Debrief: This week, 16 exciting UK startups raised £146,080,000
UK startups raised serious capital this week, particularly across biotech, healthtech and deep tech. The mix of a major Series A and several strategic awards points to investors backing long-term, infrastructure-heavy innovation rather than quick wins.
Ok, let's jump in:
Healthtech & Biotech — moving lab work closer to patients
This week saw funding directed at clinical-stage therapeutics, diagnostics and digital-health platforms, alongside investments in agricultural biotech that applies AI to speed development of resilient crops. The capital flows share a single purpose: to advance lab research into clinical settings and to bring prevention and monitoring tools closer to patients.
Notable rounds underline that emphasis. Edinburgh’s Trogenix closed a £70 million Series A led by IQ Capital to accelerate its Odysseus precision platform and push lead programmes, including glioblastoma and colorectal liver metastases, towards clinical trials. Owlstone Medical won an award of up to £36.45 million from ARPA-H for its POSEIDON programme to develop at-home, breath- and urine-based multi-cancer early-detection tests. London’s Kneu Health raised £4.18 million in a seed round co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Cedars-Sinai to scale its precision-neurology platform and deploy smartphone-based monitoring for Parkinson’s and dementia. In Dundee, the James Hutton Institute secured £3 million from Scottish Enterprise to build a high-throughput phenotyping facility combining automation, sensors and AI to speed trait discovery for climate-resilient crops.
Taken together, the rounds show a mix of venture and public-backed capital supporting both therapeutic pipelines and prevention technologies. The geographic spread across the UK is notable, and public agencies such as ARPA-H and Scottish Enterprise are playing a direct role in de-risking large translational projects and enabling near-term commercialisation.
This week's Healthtech & Biotech deals:
Trogenix closed a £70m Series A led by IQ Capital with participation from 4BIO Capital and others. The funding will accelerate its Odysseus® precision platform and push lead programmes, including glioblastoma and colorectal liver metastases, towards clinical trials. The company expects first patient dosing for its GBM programme in early 2026.
Owlstone won an award of up to £36.45m from ARPA-H for the POSEIDON programme to develop at-home multi-cancer early detection tests using breath and urine. The project brings academic and industry partners together to build low-cost, non-invasive screening for Stage I tumours. The funding underpins a bid to make routine home testing a reality in the coming decade.
Kneu closed a seed round equivalent to £4.18m co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Cedars-Sinai to scale its precision neurology platform. The funding will accelerate US expansion, scale Parkinson's deployments and advance dementia monitoring using clinically validated smartphone measures. The company already reports efficiency gains in NHS pilots and FDA clearance for a tremor measurement tool.
The James Hutton Institute received a £3m investment from Scottish Enterprise for a high-throughput phenotyping facility within its Advanced Plant Growth Centre. The funding will speed up trait discovery and help breeders bring climate-resilient crops to market faster. The facility combines automation, sensors and AI to model future crop performance.
AI & Automation — commercialising efficiency
Investors continue to target AI and automation startups that promise measurable efficiency gains for enterprises, from software discovery to logistics, asset management and autonomous operations. The focus is on translating models into operational tools that remove friction from established workflows.
Several early-stage rounds illustrate that approach. London’s Dragonfly raised £2.6 million in a pre-seed led by Episode 1 to launch a software-discovery platform and conversational AI that selects and maps tech stacks. Nexcade emerged from stealth with £1.86 million led by Connect Ventures to automate freight forwarding by converting unstructured communications into structured workflows. Mapify secured £1.7 million from Antler to build an AI asset and logistics platform that replaces spreadsheets with visual, natural-language tools for asset managers. And sees.ai raised £3.65 million to scale centralised autonomous drone operations and national BVLOS capability, supporting deployments across National Grid’s transmission network.
The pattern is clear: capital is flowing to both infrastructure plays and workflow automation, with early-stage funds such as Episode 1, Connect Ventures and Antler active. Crucially, customers in critical infrastructure are beginning to validate these use cases, which makes investor appetite for operational AI more selective and outcome-focused.
This week's AI & Automation deals:
Dragonfly raised £2.6m pre-seed to launch its software discovery platform and conversational AI for selecting and mapping tech stacks. Led by Episode 1, the funding will expand data coverage and product features for both individual users and enterprise customers. The company aims to make solutions-architecture expertise instantly accessible.
Nexcade emerged from stealth with £1.86m (pre-seed) led by Connect Ventures to automate freight forwarding with AI. The platform converts unstructured communications into structured workflows to speed quoting and sourcing across global shipments. Funds will be used to grow the commercial team and scale adoption among forwarders.
Mapify secured £1.7m from Antler as part of its London residency to develop an AI-powered asset and logistics platform. The product replaces spreadsheets with visual, natural-language tools to reduce downtime and speed decisions for logistics and asset managers. The funds will accelerate product development and go-to-market activity.
sees.ai raised £3.65m to scale its centralised autonomous drone operations and national BVLOS capability. The round will support deployment across National Grid’s transmission network and expand the company’s fleet and team. The technology enables remote, high-precision inspections of critical infrastructure at scale.
Cybersecurity, Space & Connectivity — hardening networks
Funding is flowing into quantum-resilient encryption, managed detection and response, and specialised communications hardware as telcos, utilities and aerospace customers seek more secure and scalable networks. The emphasis sits equally on software and on the physical components required for national and commercial connectivity.
Recent rounds reflect that mix. Sitehop raised £7.5 million in a round led by Northern Gritstone to scale its hardware-based SAFEseries encryption for quantum-resilient networks after trials at BT’s Gemini facility and early carrier deployments. Leeds-based Talion secured £2 million from existing backers including NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance and Crown Fund to expand managed security services and grow in the UK and US. Durham’s Axenic took £500,000 from NPIF II – Maven Equity Finance and the Finance Durham Fund to increase capacity for optical modulators used in satellite communications, funding equipment purchases and recruitment.
The pattern shows regional hubs responding to national needs: Sheffield, Leeds and Durham are all contributing to fortifying networks and space communications. Investors appear prepared to back solutions that combine field-proven trials with clear routes to near-term commercial roll-out.
This week's Cybersecurity, Space & Connectivity deals:
Sitehop raised £7.5m in a round led by Northern Gritstone to scale its hardware-based SAFEseries™ encryption for quantum-resilient networks. The funds will support production and customer roll-out after successful trials at BT’s Gemini facility and early carrier deployments. The technology targets low-latency, energy-efficient encryption for telco and critical infrastructure customers.
Talion raised £2m from existing backers including NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance and Crown Fund to grow its managed security services for mid-market firms. The funding will extend the company’s UK and US presence and enhance MDR, threat intelligence and incident response offerings. Talion aims to fill a gap between small providers and enterprise players.
Axenic secured £500k from NPIF II – Maven Equity Finance and the Finance Durham Fund to expand capacity for optical modulators used in satellite communications. The funds will support equipment purchases, recruitment and increased production to meet growing demand from satellite and aerospace customers. The company is based at NETPark in Durham.
Greentech & Mobility — scaling green manufacturing
Capital is being directed towards electric heavy-duty vehicles and advanced materials designed to decarbonise transport and supply chains. Investors are prioritising companies that can move from prototype to volume, scale manufacturing and strengthen domestic supply chains.
Two rounds capture that intent. Munro EV secured £2 million from existing investor Elbow Beach to accelerate production of its M-Series electric 4x4s for mining, defence and construction, expand Glasgow production capacity and hire staff to fulfil orders. Bristol’s HTMS raised £1.3 million from regional funds and investors to scale ceramic matrix composites for automotive and aerospace applications, opening a new office and production facility and targeting EV battery casings, exhaust parts and brake components.
The common theme is a shift toward manufacturing scale-up rather than pure R&D. Regional investors are backing industrial projects that promise skilled jobs and exportable technologies, signalling growing appetite for hardware-heavy greentech where domestic production matters.
This week's Greentech & Mobility deals:
Munro EV secured £2m from existing investor Elbow Beach to accelerate production of its M-Series electric 4x4s for mining, defence and construction. The funding will expand Glasgow production capacity to meet orders and support hiring. The vehicles target heavy-duty, off-road applications with long range and high payload capability.
HTMS raised £1.3m from regional funds and investors to scale production of ceramic matrix composites for automotive and aerospace uses. The investment will open a new office and production facility, creating skilled jobs and building a domestic supply chain for high-temperature materials. The team plans to target EV battery casings, exhaust parts and brake components.
Fintech & Marketplaces — targeted, strategic growth
A pair of targeted investments highlights two distinct routes to scale in financial services and marketplaces: venture capital for specialist risk tools, and strategic corporate capital for national expansion. Both approaches aim to supply institutional customers with clearer, more scalable products.
Agio Ratings raised £6 million in a round led by AlbionVC to expand its risk analytics for digital assets, hiring research and engineering talent to scale institutional-grade ratings for exchanges, custodians and lenders. UniHomes announced a strategic investment from Macquarie Capital with LDC reinvesting — the amount was not disclosed — to support national expansion, product development and moves into PBSA and build-to-rent.
The pattern is selective but strategic: venture capital backs specialist risk tooling for banks and insurers entering crypto, while strategic corporate investors provide marketplace businesses with the resources and partnerships needed to broaden their footprint.
This week's Fintech & Marketplaces deals:
Agio Ratings raised £6m in a round led by AlbionVC to expand its risk analytics for digital assets. The company will grow its research and engineering teams to scale institutional-grade risk ratings for exchanges, custodians and lenders. The funding aims to support banks and insurers entering the crypto market with independent risk intelligence.
UniHomes announced a strategic investment from Macquarie Capital with LDC reinvesting, though the amount was not disclosed. The funding will support national expansion, product development and moves into adjacent rental markets such as PBSA and build-to-rent. The company will use the partnership to broaden its marketplace and technology offering.