The entrepreneurs behind two of the UK's most successful hospitality tech businesses have joined forces to launch a new venture that aims to reshape hospitality recruitment.

Sam Brown and Nick Holroyd-Doveton have raised £785,000 to further develop their matchmaking platform, Candid Hospitality. The funding came from NPIF II - Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia Ventures and part of the Northern Powerhouse Fund II (NPIF II), Haatch and an angel investor, and marks the first NPIF II equity investment in Hull.

Appacut, the UK's leading mobile barbering platform, has raised £600k in seed funding to accelerate its national expansion, led by musicMagpie co-founder Steve Oliver, who joins as Non-Executive Chair.

Glyde, the currency platform that empowers individuals and businesses to send, receive and convert money on their own terms, has secured £450,000 in pre-seed funding led by Fuel Ventures. The investment will be used to grow Glyde's engineering team, accelerate product development, and expand adoption across the UK and internationally.

Antler Bio, an AgriTech company transforming dairy farming with gene expression technology, has announced a $4.3 million investment to scale its world-first EpiHerd system. Operating across key European markets including the UK, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, EpiHerd provides farmers with a unique understanding of their cows' health. Using advanced data analytics, the technology interprets how a cow's genes respond to its environment, detecting stress and nutritional imbalances, and helping farmers take proactive measures that improve wellbeing and increase milk yield, ultimately boosting farm profitability.

Blocktype, the residential planning platform helping to unlock the UK's housing pipeline, has announced a new round of investment led by Fuel Ventures to support the scaling of its data-driven planning solution. The pre-seed funding will be used to accelerate growth, expand partnerships, and support local authorities and developers in tackling one of the UK's most urgent challenges: building the right homes, in the right places, at the right time.

Simplisales, the AI-powered commerce and ERP platform for wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers, has closed a $500,00 pre-seed funding round. The round was led by SFC Capital. Startup Wise Guys and Wise Angels, first believers in Simplisales' vision back in 2023, also participated-bringing the company's total funding to $500,000.

Paapi, a next-generation Ad Measurement Platform, has closed a £420,000 pre-seed funding round led by SFC Capital, the UK's most active early-stage investor. The initial round was oversubscribed by 20%.

Paapi is tackling one of adtech's biggest challenges: giving brands a clear and independent view of cross channel advertising ROI-without relying on the platforms marking their own homework. Paapi offers a cost-effective solution that connects spend to performance across channels, campaigns and creatives.

Teal, the payroll data platform building financial data solutions for the credit industry, has raised £1.4 million in pre-seed funding led by Passion Capital

Foresight Group has invested £3 million in Ad Signal, a provider of content intelligence for the media and entertainment industry.

Foresight's investment will allow the Company to accelerate the rollout of new products and expand its commercial footprint, capitalising on growing demand from broadcasters, platforms and post-production houses seeking more efficient, cost-effective content management solutions.

Valla, the trailblazing legal platform placing employment rights back into workers' hands, has secured £2 million in seed funding to democratise access to justice for millions across the UK. The funding was backed by top global VCs and angel investors including Tom Blomfield, Ada Ventures, Active Partners, and Portfolio Ventures.

Motion, a London-based care technology startup, has closed a funding round of over £250,000 to accelerate the digital transformation of UK care homes. 

PlaySafe ID, the platform for gamers that keeps cheaters, hackers, bots, and predators out of games, has raised $1.12M (€1 million) in pre-seed funding to bring trust, fairness, and accountability to gaming communities, without compromising player privacy or freedom.

The round was led by Early Game Ventures, with participation from Hartmann Capital and Overwolf. The raised capital will fuel rapid expansion and strategic platform integrations, as the company gears up for a major go-to-market push and targets 250,000+ users in the coming months.