老九品茶

Author: Jonathan Symcox

LaunchLemonade, a no-code AI platform enabling creators to build and monetise AI agents, has announced the appointment of Joe Leung as CTO and co-founder.

Leung has been involved with the platform since its early days as one of its first users, but formally joined full-time in January 2026 to lead the company鈥檚 technical vision and infrastructure following its oversubscribed pre-seed investment round.

He brings a wealth of experience from his role as executive director at JPMorgan, where he led initiatives in blockchain infrastructure, zero-knowledge proofs and privacy systems.

Prior to his career in finance, Leung served as a commissioned officer and aerospace engineer in the Royal Air Force.

UK venture funding surged into AI in 2025, with investment increasingly concentrated in the UK鈥檚 largest and most proven scaleups, according to NatWest鈥檚 inaugural鈥疐uture of UK Innovation鈥痳eport, published鈥痶oday in partnership with PitchBook.

UK startups raised 拢17.5bn across more than 2,000 deals last year, even amid a challenging macroeconomic backdrop.鈥疶he report reveals that鈥痠nvestors are placing bigger bets on fewer businesses: rounds over 拢25m鈥痬ade up鈥痬ore than 70% of鈥痶he鈥痜unding 鈥� the highest share in a decade 鈥� signalling a market where proven business models and demonstrable traction matter more than ever.

NatWest鈥檚 research also shows that鈥疉I is now one of the defining forces in the UK innovation economy. AI startups raised more than 拢6bn鈥�-鈥痮ver a third of all UK venture capital鈥�-鈥痟elping create five new unicorns and driving鈥痵ome of the strongest exit activity in the market, with鈥痑 total of鈥�67 exits worth 拢4bn. This rapid surge in AI activity underscores how decisively capital is shifting toward technologies with clear commercial readiness and global scaling potential.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Maven Capital Partners has announced a leadership change, with Ewan MacKinnon appointed managing partner and founder Bill Nixon taking the role of chair.

The alternative asset manager said the move was part of a planned succession strategy, reflecting the continued evolution of the business.

In 2009, Nixon led the management buyout of Aberdeen Asset Management鈥檚 private equity division, establishing Maven as an independent firm. Since then, the business has evolved into a diversified alternative asset manager with national reach and a strong regional presence across the UK.听

NatWest has announced Adeel Hyder as its new MD of business banking, leading the bank鈥檚 strategy to strengthen support for small and micro businesses across the UK.

Joining NatWest from Starling Bank on 1st June 2026, Adeel is an experienced banking leader with a strong track record in customer鈥慶entric digital transformation and deep SME expertise.

His background spans McKinsey, TSB and, most recently, Starling, where he helped build and scale its digital鈥慺irst business bank. He brings proven commercial leadership, deep experience overseeing business performance, and sharp insight into the needs of UK small businesses.

Adeel will report to Robert Begbie, CEO of NatWest鈥檚 Commercial & Institutional business, and will join its executive committee.

ROXFIT, a digital training platform for hybrid athletes, has raised 拢1.9m in seed funding as participation in hybrid competition continues to expand rapidly worldwide.

Founded by entrepreneurs Ben Wilson and Joey Allott, the business has grown from 80,000 users in May 2025 to more than 260,000 across 185 countries – driven largely by organic adoption within the global HYROX community.

The funding round was led by existing investors DSW Ventures and strategic angel investor Peter Markham, with participation from SWIM Capital and continued backing from York Angels.

It follows ROXFIT鈥檚 拢800,000 pre-seed round, which supported product development and early international growth. ROXFIT operates as a training and race-day performance platform built specifically for hybrid competition.

The app provides AI-powered training tools, pacing guidance, post-race performance analytics and wearable integration, allowing athletes to simulate race conditions, benchmark results and track progression.

Following the launch of Version 2, training functionality now sits firmly at the core of the platform, with deeper analytics and expanded integrations supporting both elite and first-time competitors.

Author: Andrea Jones, national head of private client advisory, Irwin Mitchell

The upcoming reforms to 老九品茶 Property Relief (BPR), alongside wider proposed changes to the inheritance tax (IHT) treatment of pensions, could create unexpected tax bills and increase the risk of disputes between families and business owners.

Preparation is critical, and the question is not if these changes will affect them 鈥� but how they will affect them, and whether they are ready. Here are five considerations for business owners, investors and entrepreneurs.

Mutable Tactics, a robotics autonomy company based in London, has closed a pre鈥憇eed funding round of 拢1.57m.

Seraphim Space led the round, with support from the UK鈥檚 National Security Strategic Investment Fund, Koro, Entrepreneurs First and Transpose.

It will accelerate development of AI software that allows unmanned systems, such as aerial, maritime, or ground drones, to operate and make decisions even when communications are lost or unreliable.

AgriTech startup Bindbridge has raised 拢2.8m investment to boost crop resilience.

The Cambridge-based company is behind AI discovery platform BRIDGE, which designs new agricultural molecular glues to support the creation of new herbicides and crop protection agents.

It has been backed by Speedinvest and Nucleus Capital.

 

Literal Labs, a spin-out from Newcastle University and pioneer of logic-based AI, has appointed Jim Darragh as non-executive chairman.

Darragh has served as CEO of five international software businesses over the course of his 30-year career. He led each of these businesses (Zeus Technology, Abiquo, Ipanema Technologies, CMO Group, and TotalMobile) to exit, creating approximately 拢1.3 billion in enterprise value, with an average return of 5x for investors.

In his most recent role as CEO of TotalMobile, Darragh grew revenues by more than 500% in seven years, and oversaw seven acquisitions.

Since stepping down as CEO in 2023, Darragh has been supporting businesses as a board leader.

Barnsley鈥檚 Digital Media Centre (DMC) is celebrating two years of The Furnace Incubator 鈥� Enterprising Barnsley鈥檚 innovative six-month tech and digital startup incubation programme.

The programme brings together a community of like-minded entrepreneurs in Barnsley – the UK鈥檚 first Tech Town – to collaborate as they navigate the early stages of developing and launching their business.听

A celebratory event at the DMC provided an opportunity to hear from The Furnace alumni, including speakers from the past, present and future of the programme.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Antiverse, a BioTech developing AI-designed therapeutic antibodies for undruggable disease targets, has closed a Series A round of 拢7 million.听

The Series A funding brings Antiverse鈥檚 total capital raised to over $20m and will enable the Cardiff company to scale its discovery platform for pharmaceutical and foundation partners through collaborative programmes.听

Antiverse has entered into a research agreement with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to design novel antibodies targeting the extracellular region of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein, a historically difficult target in cystic fibrosis research.听

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Dotdigital Group plc has agreed a $60 million cash deal for the company behind a Shopify tool.

The London-listed MarTech, behind a customer experience and data platform for personalised marketing, will pay $30m up front for Alia Software Inc, an AI鈥憄owered pop-up and email/SMS list-growth tool built exclusively for Shopify merchants.

The remaining $30m will be based upon performance.

Rosebank Industries plc has appointed听Liam Butterworth as COO and a director of the company.

Jersey-headquartered Rosebank, listed in London, was established by former senior management at Melrose, with former chief executive Simon Peckham serving as CEO.

Rosebank, which made its first acquisition last summer in Electrical Components International, says it operates a proven model of 鈥榖uy, improve, sell鈥�.

This was also a tagline at Melrose, a Birmingham-based turnaround company which bought out, operated and – in some cases – sold engineering companies.

Now Butterworth has joined and听subscribed for shares.

A director at United Utilities, he was most recently听CEO of Dowlais Group plc before the combination of Dowlais and American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings.

Prior to that, he was听CEO of GKN Automotive until its demerger from Melrose Industries PLC in 2023.

Peckham and three Melrose colleagues – including Chris Miller, now senior independent director at Rosebank – were criticised in 2018 after each of them were paid more than 拢40m in bonuses as part of a 拢8bn swoop for Redditch-based engineering giant GKN.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Oxa, a global leader in autonomous vehicle technology, has raised 拢77 million in Series D funding including backing from the National Wealth Fund.

The Oxford-based company said the National Wealth Fund, a policy bank owned by HM Treasury but operated independently, contributed 拢37.5m to the round.

It also received backing from NVentures – NVIDIA鈥檚 venture capital arm – and additional capital from existing shareholders IP Group, Hostplus and bp Ventures.听

Total quality assurance provider Intertek Group saw its share price plummet by 18 per cent despite announcing a third consecutive year of double-digit听growth.

London-headquartered Intertek operate a network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices in more than 100 countries.

On Tuesday morning the FTSE 100 listed company provided its full year results for 2025.

Highlights included revenue growth up 4.3 per cent to 拢3,432m and profit before tax of 拢493.4m.

Intertek reported a third consecutive year of double digit听adjusted EPS (Earnings Per Share) growth of 10.1 per cent听at constant currency.

In terms of 2026, the company predicted 鈥榤id-single digit鈥� LFL (Like-for-Like) revenue growth, which may have spooked investors.

GC Angels, the venture capital investment arm of The Growth Company – the largest social enterprise institution in Greater Manchester – has announced the second cohort of its Venture Forward accelerator programme.

The Innovate UK initiative supports underrepresented founders in the North of England to prepare for their first institutional investment round.

The programme is delivered by the investment managers that make investment decisions for GC Angels. This equips early-stage founders with first-hand knowledge, tools and investor connections needed to raise their first VC investment within the next 12 months.

Following the successful delivery of Cohort 1 between October and December 2025 in Manchester 鈥� where five of the 30 participating founders secured investment within two months of completing the programme 鈥� Cohort 2 will now support a further 22 high-potential businesses from across the North.

Running over eight weeks in Leeds, the programme offers founders expert-led workshops, one-to-one mentoring, practical fundraising guidance and direct access to investors. Following completion, GC Angels will offer up to 拢500k of equity investment to standout founders, providing the capital needed to scale their businesses and accelerate growth.

The Lifted Angel Network, part of Lifted Ventures, has announced the successful close of three recent investments.

Eco Green Living, a Manchester-based business providing plastic-free, compostable household essentials, has successfully closed a 拢502,000 funding round, with support from the Lifted Angel Network.

Founded by Julie Cook, Julie pitched to the Lifted Angel Network before going on to complete the round with backing from a wider group of angel investors.

Operating on a purpose-before-profit ethos, Eco Green Living offers certified compostable alternatives to everyday disposable products. The business sells direct-to-consumer and B2B, and partners with environmental initiatives, including tree-planting programmes.

Nc鈥檔ean Distillery, an independent organic whisky producer based on the west coast of Scotland has secured a new round of growth funding to the value of 拢2.5 million, combining investment from the Lifted Angel Network and private investor Lotus Investments.

The funding will support the distillery鈥檚 continued commitment to sustainable production, expansion of its spirits range, and the scaling of distribution to meet growing global demand.

Nc鈥檔ean, led by founder Annabel Thomas, is widely recognised for its pioneering environmental credentials. The distillery is powered entirely by renewable energy, uses only organic Scottish barley, bottles its whisky in 100% recycled glass, and is certified net-zero.

Haazar, a Manchester-based tech startup founded by entrepreneur Harriet Noy, has also secured backing with the support of The Lifted Angel Network.

Hazaar is the UK鈥檚 first marketplace built exclusively for students, helping brands unlock students听& sell slower moving stock. Hazaar is flipping the current student discount model on its head – allowing brands to turn excess stock into lifelong customers.

Manufacturing platform Fractory has announced its expansion into Italy and France, establishing a dedicated presence as part of the company’s continued growth.听

Founded in Estonia and operating its UK headquarters from Manchester, Fractory connects companies with a vetted network of manufacturing partners through its digital platform.听

The move establishes dedicated market operations to support engineering and manufacturing businesses across the new regions.听

The expansion enables the company to deliver its full-service manufacturing model directly within Southern and Western Europe, strengthening customer relationships and accelerating project delivery across key industrial regions.听

Fractory has appointed its first team members in both markets, including local account management and operational support roles.听

These hires will support businesses in navigating complex, multi-process projects, ranging from laser cutting and CNC machining to surface finishes and assembly.听

Synectics plc, a provider of advanced security and surveillance solutions, has reported growth in annual revenue and profits.

The AIM-listed firm said revenue increased by 22% to 拢68.1 million in the year ended 30th November 2025.

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 36.1% to 拢8.5m for the period.

FTSE 250 firm IG Group Holdings plc has appointed a new chair.

Andrew Barron, former COO of Virgin Media, has joined the provider of online trading platforms and educational resources.

Barron currently holds non-executive director roles at Openreach and Verisure. He is also a senior operating partner at Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, representing it on the boards of Delta Fiber and Astound.

He succeeds Mike McTighe, who has served as chair of IG for more than six years.

IG offers customers access to over 21,000 financial markets worldwide.