Weekly funding recap — £572,564,000 raised (2025-09-29 to 2025-10-03)
It's Friday, 3 October, and this is your UK Startup Funding Report.
It was a blockbuster week for UK startups, with £573 million raised across 25 companies. The standout? A monster AI infrastructure deal, but there was plenty of action across fintech, healthtech, greentech and more.
AI infrastructure leads funding
Infrastructure and tooling for AI dominated funding this week, from large-scale compute and storage to agent platforms and enterprise data tooling. Investors appear to be backing the layers that let AI scale in research and business, not just the models themselves.
The pattern is clear in several London-led rounds. Nscale closed a £322.03 million round backed by Blue Owl, NVIDIA, Dell and Nokia to accelerate its AI infrastructure offerings and international expansion. Paid raised £15.67 million in a Lightspeed-led round to expand tooling for AI workloads and scale operations from London. Data platform GoodFit secured £9.6 million led by Notion Capital and Salica Investments to grow data tooling and enterprise adoption, while agent platform Trig took £4.46 million in a round led by 20VC with Frontline Ventures to advance its product and commercial expansion.
Although the largest tickets skew towards London, regional plays such as Manchester-based PEAK:AIO in storage underline that activity is not confined to the capital. Overall, established VCs and strategic corporate backers are doubling down on the infrastructure layers that support wider AI deployment.
This week's AI deals:
GoodFit raised £9.6 million in a round led by Notion Capital and Salica Investments.
Trig raised £4.46 million in a round led by 20VC.
Fintech: bank facilities and strategic checks
Traditional and embedded finance deals continued to attract sizeable growth capital this week, spanning bank-backed facilities and venture rounds. These investments support expansion of lending, payments and embedded products across the UK.
Birmingham-based Love Finance raised £45 million from Paragon Bank and LGB Capital Markets to expand its lending and savings products nationally. London payments platform Bite Stream closed an £18.5 million round led by NewSpring Growth to boost product development and customer acquisition. Insurtech Rehuman received an investment from Accenture Ventures to help scale its AI-powered engagement platform and digital wallet; terms were not disclosed.
The mix of large facilities and strategic corporate checks shows both incumbents and growth investors remain active in the finance sector.
This week's Fintech deals:
Bite Stream raised £18.5 million in a round led by NewSpring Growth.
Rehuman raised Undisclosed in a round led by Accenture Ventures.
Healthtech splits focus between AI care and biotech spinouts
Investors are dividing their bets between AI-driven care platforms and early-stage biotech spinouts, backing both digital patient-facing products and clinical R&D. That balance reflects appetite for software-led scale alongside longer-term laboratory work.
Simple Life raised £25.97 million in a round led by Hartbeat Ventures and Liquidity, with celebrity backing from Kevin Hart, funds it will use to scale AI-driven coaching and broaden its user base. Veterinary AI operating system Lupa secured £14.84 million led by Singular with Firstminute Capital to accelerate product development and clinic partnerships. Cambridge healthtech NoBACZ took £4.8 million in a round led by The Yield Lab with Adjuvo to support clinical development and commercial rollout of its antimicrobial solutions, while Nottingham spinout Forge Genetics raised £2 million from Midlands Engine Investment Fund II and Mercia Ventures to advance its genetics platform.
The result is a patient-focused software cohort alongside regionally concentrated biotech activity in Cambridge and the Midlands.
This week's Healthtech & Biotech deals:
Simple Life raised £25.97 million in a round led by Hartbeat Ventures and Liquidity.
Forge Genetics raised £2 million in a round.
Greentech funding spans aviation, grid flexibility and sustainable fashion
Startups targeting cleaner energy and sustainable materials picked up funding this week, from aviation-focused greentech to grid-flexibility and sustainable fashion tech. These rounds indicate investor interest across sectors that can cut emissions or improve resource use.
Oxford-based OXCCU raised £20.89 million from a syndicate including IAGiVentures and Orlen VC to support greentech development for cleaner aviation and industrial applications. Energy startup Boldr took £2.38 million with Ada Ventures and Viva Holdings among others to accelerate work turning residential HVAC systems into grid-flexibility assets. Fashion-tech ZERØTEC raised £642,000 in a round led by Bethnal Green Ventures with SFC Capital to further product development and sustainable materials work.
The deals range from sizeable strategic raises to smaller, mission-driven rounds, reflecting diverse investor appetites in greentech.
This week's Greentech & Energy deals:
Category specialists attract varied growth capital
A diverse group of specialists raised capital across edtech, ecommerce, blockchain and HRtech this week, showing steady appetite for both growth-stage and early product bets. These rounds fund scaling, new features and integrations in sectors with clear revenue paths.
Marketplace Nivoda secured a £44.62 million facility from i80 Group with support from Northzone to finance growth and inventory as it scales its ecommerce platform. Edtech MyEdSpace raised £11.2 million in a round led by White Star Capital with Educapital to expand its platform for schools and accelerate product development. Blockchain startup fan3 took £3.71 million from Improbable to tackle ticketing fraud and deepen integrations with major ticketing platforms, while Glasgow-based Willo raised £3 million from Mimecast co-founder Peter Bauer to support product development and growth of its hiring platform.
The mix of institutional facilities, venture rounds and prominent angel or strategic backers underscores the variety of funding routes available across categories.
This week's Other (Edtech, Ecommerce, Blockchain, HRtech) deals:
MyEdSpace raised £11.2 million in a round led by White Star Capital.
Willo raised £3 million in a round led by Peter Bauer.
🎧 That's this week's Startupmag Weekly Briefing.
See you next Friday for another look at the UK startup scene.