Government-backed bank fuels entrepreneurship for unemployed Brits November 4, 2025 The British Business Bank has announced that nearly £150m in loans has been handed to unemployed people to help them start their own businesses since 2012. The figure represents 22 per cent of all finance issued through the government-backed ‘start-up loans’ programme, which aims to support entrepreneurs who may find it difficult to secure funding [...]
Autumn Budget: Reeves must focus on growth, not ‘gimmicks’ October 16, 2025 Ahead of the Autumn Budget, City Reporter Samuel Norman sits down with top industry names for a Budget Briefing. This week, the chief executive of founders club Helm calls for bold innovation policies took take centre stage. Chancellor Rachel Reeves should use her second Autumn Budget to make bolder swings for the UK’s innovation economy [...]
Mahmud Kamani-backed vertical farm collapses after failing to find a buyer October 3, 2025 A vertical farming group backed by the likes of Boohoo co-founder Mahmud Kamani has collapsed after being unable to find a buyer, owing creditors nearly £8m. London-based Vertical Future had raised more than £37m in capital since it was founded in 2016, courting high-profile investors including Kamani, Charles Tyrwhitt founder Nick Wheeler and World First [...]
UK ‘open for business’ as tech M&A surges October 2, 2025 The UK tech sector is experiencing a resurgence in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), driven by a combination of domestic innovation, international investment and the rapid adoption of AI. “The UK is definitely open for business”, investment banker Victor Basta told City AM. “It has enormous talent, and for international companies, particularly those who can’t invest [...]
Startups tell Labour to snatch talent ‘displaced’ by Trump’s H-1B fee September 23, 2025 An entrepreneur campaign group backed by executives at top UK businesses has urged the Labour government to re-design its Global Talent visa to take innovators “displaced” by President Trump’s radical changes to the H-1B visa. The Startup Coalition has urged Home Office officials to change its Global Talent visa to help individuals re-locate from the [...]
Michael Vaughan issues Autumn Budget plea to Rachel Reeves September 18, 2025 Cricket legend Michael Vaughan has issued a plea to Chancellor Rachel Reeves to help out start-ups and small-to-medium-sized (SMEs) businesses in her Autumn Budget on 26 November. Vaughan, who has recently invested in health and wellness supplement start-up Uthful, hit out at the employers’ National Insurance increase included in last year’s Autumn Budget for causing [...]
UK’s top tech scale-ups named, but can Britain keep hold of them? September 11, 2025 Tech Nation has announced its Future Fifty 2025 cohort, featuring 25 high-growth UK scaleups across various sectors, including AI, climatetech, healthtech, and spacetech. Between them, these firms have raised more than £1.4bn and employ over 2,100 people. The programme, which was relaunched under Founders Forum Group in 2024, has long been seen as the UK’s [...]
UK tech leaders back home turf for growth as AI drives investment August 28, 2025 The UK is increasingly being viewed by its own tech entrepreneurs as the most attractive country in which to build and scale a technology company, according to a new report. Barclays Bank’s latest Business Prosperity Index revealed that a majority of tech leaders now view Britain as offering stronger growth prospects than its international rivals [...]
Motorway CEO: How I built my $1bn empire after a huge failure June 16, 2025 The co-founder and chief executive of used car marketplace Motorway has opened up about how he helped to build a $1bn empire from scratch following the biggest failure of his career. On an up-coming episode of City AM’s Boardroom Uncovered show, Tom Leathes also revealed how he and his fellow founders landed on the car [...]
MintStars: ‘Ethical’ OnlyFans rival more than doubles in value March 25, 2025 MintStars, a start-up launched as an ‘ethical alternative’ to OnlyFans, more than doubled in value during its latest financial year, it has been revealed. The challenger was established by Jessica Van Meir and Daniel Sargent, who serves as its chief executive, in 2022. In an interview with City AM last year, Van Meir said the [...]