Castore has appointed JPMorgan to test buyer interest after a run of inbound approaches, three years after an external equity round valued the Manchester-based sportswear brand at about £950m. No formal process has started, and any deal could take the form of a majority sale, a minority stake or a partnership.
Britain incorporated 388,922 companies in the first half of 2026, up 9 per cent year on year and equivalent to 90 new businesses an hour, according to iwoca's annual Business Hotspots report. Scotland recorded the strongest growth at 16 per cent, while Wales was the only nation or region to decline, down 23 per cent to 11,668.
European tech companies raised €3.2bn across 165 rounds in August, down roughly 63 per cent on July's €8.6bn, according to Tech.eu data published on Friday. The UK was the single largest market, taking €1.4bn across 51 transactions — about 44 per cent of the continental total.
AIM-listed Pri0r1ty Intelligence Group has acquired the operating assets and technology of employee benefits platform Pirkx for £50,000 in cash plus a 4% revenue royalty capped at £350,000. Pirkx had raised £5.4m from venture backers since 2018.
Edinburgh-based pureLiFi has appointed joint administrators from BTG after failing to secure further funding, with all 42 employees made redundant immediately. The light-based wireless communications firm had raised more than £35m from over ten investors since 2012, including the Scottish National Investment Bank.
The AIM-listed group has acquired the entire issued share capital of Captive Devices, a two-year-old MediaCity motion capture startup founded by three former Epic Games engineers. Total consideration is up to £750,000: £250,000 in cash, £300,000 in Oxford Metrics ordinary shares released quarterly over 24 months, and an earnout of up to £200,000.
The livestock data platform, founded in London in 2018 and run from Texas since 2022, has raised $27m (about £20m) in a Series B led by Partech's impact fund, taking total capital raised to $46.6m.
Madrid-headquartered Taptap Digital has bought Manchester adtech firm Skyrise, with founders Ian Vint, Michelle Vint and Alex Petrie exiting the business three years after they merged Regital and Skyrise Intelligence. Terms were not disclosed.
Loughborough University has set up the Loughborough Venture Investor Network with VC firm Haatch, matching alumni investors to spinouts and startups raising at pre-seed and seed. No fund size, cheque range or equity terms were disclosed.
Food platform Sessions has acquired Little Bao Boy, the Leeds bao bun brand that has grown 431% year on year and delivered more than 340,000 orders. Terms were not disclosed, but founder James Ooi retains a minority holding in the brand.
Trellus Health, the Welsh-registered digital health company that raised £28.5m gross when it floated on AIM in May 2021, has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators and told the market that no return is expected for shareholders.
Aberdeen-based HexSeed Technology has closed more than £600,000 in early-stage funding led by climate-tech venture builder Carbon13, with the Net Zero Technology Centre and Italian firm Vento participating. The round also unlocks an Innovate UK Partnership Grant awarded provisionally earlier this year.
Harpenden-based EcoNomad Solutions has closed a £400,000 round built from £230,000 of equity from the British Design Fund, an Innovate UK Investor Partnership grant and follow-on support from existing backer Beeches Group. The blended structure limits dilution on a cap table that remains founder-controlled.
London-based Platter, which builds a food-native operating system for suppliers, wholesalers and manufacturers, has extended its latest venture round with backing from supply-chain specialist Verb Ventures, having surpassed £100m in annual trade processed through the platform.
