The independent co-educational day school in Oldham, founded more than four hundred years ago, is to fully integrate AI through everything it does.

From September 2026, every pupil will be taught AI as a subject in its own right. In addition, all subjects will explicitly consider how AI can be effectively incorporated within the established traditional curriculum to further enhance the outcomes and prospects of all students.

The announcement marks the next phase for the Brenda Mills Institute of Innovation and Technology (BMIIT), Hulme’s dedicated STEAM hub launched last year. The BMIIT has already become a beacon for regional collaboration, recently hosting a 100-student cross-borough hackathon supported by mentors from University of Manchester, Imperial, AMEX GBT, Koder.ly and Purple AI.

AI will change the world more profoundly than any technology in living memory. Hulme Grammar says schools that shy away from that reality will be doing their pupils an injustice.

Rather than treat the technology as a threat to be policed, Hulme will teach pupils to use it, question it, and build with it from Year 7 upwards.

Lessons dedicated to AI will cover how the technology actually works, its limits and risks, how to prompt and evaluate outputs, and how to combine machine capability with human judgement. Instead of shying away from using AI to support homework, the AI curriculum will support students in how best to use modern tools in order to increase creativity and critical thinking, rather than hinder it by rudimentary AI prompts.

“Our pupils will graduate into a world still being defined. Our responsibility is to prepare them for it with clarity and purpose,” said Kirsten Pankhurst, principal of Hulme Grammar School.

“That means teaching AI explicitly, embedding it across the curriculum, and placing even greater emphasis on the human capabilities – judgement, creativity, and collaboration – that will endure.

“At Hulme, preparing young people for what comes next has always guided our approach. In 2026, this is what that looks like in practice.”

Hulme has secured industry partners who will work directly with the school to shape course content, deliver masterclasses and mentor pupils.

Purple – smart spaces, better experiences

, the enterprise company founded by chair of governors Gavin Wheeldon, will be the founding partner. Further partners from industry will be announced in the coming months.

“I have spent my career building businesses in AI, and I can tell you that the world is about to change faster than most people realise,” said Wheeldon.

“Schools have a simple choice: lead or hide. Hulme is choosing to lead. By combining more than four hundred years of academic tradition with direct, active partnership from industry, we can give young people in Oldham a genuinely world-class preparation for the world they are walking into.

“By 2030, an estimated 85% of jobs that will exist haven’t been invented yet. Our partners will make sure what we teach stays relevant and keeps pace with the pace of change.”

The post Hulme Grammar ‘to spearhead national shift to AI-centric learning’ appeared first on �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud.

CEO Petros Christodoulou co-founded Gizmo with two friends and fellow University of Cambridge graduates, Robin Jack (CTO), and Paul Evangelou (CPO).��

Used by more than 13 million learners across 120+ countries, Gizmo is redefining how the world studies by transforming the mechanics of screen addiction into a force for personal growth.

The round was led by Shine Capital, with participation from Ada Ventures, Seek Investments, GSV, and NFX, who previously led their $3.5m seed round, and others.�� It will be used to expand Gizmo’s engineering and AI team to support growth in the US college market and accelerate product expansion to further serve students and deepen engagement across its global user base.

With billions of students globally now learning on smartphones, the experience of studying for 16- to 21-year-olds preparing for high-stakes exams has remained largely unchanged.�� Meanwhile, the platforms they spend hours on daily are constantly evolving, and have mastered the science of engagement: personalisation, instant feedback, social connection, and variable rewards.

Gizmo was founded on a bold idea: what if the same AI techniques that make social media endlessly scrollable could make learning endlessly engaging, creating a new kind of screen time?

“We’re not fighting for less screen time – we’re fighting for better screen time,” said Christodoulou. “People aren’t addicted to their phones; they’re addicted to progress, novelty, social connection, and reward.��

“Gizmo redirects that energy toward something that builds their future. With this funding, we’re doubling down on making learning the most engaging and rewarding thing on your phone.”

Meet black belt taking Leeds software house global

Gizmo turns passive content into personalised, active learning experiences in seconds. Students upload their notes, documents, or web links, and Gizmo’s AI instantly generates customised study materials: interactive flashcards, adaptive quizzes, and gamified challenges tailored to each learner.��

Built-in social features let friends study together, compete on leaderboards, and hold each other accountable — turning what was once a solitary grind into a shared, rewarding experience.

From high school students preparing for their GCSEs in the UK, to US university students studying for their degrees, all the way through to professionals in the Philippines upskilling in competitive industries, the platform has become a daily study habit for millions of learners globally.

“Gizmo has cracked something that’s eluded consumer learning for years: organic, student-driven engagement at massive scale,” said Ethan Daly, general partner at Shine Capital.��

“Thirteen million users have chosen Gizmo to transform dense subjects into interactive, personalized, and high-reward experiences, driving real outcomes in a way students love.��

“We see Gizmo as the defining learning platform for the next generation of students and lifelong learners, and we’re thrilled to be backing Petros, Robin, and Paul as they scale it globally.”

Why ‘unique’ HealthTech is at cutting edge of mental health support

The post Gizmo, a Cambridge spinout with 13m users, raises £16m appeared first on �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud.

Sam, who grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, had moved to the UK the previous year. He told me about his Instagram addiction and plans to tackle it with startup Applatch, which locked down certain apps on your phone when you needed to focus.

Fast-forward three years and Applatch, now , is a very different business.

“It was a free app and we had 43,000 users,” he tells me over coffee in our Founder Friday interview in Sheffield. “I asked a couple of my friends if they would be willing to pay for it, and they said ‘no’ – because they felt they had enough self-control [to manage their social media activity themselves].

“But they said they would pay for something which controlled the apps their children use.”

A dad himself, he also saw the value in that proposition. “After speaking with many more parents as well as children – in order to further understand the problem – I saw the gap,” he says.

“I realised that there’s a bigger problem here with the children: they actually can’t control when to stop using entertainment apps and focus on study.”

Sam, a former teacher, continues: “Sometimes, if you’re talking to maybe a seven-year-old and trying to teach them something, after two minutes they’re just looking around bored.

“Excessive entertainment screen time starts to build a low attention span. So when they’re in class they can’t focus on the teacher for long enough to understand what they are learning.”

Simply locking down these entertainment apps is not enough, the founder explains. “When they install a parental control app, the parent is hoping that by locking down Roblox, Minecraft, Netflix and the rest, the child will instead click on an educational app.

“But that is not the case. They just leave [the device].”

Screen time

Sam says that people mistake general screen time for the enemy, when in fact it is entertainment screen time. “If a child is learning on a tablet, that is educational screen time, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Everything is digitalised now.

“My realisation was that there is no motivation for a child to go to the educational apps on their device as children naturally want to have fun, not learn.”

Applatch Kids, which is built for children aged 3-11 – and available on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store – counters this by rewarding educational app achievement with entertainment.

Applatch Kids

For example Sam’s daughter, who turns six this year, is granted an hour’s ‘play’ for every quiz she passes in each STEM discipline of English, maths and science. Parents can set this reward as low as 15 minutes, if they wish.

“We’re tackling the root cause of the problem, which is the learning behaviour: if a child builds up the habit of studying before they play, that will stay with them for the rest of their life.”

Indeed Applatch Kids, which was fourth on our recent EdTech 50 ranking, has the tagline: ‘Learn before play’.

With countries including Australia banning social media for under-16s – and the UK launching a public consultation on this – Sam has deliberately focused his business on infant and primary school children.��

“Social media is not a problem at age five; it’s games and platforms like Disney, YouTube and Netflix,” he explains.

“But no government is ever going to ban primary school children from playing games.”

A baseline assessment decides the level of challenge to set a child in the early stages. It then adapts through machine learning to ensure they progress as far academically as possible.

Applatch Kids is being used by 7,000 families at present – purely organic word-of-mouth growth – ahead of a full launch in April.

Africa

Sam seems so at home in Sheffield that it is easy to forget he spent the first 30 years of his life in Africa. Indeed Applatch Kids employs staff in Nigeria as well as the UK, with four full-time and another six on a contractual basis.

He moved to Yorkshire with his wife, who was studying an MBA at Sheffield Hallam University, but there was more to his decision to set up the business there.

“When I did my research, I found that outside of London, Sheffield is actually the UK city that supports startup founders the most,” he tells me. ”So I think this is the perfect city.”

The shining Dymond at heart of Sheffield’s tech ecosystem

A technologist who studied computer science at university, he regrets choosing to play games himself at a young age.

“I got my first computer at the age of 10, but guess what? I was just playing Grand Theft Auto and Need for Speed.

“A friend also got a personal desktop computer at that age – but his dad taught him how to design flyers and he was making money straight away, designing flyers for small businesses!

“Right after secondary school, I studied how to repair computers, but the previous seven years I just wasted playing games. I didn’t learn anything.

“If a child has access to a computing device at an early age, why not show them how to use it to learn something brilliant, or improve generally in their educational performance?”

Label

Applatch isn’t his first rodeo: after university, Sam started a clothing fashion business as everyone in Lagos was wearing American brands.

He pivoted to B2B after realising he could generate more profit in one order than in 200 individual retail sales. The family business is now run by his mother.

After joining a digital marketing agency to learn how to build the brand, he enjoyed the work so much – running viral campaigns for brands like Pepsi, Intel and HP – that he decided to keep doing that.

“That’s how I got addicted to Instagram!” he laughs.

Now with Applatch Kids, he has an ambitious and laudable goal.

“In the UK right now, there are more than a million young people aged 16-24 who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and disengaged from the education and workforce system,” he says.

“If we can train kids, when they are young, to learn every day, they will move that habit into secondary school.��

“So when they own a smartphone, they will manage that effectively – and do well in their GCSEs and beyond.”

‘Pinch me!’: Founders celebrate Leeds Tech Map launch

The post Meet Sheffield founder unlocking healthy device habits for kids appeared first on �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud.

A revision app for students founded by Dr James Gupta and Dr Omair Vaiyani – who had recently graduated from Leeds Medical School – it was already being talked about in regional tech circles.

Fast-forward eight years and the business is going strong – although it looks very different from that early-stage startup.

When I catch up with James in Bruntwood SciTech’s Platform building, next door to Leeds train station, my first question is: was there a pivot?

“We’ve pivoted a couple of times, but we’ve kept the same core idea of bite-sized studying with multiple choice questions,” he tells me.

“We started off as a revision app for students. We used it, other students used it; but when we graduated, we realised how difficult it could be to get students to pay for educational products.

“At the same time, we were getting B2B institutional interest. So the first pivot was to sell this same product into institutions instead of to students. And that started working really well for us.”

Today the firm’s 300-strong customer base consists of a third universities; a third employers and regulated sectors; and�� a third private EdTech and tutoring companies.

“Our last major pivot was moving from low-stakes to high-stakes exams,” James continues. “As well as the revision tools, we began doing the actual end-point assessments for students.

“We started dabbling with that just before COVID, which was interesting timing because suddenly everyone needed to be able to do remote exams and we had this beta product out. So we leaned quite hard into that – and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last five years.”

No panic

Synap does not generate the content itself, but rather provides the tools for clients to do so. The platform used by students for revision is the same as that which provides secure assessments for institutions, albeit through different modules.

“That’s an advantage for us because if, say, you’re a university and your students are using our low-stakes features like question banks and revision, there’s a natural progression when it comes to exam day.��

“They’re not panicking and asking: ‘What’s my login? Does this platform work on my laptop? Where do the buttons go? What are the shortcuts?��

“I think we can reduce exam day stress quite a bit, because they’re doing a high-stakes exam, but on a platform that they’re already familiar with.”

One such client is the University of Law. “We are used across all of their campuses. We build up a profile of the students – what their strengths and weaknesses are – and show that to them so they know where to practise.��

“We also show it to their tutors so that they know where additional training is needed.”

He adds: “When we started working with them, it was very cool to get a large institution saying; ‘We see something in your idea – we now want you to embed it across our organisation and work with us to design our curriculum around your platform.

“It was a really good confidence boost that someone saw what we saw in the business.”

EdTech 50

Synap, which featured in our 2026 EdTech 50 ranking announced this week, works with some American Ivy League institutions on their admissions exams and in-course assessments. It also has clients in Australia.

Synap – transforming the landscape of online exams and learning

James says the Leeds-headquartered firm, which has employed a ‘steady’ 14 people for the last couple of years, is still operated as an agile startup – but on a big assessment day, its scale gives him a ‘pinch me’ moment.

“When a client delivers 10,000 exams on the same day in a test centre, and it all goes smoothly, that’s because it’s like a military operation,” he says.

“You realise that all of the work that the team’s put into redundancy, scaling the infrastructure and handling technology – like when a student tries to sign on with a 30-year-old version of Windows or something – has paid off.

“We have genuinely built something that does what it says it can do, and is capable of doing that at scale.”

Synap team on a Zoom call

Entrepreneurship

James’ father is a GP while his mother is a nurse who went into management. I ask whether the original plan was to enter the medical profession himself.

“My exposure was to medicine, in a sense, but then also to small business – because GPs obviously work quite differently to hospital doctors,” he answers. “I worked in my dad’s practice for a couple of years before university and really enjoyed it.

“By the time we were looking to graduate, we drafted in my now-wife and my sister to help with Synap. Every day was different and exciting. Nothing could really compete with that.��

“So when we graduated, we decided to do this for two years and see what happened. If it failed, we would know that we had gotten it as far as we could and could go back into medicine. But it didn’t fail!

“I’m grateful every day just for how much fun this is. I couldn’t go back to doing medicine now. I’ve just become way too used to working for myself.

“There’s a saying about how ‘successful entrepreneurs often work 80 hours to avoid working 40 hours for someone else’. Every day is a little bit different, a little bit challenging, and can be stressful.��

“But even a stressful day here is still really fun.”

Rhythm

The CEO, a self-confessed night owl and music lover, says he really finds his rhythm in the evenings.

“I like EDM (electronic dance music), drum ‘n’ bass, things like that. I love Metallica [as well] but if I put techno on, it’s just instrumental and gives you a steady pulse to work along to,” he says.

“The reason people like that sort of music is because the beat is synced in with their electronic pulses. The 4/4 beat is our natural walking rhythm and our heartbeat. So your brain and your heart are doing the same thing.��

“Even if you just create an electronic identical pulse, your brain will still interpret it as a tick-tock pattern. It won’t hear tock, tock; it’ll hear tick-tock, tick-tock.

“It definitely helps with concentration.”

Synap has raised around £700,000 to date from angel investors and Venturion, a Wakefield-based family office.

The firm is profitable and growing, James says, and not currently looking for institutional funding: “We do about £1.5 million a year in revenue at the moment, against £1.1m-1.2m in costs.”

AI

As for future plans, he says it is looking at AI – but will continue to develop tech in-house.

“How can AI be used by our customers to create content from existing materials? Can we use it to mark and grade assessments? How do we prevent students from using AI as part of their essays?” he asks speculatively.

“I’ve used it on proctoring a couple of times – remote invigilation of an exam – but that needs to be done in a GDPR-compliant way. How do we install software on someone’s computer that allows us access to what they’re doing and their webcam, and to record it? Then, how do we review that?

“We’ve always got a strong preference for doing things in-house, because it gives us flexibility; it gives us control over where our data – and our customers’ data – is going; and it gives us end-to-end ownership and responsibility over the outcome.”

EdTech 50 judge Rachel Vecht was wowed by this year’s ranking and the growing number of tools to assist with #neurodivergent learning and positive #mentalhealth and #wellbeing. The founder of Educating Matters picks out @myhappymind, Cognassist and @gaialearningonline for particular praise. @educatingmatters

The post How Leeds EdTech Synap found its rhythm appeared first on �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud.

A revision app for students founded by Dr James Gupta and Dr Omair Vaiyani – who had recently graduated from Leeds Medical School – it was already being talked about in regional tech circles.

Fast-forward eight years and the business is going strong – although it looks very different from that early-stage startup.

When I catch up with James in Bruntwood SciTech’s Platform building, next door to Leeds train station, my first question is: was there a pivot?

“We’ve pivoted a couple of times, but we’ve kept the same core idea of bite-sized studying with multiple choice questions,” he tells me.

“We started off as a revision app for students. We used it, other students used it; but when we graduated, we realised how difficult it could be to get students to pay for educational products.

“At the same time, we were getting B2B institutional interest. So the first pivot was to sell this same product into institutions instead of to students. And that started working really well for us.”

Today the firm’s 300-strong customer base consists of a third universities; a third employers and regulated sectors; and�� a third private EdTech and tutoring companies.

“Our last major pivot was moving from low-stakes to high-stakes exams,” James continues. “As well as the revision tools, we began doing the actual end-point assessments for students.

“We started dabbling with that just before COVID, which was interesting timing because suddenly everyone needed to be able to do remote exams and we had this beta product out. So we leaned quite hard into that – and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last five years.”

No panic

Synap does not generate the content itself, but rather provides the tools for clients to do so. The platform used by students for revision is the same as that which provides secure assessments for institutions, albeit through different modules.

“That’s an advantage for us because if, say, you’re a university and your students are using our low-stakes features like question banks and revision, there’s a natural progression when it comes to exam day.��

“They’re not panicking and asking: ‘What’s my login? Does this platform work on my laptop? Where do the buttons go? What are the shortcuts?��

“I think we can reduce exam day stress quite a bit, because they’re doing a high-stakes exam, but on a platform that they’re already familiar with.”

One such client is the University of Law. “We are used across all of their campuses. We build up a profile of the students – what their strengths and weaknesses are – and show that to them so they know where to practise.��

“We also show it to their tutors so that they know where additional training is needed.”

He adds: “When we started working with them, it was very cool to get a large institution saying; ‘We see something in your idea – we now want you to embed it across our organisation and work with us to design our curriculum around your platform.

“It was a really good confidence boost that someone saw what we saw in the business.”

EdTech 50

Synap, which featured in our 2026 EdTech 50 ranking announced this week, works with some American Ivy League institutions on their admissions exams and in-course assessments. It also has clients in Australia.

Synap – transforming the landscape of online exams and learning

James says the Leeds-headquartered firm, which has employed a ‘steady’ 14 people for the last couple of years, is still operated as an agile startup – but on a big assessment day, its scale gives him a ‘pinch me’ moment.

“When a client delivers 10,000 exams on the same day in a test centre, and it all goes smoothly, that’s because it’s like a military operation,” he says.

“You realise that all of the work that the team’s put into redundancy, scaling the infrastructure and handling technology – like when a student tries to sign on with a 30-year-old version of Windows or something – has paid off.

“We have genuinely built something that does what it says it can do, and is capable of doing that at scale.”

Synap team on a Zoom call

Entrepreneurship

James’ father is a GP while his mother is a nurse who went into management. I ask whether the original plan was to enter the medical profession himself.

“My exposure was to medicine, in a sense, but then also to small business – because GPs obviously work quite differently to hospital doctors,” he answers. “I worked in my dad’s practice for a couple of years before university and really enjoyed it.

“By the time we were looking to graduate, we drafted in my now-wife and my sister to help with Synap. Every day was different and exciting. Nothing could really compete with that.��

“So when we graduated, we decided to do this for two years and see what happened. If it failed, we would know that we had gotten it as far as we could and could go back into medicine. But it didn’t fail!

“I’m grateful every day just for how much fun this is. I couldn’t go back to doing medicine now. I’ve just become way too used to working for myself.

“There’s a saying about how ‘successful entrepreneurs often work 80 hours to avoid working 40 hours for someone else’. Every day is a little bit different, a little bit challenging, and can be stressful.��

“But even a stressful day here is still really fun.”

Rhythm

The CEO, a self-confessed night owl and music lover, says he really finds his rhythm in the evenings.

“I like EDM (electronic dance music), drum ‘n’ bass, things like that. I love Metallica [as well] but if I put techno on, it’s just instrumental and gives you a steady pulse to work along to,” he says.

“The reason people like that sort of music is because the beat is synced in with their electronic pulses. The 4/4 beat is our natural walking rhythm and our heartbeat. So your brain and your heart are doing the same thing.��

“Even if you just create an electronic identical pulse, your brain will still interpret it as a tick-tock pattern. It won’t hear tock, tock; it’ll hear tick-tock, tick-tock.

“It definitely helps with concentration.”

Synap has raised around £700,000 to date from angel investors and Venturion, a Wakefield-based family office.

The firm is profitable and growing, James says, and not currently looking for institutional funding: “We do about £1.5 million a year in revenue at the moment, against £1.1m-1.2m in costs.”

AI

As for future plans, he says it is looking at AI – but will continue to develop tech in-house.

“How can AI be used by our customers to create content from existing materials? Can we use it to mark and grade assessments? How do we prevent students from using AI as part of their essays?” he asks speculatively.

“I’ve used it on proctoring a couple of times – remote invigilation of an exam – but that needs to be done in a GDPR-compliant way. How do we install software on someone’s computer that allows us access to what they’re doing and their webcam, and to record it? Then, how do we review that?

“We’ve always got a strong preference for doing things in-house, because it gives us flexibility; it gives us control over where our data – and our customers’ data – is going; and it gives us end-to-end ownership and responsibility over the outcome.”

EdTech 50 judge Rachel Vecht was wowed by this year’s ranking and the growing number of tools to assist with #neurodivergent learning and positive #mentalhealth and #wellbeing. The founder of Educating Matters picks out @myhappymind, Cognassist and @gaialearningonline for particular praise. @educatingmatters

The post Metallica fan bangs the drum of his startup appeared first on �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud.

Readers of the online technology publication and an expert judging panel have together decided the 50 companies blazing a technology trail in the education sector.

The EdTech 50 celebrates businesses of all sizes creating original tech for education and workplace development.

MathsWatch, based in Oswestry, Shropshire, tops the ranking for 2026.

The online maths platform offers 24/7 access to curriculum‑aligned video tutorials, interactive questions, instant feedback and progress tracking. Its unique marking of working out boosts understanding and cuts teacher workload, delivering confidence, clarity and measurable results for every learner.

Tapestry, an online learning journal from the Foundation Stage Forum for children’s education, is second. Based in Lewes, East Sussex, Tapestry subscribers have access to a wide variety of features, designed to reduce workload and assist the development of each setting and school’s provision.

Third is Manchester-based Vivify, a platform which helps schools manage and open facilities to the community. Its technology simplifies bookings, reduces admin and maximises income from underutilised spaces.

In fourth spot is Sheffield-based Applatch Kids, an app supporting children’s academic growth by requiring them to pass educational quizzes before unlocking entertainment apps.

Completing the top five is Cheshire firm myHappymind, behind NHS-endorsed science-based mental health and wellbeing programmes – transforming how schools, early years settings and families support positive mental health and prevention.

Sixth is Peerscroller by Yipiyap, a digital platform and app delivering trustworthy, fact-checked content to young people, teachers and parents via short-form video.

In seventh spot is Sheffield-based Chalkie, a tool for teachers to create lesson resources faster than ever before. When they tell Chalkie what they’re teaching, it uses AI to create fun and informative lesson slides filled with key facts, activities, pictures and even videos.

Wonde, Global Equality Collective and Arbor Education complete the top 10.

In 11th, Manchester-based Near-Life provides a simple, fast platform for learning teams to create high quality interactive video and VR simulations that scale role-play, improve real-world decisions, and reduce organisational risk.

Also featuring in this year’s ranking are Desq, digital learning designers creating bespoke, media-rich, interactive and game-based experiences that engage people, solve real learning challenges and improve performance for organisations worldwide;��Aptem, a platform which helps nearly 200 providers of vocational training and employment services to deliver efficient, compliant and high-quality programmes with ease; and Synap, an online exam and assessment platform for secure test delivery trusted by awarding bodies, universities and enterprise training teams.

The ranking in full:

EdTech 50 – UK’s most innovative education tech creators for 2026

�Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud called on its readers to vote for companies from the 104-strong shortlist. A combination of these votes and choices from an expert judging panel determined the top 50.

The judging panel was comprised of: �� ��

• Rachel Vecht, founder, Educating Matters

• Dan Sandhu, CEO, Education Development Trust

• Tim Holmes, education, training and human capital M&A, Alvarez & Marsal

• Jonathan Symcox, editor, �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud

EdTech 50 judge Rachel Vecht was wowed by this year’s ranking and the growing number of tools to assist with #neurodivergent learning and positive #mentalhealth and #wellbeing. The founder of Educating Matters picks out @myhappymind, Cognassist and @gaialearningonline for particular praise. @educatingmatters

The post Revealing �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud’s EdTech 50 for 2026 appeared first on �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud.

A dip last year and this saw its shares fall below its 280p IPO offer price in June 2024, and way off its peak of 766p.

They fell as low as 257p despite a positive year-end trading update after admitting that supply uncertainty remains around the memory boards used in its products.

However a 42% rise yesterday saw them return above £4, and they have remained there today.

Social media ‘buzz’ around the use of the small computer boards for running AI agents has also intensified, which may partly explain the rise.

The Cambridge-based firm, behind low-cost miniature computers which were initially used extensively in education, said recently that for the year ended 31st December 2025, adjusted EBITDA was ahead of market consensus forecasts, at not less than $45m, up over 20% on FY2024.

Unit shipments were 4m in H2, with a total of 7.6m for FY2025, with the strong profit performance reflecting favourable unit economics in H2 and, in particular, through Q4.��

Net cash was $28m at year end, after paying down $22m of extended supplier payables in the second half of FY2025.

Boohoo founder Kamani invests £8m in new fundraise

However it said the cost of the LPDDR4 DRAM used in many Raspberry Pi products – a low-power, high-performance type of computer memory – has increased rapidly in recent months, with some major suppliers now indicating limitations of supply at high densities.��

It said the trend has largely been driven by memory vendors diverting manufacturing capacity to meet the surge in AI data centre investment.

The company said it has taken multiple mitigating steps including qualifying additional suppliers, developing product variants with reduced memory capacity and assisting its manufacturing customers in migrating to these, and raising prices to reflect increases in input costs and protect profitability.��

��The group will report its full FY2025 results on 31st March 2026.

FinTech chief’s dying act was to save six lives

The post Raspberry Pi shares surge as CEO buys stock appeared first on �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud.

Alongside a panel of expert judges, your votes will help celebrate the UK’s most innovative startups, scaleups and established technology firms in the education sector.

A total of 104 companies have been shortlisted for potential inclusion in the EdTech 50, an annual ranking which focuses on companies creating original tech for early years, school and higher education, as well as workplace development.

On the voting page,��available at the��below��link,��we’ve included the names of the��shortlisted��companies,��the��city or town and region in which��they are based, and a short description of what they do.

EdTech 50: Vote for the most innovative UK education tech firms

Reader voting begins today and will run for seven days, ending at 23:59 on Sunday 22nd February.

The final EdTech 50 ranking, to be decided by a combination of judging panel selections and reader votes,��will be published on Monday 9th March.

Subscribe to our newsletter to be among the first to see the results.

The judging panel:����

• Rachel Vecht, founder,

• Dan Sandhu, CEO,

• Tim Holmes, education, training and human capital M&A,

• Jonathan Symcox, editor, �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud

The post Vote in our EdTech 50 innovation ranking appeared first on �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud.

The AIM-listed technology training and consultancy group posted unaudited revenue of £5 million for 2025, down from £8.8m the previous year.

It pointed to structural reforms introduced by the Department for Education that disrupted regional procurement and funding allocation schedules.

In response, the board said it prioritised protecting the core of the business, tightening cost controls and shifting away from volume-based funding models towards higher-quality delivery.

Despite the revenue decline, the Manchester-based firm said it maintained strong gross margins through disciplined delivery and careful management of direct costs, alongside a deliberate move away from lower-margin funded provision adopted by some parts of the training sector.

The business also generated around £400,000 from non-government funded B2C training during the year, including initial traction from its newly launched Next Gen Data and AI training programmes.

Northcoders also secured Department for Education contracts in Lancashire and with the Greater London Authority during the year.

Counter, its challenger consultancy brand led by managing director Amul Batra, delivered strong growth during 2025.��

AutoGrab to motor into UK with £40m funding

Revenue rose 67% to £1.5m, up from £0.9m in FY24, while total sales booked reached approximately £2.5m.��

Around £1m of contracted revenue has rolled into FY26, with the majority expected to be delivered in the first half of the year.

The company expects to report a statutory loss for FY25, driven largely by the impact of reduced government funding and the impairment of assets no longer central to current delivery models.

However, it expects an improved first half of FY26 relative to the prior year, supported by contracted revenue already in place, particularly within Counter.

The group continues to win work through public-sector procurement routes including the G-Cloud framework, strengthening routes to market for its B2B consultancy offering.

“Whilst FY2025 was a challenging year for the group, our performance has been resilient and our focus on margin resolute,” said Chris Hill, CEO of Northcoders.��

“Following significant changes to the UK skills funding landscape, the number of funded B2C learners decreased across the sector. In response, we acted decisively by resizing the business, maintaining strict cost discipline and protecting gross margins, while continuing to invest selectively in higher-quality, employer-aligned delivery.

“We have taken a series of swift, deliberate actions to reposition the business and create a solid base for the future. Importantly, we ended the year with a strong balance sheet, no covenant constraints and improving revenue visibility.

“Our challenger consultancy brand, Counter®, continues to build momentum, supported by contracted revenue, a healthy pipeline of opportunities across existing and new clients and recent success in key public-sector frameworks.��

“As we enter FY2026, with a simplified cost base and a greater delivery focus in the first quarter, the board believes Northcoders is well positioned to build sustainably as market conditions stabilise.”

UK FinTech to help HENRYs access private markets

The post Northcoders reports tough 2025 amid company refocus appeared first on �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud.

The Wolverhampton-based education and skills provider is investing £3 million into the new operation, which will be based in Dubai Media City and is due to open in March, with the first student intake expected in May.

The Dubai campus will look to upskill around 2,000 students from the UAE and overseas through flexible programmes focused on AI, computer science and digital skills, alongside university progression pathways.��

The expansion has been backed by the Department for �Ͼ�Ʒ�� and Trade (DBT), with SoC founder and chief executive Manny Athwal recently taking part in a UK-led trade mission to the UAE.

Reach plc shares rise as firm anticipates £99m annual profit

The opening of our Dubai campus is an exciting next step in our journey to become a global player in the AI and computer science education field,” said Athwal.

“As School of Coding & AI continues to expand internationally, the Gulf region represents a significant opportunity for us to bring UK excellence in tech education, AI learning and university pathways to a region that is hungry for innovation and rapid development.��

“I want to thank all of my team in the UK and around the world, as well as the Dubai government for allowing us to open our campus there.��

“I also want to thank the UK Government – in particular the Department for �Ͼ�Ʒ�� and Trade – for supporting us throughout our journey.”

UK Trade Minister, Chris Bryant, added: “This investment demonstrates our growing partnership with the UAE and commitment to support businesses looking to expand globally.

“With a renewed drive as part of our International Education Strategy, and digital and technologies as a key sector in our modern Industrial Strategy, we look forward to continuing to work with UK companies to charge growth, unlock investment in areas like AI, and increase education exports to the world.”������

The announcement follows a year of growth for SoC in 2025, which included the opening of a £2.5m advanced tech lab in Birmingham, redevelopment of its Wolverhampton headquarters and recognition of Athwal as one of the LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious �Ͼ�Ʒ�� Leaders.

Twinkl hires first-ever US general manager for American expansion

The post SoC’s £3m UAE expansion gets government backing appeared first on �Ͼ�Ʒ��Cloud.