The Rundown: Edition 1
Edition 1: 20 June 2025
Welcome to The Rundown, a snapshot of news, views and intel from the fast-growth tech and investment scene.
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$115m Series E raise makes Coralogix a unicorn
Boston company’s round led by California-based NewView Capital. TechCrunch
Octopus Ventures leads €8m Altura Series A
Dutch startup’s autonomous AI-agents will drive public and private sector tenders in the UK. Tech.eu
Financial safety platform Carefull receives CIBC backing
Fintech company will protect ageing adults from fraud with CIBC Innovation Banking finance. FinSMEs
Angel Academe launches fund to back female tech founders
Launched in partnership with Syndicate Room, EIS fund targeting women is a first. The Times
Northern Universities Venture Fund launches
Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk Advisors’ fund will target IP-rich science and deeptech startups in Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield. UKTN
10-year Infrastructure Strategy launches
‘Digital first’ approach to AI Growth Zones will drive ‘sovereign’ compute capacity to support AI researchers. Report
Treasury hires serial founder Alex Depledge MBE as UK Entrepreneurship Adviser
Rachel Reeves appoints tech entrepreneur and female startup champion to guide the government’s relationship with high-growth companies. FT
Government names Emma Jones CBE Small Business Commissioner
Enterprise Nation founder will tackle late payments and champion small and mid-sized businesses. Startups.co.uk
Government unveils Cyber Growth Action Plan
£16m in new investment will fund state-run accelerator and commercialisation programme ahead of National Cyber Strategy. UKTN
Optalysys launches world-first blockchain server
Enterprise-grade server uses 40% less energy than traditional graphics processing units (GPUs) to boost security. UKTN
Conscium launches AI agent verification platform
The WPP-partner company will verify AI agents for an automated future. Startups Magazine
New CEO takes reins at Explore Learning
Lisa Haycox replaces founder after leading digital transformation. EdTech Innovation Hub
“Strategic amplification through media, messaging and speaking platforms accelerates portfolio growth”
At GCV Symposium, TDK Ventures’ Jennifer Edwards shared how the CVC industry drives real outcomes through marketing. LinkedIn
“CVCs can be at the forefront of tomorrow’s transformative technologies”
Cambridge Innovation Capital’s Andrew Williamson and Northern Gritstone CEO Duncan Johnson unpacked the “immense opportunities” at the GCV Symposium. LinkedIn
Should CEOs be hired from unrelated industries?
IESE Business School’s Professor Fabrizio Ferraro on why French fashion group Kering needed to try something new by hiring its new CEO from automotive giant Renault. Vogue Business
“If UK companies don’t believe in themselves, who else will?”
FT’s John Gapper visits CMR Surgical, hoping the Cambridge Innovation Capital-backed surgical robotics startup remains independent following Oxford Ionics exit. FT
“We’re approaching a tipping point” in visual data
Tenyks’ CEO Botty Dimanov on the “richest – yet least utilised – source of operational insight”. Maddyness
Innovations from early-stage startups “critical” for defence alliance
Jyoti Hirani-Driver, COO of startup accelerator NATO DIANA, delivered a call to action at the TNW Conference in Amsterdam. LinkedIn
The most influential individuals in the world of corporate venturing were named this week in the GCV Powerlist 2025, which included TDK Ventures’ President Nicolas Sauvage – one of only 16 CVC heads to make the list six years running – and MD of InMotion Ventures’ Mike Smeed.
A House of Lords ceremony for the EISA Awards on Thursday saw Jenson Ventures, SeedLegals, SFC Capital, Par Equity among the winners. Husayn Kassai was recognised as Entrepreneur of the Year following the sale of his company Onfido, which saw some early investors make a 100x return in one of the largest tech exits of the last decade. A full list of winners is here.
Cambridge Tech Week hosted a VIP London launch, at Rathbones Group Plc, to announce September plans for the main event where it will hone in on ‘Seizing the AI Advantage’. Global Tech Advocates’ Russ Shaw CBE joined a panel to discuss how the UK can harness the global tech ecosystems behind AI.
On the agenda for next week and hot on the heels of the Strategic Defence Review and the Infrastructure Strategy, comes the government’s long-anticipated Industrial Strategy, which is set to be launched on Monday.