CircKit Appoints Sarah Foster as Fractional CSO to Drive Strategic Growth

Sustainable fashion tech startup CircKit has announced the appointment of Sarah Foster as its new Fractional Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). Foster brings over two decades of experience helping purpose-led businesses scale with impact, including a nine-year stint as Managing Director at Beyondly, where she focused on environmental compliance and sustainability strategy.

Her career spans software, communications, marketing, and sustainability, with recent roles including fractional Commercial & Sustainability Officer at One World GTM and Non-Exec at State of Mythos. She’s also a published author and certified confidence coach.

Foster first connected with CircKit during her time as Entrepreneur in Residence at the Turing Innovation Catalyst Manchester. Now, she’ll shape the company’s strategic direction as it gears up for growth in a market under increasing regulatory and consumer pressure.

Founded by Joe Darwen with Joel B as CTO, CircKit’s modular SaaS platform is designed to help fashion and textile brands integrate sustainability into the earliest stages of product development. By leveraging real-time environmental data, including the 19 PEF indicators mandated by the EU, CircKit allows brands to generate compliant lifecycle assessments (LCAs) quickly and affordably, improving material choices, ensuring compliance, and enabling circularity-driven growth.

Foster commented: “I believe early adopters of innovative, circular supply chains will drive a better, more sustainable future. I'm truly excited now that CircKit has a product to bring to the market and I look forward to speaking to potential clients about it.”

As the industry moves toward greater transparency and accountability, CircKit positions itself as a key enabler of circular-by-design fashion.

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AI-Powered Property Platform Jitty Raises £3m to Lead the Future of Home-Buying

London-based proptech startup Jitty has raised £2.8m ($3.8m) in fresh funding as it positions itself as an AI-powered alternative to property giants like Rightmove and Zoopla. The seed round was led by REA Group, with backing from Goodwater Ventures, Gradient Ventures, True Global, and several angel investors.

Founded by former developers from Deliveroo, Wise, and Zego - Daniel Cooper (CTO), Graham Paterson (CEO) & James Storer (CPO) - Jitty aims to reinvent the home-buying journey through AI. Its platform allows users to run highly customisable property searches, annotate and shortlist listings, and collaborate with others...all within a single app.

Since launching in 2023, Jitty says its app has powered over 250,000 searches, highlighting growing traction among UK homebuyers.

“This investment marks a huge moment for Jitty,” said co-founder and CEO Graham Paterson. “We’ve seen fantastic growth since launch, and this funding lets us accelerate our rollout, expand our partnerships, and double down on our mission to build the future home-buying experience.”

REA Group’s Melina Cruickshank added: “We believe the next frontier in property discovery is highly immersive, helping buyers visualise a home as if they’re physically there.”

Jitty’s latest raise follows a £1.6m round in 2023, as the company continues to scale up its challenge to traditional property platforms.

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NeuWave Technologies Raises £550K to Revolutionise Offshore Wave Forecasting with AI

Manchester-based NeuWave Technologies has secured £550,000 in pre-seed funding to address a major pain point in the offshore industry: inaccurate wave forecasts that cost operators an estimated £1.2 billion annually in project delays and idle vessels.

Backed by EHE Ventures’ AI Growth Fund, alongside Insurtech Gateway and QVentures, the funding will support product development, key technical hires, and commercial rollout of the company’s AI-powered ocean intelligence platform.

At the core of NeuWave’s offering is a proprietary forecasting engine that delivers wave condition predictions up to 20x more accurately than traditional marine models. Unlike standard systems that refresh hourly, NeuWave’s engine updates forecasts within minutes, a game-changer for navigation, metocean reporting, and emergency planning.

“Marine weather errors cost the industry billions,” said Jana Stella, NeuWave’s founder and CEO. “A single bad forecast can halt operations, costing up to £700,000 a day depending on the vessel. We’re solving that with real-time precision forecasting that adapts to local conditions.”

Stella, who holds a PhD in environmental engineering from the University of Manchester, has shaped the company into a lean SaaS model already working with EDF, National Grid, Celtic Sea Power, and ORE Catapult.

“NeuWave’s platform has the potential to become the default intelligence layer for marine infrastructure,” added Neil Vose, CEO of EHE Venture Studio.

As offshore infrastructure investment accelerates in the race to net zero, NeuWave is positioning itself as a critical tool for improving financial performance, safety, and environmental resilience at sea.

The PHA Group Takes On Press Office Role for Shieldpay to Boost Profile in Professional Services Payments

The PHA Group has been appointed to lead the press office for Shieldpay, a UK-based fintech specialising in secure digital payment solutions tailored for the professional services sector. The partnership aims to raise Shieldpay’s media presence around key business developments and reinforce its position as a trusted provider of compliant payment technology.

A key part of this collaboration will be spotlighting Shieldpay’s active role in the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) ongoing consultation concerning client money management in legal practices - a hot topic shaping the future regulatory environment. Additionally, The PHA Group will focus on expanding Shieldpay’s visibility across Northern England, where the company is growing its network of law firms and strategic partners.

Founded in 2016 by Peter Janes, Shieldpay introduced digital escrow technology to simplify complex, regulated payments. Now led by CEO Sophie Condie and CPTO Diji Adu, the company has processed more than £15 billion in transactions and is regulated by the FCA and HMRC, underscoring its commitment to compliance and security.

Speaking on the partnership, Condie emphasised the importance of clear communication amid evolving regulations: “As Shieldpay scales and supports firms navigating increasingly complex compliance requirements, ensuring our voice is part of these important discussions is critical. We believe The PHA Group’s strategic media expertise will help us amplify our message and connect with a broader audience.”

From The PHA Group’s side, Rhys Merrett, Head of Technology, highlighted the alignment between the two companies’ values: “Shieldpay operates at a vital crossroads of fintech, law, and compliance. Our shared focus on integrity and innovation means we’re well placed to help them maintain a leading position in the professional services payments space, especially as regulatory scrutiny increases.”

This partnership comes at a pivotal moment for Shieldpay as it seeks to influence industry standards while accelerating its growth across the UK market.

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