The Rundown: Edition 64 – ASOS, a new legal sort code, and European protests
Welcome to The Rundown, a snapshot of news, views and intel from the fast-growth tech and investment scene, brought to you by FieldHouse Associates.
While the UK might not be able to say ‘hello’ to the EU again just yet, we can say ‘hello’ to the decade of the female founder.
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Burnham considers defence spending delay
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is considering pushing the defence spending review back to autumn 2027, hoping for a stronger UK economy. This would delay setting out a timetable to raise defence spending to 3% of GDP. The Treasury says no date has been set. Times
ASOS hit by customer data breach
The retailer has issued a warning to customers detailing the full scope of a cyberattack and data breach. Hackers provided stolen samples to the BBC, impersonated an employee to gain login credentials and allegedly used Simon AI/Snowflake to make the attack possible. BBC
“Mob rule” shouldn’t decide government contracts
Lord Tom Watson, Senior VP at Palantir and former Labour deputy leader, has warned UK ministers against yielding to “mob rule” as pressure mounts from Labour MPs and unions to scrap the US tech firm’s government contracts, including a £330 million NHS deal. The Telegraph
OpenAI to start watermarking ChatGPT in the EU
OpenAI is rolling out invisible text watermarking for ChatGPT and Codex to comply with transparency requirements under the EU AI Act. The system subtly alters word choices to allow detection by specialised tools, though OpenAI warns the feature is regional-only and can be bypassed with light editing. TechCrunch
Isomorphic Labs eyes $40bn+ valuation
Isomorphic Labs, which spun out of Google DeepMind with the goal of building upon the lab’s breakthrough AlphaFold protein-folding model, is in early talks to raise funds at a valuation of at least $40 billion. The company, run by DeepMind founder Sir Demis Hassabis, raised $2.1 billion in a Series B round earlier this year. Bloomberg
Universal Quantum raises $100m Series A
The University of Sussex spinout, which is building large scale quantum computing systems, has raised $100 million in a Series A round co-led by DCVC and Firgun Ventures, with participation from EDBI, Integral GlobalTech, NGS Super, IAG Capital, EdenBase, Eigenstate Holdings and SiteGround Capital. Tech.EU
Sava Technologies secures $36m Series B
Sava Technologies, which is developing a sensor aimed at eliminating the need for fingerstick glucose tests, has raised $36 million in a Series B round led by Ascensia, a global diabetes care company. The round brings the company’s total funding to $68 million. Tech Funding News
Konsileo raises £5m from Committed Capital, ACF Investors
The insurance startup that arranges commercial insurance for businesses across the UK, has raised £5 million in investment led by Committed Capital, together with ACF Investors. Soapbox.VC
PISCES growth continues
The London Stock Exchange’s new private market venue, PISCES, completed another auction as Veremark facilitated £6.5 million in secondary share sales. The LSE hopes the platform will help startups scale and encourage future listings, but exchange managers say it is too early to expand until a longer track record is established. Wall Street Journal
Stop! In the name of British innovation
London Stock Exchange chief exec Dame Julia Hoggett is pushing for market reforms to stop British companies from moving their listings overseas. She urges greater incentives for domestic investment, warning that negative perceptions and lower valuations risk weakening the UK’s financial market. BBC
Hasta la vista, Friday afternoon fraud
Legacy payment infrastructure creates severe bottlenecks and security risks in UK property transactions, leaving buyers stranded and causing millions in losses to “Friday afternoon fraud.” To solve this, Kord has launched Kord Custody – the UK’s first dedicated legal sort code, which decouples legal settlements from traditional banking hours to enable instant, 24/7 transactions. The Fintech Times
Expand your (tech and investment) horizons
Dame Anne Glover, CEO of Amadeus Capital Partners, argues that Britain’s innovation economy reaches far beyond the Golden Triangle, with top-tier deeptech clusters thriving across regional universities and cities. Investors must look outside established hubs and provide regional talent with the specialised capital required to scale locally. UKTN
This week, Prime Minister Andy Burnham delivered a speech at the Innovation Nation Summit in Manchester, in which he unveiled a new law to stop non-compete clauses. Elsewhere (in Birmingham to be exact) the Conservative Party Conference wrapped up with a pitch for lower taxes, less regulation and stronger national security. Alongside proposals to simplify the tax system and remove barriers to development, the Tories unveiled ‘Britannia Shield‘, a proposed £10 billion air defence network designed to counter modern drone threats. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also ruled out an electoral alliance with Reform UK as she sought to establish a clearer direction for the Party.
Beyond the conference speeches, this week brought developments in healthcare AI, cyber security and financial regulation:
Government backs healthcare AI reforms
The Government accepted all 44 recommendations from the National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare. Plans include monitoring AI medical devices throughout their working life, while applications opened for the next phase of the MHRA’s AI Airlock regulatory sandbox. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
UK and Germany strengthen cyber cooperation
The UK and Germany announced a partnership to counter cyberattacks, sabotage and threats to critical infrastructure. They will share information and coordinate action to identify and disrupt hostile activity, alongside closer cooperation on investment and industrial innovation. Prime Minister’s Office
FCA signals next steps for digital finance
The FCA has said it will publish a joint roadmap for tokenisation in wholesale markets in the coming weeks. In a speech this week, it also highlighted AI and private company share trading as central to its programme of capital markets reform. Financial Conduct Authority
As defence tech has evolved from taboo or afterthought into urgent investment priority, we (with our FieldHouse Associates hat on) hosted a dinner, alongside our sponsor Oxcap – a leading global industrials and defence advisory firm – to address a critical question: “Defence: Shunned for 20 years, is there a defence bubble already?” Moderated by London Defence Conference Founder Iain Martin, the evening explored how recent UK policy commitments to NATO, AI, and defence spending will play out in practice. While we have to keep things hush-hush under Chatham House rules, we can say that Europe still spends too much time negotiating legislation, instead of growing and funding businesses. Will we always be chasing the US as a result?
It has been quite the week for protests. From anti-AI campaigners calling for AI firms to ‘pull the plug’ on the tech to students in France demanding better education conditions to housing-related demonstrations in Spain and an ensuing snap election, citizens are trying to effect change. All it takes is one person. Just look at what Ascot residents have organised in response to Coombe Lane Woods, near Sunningdale, being divided into plots and sold to private investors. How about some unrelated easy listening to get you through the weekend? ‘I Predict a Riot’ by the Kaiser Chiefs, anyone? For legal purposes, we must declare that we are not, in fact, trying to incite a riot.