The Rundown: Edition 5
Edition 5: 18 July 2025
Welcome to The Rundown, a snapshot of news, views and intel from the fast-growth tech and investment scene.
Italian cybersecurity firm Exein raises €70m Series C
Funding round led by Balderton – and joined by Supernova and Lakestar– comes after rising European defence spending boosts demand for cyber business, which will use cash to expand its product range as companies move away from cloud-based systems. Reuters
Digital healthcare platform Numan secures $60m Series B
London-based healthtech, which offers consultations, prescriptions and behavioural health coaching, raises debt-and-equity round with investment from Big Pi Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, White Star Capital and Novator Partners. Health Tech World
Paddle receives $25m CIBC Innovation Banking boost
Platform that offers payments, sales tax, refunds, fraud prevention, and compliance services to over 6,000 SaaS, AI, and app companies will use funds to accelerate growth and international expansion. Tech.eu
Fintech Spiko closes $22m Series A round
French tokenisation firm Spiko receives backing from Revolut’s co-founder Nikolay Storonsky in Index Ventures-led round, with support from White Star Capital, Frst, Rerail, Bpifrance and Blockwall. Tech.eu
Payments firm Yetipay raises £3.5m to take on industry giants
Based in David Bowie’s former studio in Soho, Yetipay raises debt-and-equity round to accelerate expansion plans and introduce products created for the hospitality and retail sectors. Tech Funding News
Reeves slashes red tape in Mansion House speech
The Chancellor’s annual address in the City of London promises to boost growth by reducing regulation, while confirming plans for pension schemes to invest at least 10% of their main funds into private assets such as high-growth companies. Guardian
US students apply to UK universities in record numbers
Donald Trump’s attacks on higher education institutions trigger surge in demand for undergraduate places among American students, raising hopes for an influx of new talent into the UK. FT
Partnership accelerates fault-tolerant quantum computing
UK’s Oxford Ionics and Australia’s Iceberg Quantum team up with aim of reducing the hardware overhead required for quantum error correction, a critical software protocol that helps correct errors in quantum computing. Quantum Insider
Anti-greenwashing plan scrapped by government
Plans to standardise the calculation of carbon emissions and reduce inaccurate environmental claims by companies have been ditched, according to the Treasury.
The Times
The startups behind Europe’s $13bn AI surge
European AI companies raised more than $13 billion in 2024, according to data from Pitchbook. These are the EU and UK companies behind the 22% increase in funding.
Tech Funding News
Luxury and sustainability can co-exist with “no compromise”, experts tell Sky News
InMotion Ventures’ Mike Smeed and UNCAGED Innovations’ Stephanie Downs discuss an industry-first partnership that will see biomaterials developer UNCAGED provide its sustainable leathers for use across Jaguar Land Rover’s key brands. LinkedIn
Founders benefit from “very healthy competition” in European venture debt market
CIBC Innovation Banking’s Managing Director (UK & Europe), Sean Duffy, highlights increasing competition among venture debt providers and identifies the UK and Germany as Europe’s two largest markets. Sifted
AI boosts wealthtech investment – but are consumers ready for non-human advisers?
London’s Treble Peak and Sweden’s Tessin named among wealthtech businesses driving funding in Europe and using new technology to transform the way wealth is managed. Sifted
Mansion House reforms can “boost tech funding and improve pension outcomes for savers”
Andrew Williamson, Managing Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital, calls for alignment between the pensions and VC industries and highlights the “growing commercial maturity of Britain’s technology companies”. Investment International
Tuesday’s Mansion House dinner was the big showpiece occasion of the week, with the Chancellor and Governor of the Bank of England giving speeches to the UK’s business and political elite. Some of the highlights are linked in the sections above, but also worth noting are plans for a concierge service to encourage international businesses to move to Britain.
There were further additions to the Government’s Industrial Strategy, with the publication of the Life Sciences Sector Plan. Recent months have seen multiple policy announcements – and it can be a bit wearisome. As one leading businessman who attended the Mansion House dinner remarked: Hopefully this is the last of the government’s strategy set pieces and they can get on with the important task of implementation.
With wars raging around the world and defence spending on the up, investment in defence technology is only heading in one direction, according to an analysis this week from the FT’s Tim Bradshaw. The article identifies “resilience” and “sovereign” as the VC buzzwords du jour and points to the recent €450 million funding round for German drone company Helsing as a case in point.
Finally, ever wondered where you sit on the political spectrum? This detailed quiz from the think tank More in Common splits the UK’s voters into seven segments. An interesting exercise – although you may not like the results.