things need to change if tech firms are to list in London instead of Nasdaq.
He described the exodus from the UK as 聽a 鈥榬eal travesty鈥� and called on better incentives for the tech sector.
The entrepreneur聽 suggested: 鈥淥ffer preferential CGT treatment for founders who list on the LSE and remain listed for a set period. With very few venture-backed listings today, the revenue impact is negligible.
鈥淓xempt venture-backed tech companies from stamp duty on share transactions. This self-inflicted wound reduces liquidity for no good reason.
鈥淐reate a pan-European exchange or explore an LSE-Nasdaq merger. Give UK tech access to deeper capital pools and global liquidity.鈥�
It鈥檚 widely reported that Cleo has hit unicorn status and Hussey-Yeo said November鈥檚 budget was the 鈥榤oment to get the LSE working鈥�.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Tide has secured more than 拢89 million in new funding from global investor TPG, lifting the London-based business management platform鈥檚 valuation to 拢1.1 billion.
The deal, backed by existing investor Apax Digital Funds, will accelerate the FinTech鈥檚 international expansion, product innovation and adoption of agentic AI.
It now serves 1.6m members across the UK, India, Germany and France.
Yemi Lalude, partner at TPG and head of EMEA for The Rise Funds, will join Tide鈥檚 board as part of the deal.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 1:32 pm
The piece that isn鈥檛 being talked about enough [around the Heathrow cyber incident] is the data angle. Outages grab headlines because of queues and cancellations, but if attackers were inside MUSE, they could also have accessed passenger details, staff accounts, or even airline credentials.聽
That kind of information is gold dust for cybercriminals. It can be sold on or used in future attacks long after the airport queues have cleared. The operational disruption is painful, but the hidden long-term risk is data exposure.
It could fuel future cyber attacks long after the queues at Heathrow have cleared.
What do you think? Have your say above
Published: September 22, 2025 at 1:02 pm
YASO has raised 拢8.25 million in a Series A round led by Puma Growth Partners, with backing from Guinness Ventures, Playfair Capital, Koro Capital, Haatch Ventures, Sequel, Portfolio Ventures, Nodes and Founders Capital.
The London and Shanghai-based business was founded in 2022 by Jonny Plein, James Campbell and Adam Knight, who are fluent in Mandarin and experienced in the Chinese market. It now employs 20 people.
China is the world鈥檚 largest e-commerce market, accounting for over half of global sales, and YASO鈥檚 platform enables brands to plug directly into Douyin, Tmall and RedNote without local partners or costly infrastructure.
The investment will be used to expand sales and marketing, accelerate client onboarding and grow platform capabilities.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 12:58 pm
A former boss of Inc & Co has been disqualified after acting as a director of a company for two years while he was bankrupt.
Scott Dylan, 41 – now based in Dublin, and formerly based in Salford – is expected to be released from prison next week after serving half of a 22-month sentence for contempt of court after 60 companies controlled by him and his associates David Antrobus and Jack Mason were transferred to two companies in the British Virgin Islands, in breach of freezing orders Barclays Bank had obtained.
That unconnected case saw all three handed 22-month sentences in October 2024. The judge accused them of 鈥渓ying prolifically鈥� to cover up their actions; Barclays accuses the trio of 鈥渆xtracting鈥� 拢13.7m from its bank accounts.
Now the Insolvency Service has banned Dylan from operating as a company director for eight years after it found he had acted as a director of IT consultancy SDRW Limited between July 2013 and July 2015, despite being subject to a bankruptcy order that had been in place since July 2005.聽
Dylan鈥檚 disqualification begins on Friday 26th September and runs through to 2033.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 12:16 pm
Neural edge infrastructure company Latos has secured full planning approval for its first neural edge facility in Stockton-on-Tees.
The firm says that the 拢100 million facility will deliver ‘game-changing AI inference capabilities and absolute data sovereignty’, marking the beginning of Latos’ ambitious 40-site national rollout.
It comprises two data halls with a total area of 1,750 sq.m, is custom designed to house the latest Nvidia Blackwell GPUs and will open in early 2027.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 12:08 pm
ASDA has renewed and expanded its collaboration with Microsoft in what it claims as one of UK retail鈥檚 largest technology deals to date.
The retailer is accelerating a cloud-first strategy designed to sharpen price leadership, improve product availability and free its people to focus on higher-value work.
It is on a mission to become a cloud-first, AI-powered retailer.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 11:46 am
VodafoneThree has awarded contracts worth 拢2 billion to global communications technology leaders Ericsson and Nokia.
The news comes just three months after the 拢16.5bn mega-merger was complete and is the next stage in its mission to build the UK鈥檚 best mobile network.
The Scandinavian-based firms will help deliver a share of the company鈥檚 拢11bn investment plan, which aims to boost the UK economy by as much as 拢102bn between 2025 and 2035.
The eight-year programme is set to power sectors from energy and financial services to manufacturing, security and technology in an attempt to transform the UK鈥檚 digital backbone.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 11:25 am
Manchester-based LunaNet AI and Ring Healthcare have signed an agreement to collaborate on the integration of LunaNet鈥檚 proprietary AI technologies into Ring Healthcare鈥檚 digital health platform.
The partnership will bring together the Manchester-headquartered company鈥檚 advanced AI modules with Ring Healthcare鈥檚 established healthcare infrastructure to deliver enhanced patient monitoring, wellbeing analysis and intelligent triage support.
Under the agreement, the two businesses will jointly develop, test and deploy AI-powered healthcare solutions designed for use in hospitals, care homes, and wider healthcare networks.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 11:10 am
The recently announced US/UK Tech Prosperity Deal is a welcome signal of confidence in the UK鈥檚 tech ecosystem.
The scale of investment demonstrates global confidence in the UK as a hub for innovation and growth.
This partnership will not only accelerate the development of transformative technologies such as AI, quantum computing and advanced nuclear power, but also create thousands of high-skilled jobs and new opportunities for communities across the country.
At Amadeus, we鈥檝e long championed the UK鈥檚 potential to lead in science-driven innovation, and this deal could be a catalyst for scaling our most promising startups into global players.
However, we must ensure that this momentum translates into sustainable growth for homegrown companies.
That means doubling down on talent development, regulatory clarity and domestic capital formation, so that British innovation doesn鈥檛 just attract foreign investment, but thrives independently.
Innovation alone isn鈥檛 enough, we must fuel it with patient, risk-embracing capital and create a policy environment that supports long-term scaling.
For example, unlocking even 0.5% of the UK鈥檚 vast pension assets for venture capital could be transformative, helping our companies grow and stay rooted in the UK.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 10:45 am
Published: September 22, 2025 at 9:03 am
We鈥檝e seen threat actors like the ones who’ve claimed responsibility for this most recent attack focus on manipulating airport security in the past, targeting helpdesks and customer service teams to bypass security measures and access internal systems.聽
In this attack, it鈥檚 baggage handling as well as customer services that鈥檚 impacted.
These attacks don’t always rely on exploiting technical or software vulnerabilities to gain a foothold in victims鈥� IT environments 鈥� they鈥檙e often highly persuasive social engineering campaigns that weaponise publicly available information to impersonate internal staff.
The threat landscape has become increasingly fractured. S-RM鈥檚 latest report found our incident response team encountered 53 separate threat actors in 2024 鈥� almost double the number seen in 2023.聽
For organisations in this sector and beyond, identity security and helpdesk resilience are no longer optional; they鈥檙e absolutely critical.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 8:54 am
US President Donald Trump has suggested that media tycoons Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch may be involved in a potential deal that would bring TikTok鈥檚 American operations under US ownership.
In a Fox News interview, Trump also mentioned Michael Dell, founder and chief executive of Dell Technologies, and Oracle boss Larry Ellison as other possible players in the deal.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 8:49 am
The Greater Manchester Institute of Technology (GMIoT) has announced a new strategic partnership with the BBC.
The organisation says that the collaboration will play a vital role in shaping the region鈥檚 digital and technical talent pipeline, providing Greater Manchester鈥檚 learners and workforce with the skills needed for the future of media.
As one of the largest technical employers in the North West, with over 3,500 staff based at its MediaCityUK site in Salford, the BBC will play an essential role in the GMIoT鈥檚 mission to deliver cutting-edge higher technical education aligned to the needs of industry.
The partnership will help create new routes into creative media, engineering and digital technology roles through high-quality vocational training and degree-level apprenticeships.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 8:40 am
Elixirr International plc has made its first acquisition since joining the main market of the London Stock Exchange.
The London-headquartered challenger consultancy has acquired TRC Advisory, a US-based consultancy specialising in growth strategy and commercial effectiveness for both public and PE-backed global businesses, in a deal which could be worth up to $125m (拢93m).
Elixirr, which joined the main market in July, says the deal is its largest to date and seventh since its AIM IPO in 2020. It is the company鈥檚 fifth in the United States.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 8:16 am
The Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA) has partnered with the newly formed Digital Inclusion Alliance (DIA), a national initiative supported by the Scottish Government to end digital exclusion across Scotland.
The DIA is being established as an independent, multi-sector organisation, with the Scottish Government participating as a member alongside other public, private and third sector partners.
As part of the DIA, the Scottish Government will be backing research into the state of digital exclusion throughout Scotland and providing guidance on the most deprived regions and the areas where charity partners can have the greatest impact.
Through the partnership, the DPA will work with the DIA to coordinate engagement with local authorities, private sector and public services, align efforts to tackle structural barriers to digital inclusion, and support joint advocacy and communications on digital inclusion.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 8:09 am
Conflicts between businesses are taking longer and costing more to resolve, according to research conducted by Resolutiion, the AI-powered dispute resolution platform, and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS).
In a joint survey of procurement and supply chain professionals, conducted as part of the two organisations鈥� Breaking the Deadlock report, nearly half of respondents (48%) said the time to resolve procurement conflict and disputes is increasing.
Only 15% felt it was decreasing, with the remaining 37% seeing no change.
Published: September 22, 2025 at 7:46 am
FinTech group Fiinu Plc has agreed a 拢2m convertible loan note agreement with Conister Bank.
The listed technology platform provider, behind the 鈥榩lugin Overdraft鈥�,聽raised 拢700,000 in fresh funds via a share placing late last week.
It recently returned to London’s junior AIM market after completing a reverse takeover.
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