Mid-Week Tech News Roundup – December 1st to December 5th 2025
02 Dec, 20256 minutesKevin Lancaster Joins usecure Board to Drive North American Channel Expansionusecure ha...
Kevin Lancaster Joins usecure Board to Drive North American Channel Expansion
usecure has appointed Kevin Lancaster as a Non-Executive Director, bringing decades of experience in channel leadership and cybersecurity. Lancaster is known for founding ID Agent, later acquired by Kaseya, and leading Channel Program and BetterTracker, where he built large-scale MSP communities generating billions in revenue.
The appointment comes as usecure strengthens its Human Risk Management (HRM) offering for MSPs in North America. The company currently protects over 500,000 end users and works with more than 1,800 MSP partners globally, leveraging key distribution partnerships with Pax8, Sherweb, and Contronex to streamline deployment across multiple clients.
Charles Preston, Founder and CEO of usecure, said Lancaster’s experience will be instrumental in accelerating channel growth and expanding the company’s footprint in North America. Lancaster added that he is “thrilled to help accelerate [usecure’s] mission” and guide the company through its next phase of growth.
The move follows growing recognition for usecure in the industry, including finalist positions in CRN’s Security Vendor of the Year and Rising Star categories. The company’s focus on partner-first innovation and measurable human risk reduction positions it as a leading HRM provider for MSPs across North America.
Kooth Acquires Kismet Health to Expand Digital Mental Health Offerings
Kooth, a global provider of digital mental health services, has acquired Kismet Health, a telehealth platform focused on virtual care for children and families. The acquisition expands Kooth’s reach and capabilities across younger age groups, complementing its existing services for teenagers and adults in the UK and US.
Kismet Health’s platform is designed to support engagement with children while enabling effective parent and caregiver involvement, and is EMR-agnostic to allow deployment across different clinical and educational settings. The technology has been shown to achieve higher engagement rates compared with standard video tools, aiming to replicate key aspects of in-person care.
Kooth CEO Kate Newhouse said the acquisition represents a key step in strengthening the company’s global offering and providing equitable, high-quality digital mental health support. Dr Cierra Gromoff, Co-Founder and CEO of Kismet Health, added that joining Kooth enables the team to scale access to quality care and expand their impact internationally.
The deal brings Kismet co-founder Christie Sander and the wider team into Kooth, supporting the company’s ambition to provide integrated, clinically informed services to children, families, and clinicians worldwide.
Softwire Partners with ELTO to Modernise the UK’s Employers’ Liability Database
Softwire has partnered with the Employer’s Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) to modernise the technology supporting its insurance tracing services. The collaboration aims to deliver a scalable, cloud-native platform that improves data quality, enhances user experience, and ensures long-term sustainability for claimants, insurers, and employers.
ELTO, founded in 1969, manages more than 40 million policy records and plays a crucial role in helping people affected by work-related illness or injury locate the insurance details they need to make a claim. The new platform will simplify interactions, strengthen data validation, and streamline reporting, while supporting compliance with FCA standards.
Steve Browne, ELTO Chair, said the partnership with Softwire followed months of research and highlighted the collaborative approach with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), who will continue to manage the service post-launch. Kim Lawton, ELTO Product Manager, added that the replatforming would make policy searches faster and more accurate while improving efficiency for ELTO members.
Sean Judge, Client Director FS&I at Softwire, noted that the project leverages Softwire’s experience in insurance technology and data platforms, bringing cultural alignment and sector expertise to deliver significant value for users.
The project positions ELTO alongside other major insurers and financial services institutions working with Softwire, including RSA, Green Flag, Tokio Marine HCC, Zurich UK, and Direct Line, as part of a broader effort to modernise core systems and improve digital services across the UK insurance ecosystem.
FirstBank UK Extends Use of Planixs’ Realiti Treasury Solution for Three More Years
FirstBank UK has signed a three-year extension to continue using Planixs’ Realiti platform, reaffirming the bank’s long-standing commitment to the real-time treasury and liquidity management solution. The bank has deployed Realiti across its treasury operations since 2016, embedding the platform into day-to-day workflows and leveraging its Reconciliations module to streamline processes and enhance reporting accuracy.
Realiti provides FirstBank UK with real-time liquidity data, enabling more precise forecasting, improved operational resilience, and faster compliance with regulatory standards such as those set by the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and BCBS 248. Antonio Gutierrez, COO at FirstBank UK, said the platform has become “a cornerstone” of the bank’s treasury operations, delivering confidence and freeing resources to focus on strategic liquidity management.
Neville Roberts, CEO of Planixs, added that the partnership reflects the growing recognition among banks of the value of specialist treasury solutions. He noted that Realiti continues to evolve to maintain its position as a leading platform in real-time treasury and liquidity management.
The renewed deal highlights the increasing importance of technology-driven solutions in modern banking operations and reinforces Planixs’ role in supporting financial institutions with accurate, real-time insights.
Former EssenceMediacom North COO Paul Cooper Joins Open Partners
Paul Cooper, the former COO of EssenceMediacom North, has joined Manchester-based independent agency Open Partners as a non-executive director, effective 1 December. Cooper spent more than 20 years at EssenceMediacom North, leading its expansion into WPP’s third-largest hub in EMEA and establishing the agency as a centre of excellence for digital innovation, AI-driven marketing, and high-growth D2C client campaigns.
Open Partners, founded in 2017 by former Dentsu executives Joe Procter, Michael Leppan, and Elliot Muscant, specialises in combining AI tools with human expertise to deliver integrated marketing strategies. The agency has rapidly built a reputation for driving measurable growth, and in 2025 it was recognised in both The Sunday Times 100 and the Financial Times 1000 lists of fastest-growing UK and European businesses.
In his new role, Cooper will support Open Partners’ founders and executive committee on commercial strategy, leadership development, and long-term growth planning. He said he was attracted to the agency’s AI + Human approach, which he described as focused on outcomes, adaptable to rapid change, and designed to deliver meaningful business results.
Joe Procter, co-founder and executive chair of Open Partners, welcomed Cooper’s appointment, highlighting his extensive experience scaling high-performing teams and delivering transformational results for clients as a valuable addition to the agency during its next phase of growth.
Curvestone AI lands £3m to tackle AI’s reliability problem in regulated industries
London-based Curvestone AI has raised a £3m seed round led by MTech Capital, with Boost Capital Partners, D2 Fund and Portfolio Ventures also backing the company.
Curvestone, founded by brothers Dawid and Sebastian Kotur, who previously led AI automation programmes at PwC, Metro Bank and GKN, focuses on making AI dependable in sectors where accuracy can’t slip. While standalone AI tasks might reach 98% accuracy, long, multi-step workflows often see those small errors snowball, dragging reliability down to 30–40%. Curvestone’s platform is designed to maintain consistent performance across every stage, making it suitable for document-heavy, compliance-led processes across financial services, legal and insurance.
The company bootstrapped to profitability before taking investment, scaling revenue 7x in the last year and now processing billions of tokens each quarter. Clients already include Stephenson Harwood, Browne Jacobson, Walker Morris and Pivotal Growth.
Early deployments suggest strong operational impact:
- Walker Morris cut service agreement reviews from four hours to 15 minutes
- Stephenson Harwood built a multistep compliance workflow aligned to DORA EU requirements
- Pivotal Growth is shifting from manual spot-checking ~10% of mortgage applications to automated review of 100%, with Curvestone validating data, checking requirements and flagging inconsistencies.
The platform integrates with existing CRMs, document systems and loan origination software, works with all major LLMs, and can be configured without engineering support: a key factor in industries where regulations shift frequently.
MTech Capital partner Kevin McLoughlin, who is joining the board, said the firm was drawn to Curvestone’s accuracy-first approach and its ability to automate complex workflows where mistakes are costly. The new funding will support product development and commercial expansion, with Curvestone aiming to become the trusted automation layer for agentic AI in regulated sectors.
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