Mid-Week Tech News Roundup – September 22nd to September 26th 2025
22 Sept, 20256 minutesTide Hits $1.5bn Valuation with $120m Funding RoundLondon-based fintech Tide has reache...
Tide Hits $1.5bn Valuation with $120m Funding Round
London-based fintech Tide has reached unicorn status, securing $120m (£88.8m) in fresh funding and a new valuation of $1.5bn.
Founded in 2015, Tide provides SMEs with business accounts, banking services, and administrative tools. The company already serves more than 800,000 customers across the UK, Germany, and India, and plans to use the investment to accelerate international expansion and product innovation.
Chief executive Oliver Prill said:
“This investment will fuel product innovation and means we can broaden and deepen our offering, helping our members everywhere save time and money. Tide is already adopting AI at pace, and the investment will allow us to accelerate this.”
The round was led by TPG’s Rise Funds, with continued support from existing investor Apax Digital Funds.
Yemi Lalude, Partner at TPG, added:
“Financial inclusion remains a global challenge for the millions of small businesses that are vital to economic growth and resilience. Tide has built an industry-leading platform that empowers sole traders, micro-enterprises, and small firms with tailored products.”
With new backing and a sharpened focus on AI, Tide is positioning itself to expand its reach while helping SMEs save time, cut costs, and scale with confidence.
ZILO Raises $27m to Bring AI Into Asset & Wealth Management
London-based startup ZILO has secured a $27m (£20m) Series A extension as it looks to expand its AI-driven software for asset and wealth management.
Founded in 2023 by Philip Goffin, ZILO builds global transfer agency software — technology that keeps track of investor records and processes transactions. In just two years, it has already won over some of the industry’s biggest names.
“Since we went live in 2023 with our proprietary platform, ZILO Global Core, we have successfully secured and onboarded two of the top five global custodians and a top five global asset manager within a relatively short period, demonstrating the institutional confidence in our platform to deliver industry changing efficiencies,” said Goffin, founder and CEO.
Looking ahead, Goffin is focused on both growth and innovation:
“We see strong pipeline growth for 2025 and 2026, with focus on onboarding new clients and launching innovative products. I would like to thank all our existing investors and the team at ZILO for their support in this funding round.”
The round was led by Portage, an investment group specialising in fintech and financial services. Its co-founder and CEO Adam Felesky backed ZILO’s potential:
“There is rising demand in the wider market for modern platforms that can offer a truly global experience, support for emerging asset classes and enterprise-grade controls. ZILO’s success of partnering with leading global custodians since inception speaks to their differentiated technology.”
Other backers included State Street, existing shareholders and management.
LADbible Founder Backs Manchester AI Startup Veridox in £1m Round
Manchester-based InsurTech Veridox has raised £1 million to expand its AI platform for tackling fraudulent insurance claims — with investment from Solly Solomou, founder and CEO of LADbible, through his Solo Investments Holdings vehicle. The round was led by Outward VC.
Insurance fraud is estimated to cost European insurers €13 billion a year, much of it slipping through undetected. Veridox’s software uses AI to analyse documents and images linked to insurance claims, spotting possible tampering and explaining the reasoning behind each flag.
Founder Dan Sandler, a former solicitor who previously co-founded and exited hospitality payments app Tabb, explained the challenge:
“Document and image fraud is no new challenge for insurers; we can only estimate what the real cost of it is because so many successful fraudulent claims naturally go undetected.
What we do know is that AI is enabling even ‘novices’ to produce more convincing fakes, which typically require intensive manual analysis by fraud investigators to uncover.
Our mission is to help insurers make more informed decisions on fraud faster, which we do by offering reasoning behind why a document presents a risk of fraud to guide their investigation.
This explainability sets us apart, and our development partners are already seeing the benefits. So, we look forward to using our funding to bring the Veridox platform to the general market.”
Sandler has teamed up again with Joey Clover, his co-founder at Tabb, who now serves as CTO of Veridox. The startup employs 13 people and already works with 15 leading insurers, including several of the UK’s largest.
In one pilot with a $3bn insurer, Veridox’s minimum viable product uncovered £50,000 of fraud within seconds.
Sanchit Dhote, principal at lead investor Outward VC, said:
“When facing such a monumental challenge as insurance fraud in the AI era, Veridox has the potential not just to reshape its market, but to set a new standard in fraud detection.
Its early traction with tier one insurers and law firms shows just how urgently the industry needs tools that actually help investigators detect and stop fraud.”
With Solomou, Dhote, and other backers onboard, Veridox plans to invest in product and sales expansion as it gears up for a wider launch.
Huddersfield’s Holdson Secures £1.5m to Scale Electroform™ Technology
Huddersfield-based advanced manufacturing specialist Holdson has raised £1.5 million to expand its patented electroform™ process, with backing led by The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II).
The funding will help Holdson scale production of its electroform™ post-processing devices and supply industries including aerospace, defence, automotive and nuclear fusion.
CEO Aaron Holt explained why the technology is attracting global attention:
“The additive and related industries have reached a point where the conversation has shifted from ‘how do we make this?’ to ‘how do we make it better?’
Customers want stronger, more efficient, more reliable components, produced in greater volumes and with ever more complex designs.
electroform™ delivers those gains while staying competitive on cost, and that’s why we’re seeing such strong adoption from OEMs.”
Holdson raised £500,000 of the total from NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, managed by Praetura Ventures (soon to be PXN Group, subject to FCA approval), alongside further investment from Oval Investments and Singapore VC firm SANDS, which brings strategic links into Asian and international markets.
Laurence Tan, investment associate at Praetura Ventures, said:
“The advanced manufacturing space is critical to a number of key industries, including the automotive, aerospace and defence sectors, where vital parts and components are growing more complex with each passing year.
Holdson is an example of a thriving Northern company that’s making these innovations possible.
The company has the talent and the technology to continue scaling globally, and we’re pleased to be backing the team on their journey with NPIF II funding to supercharge their growth.”
Founded in 2023 through a collaboration between engineers, entrepreneurs, and Huddersfield’s Cummins Turbo Technologies, Holdson has grown to a team of 18 people in just two years. The company now serves customers across the UK, Europe, the US, and Asia.
Aruga Cyber Expands South as Veteran-Founded Firm Marks Transformational First Year
Manchester-based cyber security company Aruga Cyber, founded by British military veterans David Taylor and Daniel Long, has opened a new hub in Luton, Bedfordshire, as it celebrates its first year in business.
In just 12 months, the company has:
- Grown its team to six people
- Secured more than 10 enterprise clients
- Launched AI-powered automation that contains threats in just 60 seconds
- Delivered fully managed SOC services and SME-focused offerings
- Built a growing partnership programme to deliver white-labelled services via IT providers and cyber consultancies
Headquartered at the Greater Manchester Digital Security Hub (DiSH), Aruga is positioning itself as one of the UK’s most innovative SOC providers.
David Taylor, managing director and former Royal Navy submariner with over 20 years’ defence and cyber experience, said:
“The past year has been transformational for Aruga Cyber, and we’re now on track to double revenue in the next 12 months.
We’ve shown that real-time, enterprise-grade cyber defence doesn’t need to come with enterprise-level cost or complexity.
Cyber security shouldn’t be a luxury reserved for big corporations. Our free Cyber Compass is designed to level the playing field, enabling businesses of all sizes to understand and mitigate their risks. Drawing from our military background of protecting and serving, our mission is to democratise cyber security and give every organisation the tools to defend itself in today’s fast-changing digital world.”
Aruga’s growth has already seen it play a role on the international stage, joining Greater Manchester’s delegation as the city signed a Sister City Agreement with Osaka, Japan earlier this year.
Next, the company will launch its free Cyber Compass gap analysis tool, giving businesses instant, AI-powered cyber resilience evaluations, traditionally a service costing thousands and requiring days of expert input.
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