Mid-Week Tech News Roundup – January 19th to January 23rd 2026
19 Jan, 20266 minutesPlanixs appoints former Mastercard and GoCardless president as board advisorManchester-based...
Planixs appoints former Mastercard and GoCardless president as board advisor
Manchester-based fintech Planixs has appointed Paul Stoddart, former president at Mastercard and GoCardless, as a board advisor to support its next phase of growth.
Stoddart will focus on guiding Planixs’ expansion into the payment schemes market, with particular emphasis on instant payments. His appointment comes as financial institutions and payment service providers respond to increasing regulatory and operational demands around real-time payments infrastructure.
Planixs is best known for its Realiti platform, which provides real-time, enterprise-wide liquidity intelligence for banks and financial institutions. The company launched instant payments functionality within Realiti in August last year, enabling payment service providers to support Europe’s SEPA Instant Payments regulation while maintaining visibility and control over intraday liquidity.
Founded in 2011, Planixs works with major global banks including Santander, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest and Scotiabank. Its technology is used to help institutions manage intraday liquidity risk, meet regulatory requirements such as BCBS 248, and reduce the cost of liquidity buffers through real-time insight across cash, securities and other assets.
Neville Roberts, founder and CEO of Planixs, said Stoddart’s experience at the centre of global payment scheme innovation would be valuable as the company extends its real-time liquidity capabilities across banking, payments infrastructure and adjacent markets.
The advisory appointment reflects Planixs’ continued focus on instant payments and real-time treasury as adoption accelerates across Europe and beyond, positioning the company to support banks and payment providers operating in increasingly time-critical financial ecosystems.
Stream raises $90m Series D to fund US expansion
UK fintech Stream, formerly known as Wagestream, has secured $90 million in Series D funding to support its expansion into the US market.
The round was led by Sofina, with participation from Better Society Capital and existing backers including Balderton Capital, Northzone, LocalGlobe and the British Business Bank.
Founded in 2018 by CEO Peter Briffett and Portman Wills, Stream focuses on employee financial wellbeing, offering tools such as earned wage access, budgeting and spending insights, discounts, cashback, and support with claiming government benefits. Employees can access up to 50 percent of their earned pay before payday, aimed at reducing reliance on high-cost credit.
The business rebranded from Wagestream in September 2025 and now partners with more than 2,000 employers including Hilton, Bupa and Burger King. Stream says it has supported over four million employees across the UK, Europe and the US.
The latest funding brings Stream’s total capital raised to $228 million. This follows a $175 million Series C round in 2022, a £17.5 million raise in 2024, and a £300 million debt facility secured with Citi last year to support its Workplace Loan product.
Stream plans to use the Series D funding to accelerate its US rollout, which Briffett has described as a capital-intensive expansion. The company is also investing further in its pensions offering, launched in 2025 following the acquisition of pensions technology firm Zippen, alongside exploring additional long-term savings products.
Looking ahead, Stream has indicated it is working towards profitability by the end of 2026 and is considering a potential IPO, although the timing and listing venue have yet to be decided.
Northamber appoints Darren Spence as Group Managing Director
UK IT distributor Northamber has appointed Darren Spence as Group Managing Director, marking a key step in the company’s plans to accelerate growth and modernise its distribution model.
With more than four decades of heritage, Northamber is one of the UK’s longest-established distributors, known for its long-standing relationships across the reseller channel. Spence’s appointment signals a renewed focus on strengthening the company’s value-added proposition and positioning Northamber as a destination partner for both resellers and talent.
Spence brings over 27 years of experience in the IT channel, spanning senior leadership roles across distribution, reseller services and consultancy. Prior to joining Northamber, he was Chief Revenue Officer at Smartbox.ai and previously served as Managing Director of Bytes Document Solutions. He is also the founder of Boost Technology Group and has advised a range of channel organisations on sales and go-to-market transformation.
Alex Phillips, Executive Chairman of Northamber, said the appointment strengthens the group’s leadership as it enters its next phase. He highlighted Spence’s operational focus and commercial discipline as key to Northamber’s ambition to be a proactive, value-led distributor across AV, unified communications, cyber security and network infrastructure.
Spence said he is joining the business at a pivotal point in its evolution, with a focus on clearly demonstrating the value a modern distributor can bring. He added that his aim is to make Northamber both a destination employer and a distributor that resellers actively choose to work with.
Ian Kilpatrick, non-executive director and strategic adviser at Northamber, described the appointment as an important milestone in the company’s transformation journey, noting Spence’s breadth of experience as the business looks to expand in the UK and internationally.
Founded in 1980, Northamber supplies a wide range of technology solutions to the UK reseller community and is continuing to evolve its offering with a growing emphasis on value-added services and deeper partner engagement.
Xiatech partners with Databricks to accelerate analytics and AI adoption
UK technology company Xiatech has announced a new partnership with Databricks, becoming a Built on Databricks partner as it looks to help organisations move faster from raw data to analytics, AI applications and agent-based systems.
As part of the partnership, Xiatech has embedded Databricks directly into its Xfuze platform, aiming to reduce the complexity many organisations face when preparing data for advanced analytics and AI use cases. The combined approach is designed to help teams achieve AI-ready, governed data more quickly, while extending the value of existing legacy systems.
Alongside the partnership, Xiatech has launched the Xfuze Accelerator for Databricks, a pre-built solution designed to give customers a single, trusted view of analytics- and AI-ready data. The accelerator automates data integration and transformation from multiple systems, feeding a continuous, governed data foundation into the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform.
Jonathan Summerfield, CEO of Xiatech, said the collaboration brings together two complementary platforms to shorten time-to-value for customers, helping them move from analytics through to AI apps and agents in a matter of days rather than months.
From Databricks’ side, Heather Akuiyibo, VP of GTM Integration, said the partnership addresses one of the biggest barriers to AI adoption by unifying system integration, data management and analytics into a single cloud-native workflow.
Xiatech’s Xfuze platform brings together system integration, data management, orchestration and analytics in one architecture, using smart connectors, event-driven data streaming and a unified data repository to create what the company describes as a single ‘golden truth’. By integrating this foundation with Databricks, the partnership is positioned to help organisations activate data more effectively for reporting, predictive intelligence and AI-driven applications.
While working closely with Databricks, Xiatech says it will remain technology-agnostic, continuing to integrate partner technologies into Xfuze based on customer needs. The move reflects a broader push to simplify enterprise data stacks as organisations look to operationalise AI at scale rather than experiment in isolated pilots.
Microsoft and University of Manchester strike world-first AI partnership
The University of Manchester has announced a landmark strategic partnership with Microsoft, becoming the first university in the world to provide Microsoft 365 Copilot access and training to its entire community of students and staff.
The agreement will see around 65,000 students, academics and professional services colleagues gain access to Microsoft 365 Copilot as part of a university-wide rollout scheduled for completion by summer 2026. Alongside access to the tools, the programme includes structured training focused on effective, ethical and responsible use of AI.
The partnership was announced by Darren Hardman, CEO of Microsoft UK & Ireland, and Jenn Hallam, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students at the University of Manchester. It forms a central part of the University’s broader digital and AI transformation strategy, which aims to build long-term AI literacy rather than simply deploy new technology.
By offering universal access, the University is seeking to address the emerging digital divide, ensuring that all students can benefit from advanced AI-powered productivity and assistive tools regardless of background or personal means. The initiative is also designed to strengthen graduate employability, with employers increasingly expecting confidence in the use of AI tools in the workplace.
Researchers across the University will be able to use Copilot to reduce time spent on routine tasks, accelerate data analysis and explore interdisciplinary ideas more efficiently. The University highlighted early use cases where AI is already supporting research in areas such as healthcare, life sciences, sustainability and manufacturing.
The announcement also builds on Manchester’s long-standing association with artificial intelligence, stretching back to Alan Turing’s work at the University more than 70 years ago. Today, more than 1,600 researchers across the institution are engaged in AI-related work across multiple disciplines.
Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, said the partnership reflects a responsibility not only to adopt AI tools, but to shape how they are developed and applied for public good. Darren Hardman added that the collaboration pairs Manchester’s deep AI heritage with responsible adoption, helping to equip people with skills needed for an AI-enabled economy.
The rollout will be delivered in collaboration with the Students’ Union, trade unions and staff networks, with an emphasis on transparency, sustainability and responsible AI governance.
Manchester-based Anzen Industries raises £1.7m pre-seed to advance biomanufacturing technology
Manchester-based biomanufacturing startup Anzen Industries has secured £1.7 million in pre-seed funding to support the development of its cell-free enzyme technology, adding another deep tech name to the North West’s growing innovation ecosystem.
The funding round, led by LocalGlobe with participation from Creator Fund, will be used to accelerate the commercialisation of Anzen’s biomanufacturing platform. The company is developing enzyme reactor technology, immobilisation techniques and AI-led design tools aimed at improving how chemicals are produced at industrial scale.
Anzen’s approach focuses on making chemical manufacturing more efficient, resilient and cost-effective. By rethinking how critical molecules are engineered, the technology has potential applications across sectors including food production, pharmaceuticals and advanced materials.
Led by Pedro Lovatt Garcia, alongside a founding team with deep scientific and engineering expertise. Co-founder and CEO Amy Locks said Europe’s strong research base had helped the company move from scientific discovery to a viable commercial venture, while future growth is expected to involve closer engagement with global industrial ecosystems.
Investors highlighted the broader significance of the work. Julia Hawkins, general partner at LocalGlobe, described re-industrialisation as a defining theme of the decade and pointed to Anzen’s technology as an example of how manufacturing processes can be rebuilt from first principles to strengthen global supply chains.
With fresh funding in place, Anzen Industries is positioning itself as an early-stage player in the fast-growing biomanufacturing and deep tech space, as it looks to scale its technology beyond the UK and into international markets.
Elyos AI raises €11.1m Series A to scale AI agents for trades and field services
London-based startup Elyos AI has raised €11.1 million ($13 million) in Series A funding to accelerate product development and support international expansion as demand grows for AI-driven automation in the trades and field services sector.
The round was led by Blackbird Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and Pi Labs. The latest raise brings Elyos AI’s total funding to €13.7 million ($16 million).
Founded in 2023 by Adrian Johnston, Philippa Brown and Panos Stravopodis through the Y Combinator programme, Elyos AI builds AI agents designed specifically for trades businesses such as plumbers, electricians, HVAC providers and facilities operators.
The platform automates customer-facing workflows including inbound calls, missed-call handling, job bookings, dispatch, outbound follow-ups and email communication. Elyos AI integrates directly with industry-standard field service and CRM systems, allowing businesses to capture more jobs while reducing administrative overhead.
Co-founder Adrian Johnston said the company is addressing a major bottleneck in the sector, where missed calls and slow responses translate directly into lost revenue. He described Elyos AI’s agents as functioning like always-on front-office staff that can answer every call and book every job.
According to the company, customers using Elyos AI have reported higher booking rates, faster response times and significant reductions in missed calls. Blackbird Ventures’ James Palmer said Elyos AI is targeting a large vertical market and highlighted strong customer adoption and product performance as indicators of its potential to define a new AI category for trades and field services.
The new funding will be used to expand Elyos AI’s engineering and go-to-market teams, deepen integrations with field service CRMs, and roll out new AI agent capabilities across voice, email and messaging, with international expansion planned for 2026.
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