The tech company was founded less than two years ago by then-23-year-old entrepreneur James Dacombe

A UK AI chip start-up has raised $220m in a Series A funding round and is planning to expand its presence in Bristol, it has confirmed. London-based Olix was founded by 25-year-old James Dacombe in 2024 and is targeting the development of technology that it claims will be faster and cheaper than Nvidia’s.

The company was valued at £1bn following the raise, with Hummingbird Ventures – a backer of Revolut and Deliveroo – leading the round. Other investors include Plural, Vertex Ventures, LocalGlobe, Entrepreneurs First, Fundomo and Transition.

The round brings total capital raised by Olix – formerly known as Flux Computing – to $250m.

Jonathan Heiliger, general partner at investor Vertex Ventures, and former Facebook infrastructure executive, said: “One of the biggest constraints in AI today is the compute required to run these models at scale.

“Today’s GPU-based approach forces a compromise between speed and cost. Olix is taking a radically different approach designed to deliver a step change in both and it has huge promise.”

Mr Dacombe dropped out of school at age 16 to work as a software engineer at a start-up and then left that to build his brain healthcare company CoMind. In 2022, he secured a $200,000 grant from the Thiel Foundation – a two-year programme established by technology entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel for young people who want to build new things.

Mr Dacombe launched his semiconductor business Olix in March 2024. That same year he was named by the Sunday Times as one of the most inspiring people under the age of 30 in the UK.

Following the latest funding round, Olix is currently hiring for a number of roles – in the US, Canada, London and Bristol. According to a statement on its website, Olix is “an in-person” company and claims to employ “some of the best minds” in photonics, systems, and compute.

“It is difficult to overstate the impact a step change will have, not just for AI, but for society as a whole,” a statement on its website reads.

“Life at Olix is high-velocity and high-stakes. We don’t believe in ‘grinding’ for the sake of it, but we do believe in dedication to the mission.

“This isn’t work you leave at the door; it’s work that matters enough to command a space in your life. You’ll be making a tangible impact alongside people just as excited as you are.”

The company is offering visa sponsorship, including for dependents and a £24,000 annual top-up for living near the office. The Bristol role advertised on the site is for a senior/staff digital design engineer, with a pay packet of between £125,000-£180,000.

The announcement comes just a day after UK chip start-up Fractile confirmed it would invest £100m in its UK operations, in London and Bristol, and the government urged British tech entrepreneurs to “take bold risks” with the development of AI.

“By investing in British tech innovation, just as Fractile is doing today, we can reinforce our leadership in AI and boost our influence on the global stage,” the AI minister said on Tuesday.

Heineken said Wednesday it plans to cut up to 6,000 jobs globally and expects slower profit growth in 2026 as the beer industry grapples with weak demand.

The reductions represent nearly 7% of the Dutch company’s approximately 87,000 employees worldwide. The beer giant said the cuts are part of a broader strategy aimed at strenghtening its operations while continuing to invest in growth.

“To fuel the growth and the profit, we are stepping up productivity initiatives and [making] changes to our operating model,” Heineken Chief Financial Officer Harold van den Broek told investors on a call announcing the company’s annual earnings results. “We are moving to a simpler, leaner Heineken centered on empowered operating companies.”

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Van den Broek said between 5,000 and 6,000 roles will be eliminated over the next two years.

“Timelines will vary by market, and we will support impacted colleagues with care, respect and appropriate assistance,” van den Broek said. 

“These actions are designed to deliver 400 million [euros] to 500 million [euros] of annual gross savings and allow us to continue investing in our brands and capabilities while supporting healthy operating profit growth.”

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Some of the job cuts will be concentrated in Europe and non-priority markets, as well as at the company’s headquarters and within its supply network, Reuters reported.

Heineken expects profit growth this year of 2% to 6%, down from the 4% to 8% range it projected for 2025. Rival Carlsberg last week issued a similar forecast, according to Reuters.

The beer industry has been grappling with slowing sales amid tight household budgets, increased competition from alternative beverages, and growing health warnings related to alcohol consumption.

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The cuts also come as Heineken searches for a new chief executive after Dolf van den Brink unexpectedly resigned last month. 

Van den Brink is set to step down in May. 

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Heineken did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.

The activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics saw a year-old ad explode in viewership over Super Bowl weekend, leading to sales tripling compared to a normal weekend for the brand. 

The “real girls rock” ad, which premiered in February 2025, was the brand’s second full-length commercial, and initially garnered traction when it was shared on social media by “Harry Potter” author and women’s rights activist, J.K. Rowling. 

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But then, this past weekend, founder Jennifer Sey and the company decided to recirculate the ad, and it went viral again, increasing its total combined views on X to more than 40 million, and was among the highest-trending topics on X for Super Bowl Sunday. 

Sey, a former marketing executive for Levi’s and U.S. champion women’s gymnast, credited Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for being one of the figures to help re-circulate the ad during its viral resurgence.

“That was a big difference-maker,” Sey told FOX Business of Cruz. “He made a huge difference… and we could see it differently, even in terms of traffic to our website.” 

The ad itself portrays the brand’s ambassadors, who have stood up for women’s sports, facing vulgar hate comments and witnessing liberal media outlets berate them as “transphobic.” It featured appearances by OuKick host Riley Gaines and former University of Nevada volleyball player Sia Liilii.

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“It’s the proudest one I’ve ever made in my life,” Sey said. “I’ve made a lot of ads in my life, I was the chief marketing officer at Levi’s for eight years, I’ve made Super Bowl ads… but for sure, this one I’m most proud of. I think the message is just so deeply resonate and I think it really moves people to stand up for this cause.” 

Despite the company’s rapid growth since it launched in 2024, Sey said she doesn’t aspire to ever run one of her ads during the Super Bowl, insisting that the prestige of getting that time slot has waned. 

“I think that the Super Bowl ads having prestige is sort of a thing of the past,” Sey said. “I don’t think anybody cares anymore, I think people leave the room and get food, I don’t think people tune in for the ads anymore. And from a business perspective, I don’t know how you generate a positive return when it costs $10 million just to secure the medium.”

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Sey criticized the quality of this year’s crop of Super Bowl ads in particular. 

“They were just relying on jamming as many celebrities into the ad as they could,” Sey said. “That doesn’t really work.” 

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The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed lower on Tuesday while the Dow edged up to its third record close in a row, as investors digested disappointing retail sales figures and waited for a key labor market report. The S&P 500 communication services sector was the market’s weakest sector, weighed down by Alphabet shares, which fell 1.8% after Google’s parent said it sold bonds worth $20 billion.

The announcement played in to investor ‌worries about the amount of ⁠money technology ⁠companies say they must spend to support the artificial-intelligence boom, with Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft collectively set to spend hundreds of billions in 2026 as they race for AI dominance. Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales unexpectedly stalled in December as households scaled back spending on vehicles and other big-ticket items, suggesting a slower growth path for consumer spending and the economy heading into the new year. The flat reading compared with economists’ estimates for 0.4% growth. Trader hopes edged up for a more dovish Federal Reserve with the probability of a one-notch April rate cut up to 36.9% from 32.2% on Monday, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool. Markets still expect, however, that the central bank will keep rates on hold until June, when President Donald Trump’s Fed chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, would take charge if approved by the U.S. Senate.

Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist ⁠at Janney Montgomery Scott, ‌described the disappointing retail data as “bad news is good news,” particularly for rate-sensitive industry indexes such as utilities and real estate , ​which were leading the ​benchmark’s sector gainers.

But the strategist pointed to caution ahead of the delayed but closely watched nonfarm payrolls report, due on Wednesday.

“In ⁠anticipation of the jobs report, nobody wants to get too far above their risk budget in ​the event the number does cause some consternation,” said Luschini. Potentially adding some angst was White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett’s ​comment on Monday that U.S. job gains could be lower in the coming months because of slower labor force growth and higher productivity due to AI gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52.27 points, or 0.10%, to 50,188.14, after hitting an intraday record high earlier in the day. The S&P 500 lost 23.01 points, or 0.33%, to 6,941.81 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 136.20 points, or 0.59%, to 23,102.47.
With the S&P 500 narrowly missing a return to its late January record close on Monday, Janney’s Luschini said: “When a security or an index reapproaches a high level again there’s often some hesitation, some contention that has to take place before it can break through that peak again.” Gains ‌of more than 2% in stocks such as Walt Disney and Home Depot helped push up the blue-chip Dow, countering declines in shares including Coca-Cola, which finished down 1.5% after missing Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue.In other individual stocks, Datadog jumped 13.7% and led S&P 500 ​percentage gainers on the ​day after the cloud-based monitoring and analytics platform ⁠beat quarterly estimates. In the consumer discretionary sector, Marriott closed up 8.5% for its biggest daily gain since April after also hitting a record high. The hotel chain projected a 35% jump in fees from co-branded credit cards, as affluent travelers splurge on luxury vacations. Shares of S&P Global slumped 9.7%, making it the biggest loser in the S&P 500 ​after forecasting 2026 profit below analysts’ estimates. Peers Moody’s and MSCI also fell. Spotify shares soared 14.7% after the audio-streaming platform forecast first-quarter earnings above expectations, benefiting from strong user growth and price hikes.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 795 new highs and 65 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,276 stocks rose and 2,447 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.08-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 72 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 105 new highs and 107 new lows.

On U.S. exchanges, 17.89 billion shares changed hands compared with the 20.68 billion-share moving average for the last 20 sessions.