A technology spin-out of the Alacrity Foundation has closed a significant six-figure equity investment pre-seed round led by SFC Capital, the Development Bank of Wales and a syndicate of business angels.

Ryft, a PSD2 and FCA-approved decentralised payments innovator, has successfully raised £5.7 million Series A funding for the development of technology that will empower acquiring banks, like Clearhaus, to compete with Stripe Connect, Adyen, and similar payment providers in the market. The round, which takes total investments in Ryft to £7.4 million, was led by EdenBase, with participation from GPOS Investments, British Business Bank, Pembroke VCT, Sidebyside, and Ingenii VC. The fundraising round was also joined by strategic angel investors, including executives at PayPal.

Neuranics, an award-winning Scottish deep-tech semiconductor company pioneering the future of human-machine interaction, has raised $8 million in seed funding to accelerate global growth and the commercial adoption of its Tunnelling Magnetoresistance (TMR) magnetic sensing technology.

Damisa, the next-generation payments platform co-founded by fintech entrepreneur Jordan Lawrence, has announced the successful close of its £2.25 million pre-seed funding round, led by Fuel Ventures. The oversubscribed round also saw participation from investors including EWOR, Greyhound Capital, prominent investor Mark Ransford, and strategic backing from Damisa's first customer, a leading foundational company using Damisa's secure wallets to replace their existing Escrow services.

Lifted Ventures has backed an angel investment round for WAC, the UK's number one app designed to empower hourly-paid workers by ensuring every minute of work is accounted for. They participated in a £500,000 bridging round which is currently overfunding and due to close very soon. This follows WAC's successful £1 million pre-seed raise that they previously closed.

Phlux Technology, a Sheffield-based infrared sensor startup, has raised £9 million in a Series A funding round led by BGF, to enable the next generation of fibre broadband connectivity. Existing investors Octopus Ventures, Northern Gritstone, and Foresight also participated.

Qlarifi, a fintech start-up transforming credit reporting for Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), has completed a pre-seed funding round backed by a combination of HoneyComb Asset Management, Carthona Capital and a selection of angel investors including Australian rugby legend John Eales, raised $1.8m USD to accelerate the company's mission of bringing repayment transparency to the BNPL industry.

Rival, a startup that develops technology to enable millions of users to create and share 3D content, has come out of stealth and announced it has raised a $4.2 million pre-seed round, led by Speedinvest, with participation from New Renaissance Ventures and high-profile angels.

Rival has created a platform that allows users to browse through immersive 3D short-form content in their spatial computing headset, in a similar fashion to how TikTok or Instagram Reels work with conventional videos.

The highly effective sales coaching platform developed by MySalesCoach has netted the company a further £935,000 of investment from Northstar Ventures as part of a £1.1m funding boost.

Bethnal Green Ventures has led a £1 million pre seed funding round in Vouchsafe, alongside co-investors Seed X Liechtenstein, Biometric Ventures, Fuel Ventures, and strategic angels.

Finalrentals has secured a six-figure Pre-Series A investment, bringing its total funding to over seven figures.

WEARABLE tech start-up UNA Watch has secured more than £300,000 investment from SFC Capital as it prepares to take on industry giants Apple and Garmin with the world's first repairable modular GPS sports watch.

Edinburgh-based UNA Watch, which also won the £100,000 top prize from Scottish EDGE last year, is pioneering a new category of sustainable smartwatches, allowing users to repair, replace, and upgrade components instead of discarding entire devices. The innovation aligns with the growing Right to Repair movement and addresses the mounting e-waste crisis, with 62 million tonnes of consumer electronics discarded annually.