TechBlast UK

"The openness and willingness to share their experiences and help others was off the charts.” Tech companies attending masterclasses at FUEL Manchester 2024 last week came away armed with invaluable advice for scaling their businesses. The event – sponsored by GM Business Growth Hub, Bruntwood SciTech and The University of Salford Business School - began with a business breakfast before around 30 startups and scaleups gained direct access to 12 experts in ‘ask me anything’ masterclass pods. The growth planning experts were Dez Derry, Andrew Duckworth & Adam Ward; Guy Remond, Charlotte Ashton & Frazer Durris offered funding advice; people & performance featured Janine Smith, Mehdi Kordi & Beckie Taylor; while the tech experts were Dr Richard Whittle, Anna Dick & George Goudie. Dr Martin Caton of Low Carbon Electric Limited found the back stories of both Derry and Remond “inspirational”. Lisa McCartney of Plytime said Derry’s background was particularly interesting as the #EdTech works with children in care via virtual schools - and he could be a fantastic role model for them. Alexandra Morris of Habeo said the key piece of advice she took away was "be careful focusing on one corporate contract as it may consume too much time and effort and not come to pass. Survival isn’t a strategy!” Blal Choudhry of Flight Patrol said he learned "to be selective about who you work with – and that it’s all about execution”. Chi-chi Armstrong (née Ekweozor) of Attendist said Ashton understood the startup's fundraising situation while all the experts had "so much rich, lived-in experience... the openness and willingness to share their experiences and help others was off the charts”. Dominic Appleby of H2Origin Refills said Durris’s advice to build a compelling story surrounding your business – which he'd heard elsewhere before – "put more context around the ‘why’," adding: "I liked the fact that the mentors were approachable.” Greg Tattersall of Icon Sports Group said the people and performance pod provided the most relevant information, given its present situation: “I enjoyed Mehdi, who provided real-world advice, while Janine also had some very relevant experience.” Pimberly CFO Paul Cook singled out that masterclass in providing “good coverage of the current challenges facing businesses of all sizes and types” while Ashton's understanding of the business "offered a tailored insight". Phil Gold of ZAPT is hopeful of collaborating with Dr Whittle at Salford, adding: "There was lots of valuable advice. I found all of the sessions really useful and interesting.” https://lnkd.in/e2ZcaKQr

The founder of a North East #EdTech aiming to make maths more engaging and accessible to children says he learned from ‘my grandad’s baccy tin’. Christopher Withers founded Mi-box Live to combine numeracy and sports via a hybrid methodology of a physical board game, featuring sports figures and stickers, and an app. Since competing at our North East & Tees Valley pitching night in 2023 he has redesigned the app – supported by a £50,000 Innovate UK grant and £5,000 from the Digital City fund – to “transform it from a MVP into a market-ready product”. The product – developed with input from Newcastle University – integrates Sky Sports-style performance data, tracking player stats and adding engaging, interactive elements to the play. “It’s time we start celebrating getting a maths question right, just like we celebrate our kids scoring a goal in football,” says Withers. “No one gets dropped, benched, or released. We believe you never lose – you learn and go again as a team. The only way to lose is to give up.” https://lnkd.in/eGZqe-sB

Sci-Tech Daresbury has revealed the fifth cohort of the Future Club. The science and innovation campus says the exclusive business growth scheme will help each business in the intake to realise its growth potential by providing a range of technical and business support. The five businesses in the cohort are: Anglesey-based #BioTech illumeRx Ltd, founded by Jo Edwards. MaterialsInformation.com, which is developing a SaaS platform that streamlines materials data creation and management. Andy Reilly is the founder. Serviced-based firm Obelisk AI, founded by CEO Louis Kent. University of Liverpool spinout Ocuwell, which has developed novel corneal assessment technology. Rania Maklad is the CEO. RentAbout, a platform for peer-to-peer rental transactions of equipment for use, where Selina Kirkham is the founder and director. https://lnkd.in/edbtWfRt

How well do you know BBC show Dragons’ Den? Dragons Steven Bartlett, Sara Davies MBE, Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones & Touker Suleyman return to our screens tonight for the startup pitching show. We're expecting several #AI entrepreneurs - how do you sell that on a supermarket shelf? - in the coming weeks so don't forget to tune in and keep an eye on BusinessCloud for any tech stories coming out of the show. In the meantime, take our quiz to test your knowledge. Christopher Maguire and I have interviewed many Dragons and the founders who have pitched to them over the years. But we'd struggle to get top marks here! 🐲 https://lnkd.in/eFXdGdtK

🚨 NEWS REVIEW OF 2024 - PART 2: high-profile spats & big-money deals 🚨 The final six months of 2024 brought several huge new stories, with high-profile acrimony and tragedy hitting the headlines. July saw the biggest overhaul of UK listing rules in three decades announced by the Financial Conduct Authority Labour returned to power following 14 years of Tory rule. We profiled new Tech Secretary Peter Kyle A London #metaverse firm was acquired for £350m: Infinite Reality Enterprise (Formerly Landvault) #AI chipmaker Graphcore was acquired by SoftBank Group Corp. Flo Health Inc. became a British unicorn with a £156m raise... however Female Invest's Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen wrote that as it was “founded, led and funded by men... this shows you everything that’s wrong with the ecosystem” Modern Milkman founder Simon M. is moving to the US to oversee its growth plans Stateside following the acquisition of The Modern Milkman Manchester entrepreneur Tommy Tognarelli passed away from cancer at the age of 41 Mike Lynch, celebrating his freedom on his superyacht off the coast of Sicily, was among several people who died in a freak weather event Around £200m was wiped off the value of Reaction Engines. It later crashed into administration September saw takeover bids of £5.6bn and £6.1bn rejected by Rightmove Calls for Innovate UK reform after its Women in Innovation Awards underfunded female founders by £2m+. We brought you the inside story of how Emma Abbasi of Dearbump lit the touchpaper THG revealed plans to demerge its tech arm from its #eCommerce business. Christopher Maguire brought our readers the inside track In October, Monese was saved by Pockit A deal to take N Brown Group private began Adam Crofts stepped down from Prevayl as the business restructured under David Newns Mike Ashley launched a failed bid to become CEO of boohoo. The ensuing row with Mahmud Kamani then saw a bid to join the company's board rebuffed this morning Labour’s first Budget announced tax rises of £40bn to plug a “black hole” in the UK’s finances Our Northern Leaders list celebrated the people making the biggest positive difference to the North November saw editor Jonathan Symcox attend Web Summit. It started with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes coming to the aid of an easyJet passenger, with Susanna Lawson DipIoD – a mentor on GM Business Growth Hub’s ASCEND programme – grabbing a selfie which went viral The Invest in Women Taskforce secured over £250m of funding At the start of December, FD Technologies  completed the sale of its capital markets consulting business £3bn IRIS Software Group agreed to acquire Dext for £500m+ The £16.5bn merger of Vodafone & Three UK was given the green light by the Competition and Markets Authority More expected redundancies were announced at restructuring BenevolentAI after a turbulent year https://lnkd.in/dcRxdfGC

I’ve made a list of 19 people who made headlines in 2024 – for different reasons. 1.   Sir Howard Bernstein died and more than 1,000 people attended his memorial 2.  Hard to think of anyone who had a more eventful year than Victoria Price. She joined Alvarez & Marsal but will be best remembered for taking on the Daily Mail - and winning 3. Martin Port is not the man he was – but in a good way. He’s lost 6 stone after suffering a heart attack, sold his majority share in BigChange and embarked on his new venture Build Concierge 4.  We said goodbye to too many good people  in 2024 - including Marcie Incarico 5.  John Roberts had a busy year at AO. The company topped £1bn turnover and acquired musicMagpie 6-7. The dispute between Boohoo Group PLC and its biggest shareholder Frasers Group descended to new levels of vitriol but meant Mahmud Kamani & Mike Ashley were never out of the news 8. Simon Williamson's mum has Parkinson’s disease so Simon resolved to complete a 366-day challenge to run every day in 2024 with a new person in aid of Parkinson’s UK. I was day 316 9. Kate Rothwell rang the bell to signify the end of her invasive treatment for breast cancer 10. THG founder & CEO Matthew Moulding could never be accused of being boring. All eyes are on Ingenuity's demerger 11. I went to the funeral of WW2 veteran Ron Banks. He was 99 and made headlines after his family appealed for people to attend his funeral after less than 10 mourners were expected to go 12. Tech entrepreneur Andy Nicol went public with his fight against prostate cancer and attracted a huge response 13. It’s been a rotten year for Steven Bartlett after the BBC claimed guests on his Diary of a CEO podcast made a string of harmful health claims 14. One of my most listened to songs on Spotify this year is ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ by The Lathums. The song was played at the funeral of BBC newsreader-turned-firefighter Beccy Barr, who died of cancer aged 46 15. The LSE is not a place for the faint-hearted but one of the shining lights has been Liverpool-based Applied Nutrition plc. Well done CEO Thomas Ryder 16. The saddest story of the year was the Southport atrocity. Out of the darkness came a ray of light called Ibrahim Akram. He’s a team-mate of mine at White Coppice CC and a Muslim. He’s a paramedic and was racially abused following the attack. How did he respond? He organised a minute’s silence in memory of the victims at the start of our game against Whittle-le-Woods, who have a number of Muslim players 17. Hero Neil Higson was travelling down the M61 and helped stop a man jump off a motorway bridge 18. Dealmaker Andy Thomas opened up about his stage four cancer diagnosis.  He’s one of the nicest people you’ll meet 19. Emma Abbasi triggered Innovate UK into a screeching U-turn after they rowed back on their promised to give up £4m to up to 50 female-founded businesses https://lnkd.in/e5HasjJS

Finally, we look at the most eye-catching investment deals done in December. *Note - only deals mentioned in articles published up to December 17th are included. We've identified 150 of the game-changing tech deals that we've reported on in 2024, including: Netacea raising a further £4m from Mercia Asset Management PLC. The startup was established in 2022 and Mick Bradley is the CEO. Zopa Bank securing £68m in an equity funding round led by A.P. Moller Holding. Jaidev Janardana is the #FinTech’s CEO. #LegalTech Lawhive raised £31.4m in Series A funding co-led by existing investor GV (Google Ventures) and TQ Ventures, with participation from Premier League footballers Harry Maguire and Reece James. The scaleup was founded by Pierre Proner, Jaime V. and Flinn Dolman. IRIS Software Group agreed to acquire Dext in a deal reportedly worth more than £500m. Hg is also a backer of Dext, which is led by CEO Sabby G. FD Technologies completed the sale of its First Derivative business to US software company EPAM Systems for an enterprise value of £230m. HSBC Innovation Banking UK is to provide CoachHub - The digital coaching platform with €40m in growth financing. Matti Niebelschütz is CoachHub’s CEO. London #FinTech 9fin, co-founded by CEO Steven Hunter, raised £40m in a Series B round led by Highland Europe . INOTEC AMD LIMITED raised £26m in a Series C financing round led by existing investors. Craig Kennedy is the CEO of the #MedTech firm. Tembo raised £14m in Series B funding led by Goodwater Capital I LP. The firm was co-founded by Richard Dana, Eddie Ross and Geoff Wright. Nscale secured £122m in a Series A funding round led by Sandton Capital Partners and advised by Barkers Point Capital Advisors. Josh Payne is the CEO. https://lnkd.in/duzVgasb

What were the most eye-catching investment deals done in November? We've identified 150 of the game-changing tech deals that we've reported on in 2024, including: Aspire Technology Solutions acquiring CloudCoCo Plc. Aspire’s CEO and founder is Chris Fraser. #FinTech VibePay, which was founded by CEO Luke Massie, raised an extra £5m and hired ex-Klarna executive Conor Tiernan as its new head of insights. A £500m investment by US firm Prologis into Cambridge Biomedical Campus will create more than 2,000 jobs and help spearhead life-saving breakthroughs. TSG completed the purchase of Dayta. Rory McKeand is the CEO. CloudGuard, led by CEO Matt Lovell and CTO Javid Khan, secured a multi-million pound backing from Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II. Advania UK completed its acquisition of CCS Media Limited, creating a £1.4bn powerhouse. Geoff Kneen is the CEO of Advania UK. OpenOrigins is expanding globally with a £3.5m seed investment led by Galaxy Interactive. Manny A. is the founder and CEO. #RegTech Kaizen raised £42m in private equity investment from Guidepost Growth Equity, representing the firm’s first external funding since it was founded in 2013 by CEO Dario Crispini. iwoca secured a new funding line of £200m from Citi and Waterfall Asset Management LLC. Christoph Rieche is the CEO and co-founder. Cogna, which was co-founded by CEO Ben Peters, raised £12.5m in Series A funding in a round led by Notion Capital. Naturbeads secured £7.8m in Series A funding round led by EOS Investment Management Group. #InsurTech Konsileo completed an £8m fund led by Committed Capital. John Warburton is co-founder and CEO of the firm. #ClimateTech Watercycle Technologies raised £4.4 million in a Series A investment round led by Par Equity. The business was co-founded by Dr Sebastian Leaper and Dr Ahmed Abdelkarim. https://lnkd.in/duzVgasb

What were the most eye-catching investment deals done in October? We've identified 150 of the game-changing tech deals that we've reported on in 2024, including: Voly Group, founded by former tennis player Ian Flanagan, receiving a £2m loan towards a key acquisition. Anaphite raising £10.4m in Series A funding co-led by World Fund and Maniv. Dexory raised a £60m Series B round of funding led by DTCP. Andrei Danescu is the CEO and co-founder. FIDO Tech, who's CEO is Victoria Edwards, raised an undisclosed amount of Series B investment to ‘create a world without water scarcity.’ Six universities in the SETsquared Partnership teamed up with regional investment firm QantX to launch a new £300m spinout-focused investment vehicle. Nuclera completed a £57m financing round led by Elevage Medical Technologies. Michael Chen is the CEO. MicroLub secured a £3.5m seed funding. Professor Anwesha Sarkar is the founder. Semble, founded by Christoph Lippuner and Mikael Landau, raised £11.5m in a Series B funding round led by Mercia Ventures. Bridgepoint agreed a £169m deal to take Eckoh private. Nik Philpot is the CEO of Eckoh. FullCircl was acquired by nCino, Inc., after the companies agreed a £105m cash deal. Andrew Yates is the CEO and founder. https://lnkd.in/duzVgasb

What were the most eye-catching investment deals done in September? We've identified 150 of the game-changing tech deals that we've reported on in 2024, including: #FinTech Carmoola announcing a major new debt deal with NatWest worth £100m. Aidan Rushby is the founder and CEO. Quin AI, which was founded by sisters Gulsah Gulser and Gonca Gulser, raising £1.5m in seed funding led by Blackfinch Ventures. Constructive Bio secured £43m in Series A financing from Ahren Innovation Capital. Ola (Aleksandra) Wlodek is the CEO. PACT, founded in 2020 by Yudí Ding and Niels Ramay, raised a £9m seed round of funding. Infact raised £4m in seed funding after securing FCA authorisation. The funding was led by AlbionVC and the company is led by Will Mason and Andy Milligan. Yonder raised £23.4m in new funding. Tim Chong is the CEO and co-founder. #RegTech Novatus Global raised £30m in funding from Silversmith Capital Partners. The company was founded in 2019 by Andrew Hedley and Matthew Ranson. CardiaTec Bio, founded by Namshik Han, Raphael Peralta and Thelma Zablocki, secured £5m in a seed funding round led by Montage Ventures. Purple Transform raised £4.5m in a round led by Mercia Ventures. Gregory Butler is the CEO and co-founder. MirrorWeb secured growth equity investment worth almost £50m from Mainsail Partners. CEO David Clee co-founded the business in 2016. Warehow raised £2.1m in a Series A funding round, led by the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II. https://lnkd.in/duzVgasb