UK payments startup yetipay has raised £3.5 million to continue the expansion of its all-in-one payments platform and introduce new products to its growing base of independent and enterprise hospitality and retail customers, including Brewdog, Pho, Grasso Soho, Kütchenhaus and Zenith.

Bulgaria: Paypercut has secured €2 million in pre-seed funding to simplify Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) for small businesses across Central and Eastern Europe.

Estonia: Jälle Technologies, an Estonian deeptech startup, has raised €2 million in pre-seed funding to advance it mission of transforming end-of-life lithium-ion batteries into critical raw materials. The round was backed by grant support from Enterprise Estonia (EIS) and the Environmental Investment Centre (KIK) with participations from Kiilto Ventures, 2C Ventures, and experienced angel investors.

Startup JammJar is coming out of stealth with a platform designed to overhaul how mortgage brokers operate—by eliminating the admin that slows them down. With backing from early-stage investors Haatch and the British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund via fund manager The FSE Group, the company is launching publicly with a goal to become the Al operating system for the UK's mortgage advice industry. 

Chorus, the provider of innovative digital training solutions for frontline workers, has raised £710,000 funding co-led by Ufi Ventures, the UK's specialist investor in adult EdTech, and Haatch, a prominent early-stage venture fund with additional investment secured from the Stakeholderz Syndicate angel group.

South Africa: Five years after crypto exchange Luno was acquired by crypto-focused venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG), its Co-Founder Carel van Wyk is coming out of stealth with MoneyBadger to make money better by helping major South African retailers and payment processors accept Bitcoin and crypto payments.

Cumulus Neuroscience has closed a £3.5 million investment round. The funding round was led by a £1.5m investment from Whiterock's Growth Capital Fund, alongside £1.25m from the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland's equity fund, run by Clarendon Fund Managers, £0.3m from Angel CoFund and £0.2m from Co Fund NI.

Transparency and investor protection must be paramount as private markets open up to retail investors, Ocorian, the specialist global provider of services to high-net-worth individuals and family offices, financial institutions, asset managers and corporates, says.

LumenStream, the award-winning climate tech company which is revolutionising energy efficiency through its innovative "Lighting as a Service" model, has successfully secured £1.2m in investment.

Munich-based Robotic-Startup Filics, developer of innovative solutions for autonomous load carrier handling, has completed a new financing round. The new investors include Sandwater, Alven, F-LOG Ventures, and the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, alongside Bayern Kapital, business angels Andrei Danescu (founder and CEO of Dexory) and Helmut Schmid (CCO of Filics and former CEO of Agilox), and with continued participation from Capnamic and 10x Founders. 

Ignite, the Ford Family Foundation's flagship pitching event for social entrepreneurs seeking funding, has launched its 2025 event.

The grant competition for social entrepreneurs emerging from UK universities is now open for entries after last year's six finalists shared more than £300,000 in funding for their start-up businesses.

upLYFT, a pioneering company in the smart technology sector, has completed a £500,000 investment through the Deepbridge Capital UK Innovation Seed Fund, alongside TIME Interconnect (HK) Limited.

This significant investment will enable upLYFT to accelerate the development and market introduction of its intelligent wearable technology. The funding will support product enhancement, team expansion, and operational scale-up to meet growing demand across the healthcare and sports sectors.