UK start-ups raised a record $17bn (£12.7bn) in the first half of 2026, double the amount raised in the same period last year and the strongest opening to any year since 2022, according to new figures from Dealroom and HSBC Innovation Banking.

Yet only 16 per cent of large funding rounds involved domestic investors, a statistic that should give anyone cheering the headline number pause.

Britain is, on this evidence, still comfortably Europe’s start-up capital. The UK attracted 39 per cent of all European venture capital investment in the period, more than France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland combined.

Artificial intelligence did most of the heavy lifting. AI companies raised a record $12.6bn (£9.4bn), nearly three quarters of everything invested, and took 19 of the 28 megarounds of $100m (£75m) or more completed in the half. All four rounds above $1bn (£750m) went to AI firms, the largest being the $2.1bn (£1.6bn) raised by Isomorphic Labs.

“The first half of 2026 demonstrates the continued strength of the UK’s innovation ecosystem, with record levels of investment reflecting growing confidence from both domestic and international investors,” said Emily Turner, chief executive of HSBC Innovation Banking UK.

“What is particularly encouraging is how AI is increasingly being applied across sectors. We’re seeing it create new opportunities in sectors from life sciences and deep tech to enterprise software, while helping companies compete on a global stage.”

Encouraging, certainly. But the fine print tells a more awkward story about who is writing the cheques. With domestic investors involved in just 16 per cent of the biggest rounds, the returns from Britain’s most successful companies will overwhelmingly flow to funds in San Francisco, New York and the Gulf rather than to British pensions and portfolios. It is a familiar complaint: veteran investors have long warned that only 20 per cent of the capital backing UK scale-ups is domestic, leaving 80 per cent of the upside to overseas backers.

There is a second wrinkle for business owners reading past the record total. Capital is piling up at the two ends of the market, into early-stage bets and a handful of enormous late-stage rounds, while established growth companies in the middle face a tougher route to finance. Late-stage deals took 68 per cent of all capital raised in the half, up from 42 per cent a year earlier. Separate figures published this week showed the same pattern across UK tech: funding nearly doubled, but the money went to fewer companies.

For the typical SME seeking a £2m to £10m growth round, in other words, the boom may feel oddly distant. A record year in aggregate is proving demanding in person, and firms without AI credentials or unicorn ambitions will find investors choosier than the headlines suggest.

Policymakers are not blind to the gap. The British Business Bank has more than doubled its direct equity investing in nine months, explicitly to signal to UK institutions that they should follow. And under the Mansion House Accord, seventeen of Britain’s biggest workplace pension providers have pledged to put 10 per cent of their portfolios into private assets by 2030, with at least half of that ringfenced for the UK.

Until that money arrives, the first half of 2026 stands as a curious sort of triumph: proof that Britain can build companies the whole world wants to own, and a reminder that Britain itself remains reluctant to buy.

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OpenAI on Thursday unveiled a new enterprise offering called ChatGPT Work, which is designed to leverage the popular chatbot to carry out and automate workplace tasks across a variety of applications and files.

ChatGPT Work is powered by OpenAI’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) model, GPT-5.6, and is capable of gathering context from apps, files and workflows to create finished documents, spreadsheets, presentations, reports and websites, the company said in its announcement.

The company explained that ChatGPT Work can use plugins to connect with apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive and Sharepoint, as well as email systems, calendars, CRM platforms, project trackers and other tools.

Once connected, ChatGPT can gather context about the task, pull in information, create documents, decks and perform analyses while refining drafts in the background of the user’s work.

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In OpenAI’s announcement, the company said that ChatGPT Work can continue to work on projects when the user isn’t on their phone or computer through the use of Scheduled Tasks, which can take new messages and turn them into updated docs or slides and circulate the changes among team members, for example.

ChatGPT Work will be available as of Thursday for Pro, Enterprise, and Edu plans – and will roll out to Plus and Business plans in the coming days. It’s also available in the ChatGPT desktop app on every plan, including the Free plan.

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The announcement comes as OpenAI’s latest foray into agentic AI tools following the launch of Operator and deep research, which were later consolidated into ChatGPT Agent for individual users, as well as Workspace Agents for automating enterprise workflows.

OpenAI is in the midst of an intense competition with AI rivals like Anthropic, which released Claude Cowork – an agentic tool that can plan and carry out multi-step tasks autonomously.

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Anthropic added plugins to Claude Cowork that allowed it to automate tasks related to legal, sales, marketing and data analysis, which triggered a selloff in U.S. and European software and professional services stocks earlier this year amid concerns about its potential to disrupt the data analytics industry.

Microsoft, an OpenAI backer, also unveiled Copilot Cowork to expand its agentic AI offering on the heels of Anthropic’s rollout.

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Reuters contributed to this report.

India’s listed new-age ecosystem is projected to reach USD 1 trillion market capitalisation by 2030, driven by a robust pipeline of companies preparing to tap public markets, according to a report released by strategy consulting firm Redseer on Thursday.

The report, Redseer India IPO Report: 2026, said the country currently has around 210 new-age companies that are IPO-ready over the next 24 months, identified through an assessment of 1,400 firms.

Based on an analysis of more than 300 mainboard IPOs between FY21 and FY26, the report said India’s listed new-age companies currently account for around USD 150 billion in market capitalisation, or about 4.6 per cent of the country’s total market value.

This share could expand to nearly 11.5 per cent by 2030 under Redseer’s base-case scenario.

The report noted that India’s IPO market has grown nearly eightfold in terms of proceeds over the past decade, making it the only major capital market to sustain uninterrupted growth in primary issuances. India now ranks third globally in IPO proceeds.

According to the report, the country’s IPO market has also become more resilient due to rising participation by domestic institutional investors, including mutual funds, insurers and pension funds, supported by sustained systematic investment plan (SIP) inflows.
This has reduced the market’s dependence on foreign capital during periods of global volatility.The report further said investor preference has shifted towards companies demonstrating profitable growth.

Among new-age firms that went public between FY22 and FY26, the proportion of companies reporting profits after tax (PAT) at the time of listing increased from 50 per cent to 70 per cent, while median pre-IPO revenue growth moderated from 50 per cent to 33 per cent.

“India’s IPO story has become far more interesting than the number of companies coming to market every year. Over the last decade, the market has developed greater depth, businesses have become more resilient and domestic pools of capital have grown substantially,” Redseer Partner Rohan Agarwal said.

Associate Partner Abhishek Tandon said an IPO reflects years of business-building, with governance, financial discipline and valuation converging at the time of listing.

Investors who have pledged to back women are outperforming the wider market for the sixth year in a row, according to new government commissioned research that suggests the rest of the investment industry is leaving growth on the table.

The findings, published yesterday in the Investing in Women Code annual report, show that signatories of the Code have once again directed a greater share of funding to female-led businesses than the market as a whole.

For SME owners, the message is hard to ignore. Women-founded companies continue to perform strongly and show clear growth potential, yet they still face outsized barriers to investment and scale. Business Matters has previously reported that female founders receive less than two per cent of all venture capital deployed in the UK, a figure that has barely moved in a decade.

Blair McDougall, Minister for Small Business and Economic Transformation, said: “For the sixth year in a row, Investing in Women Code signatories have outperformed the wider market, showing that backing female founders is good for business and good for growth.”

“Yet women-led businesses still face greater barriers to funding and growth. That is why the Code matters – helping more women start, scale, and succeed, while unlocking talent, creating jobs and strengthening the UK economy.”

The research also underlines the value of targeted programmes that help women start and grow businesses, particularly in regions where female entrepreneurship remains underdeveloped. Strengthening these initiatives, the report argues, would boost innovation, job creation and regional productivity.

The pressure on founders is real. A recent study found that a quarter of female business owners have taken second jobs to keep their ventures afloat as economic conditions bite, even as two-thirds expect revenues to rise over the next year.

Sheila Flavell CBE, chief operating officer of FDM Group, said: “The lack of diversity across industries including technology continues to be a significant barrier to growth. Research showing the clear economic benefits of female-led businesses highlights an issue we must address. While some progress is being made to encourage women through returners schemes and more equitable pay, barriers such as unconscious bias still exist.”

“Upskilling must be at the heart of this effort. From early education through to reskilling and career progression, there should be clear, supported pathways into technical and leadership roles. Businesses and government must work together to invest in training that equips women with in-demand digital and AI capabilities, to unlock the full potential of the UK workforce.”

Money is starting to follow the rhetoric. The Invest in Women Taskforce, which launched with more than £250 million in commitments from Barclays, M&G and others, has now deployed more than £70 million from its £635 million funding pool in its first year.

That sits alongside the British Business Bank’s £400 million Investor Pathways Capital initiative, designed to support emerging fund managers and widen access to investment opportunities.

For female founders weighing up a raise, the practical takeaway is to look first at lenders and investors who have signed the Code. Six years of data suggest they are measurably more likely to say yes.

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American fitness and “looksmaxxing” influencer Connor Murphy has died at age 32 following what authorities describe as an apparent drowning incident in Samut Prakan, Thailand. The death has generated significant international media attention, with major outlets including CBS News, Fox News, NDTV, and CBC covering the story extensively. Murphy, who was born in Austin, Texas, had built a substantial online following through his fitness content and promotion of the controversial “looksmaxxing” trend—a movement focused on maximizing physical attractiveness through various techniques and lifestyle changes.

Circumstances Surrounding the Death

According to multiple news reports, Murphy’s death occurred under unusual and troubling circumstances. Several sources indicate he was reportedly fleeing from police at the time he entered the water, with some reports suggesting he had been exhibiting erratic behavior in the hours leading up to the incident. The influencer allegedly jumped into a lake in an apparent attempt to evade law enforcement officers, according to reports cited by the New York Post and other outlets.

Police Investigation Findings

Adding another layer of complexity to the case, authorities reportedly discovered disturbing items within Murphy’s Thailand apartment following his death, as reported by The Tab. While specific details of these findings have not been fully disclosed in initial reporting, this discovery has prompted further scrutiny into the events preceding his drowning. Police in Thailand are said to be awaiting toxicology test results, which could provide critical insight into whether substances played a role in his behavior and subsequent death, according to Fox News reporting.

The Times of India has also highlighted that Murphy’s final hours are now under intense spotlight, with investigators piecing together his movements and mental state before he entered the water. The combination of erratic behavior, evasion of police, and concerning items found in his residence has fueled speculation, though authorities have not yet released an official cause or definitive narrative explaining the full sequence of events.

Reaction from the Online Community

Murphy’s death has resonated deeply within the “looksmaxxing” community, an online subculture that gained prominence through social media platforms, particularly among young men focused on optimizing facial and physical aesthetics. According to Nine.com.au, looksmaxxers are mourning the loss of one of the movement’s more visible figures, with tributes and discussions circulating across forums and social media platforms dedicated to the trend.

The influencer’s sudden and mysterious death has sparked broader conversations about the pressures associated with online fitness and appearance-based content creation, as well as questions about mental health within communities that place heavy emphasis on physical transformation and self-optimization.

Broader Context of Thailand Coverage

Murphy’s death comes amid a wave of diverse news coverage relating to Thailand, ranging from economic developments to tourism updates. Thailand has recently been in headlines for unrelated matters, including significant foreign investment announcements—Nestlé’s planned $688 million investment in an AI-powered smart factory in Samut Prakan, the same region where Murphy’s death occurred, as detailed in a Thailand Business News report on Nestlé’s Thailand expansion.

Additionally, Thailand has seen notable economic news with its 50 richest individuals seeing combined wealth grow by 10% to $187 billion, driven by a stock market rally, alongside government efforts to boost investment proportion in GDP to 30%. These developments paint a picture of a nation simultaneously navigating high-profile economic growth stories and the kind of sensational, tragic incidents that capture international media attention, such as Murphy’s death.

Ongoing Investigation and Unanswered Questions

As of the latest reports, Thai authorities have not issued a final, comprehensive statement detailing the complete circumstances of Murphy’s death. Key unresolved questions include the exact nature of his interaction with police prior to entering the water, the significance of items discovered in his apartment, and whether toxicology results will reveal substance involvement that may have contributed to his erratic behavior.

The case has drawn comparisons to other high-profile deaths of social media personalities abroad, raising questions about accountability, mental health support, and the pressures faced by influencers who cultivate large online followings around physical appearance and lifestyle content. Given the level of media interest across outlets ranging from TMZ to CBS News, further details are expected to emerge as Thai police complete their investigation.

What Comes Next

Family members, followers, and members of the broader fitness and looksmaxxing communities are likely awaiting official confirmation of toxicology results and a clearer timeline of events. Until Thai authorities release additional findings, much of the narrative surrounding Murphy’s death remains based on preliminary reports and eyewitness accounts rather than confirmed official statements.

The incident underscores the unpredictable risks associated with international travel, particularly for public figures whose actions are subject to heightened scrutiny both by local authorities and global media. As investigators continue their work, Murphy’s death serves as a somber reminder of the human stories behind the influencer economy, even as Thailand continues to make headlines for its economic resilience and growing investment appeal.

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Lady Eliza Spencer, niece of Diana, Princess of Wales, has entered the fiercely competitive drinks trade with Lala V Rosé, a Provençal wine launched exclusively at Hackstons’ flagship store in Knightsbridge. For premium brand builders, the launch is a textbook exercise in scarcity.

Rather than chasing supermarket listings or a splashy nationwide rollout, Lady Spencer has tied her debut wine to a single retail partner. Hackstons, the luxury drinks retailer and whisky cask specialist, will be the only place to buy it.

Speaking at the launch, Lady Spencer said: “I’m so excited to see Lala V stocked exclusively at Hackstons. It means so much to partner with a destination that shares our passion for quality, craftsmanship and creating memorable experiences. I can’t wait for people to discover and enjoy Lala V there.”

Hackstons founder Alphie Valentine said: “Lady Eliza has created a truly exceptional rosé that perfectly reflects the elegance and quality both our brands represent. We’re delighted to exclusively launch Lala V at Hackstons and look forward to introducing our customers to a wine that celebrates the very best of Provence, craftsmanship and modern luxury.”

The playbook will be familiar to anyone who has studied the luxury business model and how high-end brands are built: restrict supply, anchor the product to a story, and let exclusivity do the marketing. The name itself is the story here, combining Lala, Lady Eliza’s childhood nickname, with Vie, the French word for life.

The wine is pale pink with salmon-hued reflections, opening with aromas of ripe peach and subtle citrus and finishing, in the brand’s words, with a refined softness that lingers elegantly. It is pitched at both intimate occasions and grand celebrations.

There is a commercial logic beyond romance. Wine remains serious money in Britain, with duty on wine, other fermented products and cider delivering some £4.9 billion to the Treasury in the last financial year, according to HMRC’s Alcohol Bulletin. Capturing the premium end of that market, where margins survive, is precisely where a famous name and a single prestigious stockist earn their keep.

The launch also lands in a drinks sector busy reinventing how brands come to market. While James Watt is attempting a community-funded brewing comeback built on canned beer and crowd loyalty, Lala V is going the other way: one wine, one store, one postcode.

That postcode carries its own lessons. Knightsbridge has had a bruising year at the top end, and the closure of Harrods Estates after 130 years showed that a storied name alone no longer guarantees custom. There is a wry footnote for Spencer watchers: Countess Raine Spencer, Diana’s stepmother, once served as a director of that very agency.

Lala V is hedging accordingly. Alongside the Knightsbridge exclusive, customers can join a mailing list offering priority access to new vintage releases, limited allocations and invitations to private events, a direct-to-consumer funnel that keeps the brand in control of its own demand.

For SME founders, the lesson is worth bottling. You do not need to be everywhere at launch. Sometimes the smartest route to market is the narrowest one.

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