老九品茶

If the bookmakers鈥� predictions are accurate, the outcome of the latest series of The Apprentice is a foregone conclusion.

MyBettingSites.co.uk says 28-year-old Karishma Vijay has a 75 per cent chance of being crowned The Apprentice champion.

Her odds of 1/3 compare with outsider Pascha Myhill鈥檚 odds of 3/1, meaning the bookies think she has only a 25 per cent chance of winning.

Both candidates are vying to win Lord Sugar鈥檚 拢250,000 investment and mentorship.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Booking.com says some of its customer data has been accessed by hackers.

The accommodation reservation site warned customers of potential suspicious emails and phone calls from 鈥渕alicious actors鈥�.

However it claimed that 鈥渇inancial information was not accessed鈥�.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Shares in Wise plc have risen today after it revealed a plan to move its primary listing to the US.

The London-headquartered and -listed FinTech says it expects to begin trading on New York鈥檚 Nasdaq exchange on 11th May.

The money transfer service will maintain a public listing on the London Stock Exchange but shift its primary listing to the US to 鈥渁ccelerate鈥� its path 鈥渢o become 鈥榯he鈥� network for the world鈥檚 money鈥�.

Wise pointed to 鈥済reater visibility鈥� in the US, where it employs more than 750 people. Shareholders backed the decision to adopt a dual listing last year.

Its shares are up 4% today, up 16% in the year-to-date and 5% higher than at IPO in 2021.

Law firm听gunnercooke听has moved into a new city-centre office in Manchester today to facilitate its growth. The 16,000 sq ft office is located at听Pall Mall, part of Bruntwood SciTech鈥檚 transformational redevelopment in the heart of King Street.

Designed to accommodate up to 130 people over two floors, the space includes a dedicated client suite, flexible collaboration areas, including multiple meeting rooms and call booths, a TV production studio and a well-equipped event space for clients, partners and support staff to utilise. Other facilities include an innovation room, wellbeing area, multi-faith room, rooftop terrace, gym, bike storage and an on-site cafe.

Aligning with gunnercooke鈥檚 sustainability commitments, Pall Mall is a 拢30 million project transforming a Grade II-listed landmark on King Street into a 120,000 sq ft, net zero carbon innovation hub.

Manchester is the birthplace of gunnercooke, which now has 16 offices globally including in the US and DACH region, and the base for its support team, gcTrust, which employs 100 people, alongside 158 lawyers and legal staff across the region.

Virgin StartUp has opened applications for Momentum 2.0, the next round of its free accelerator programme designed to help dyslexic entrepreneurs scale their businesses.

Following the success of its inaugural cohort at the end of last year, Momentum returns with renewed backing from Virgin Unite and continued collaboration with Made By Dyslexia.

The first-of-a-kind accelerator has already supported 30 dyslexic founders and became the most applied-for programme in Virgin StartUp鈥檚 history, with 90% of participants reporting that they saw their Dyslexic Thinking as a strength after completing the programme.

With analysis from Made By Dyslexia revealing dyslexic entrepreneurs contribute at least 拢4.6 billion to UK GDP each year and that one in three entrepreneurs are dyslexic, Momentum was created to help founders embrace the strengths that set them apart. The free eight-week accelerator is tailored specifically to early-stage founders and intended to enhance Dyslexic Thinking strengths through tailored workshops, 1-1 mentoring and access to resources.

Virgin StartUp has also added a dedicated ‘Dyslexic Thinking’ space in its online community for business founders.

SaaS company Apex B2B has officially launched following an investment of 拢1.3 million.

The company is expanding its presence in the UK market, targeting wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers seeking to modernise their digital infrastructure and improve operational efficiency.

Developed as a purpose-built, AI-enabled commerce platform for mid-market businesses, Apex B2B is designed to address a growing gap in the market where companies have outgrown basic retail-first tools but find enterprise platforms too complex, costly, and slow to implement.

To support its growth, Apex B2B plans to hire 15 employees across product engineering, AI, customer success, go-to-market, and operations. The company is targeting mid-market businesses with annual revenues between 拢10 million and 拢300 million and plans to expand across European and US markets over the next five years.

The platform was incubated within Monsoon Consulting, a digital commerce agency, and formally spun out following a successful soft launch in December 2025.

IKEA has announced the appointment of David McCabe as its new country retail manager and chief sustainability officer for the UK and Ireland.

Currently the global fulfilment & core services manager for Ingka Group, leading IKEA鈥檚 global fulfilment team, McCabe will step into his new position on 1st July 2026.

McCabe takes over from Peter Jelkeby, who recently transitioned to lead IKEA Germany following a successful period of growth and expansion for the UK and Ireland business.

Twinnin, a new platform for protecting and monetising human identity in the age of artificial intelligence, has officially launched with early backing and rapid adoption.

As of today, Twinnin has signed up over 200 licenced faces, with 76 fully completed digital twins 鈥� numbers that it says continue to grow by the hour.

Developed by venture-backed AI company AI KAT, backed by SFC Capital,’one of Europe’s most active VCs’ , and notable angels, Twinnin addresses a rapidly emerging issue: generative AI can now replicate faces, voices, and behaviour at scale 鈥� yet there has been no infrastructure governing who owns, controls, or profits from human likeness.

Twinnin says it is building that infrastructure 鈥� and in doing so, establishing a foundation for ethical AI that brings humans along without replacing them.

The platform enables individuals to register their face and voice, creating a verifiable identity record secured with immutable provenance on the Polygon blockchain. Users can choose to protect their likeness, monetise it, or both.

Digital twins can then be licensed across advertising, film and television, retail, and AI model training 鈥� with consent, defined usage parameters, and payment built in.

GoCardless’ annual revenues have increased by 22% year-on-year, according to its latest Companies House filing.

In the 12 months ending 30th June 2025, GoCardless鈥� total turnover rose to 拢160.9m, from 拢132.3m in FY24.

The volume of payments processed by the company also doubled to 拢79.2bn, in part due to its acquisition of Nuapay, which closed in September 2024.

After recording its first EBIDTA-positive quarter on an adjusted basis in the final quarter of FY25, GoCardless is expected to continue this trajectory to achieve its first EBIDTA-positive year in FY26.

This comes after the FinTech announced it was set to be acquired by Dutch firm Mollie in December 2025.

Author: Chris Maguire

Eka Ventures has announced the closure of its 鈥榤ilestone鈥� 拢80m ($107m) Fund II.

Eka specialises in making pre-seed and seed investments between 拢1m and 拢3m and traditionally works with founders building category-defining consumer technology companies.

It makes Eka the UK鈥檚 largest early-stage impact VC, investing across health, wellbeing and sustainability.

Fund I鈥檚 portfolio includes Runna (seed round, recently exited to Strava), Urban Jungle, Axle, Hived, Foresight Data Machines, Jude and Flok Health. Several have gone on to raise from Index Ventures, Accel and Balderton.

WPP has announced the appointment of Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer.

In this newly created role, Choueiri will be responsible for designing, implementing and embedding the operations that underpin Elevate28, WPP鈥檚 three-year growth plan unveiled in February 2026.

She joins WPP from The Est茅e Lauder Companies, where she led enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, including shaping the company’s ‘One ELC’ operating model and transforming its enterprise marketing, data and analytics capabilities.

Previously, Choueiri held leadership roles at world-class consultancies including Accenture, Masa茂 鈥� a Bain & Co spin-off 鈥� and Kearney. She also has a background leading data and digital marketing agencies.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Round, an AI-powered finance automation platform used by some of Europe鈥檚 fastest-growing companies and unicorns, has raised 拢4.5 million in seed funding.听

The round was led by Alstin Capital, with participation from BACKED VC and Love Ventures.听

Roughly 10% of Round鈥檚 existing customers also invested, alongside new angel investors including Paul Forster, co-founder of Indeed.

Existing investors, including Passion Capital, the early backers of Monzo, Tide, and GoCardless, doubled down on their investment.听

Author: Jonathan Symcox

SysGroup plc has reported improved profitability & revenues for the last financial year.

The Manchester-headquartered tech group said FY26 revenue and adjusted EBITDA was ahead of market expectations.

SysGroup provides cloud, cybersecurity and AI transformation for UK mid-market clients.

EDX Medical intends to leave the challenger Aquis Stock Exchange and list on the London Stock Exchange’s junior AIM market.

The Cambridge firm creates health testing solutions for medical professionals that improve the rapid detection and characterisation of major diseases, enabling personalised treatment and better outcomes for patients.

It was admitted to trading on the AQSE in June 2021 and was renamed EDX Medical Group Plc following the acquisition by the company of EDX Medical Ltd on 14 November 2022, which constituted a reverse takeover.

Since then the company has raised 拢15.5m to further develop its business, enter into commercial distribution agreements and expand its laboratory facilities in personnel.

The directors believe that its access to capital from certain funds, its liquidity profile and visibility to investors will be improved by the AIM admission.

The company currently expects to record revenue for the year ended 31st March 2026 of approximately 拢1.2m.

Concurrent Technologies Plc has said that CFO Kim Garrod intends to retire and step down from her position.

The designer and manufacturer of computer products, systems, and mission-critical solutions used in high-performance markets by some of the world’s major OEMs said Garrod will remain in her role until the end of 2026 to ensure there is a smooth transition process.听

The Apprentice finalist Pascha Myhill听has launched an exclusive subscription service ahead of Thursday鈥檚 final.

The 22-year-old is the youngest candidate left in the show and is seeking Lord Sugar鈥檚 拢250k investment for her recruitment company within private healthcare.

Karishma Vijay is the favourite to win and 22-year-old Myhill is offering a free trial to her new content subscription service.

Writing on Instagram she said: 鈥淒on鈥檛 get it twisted. Just exclusive behind-the-scenes, little bits of my life, Q&As and all that. If you want all the tea, you know where to go.鈥�

The Apprentice finalist Karishma Vijay has revealed she wants to appear on I鈥檓 A Celebrity 鈥�. Get Me Out Of Here.

The beauty brand owner is battling it out with Pascha Myhill to win Lord Sugar鈥檚 mentorship and 拢250k investment in the final of series 20.

The 28-year-old has 850k social media followers and revealed her dream is to appear on I鈥檓 A Celebrity, hosted by Declan Donnelly and Ant McPartlin.

Speaking on Instagram, Vijay said: 鈥淭o be honest, put me in the jungle, I鈥檒l eat a snake, I鈥檒l eat a worm, I鈥檒l eat a bat. I鈥檒l eat anything.鈥�

Failures, love & millionaires: What happened to The Apprentice winners?

Author: Chris Maguire

Vinted, the Lithuanian-founded online marketplace, has reported annual revenues of 鈧�1.1bn in 2025, a 38 per cent increase year-on-year.

At the same time, GMV (gross merchandise value) rose 47 per cent to 鈧�10.8bn.

GMV is the total value of goods sold through a platform or marketplace over a given period.

The figures show that Vinted reported adjusted EBITDA of 鈧�151m and a net profit of 鈧�62m.

Vinted was founded in Vilnius in 2008 by Milda Mitkute and Justas Janauskas after they had a conversation at a party about creating a platform where people could buy and sell clothing from each other鈥檚 wardrobes.

Through its network of delivery partners, Vinted provides members with access to more than 500,000 pick-up and drop-off points across Europe, supporting uptake of convenient, out-of-home delivery options.

Revolut has launched AIR – AI by Revolut – an in-app AI assistant designed to transform how millions of users interact with their money, manage their lifestyle and elevate their money intelligence.

Starting to roll out to customers across the UK now, AIR moves beyond the traditional chatbot, according to the FinTech. It acts as an intelligent assistant, deeply embedded in Revolut’s ecosystem.

Revolut says this represents a fundamental shift in how customers can interact with their finances, ending the era of multi-step navigation and empowering users to get a holistic view of their money.

AIR moves beyond the traditional chatbot and allows users to navigate their financial life through simple conversation. Whether it鈥檚 a granular breakdown of last month’s coffee spend, sorting travel essentials or setting card controls, AIR can help instantly.

Leeds Digital Festival returns this month with its Mini-Fest from 21st-23rd April to support skills development and growth.听

Organisers say this year鈥檚 鈥榮mall but mighty event鈥� will explore how the rapid surge in AI and data science is fundamentally reshaping the Northern job market.听

A packed programme of nine interactive events across two days will showcase how this innovation is driving local employment and economic resilience.