CBD brand backed by Vernon Kay and Tess Daly raises millions July 10, 2025 Goodrays, a CBD brand backed by Vernon Kay and Tess Daly, has raised £5m as it eyes future growth. The company has been backed by Guinness Ventures whose portfolio includes BBC Maestro, a celebrity-led e-learning business. The series A funding round also attracted the participation of existing and new institutional investors. The news comes after [...]
UK VC investment storms ahead of Europe as AI dominates July 3, 2025 UK venture capital funding stormed ahead of its European peers in the first half of 2025 as the country’s innovation economy remained resilient in the face of wider geopolitical tensions. Total investment topped $8bn (£5.9bn), edging up three per cent from the final six months of 2024. This gave the UK a 30 per share [...]
London must ‘market its successes better’ to avoid another Wise June 7, 2025 Britain must emulate the success of Nasdaq and get better at trumpeting its business success stories if it wants to attract more companies to list in London, one of the UK’s top fintech venture capital investors has said. Speaking to City AM the day that payments darling Wise revealed plans to ditch its primary listing [...]
Andy Murray to head up athlete group at London-based Redrice Ventures May 19, 2025 Andy Murray will head up a group of athlete advisors as part of his new role as an associate partner at London-based Redrice Ventures. Murray, 38, is stepping up his interest in investing after calling time on his tennis career last year and ending his coaching arrangement with Novak Djokovic. The Scot is assembling the [...]
UK scale-ups face crisis as growth capital hits seven-year low May 6, 2025 Growth capital has hit a seven-year low on both volume and value with the UK start-up to scale-up pipeline “broken”, a fresh report has warned. Figures seen by City AM revealed Series A funding – investments of £2m to £10m for startups looking to grow – had slumped to £2.4bn in the 12 months to [...]
Private capital investment into UK business jumps 44 per cent May 6, 2025 The volume of private equity and venture capital cash flowing into UK businesses jumped by 44 per cent last year as investors increasingly look outside of London for opportunities. Private capital firms invested £29.4bn into UK businesses over 2024, compared to £20.4bn in 2023, research from the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association revealed. [...]
London startups bag £2.69bn in VC funding in 2025 so far April 17, 2025 London-based startups attracted £2.69bn in venture capital (VC) in the first three months of the year, marking a robust start of the year despite a fall in deal volumes. According to KPMG’s latest venture pulse report, while deal count dropped from the previous quarter, the overall value of funding reached nearly 90 per cent of [...]
UK surges ahead of France and Germany as Europe’s ‘innovation powerhouse’ April 14, 2025 HSBC Innovation Banking, a subsidiary of Europe’s biggest lender, hailed the UK’s enterprise value in its latest innovation report. UK innovation firms raised £3.2bn of venture capital in the first three months of the year – an eight per cent increase from the first quarter of 2024. The quarter attracted higher amounts of funding, with [...]
Exclusive: Channel 4 Ventures backs cocktail machine maker Bartesian March 19, 2025 City AM can reveal that Channel 4 Ventures has partnered with Bartesian as the drinks firm looks to accelerate its expansion in the UK. Bartesian, which produces cocktail-making machines, will benefit from the broadcaster’s advertising reach, and Channel 4 Ventures will receive an equity stake in the business in exchange. “This investment enables us to [...]
Pembroke VCT boss Andrew Wolfson: ‘New founders aren’t blaming Brexit’ January 30, 2025 Pembroke VCT boss Andrew Wolfson has backed brands like TALA and Pasta Evangelists. He tells us the wisdom he's picked up along his career.