The Rundown: Edition 4
Edition 4: 11 July 2025
Welcome to The Rundown, a snapshot of news, views and intel from the fast-growth tech and investment scene.
Hydrogen tech startup Tulum Energy secures $27m
TDK Ventures leads round for spin-out company to commercialise 20-year-old forgotten technology originally discovered by mistake. TechCrunch
Paris chip designer Arago closes $26m round
Earlybird, Protagonist and Visionaries Tomorrow lead Seed round into deeptech startup making “light-based chips” that are seen as a challenger to products made by Nvidia. Sifted
London insurtech Wrisk raises £12m Series B
Mundi Ventures and Opera Tech Ventures lead round for embedded digital insurance platform whose customers include BMW, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar Land Rover. UKTN
Biotech AI startup ScienceMachine lands $3.5m
Pre-Seed round for London-based business to develop its AI agent, named Sam, to automate data analysis pipeline for biotech and pharma companies. Tech.eu
Cumulus Neuroscience closes £3.25m round
Belfast-based digital health startup’s investment led by Whiterock’s Growth Capital Fund, with the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland’s equity fund, ACF Investors and Co Fund NI also backing the round. Tech.eu
Labour declines to rule out new wealth tax
While the top 5% of earners (£100,000-plus) account for 48% of income tax revenue and the top 1% (£213,000-plus) account for 28%, the Labour government has not ruled out a new wealth tax to help replenish public finances. FT.com
British Business Bank to release £450m for female founders
The government-backed funding will be available from next year and will target female founders and those from diverse backgrounds to break down “barriers to opportunity”, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said. The Times
Funding for Climate Tech falls 71% year-on-year
Early stage investment into the sector held up in the first half of 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, but overall debt and equity funding dropped from €21.7bn to €6.2bn across Europe. Sifted
Government urged to help private sector fund defence industry
A CBI and Oliver Wyman-led task force has called for the government to make it easier for City firms and banks to provide credit, amid ethical concerns and internal policies and exclusions related to defence. FT.com
Meta opens £12m audio research lab in Cambridge
Facebook and Instagram owner opens new facility as part of AI glasses expansion in move hailed as “huge vote of confidence in the UK” by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Cambridge Live
Companies should regard AI agents like “intoxicated graduates”
Co-founder of Conscium Daniel Hulme tells the FT’s John Thornhill that AI agents are smart with promise, but need human supervision and verification, following Anthropic’s attempt to make an AI agent act as a real-life shopkeeper. FT.com
“I’m one of Britain’s highest taxpayers – a wealth tax would be the last straw”
Co-CEO of Rigby Group Steve Rigby says a wealth tax would only deliver economic destruction and the exodus of those the UK cannot afford to lose. City AM
Why we must not allow AI agents to gain ‘consciousness’ by accident
Co-founder of Conscium Dr Ted Lappas, discusses how a survival instinct could lead to the creation of conscious AI agents and why rigorous testing will help to avoid “mind crime” – the consequences of which we may not be able to comprehend. Unite.ai
What tech founders should know about employment law from day one
Ed Belam, a Senior Associate at law firm Marriott Harrison, shares the key terms a well-drafted employment agreement should include and how to avoid difficult legal situations. Silicon Roundabout
As Emmanuel Macron crossed the English channel for a state visit this week, many of the UK’s investment community went in the other direction to the Raise Summit, held at the Louvre in Paris. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt headlined alongside global tech leaders and the likes of Rana Yared and James Wise from Balderton, who shared his key takeaways.
Meanwhile, in the UK, France agreed to a supercomputing partnership that will see collaboration to scale compute power capacity and the sharing of AI research best practice. The partnership will be led by the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, part of the University of Bristol, and the GENCI computing centre in Paris.
GP Bullhound released its 2025 Titans of Tech report, with a focus on Europe’s technology renaissance where funding has “stabilised” at around €15bn per quarter, which is 50% above pre-2020 levels. AI-led ‘megarounds’ helped to push Q1 2025 figures to €17bn. We are also seeing a higher number of Unicorns in Europe, where 17 companies across 10 geographies have added to the 331 existing billion dollar-valued companies.
The UKBAA Awards took place on Thursday to celebrate the achievements of angel investors, early stage VCs and the innovators they back. The evening’s big winners included Green Angel Syndicate for Angel Group of the Year and SFC Capital for Most Active Investor in the Regions. See the UKBAA website for a full list of winners.
London is the world’s second best market for tech talent, according to the Global Tech Markets: Top Talent Locations report from investment management services firm Colliers. The UK capital was second only to San Francisco and ahead of New York, Seattle, and Beijing. The report considered world-class research institutions, high-performing businesses, investment, as well as jobs growth and the output of universities.