Mid-Week Tech News Roundup – January 12th to January 16th 2026
14 Jan, 20266 minutesEpassi appoints new CEO as it accelerates pan-European growthHelsinki-founded digital employ...
Epassi appoints new CEO as it accelerates pan-European growth
Helsinki-founded digital employee benefits platform Epassi has appointed Nickyl Raithatha as their new chief executive, with the former Moonpig CEO taking the helm at the start of 2026.
The appointment follows seven years of leadership at Moonpig and comes as Epassi enters its next phase of growth, building on its expansion from its Nordic roots into a pan-European business. The company operates across the Nordics, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and France, positioning itself as one of Europe’s largest digital employee benefits providers.
Founded in Helsinki in 2007, Epassi is a pioneer in digital employee benefits and payments, offering a mobile-first platform that brings multiple benefits into a single app-based service. Today, the group serves more than 50,000 employers and over 30 million employees, supported by a partner network of more than 100,000 service providers.
The business has been recognised by the Financial Times as one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies for four consecutive years and is reported to generate more than €200m in annual recurring revenue. Its growth has been backed by private equity firms Warburg Pincus and TA Associates, which are supporting Epassi’s ambition to become the definitive digital employee benefits platform across Europe.
The incoming CEO succeeds Pekka Rantala, who is credited with laying strong foundations for the company’s international expansion. With a background spanning B2C, B2B and marketplace businesses, the new chief executive is expected to focus on scaling Epassi’s platform and deepening its impact on employee wellbeing.
The leadership change signals Epassi’s intent to maintain momentum as it continues to grow its footprint and reinforce its position at the intersection of fintech, wellbeing and workplace benefits.
SINGU appoints Dominic Gallello as Chairman to support next phase of group growth
SINGU has appointed Dominic Gallello as Chairman of the Board, marking a significant milestone for the wider Micad by SINGU group as it continues to scale its estates and facilities technology platform.
Gallello brings decades of senior leadership experience across enterprise software and built environment technology, with a background spanning design, construction and operational systems. His appointment is intended to strengthen governance and help guide the group’s long-term strategy as it expands internationally and deepens its focus on complex estates and mission critical environments.
The move is seen as an endorsement of the group’s ambition to build a connected, future-ready platform that supports organisations across healthcare, education, logistics and the public sector. SINGU’s technology is designed to help customers manage the full lifecycle of estates and facilities, from compliance and maintenance through to operational insight and decision-making.
Micad by SINGU led by managing director Peter Harris combines the long-established Micad platform, which has supported NHS and university clients since 1987, with SINGU’s next-generation CAFM capabilities. Together, the platforms aim to provide real-time visibility across estates, streamline operations and help organisations optimise space, resources and compliance.
The group said Gallello’s experience in scaling global platforms and driving customer-led innovation will play an important role as it continues to evolve its offering and support customers managing increasingly complex estates.
ESG360° rebrands as Antaia to reflect focus on assurance-ready sustainability reporting
Antaia, formerly known as ESG360°, has announced a rebrand as it sharpens its positioning around assurance-ready sustainability and ESG reporting. The company confirmed that the name change does not affect its leadership team, operations, or commitments to existing customers.
Founded by Anj Chadha (CEO) with Todor Gigilev as CTO, The rebrand reflects Antaia’s growing focus on supporting finance and sustainability teams as mandatory sustainability reporting requirements continue to expand globally. The platform is designed to help organisations prepare reports aligned with standards such as IFRS S1 and S2, with built-in controls, evidence traceability, approval workflows, and full audit trails to support strong governance and external assurance.
Alongside global standards, Antaia also supports jurisdiction-specific frameworks and terminology, including SRS, SB 251 and SB 263, ASRS, and HKFRS. This enables multinational organisations to manage consistent sustainability reporting across multiple markets while adapting to local regulatory requirements.
The company says its technology uses AI to automate data collection, validation, and reporting, reducing manual effort and improving data accuracy. By providing a single source of truth for sustainability data, Antaia aims to help organisations move faster on ESG initiatives while maintaining confidence in compliance and reporting quality.
The move comes as sustainability reporting continues to shift from voluntary disclosure towards regulated, audit-ready reporting, increasing demand for platforms that can bridge finance-grade controls with ESG data and insights.
Human8 appoints new UK and APAC leadership as it aligns teams for growth
Global marketing insight consultancy Human8 has announced new leadership appointments in the UK and Asia-Pacific, naming Jane Bloomfield as managing director for the UK and Katie McClintock as managing director for APAC.
In the UK, Bloomfield’s appointment coincides with a structural change that brings Human8’s cultural strategy consultancy Space Doctors together with its UK consumer insights team under a single leadership model. The move is designed to create closer collaboration across the group’s London, Brighton, and Manchester offices.
Bloomfield brings senior leadership experience from across branding, insight, and growth roles, including global chief marketing officer at Landor, chief growth officer at Kantar UK, and chief commercial officer at Insight222. She will work alongside a UK leadership team that includes Paul Child as head of UK, Cat Hunt and Gareth Lewis as co-managing directors at Space Doctors, and James Williams as head of operations.
In Asia-Pacific, McClintock will be based in Singapore and succeeds Maz Amirahmadi, who has retired after 16 years with the business. McClintock joined Human8 as head of client development for APAC in August 2025 and previously spent seven years at Kantar, most recently as managing director for Southeast Asia.
Alongside the APAC leadership change, Human8 has introduced a new regional structure, appointing Jason Spencer as head of greater China, Daniel Teixeira to lead Southeast Asia and Australia, and Karen Khao as head of Hong Kong.
Tim Wragg, chief executive at Human8, said the changes are intended to position the business for the future, describing the appointments as part of shaping the company to meet evolving client and market needs across regions.
Ocean Outdoor UK reshapes leadership team with senior promotions
UK digital out-of-home advertising business Ocean Outdoor UK has announced a series of senior promotions as CEO Nick Shaw takes on leadership of the business in the UK.
As part of the changes, long-serving Head of Trading and Investments Andrew Gibson has been promoted to Chief Revenue Officer, while Rachel Sutton, previously Head of Brand Partnerships, steps into the role of Director of Brand Partnerships. Both will lead Ocean’s sales division, sit on the UK operating group, and report directly to Shaw.
Gibson joined Ocean more than a decade ago after earlier roles at JCDecaux, Titan and Maiden, and has played a central role in shaping the company’s trading and investment strategy. Sutton also joined the business around the same time, moving from client-side and specialist planning roles at H&M and Kinetic, and has since held several senior positions across sales, marketing and brand partnerships.
Beyond London, Katherine Kershaw has been promoted to Group Head and will lead Ocean’s regional sales team from Manchester. She replaces Keith Crisp, who moves into a new role heading up International Sales, reflecting growing demand from brands entering the UK market.
Further promotions include Matt Tulip becoming Head of Agency Sales and James Marden taking on the role of Head of Planning and Investments, strengthening Ocean’s senior commercial leadership as it continues to invest in its UK estate and product portfolio.
Shaw said the promotions recognise the experience and commitment of the leadership team, highlighting international growth and regional expansion as key priorities. Gibson described 2026 as a pivotal year for Ocean, with significant screen development and new product launches planned, while Sutton pointed to the continued evolution of DOOH as a creative and high-impact channel for advertisers.
The reshuffle signals Ocean Outdoor UK’s focus on scaling revenue, deepening client partnerships, and accelerating growth across both domestic and international markets.
Nuclera extends Series C funding with £8.9m raise to advance AI-enabled antibody discovery
Cambridge and Boston-based biotechnology company Nuclera has secured a further $12 million (£8.9 million) extension to its Series C round, taking total funding to $87 million. The investment was led by Elevage Medical Technologies and Jonathan Milner, with participation from existing backers including the British Business Bank and GK Goh.
The additional capital will be used to expand Nuclera’s eProtein Discovery benchtop system with antibody expression and binding validation capabilities. With Gordon Mcinroy as COO and Co-Founder, this marks a strategic move as the company positions its platform for AI-enabled protein and antibody engineering, addressing growing demand for scalable, high-quality datasets to support next-generation biologics research.
Nuclera’s eProtein Discovery system enables researchers to express, purify, characterise, and validate proteins in-house using an integrated, high-throughput approach. The planned antibody-specific enhancements will allow end-to-end workflows for full-format antibodies, from expression through to binding validation, on a single platform.
Since closing its previous Series C round in 2024, the company has broadened its technology and commercial footprint. This includes launching a membrane protein workflow, expanding access across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, and working with partners such as Cytiva to accelerate protein characterisation. The system has also been deployed at CRO Domainex, marking its first contract research organisation implementation.
Dr Michael Chen, co-founder and CEO of Nuclera, said the funding reflects growing momentum and the company’s ambition to become a foundational platform for protein and antibody engineering, particularly as AI plays a larger role in biologics discovery.
Jonathan Milner, chairman of Nuclera and founder of Abcam, added that the company is tackling one of the major bottlenecks in biologics R&D: the slow and fragmented process of producing high-quality antibodies. By combining cell-free expression, digital microfluidics, and robust screening data, Nuclera aims to reduce time, cost, and uncertainty across early-stage drug discovery.
The funding extension underlines Nuclera’s push to sit at the intersection of wet-lab automation and AI-driven drug development, as demand grows for faster and more reliable biologics research workflows.
N Brown appoints Natalie Rogers as Chief Operating Officer to lead transformation
Manchester-based digital retailer N Brown has appointed Natalie Rogers to the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer, as the group looks to accelerate delivery of its long-term transformation strategy.
Rogers joined N Brown in November 2024 as Chief People and Sustainability Officer and has since played a central role in reshaping the organisation. Her work has included designing and implementing a new operating model and leading a multi-year cultural programme aimed at improving alignment and execution across the business.
In her new role as COO, Rogers will focus on end-to-end operational delivery, with responsibility for ensuring the business is structured to support consistent execution and an improved customer experience. The appointment reflects N Brown’s view that operational efficiency and cultural change are critical foundations for growth.
N Brown operates a portfolio of established retail brands including JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo, alongside a home proposition and an integrated financial services offering that enables customers to spread the cost of purchases.
The group positions itself as a top 10 UK clothing and footwear digital retail platform, with a stated ambition to become the most inclusive retailer in the UK across fashion and home. Founded in Manchester more than 160 years ago, N Brown now employs over 1,400 people across the UK.
The creation of the COO role and Rogers’ appointment underline the retailer’s focus on strengthening execution as it continues to evolve its operating model and customer proposition.
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