SCI Semiconductor, a UK start-up that aims to win the race to develop the world's first ‘memory safe' computer chip has raised £2.5m in a funding round led by Mercia Ventures.

Persi, the fashion-tech start-up determined to repair what it calls the "broken" state of online personalisation, has closed a £660,000 pre-seed fundraising round that was twice oversubscribed. Institutional B2B Investor Haatch and ESM Investments led the raise, while the final £50,000 was deliberately reserved for female angel investors.

Rivan, a company enabling energy security through synthetic fuels, has raised £10 million in funding led by Plural, with participation from 20VC, NFDG (Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross), and prominent angel investors Patrick and John Collison (Stripe). The capital will be used for R&D on Rivan's electrolyser, direct-air-capture (DAC) and Sabatier reactor modules, as well as scaling its pilot plant up to 1MW.

Green Angel Ventures has backed Sention Technologies in its latest seed round, bringing the company's total funding to £3.7 million as it commercialises its battery diagnostics technologies.

Wull Technologies, a joint venture between Manchester-based Vector Labs and Wool Insulation Wales, has received backing from the University of Manchester Innovation Factory and Greater Manchester Combined Authority's GM Advance fund. Each has invested £150,000 in the business.

Doubleword, the leading self-hosted inference platform for enterprises, has completed a $12m Series A led by Dawn Capital.

Martello, the AI-powered platform reimagining how environmental and property risks are assessed during conveyancing, has raised £1.2 million in a funding round led by Fuel Ventures. The round also includes participation from strategic angel investors with deep expertise in environmental searches and property law.

The British Business Bank has made the first investment under its new co-investment strategy as part of its £285m Regional Angels Programme to Wales-based Space Forge, a company that utilises the space environment to manufacture advanced semiconductor materials for critical infrastructure, ensuring more powerful and resilient capabilities across telecommunications, aerospace, and quantum. Space Forge's £22.6m series A round was led by NATO Innovation Fund.

A new report from one of the UK's most prolific VC firms, Fuel Ventures, has revealed fresh insights into the thousands of startup pitches they receive each year after ten years in business. Now averaging around 6,000 incoming pitches a year-equivalent to one every 88 minutes-Fuel Ventures has taken a deep dive into a decade's worth of data to share what these pitches say about the current state of entrepreneurship.

Everybody Counts, the UK-based EdTech social enterprise delivering inclusive, AI-powered maths education, has raised £500,000 in the latest phase of its £1.9 million seed funding round. The investment, led by Fuel Ventures with support from industry angels, will accelerate the global rollout of its personalised learning platform designed to close the maths attainment gap for all learners.

Ulla Technology Ltd. has secured £500,000 to unveil Ulla, an AI-powered assistant designed to revolutionise meeting management. The innovative tool transforms how businesses in law, government, accounting, and corporate services manage meetings, enhancing productivity while prioritising data security with a privacy-first approach.

Bristol-based renewable energy company Cepro has raised £335,000 angel investment to accelerate its mission to decarbonise and decentralise home energy and shake up the energy industry in the process.