The Rundown

The Rundown: Edition 13

Edition 13: 12 Sep 2025

Welcome to The Rundown, a snapshot of news, views and intel from the fast-growth tech and investment scene.

ASML pledges €1.3bn to Mistral

The Dutch semiconductor company will invest in the French AI startup as it plans to raise a total of €1.7bn, forging an alliance between two European tech powerhouses. FT

Vimeo sold for $1.38bn

Italian unicorn Bending Spoons will acquire the American video platform in an all-cash deal. Talks started back in March 2024, and the deal should be complete by the end of the year. Sifted

BoobyBiome secures £2.5m

British biotech startup has secured funding from lead investor Empirical Ventures, with participation from The Helm, XFactor Ventures, Lavender Ventures, Kayan Ventures, Evenlode Investment, and angel investors including Dominic Hollamby and Lord Ara Darzi. Times

Space DOTS raises $1.5m seed funding

The London-based startup, which detects and interprets space threats, has raised a seed round, led by Female Founders Fund. TechCrunch

Quantum computing company PsiQuantum bags $1bn

BlackRock, Temasek and Baillie Gifford have led the largest ever funding round in a quantum computing startup. New investors include Nvidia’s venture capital arm. W all Street Journal

American data company to invest £100m in Northern Ireland

An R&D project in Northern Ireland will see Seagate Technology invest in nano-photonic technology to develop advanced hard drives for large-scale AI data storage in a five-year initiative, based at Seagate’s Londonderry site. UKTN

Chancellor weighs up tax rises
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to increase taxes in the Autumn Budget (now set for 26th November), with the introduction of a wealth tax, increases in property taxes, and capital gains tax, as well as prolonged income tax threshold freezes, all on the table. Times Oracle shares surge after $300bn OpenAI deal
Oracle shares surge following an agreement by OpenAI to purchase $300bn in compute power over the next five years, with the deal set to begin in 2027. TechCrunch

£250m defence dividend boost for business
Defence Secretary John Healey has outlined how the Defence Industrial Strategy will mark a decisive shift towards treating defence as a driver of both industrial development and national security. FT

City veteran joins Cambridge University fund
Sir Nigel Wilson has been appointed Chairman of the University of Cambridge’s primary venture vehicle as part of a drive to increase pension money flowing into private assets. Cambridge Innovation Capital manages £600m in assets with investments in more than 40 companies. Times

London Stock Exchange’s sparse IPO run
Just seven companies have floated on the LSE so far this year, down from nine at the same time last year. Contrastingly, US IPOs increased from 129 to 231 in the same period. FT

Data migration specialist launches Symphony
Cirata has released a new cloud data platform that will simplify storage management, offering capabilities for both hybrid cloud and multi-cloud environments. Blocks & Files

Assess a child’s learning in 15 questions
UK tuition provider Explore Learning has released Compass 2.0, its “most powerful, personalised learning platform to date”, to evaluate a child’s learning level in just a few questions. EdTech Innovation Hub

Would you want a teenage boss?

A ‘youthquake’ is hitting Silicon Valley, as teens and young adults, fuelled by AI, are taking matters into their own hands and founding startups. Business Insider

The UK is the European home of fintech

Despite a drop in UK fintech investment, there was still a high level of activity in the sector during H1. However, new financial hubs, like the UAE, are catching up. City AM

Critical defence decisions happen at the edge

Al Bowman, General Manager of Defence and National Security at Mind Foundry, explores the transformative potential of AI and machine learning (ML) in modern defence operations, specifically at the “edge” – where rapid frontline decision-making is crucial. B attlespace

Northern Gritstone the “most prolific tech investor in the North”

CEO Duncan Johnson shares what the Manchester-headquartered independent investment firm has achieved since its founding four years ago, including backing nearly 40 early-stage deeptech, healthtech, and life sciences startups across the North of England. P rolific North

This week, Poland shot down Russian drones that entered its airspace, bringing the nation “closer to military conflict than at any time since WWII”, according to the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk. As a result, Poland has called an emergency NATO Council meeting and another with the UN Security Council to discuss a potential international response to this unprecedented incursion.

The job market is bleak. Graduates in the UK are facing the worst market in a generation, with firms like PwC announcing they’ll be hiring fewer graduates and school-leavers, citing AI and tax and regulatory changes as reasons behind the decision. Things aren’t looking much better for those later on in their employment journey either, as millions of mid-lifers are also being shut out by Britain’s ‘job drought’. In this case, misery doesn’t love company, as people across the pond are suffering a similar fate: the US created nearly a million fewer jobs than initially reported through March 2025. Perhaps it’s time to re-read the op-ed by Steve Rigby, Co-CEO of Rigby Group, about why increasing the minimum wage does not benefit graduates or the wider UK economy.

In a bit more positive news, this is the fintech update we’ve all been waiting for: Klarna has finally listed on the NYSE at a $17bn valuation. Now, over 40 current and former employees of the Swedish fintech have become millionaires. Thinking of getting in on the action? CNBC’s Jim Cramer believes it’s a good idea, while Forbes’ Peter Cohan is a lot more sceptical about whether you should buy stocks in $KLAR.