The Rundown: Edition 27 – Happy Holidays!
Welcome to The Rundown, a snapshot of news, views and intel from the fast-growth tech and investment scene.
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UK launches women in tech taskforce
Led by the Technology Secretary Liz Kendall, the move will see female leaders from tech companies and organisations advise the government on measures to boost diversity and economic growth in the sector. BBC
Monzo CEO pushed out following growth and IPO rift
The London-based fintech firm announced this week that it will part ways with its CEO, TS Anil, amid concerns about its international expansion and his long-term commitment to the business. Diana Layfield will take over the reins of the fintech firm, having previously spent nine years at Google and more than a decade at Standard Chartered. FT
UK-UK tech deal dead in the water?
President Trump has suspended the £31 billion Tech Prosperity Deal with the UK, which would have covered industries such as AI, nuclear energy and quantum computing. The pause is reportedly due to US frustrations with a lack of progress on trade concessions and the UK’s online safety laws and digital services tax. Telegraph
Alphabet and Nvidia back Lovable’s $330m Series B
Swedish vibe coding startup Lovable is valued at $6.6 billion following the announcement of its Series B round. Backing came from the VC arms of Alphabet and Nvidia, as well as Menlo Ventures, Accel, Khosla, Kinship Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Databricks Ventures, Atlassian Ventures, T.Capital, Hubspot Ventures, DST Global, EQT Global, Creandum and Evantic. CNBC
Fuse Energy hits $5bn valuation with new funding
The UK energy start-up, which was founded in 2022 by former Revolut executives, has raised $70 million in a funding round led by Balderton and Lowercarbon Capital, with participation from QuantumLight, the VC firm created by Revolut’s Nik Storonsky. Sifted
AI startup Ankar raises $20m Series A
Ankar, an AI startup developing technology to support patent protections, has announced a Series A round led by Atomico, with additional investment from Index Ventures, Norrsken VC and Daphni. UKTN
ANNA Money secures £10m to fund expansion
The fintech platform, which offers financial services to entrepreneurs and the self-employed, has secured a £10 million debt deal with Flashpoint to fund growth ahead of changes to the UK’s tax reporting regime. BusinessCloud
Let’s back industrial AI
The UK should place its bets on industrial AI because we’re already leaders in AI research and have world-class engineering, robots, and aerospace sectors, according to Martin Frost CBE, Chair of Monumo. FT Adviser
Why is Europe ignoring the importance of spaceports?
Volodymyr Levykin, CEO and Founder of Skyrora, believes that the continent must recognise that spaceports are “critical instruments of sovereignty, resilience and geopolitical influence”. Sifted
A 2025 tax wrap-up
In the wake of last month’s Budget, Tim Mills, Managing Partner at ACF Investors, says there is still cause for optimism in the tech and investment ecosystem – despite the tax hikes. IFA Magazine
The winners and losers of 2026
Business leaders need to rethink their strategies next year. Nick New, CEO and Co-founder of Optalysys, says businesses must be “prepared for every eventuality in the new year”, especially as “cyber attacks are becoming faster, more automated and far more disruptive”. Computer Weekly
It’s the holiday season, so we’ll keep this short and sweet.
This year, there were over 80 new unicorns crowned, and there were 27 in Europe alone – a post-COVID milestone. Will 2026 beat that record? We hope so. What else will happen in the new year? Katie Prescott from The Times believes we might see the rise of ‘life-logging’ wearable AI devices. Who doesn’t want to log every moment of their day – including recording the audio of each conversation and producing summaries, notes or transcripts at the end of it. How futuristic. Or dystopian. Perhaps this calls for a ‘Black Mirror’ rewatch over Twixmas.
Enjoy the break, and we’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming in 2026!