Funding ·
Innovate UK opens £1.5m quantum tech funding call with Netherlands
UK firms working on quantum technology can bid for a share of up to £1.5 million, but only if they team up with a Dutch partner.
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- Tech · 4 Nov Barnsley care workers and builders to get AI training in £800,000 government pilot
- Tech · 3 Nov IPO warns of mercury and methanol in fake beauty products as young buyers knowingly choose fakes
- Tech · 3 Nov Government cuts Cyber Essentials fees by 75% for UK small businesses
- Tech · 3 Nov Zoopla returns to profitability as homeowner numbers grow in FY25
Barnsley care workers and builders to get AI training in £800,000 government pilot
Four local training projects share government funding to bring practical AI skills to hospital wards, building sites and small firms as part of the Barnsley Tech Town scheme. Tech · 3 Nov 2026IPO warns of mercury and methanol in fake beauty products as young buyers knowingly choose fakes
Testing of seized counterfeit cosmetics in the UK found toxic substances in four in ten products, as the Intellectual Property Office launches a campaign amid a sharp rise in deliberate fake-buying among 18 to 24-year-olds. Tech · 3 Nov 2026Government cuts Cyber Essentials fees by 75% for UK small businesses
DCMS says SMEs can now certify against common cyber threats for as little as £80, with supply chain firms including Thales and Capgemini backing free access for smaller suppliers.Across the tech desk
The latest across UK technology, startups and scaleups Funding
- British Business Bank commits up to £46m to a pre-seed deep tech fund aiming to create 80 companies
- Innovate UK is offering sensing SMEs a flat £80,420 grant at 100% funding, closing 7 October
- Innovate UK opens a £12m materials call covering power electronics, 6G and metamaterials, closing 28 October
- Prevalent AI's investor took a board seat eight months before the $22m raise was announced
Founders
- Companies House confirms software-only accounts filing from April 2028 but pauses profit and loss filing for small firms
- Government consultation on data intermediaries closes tonight after an extension
Scaleups
- Government launches Scale UK Connect pilot to keep 200 scale-ups growing at home
- DSIT publishes UK CertifID trust mark rules and promises action over unauthorised use
- DSIT study puts UK semiconductor revenues at £10.6bn, with 24 companies taking three quarters of it
- Synectics wins £1.4m of bus surveillance contracts for a UK regional authority
Exits
- MedPal AI finalises eMARx purchase price at about £446,633, below its July estimate
- Pri0r1ty buys Pirkx out of administration for £50,000 and a capped royalty
AI
- UK startup deepmirror named in TIME's Best Inventions 2026 list
- DSIT publishes annual UK AI sector study for 2025
- Government rolls out AI tool and rule change to speed up planning decisions
- Basingstoke distributor Hammer adds Swedish sovereign AI platform Eggsplain for its EMEA channel partners
Tech
- Zoopla returns to profitability as homeowner numbers grow in FY25
- Tathmeer and SPARK launch agri-tech innovation centre in Sharjah
- Nella Cutlery Services invests in Webfleet telematics system for its van fleet
- Geely unveils AI-powered Smart Charging system to cut heat and boost battery life
Guides
How UK startup funding, equity and exits work, explained.
67 plain-English explainers, kept apart from the news.
All guides →- RAG-based AI startups: the due diligence questions investors actually askAI
- Asset sale vs share sale: the consents you need before you can completeExits
- Venture debt gone wrong: what happens when a UK scaleup can't repayFunding
- EMI share options and disqualifying events: what UK employees need to watch forFounders
- Unit economics for AI products: pricing per token, query or seat against real compute costAI