Business News Round Up (14/10/2025)
UK venture funding surges and leads Europe
UK startups and scaleups secured $9 billion in venture capital funding in Q3 2025, the second-highest third-quarter total on record and the strongest since 2021, according to new analysis from HSBC Innovation Banking UK and Dealroom. With year-to-date investment now at $17.3 billion – equalling 2024’s full-year total – the UK is on track to deliver its best funding year since 2022, projected to close at $23.1 billion. Investor appetite for large-scale rounds accelerated in Q3, with 12 deals of $100 million or more – almost matching the total of 14 from the previous two quarters combined. Revolut’s landmark $2 billion raise and NScale’s $1 billion round mark the first time since 2022 that innovative UK firms have secured multiple billion-dollar rounds in a single year. Momentum was not limited to late-stage. Series A activity reached a seven-quarter high, with 46 rounds completed, signalling renewed strength at the early stages of company growth.
https://www.digit.fyi/uk-venture-funding-surges-and-leads-europe
UK warns business leaders as ‘highly significant’ cyber
British cyber incidents classed as “highly significant” have risen by 50% over a year ago, the head of the country’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will say on Tuesday. A series of cyber-attacks in recent months has knocked some of Britain’s biggest brands, including Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), offline. “Every leader, whether you’re one person at your kitchen table or the boss of thousands of people, you must have a plan to defend against criminal cyberattacks,” said NCSC CEO Richard Horne. The NCSC, part of Britain’s GCHQ spy agency, was asked to help with 429 cyber incidents in the 12 months to August, half of which were considered of “national significance”. Of those, Horne said, 18 were classed as “highly significant” because they had “serious impact on central government, UK essential services, a large proportion of the UK population, or the UK economy”.
Deloitte: UK CFOs grapple with soaring costs and concerns over competitiveness
A Deloitte survey has revealed that UK Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are facing a dual threat of soaring operating costs and record-high concerns over the nation’s competitiveness. The Big Four firm’s latest survey, conducted in late September, found that a net 84% of finance leaders expect operating costs to increase over the next year, the highest level recorded in more than four years. Geopolitics has rated as a top concern for CFOs in all but two quarters since the invasion of Ukraine. However, CFOs now attach a slightly lower risk rating to geopolitics, with an average score of 62, down from 71 in the previous quarter. Meanwhile concerns about UK productivity and competitiveness have risen to the highest level since Deloitte began asking this question in 2014 and now rank joint first with geopolitics on the CFO risk list, with a weighted average rating of 62.
Edinburgh secures £8.6 million funding to boost UK AI adoption
The University of Edinburgh’s EPCC, recognised as the UK’s first National Supercomputing Centre, has secured a significant funding award from the European Union and the UK Government, totalling €10 million (£8.6 million), to establish and operate the UK AI Factory Antenna (UKAIFA). The UKAIFA project, spearheaded by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), is set to play a crucial role in advancing artificial intelligence capabilities across the country. The initiative aims to support organisations throughout the UK as they embark on their AI journeys, providing resources to increase understanding and literacy around the technology. By offering guidance and practical assistance, UKAIFA seeks to demonstrate the potential for AI technologies to enhance productivity and stimulate economic growth, addressing both current and future needs of businesses and public sector bodies.