The Rundown: Edition 9
Edition 9: 15 Aug 2025
Welcome to The Rundown, a snapshot of news, views and intel from the fast-growth tech and investment scene.
Smart Pension receives €69.4m from CIBC Innovation Banking
Founded in 2014, Smart, a retirement savings and investments platform, will use the credit facility to leverage opportunities within a rapidly consolidating pensions market in the UK. EU-Startups
TDK Ventures leads $21m Ultraviolette funding
The Indian electric motorcycle startup, founded by two childhood friends, will double down on Europe – where it recently expanded into 10 countries – and enter new markets in Latin America and Southeast Asia. TechCrunch
Sheffield’s Bumper raises £8m for European expansion
Buy now pay later (BNPL) platform for car servicing and repairs announces round led by Autotech Ventures with support from InMotion Ventures and the venture capital arms of Suzuki, Porsche and Shell. UKTN
Archestra raises $3.3m to build guardrails for AI agents
London-based startup, which makes it safe for enterprises to connect AI agents to their data, secures Pre-Seed funding led by Concept Ventures, with participation from Zero Prime Ventures, Celero Ventures, RTP Global and Aloniq. Tech.EU
Wise and Revolut alumni secure £2m for fintech startup
Riva Money, which was founded by Niklas Hoejman and Mahendra Katoch, uses technology based around stablecoins to improve cross-border payments. The Pre-Seed round was led by Project A. UKTN
Trouble at the Alan Turing Institute
Following Technology Secretary Peter Kyle’s threat to withdraw funding, staff at UK’s national institute for artificial intelligence have raised concerns about the imminent collapse of the organisation. BBC
Despite forecasts, the non-dom exodus has not materialised
The OBR warned Rachel Reeves that 25% of non-doms would exit the UK after the 2024 changes to their tax status – however, data shows that numbers of those leaving are below what forecasters feared. FT
UK economic growth slows in second quarter
Predicted to fall to 0.1%, the UK economy beat forecasts with growth of 0.3% – still a substantial drop from the 0.7% growth of the first quarter. Times
European weapons factories expand at triple speed
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arms factories producing ammunition and missiles across Europe have been expanding at triple the peacetime rate. FT
Proposed data centre expansion met with backlash
The number of UK data centres, which house powerful computers used to run digital services, is set to expand by nearly a fifth – but concerns have been raised about the cost of the expansion, as well as its environmental impact. BBC
A very quantum delivery
Oxford Ionics has delivered and installed its full-stack trapped-ion quantum computer, QUARTET, to the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre. CEO and Co-founder, Dr Chris Ballance, appeared on the BBC’s Today Programme and CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box Europe’ to discuss the development. CNBC, BBC
Watch this space (pun intended)
Last week, Scotland-based Skyrora became the first British company to be granted a UK rocket launch licence. Following the news Director of Government Affairs, Alan Thompson, writes about how the UK stands to benefit from sovereign launch capabilities. UKTN
Defence tech and AgriTech across Ukrainian and British borders
Founder and Principal of UK-Ukraine TechExchange, Andriy Dovbenko, spoke to Sheryl Miles about his non-profit organisation, which was created to help save lives in Ukraine now and to strengthen the foundations of European security in the future. Startups Magazine
The ‘Hotel California’ of data is an untapped goldmine
“Invaluable insights come in, but never leave” – this is why Stephen Kelly, CEO of Cirata, calls trapped and unstructured files of information the ‘Hotel California’ of data: read how he encourages businesses to take back control of their data to get ahead of the competition. UKTN
One in five children in the UK only read once a month
New research conducted by Explore Learning has found that one in five children in the UK only read once a month, with less than 20% reading for pleasure at the weekend. The Educator Magazine
Perplexity AI has put in an (unsolicited) bid for Google Chrome. While the offer is higher than Perplexity’s $18bn valuation, it’s not its only high-profile acquisition target, as the company threw its hat in the ring to buy TikTok. If the sale of Google Chrome goes through, will it mark the end of Google as we know it? A question we asked in ‘The Rundown: Edition 8′, but it seems to be becoming more pertinent with each week.
The financial stakes in defence tech are rising by the day. Harmattan AI, a French drone startup founded just over a year ago, is raising $200 million in early-stage funding. Portugal’s surveillance-as-a-solution company, Tekever, achieved unicorn status earlier this year thanks to backing from the NATO Innovation Fund and Ventura (also backed Spotify). Then, across the continent, Czech-based arms manufacturer, Czechoslovak Group AS (CSG), is toying with the idea of an IPO.
Are you bored of hearing/talking/reading about AI? You might not be the only one. Analysis from the FT found that ‘AI’ was in more than 2.1k global headlines on the first Monday of August, compared with 764 at the same time last year. Pilita Clark explores AI stats, the fatigue and how the launch of ChatGPT three years ago changed the media landscape. We’re certainly guilty of an AI story (or two or five…)