When people hear I went from founding Whisk.com (a recipe-tech startup that I sold to Samsung) to GitLaw (an AI legal startup founded recently with $3 million funding), they usually ask how those two things are related.
Imagine trying to crack a complex code – but you’ve got no map, no hint, and no idea whether you’re even working on the right puzzle. That’s how many people feel at work today.
The startup playbook says: hustle harder, stay responsive, show up consistently, outwork everyone. For AuDHD founders, that playbook is a recipe for burnout. I know because I’ve watched it happen. I burnt out spectacularly as a teacher and now I coach women who are discovering their neurodivergence while trying to build businesses. The pattern repeats: brilliant, driven founders forcing themselves into productivity systems designed for brains that work nothing like theirs, then wondering why they’re falling apart.
2026 is almost here. SME owners felt the squeeze during 2025, with increases to the rate of National Insurance Contribution for employers and increases to the minimum wage resulting in higher per-employee costs.
Markets are breaking down, technology is shapeshifting beyond recognition, and ‘business as usual’ is becoming an increasingly unviable path. The fuels that once propelled businesses to success, scale above all else, mechanical efficiency, and unconditional growth, are now liabilities disguised as virtues. The next five years will demonstrate that the biggest threat to a healthy, functioning business isn’t competition, but irrelevance.
2025 is coming to a close, and what a year it has been! The end of year brings with it reflections on the year just passed, and what better way to wrap up the year than with a list of our top podcast episodes this year.
Harley Street Health District and AlbionVC announce a strategic partnership designed to expand access to transformative healthcare technologies and accelerate the adoption of new models of care in the UK.
I can’t remember a Budget with as much doom-mongering and speculation in the build-up as the one Rachel Reeves delivered two weeks ago.
A team of experts with over 15 years of experience in funding businesses has launched Aneli Capital, a fund to support early-stage startups in the Baltics, Poland, and other Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The €35 million fund will primarily focus on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as well as robotics, space, photonics, and energy startups, with the goal of helping them grow and become ready for follow-on investors.
The agentic vibe-coding platform, Emergent, has announced a strategic investment from Google’s AI Futures Fund. Launched in May 2025, the fund supports AI startups with capital, early access to cutting-edge AI models, and direct support from Google’s experts. Emergent will leverage this investment and support to further accelerate talent acquisition, product development, and expansion of its platform across the globe.
A 15-year Impact Study of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses (10KSB) UK programme reveals alumni have created approximately £2.7bn in additional revenue and 41,000 additional new jobs across the UK.
AttiFin AI, a UK legal-AI startup, has secured £5 million in seed funding ahead of its planned launch in early 2026. The funding marks a significant endorsement of the company’s ambition to build Britain’s first enterprise-grade AI platform trained specifically on UK and devolved law.
Half-time at Old Trafford is always loud, but inside our dressing room it felt strangely focused. We were catching our breath, a few of the lads grabbing jelly babies and Jaffa Cakes, when one of the coaches slipped in and whispered something to Steve Coppell. Coppell called the room to attention and delivered the news straight: Rooney had gone off injured.
International expansion is the ultimate growth lever but also one of the fastest routes to failure if mishandled. I’ve seen ambitious startups spend millions on new markets only to retreat within a year, and I’ve also watched careful, measured plays turn into rocket fuel for growth. The difference comes down to timing, planning, and leadership.
2026 is set to be a busy year for UK SMEs, bringing some of the most significant legal and regulatory shifts in recent times – including tighter payment rules, new transparency standards, and digital-first tax and reporting reforms.
Ignite Next has announced its launch as Europe’s new scale-up programme for deeptech innovation, designed to bridge the gap between early-stage founders and industrial-scale success.
Quantum Dice has secured a €2 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator programme, with the project now officially underway following its October kick-off.
Orbital Marine Power, the Scotland-based operator of one of the world’s most powerful tidal turbines, has secured a multi-million pound investment to advance its international commercial projects and contribute to the wider decarbonisation of energy.
Most founders will tell you they are bringing AI into their business. Some talk about it with genuine excitement, others with a quiet sense of panic, and a few with the hope that automation might finally fix the chaos they’ve been ignoring for years. The truth is far less glossy. AI rarely fails because the tools are weak. It fails because the organisation behind them isn’t prepared for what the shift actually involves.
European technology investing can no longer be relegated to the continent’s economic sideline. New movement in the sector and regular activity over the past few years have made it one of the primary infrastructures on which other industries and services are built. Every month, Zubr Capital publishes a brief look at how this European tech sector is evolving, not just to summarise, but to better understand what the market is building towards.
