A fleet of more than 150 robots is already laying bricks on real construction sites across the UK and Europe, and the company behind them has just raised $32 million to put more of them to work, in a deal that says as much about Britain’s vanishing trades as it does about the rise of physical AI.

Monumental, the Amsterdam-based construction robotics company, announced the Series B led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Plural and existing investors including Hummingbird. The money will grow its engineering team, scale the fleet across Europe, deepen its UK presence and fund a US launch this year.

For UK housebuilders and the small firms that supply them, the timing is pointed. The Home Builders Federation estimates the country needs at least 20,000 more bricklayers to hit the government’s target of 1.5 million new homes, yet only around 1,990 completed apprenticeships in 2024. It is a gap Business Matters has tracked closely, with a skills crisis already threatening the 1.5 million homes target and 76 per cent of construction firms struggling to hire.

Monumental’s answer is not to sell machines but to work as an autonomous subcontractor. General contractors hire the company and pay for finished wall, an outcome-priced model that spares builders, many of them SMEs, the financial and technical risk of owning and operating the equipment themselves.

The robots are electric and autonomous, using advanced sensors, computer vision and cranes to lay brick and mortar with millimetre precision, all orchestrated by the company’s AI platform, Atrium. The fleet has built the walls of more than 100 homes across the Netherlands and the UK, along with a school, a community centre, a hotel and canal walls. The pace is accelerating: nearly half of those homes went up in the past three months alone, up from just eight the quarter before.

“The world simply does not have enough people to build what it needs, and that shortage will not be solved by another app or another robot doing backflips on stage,” said Salar al Khafaji, co-founder and CEO of Monumental. “It takes machines that turn up on site and lay real brick all day, to spec, which is what our fleet already does today. Every robot we deploy expands the industry’s capacity to build, bringing a future of beautiful, affordable, bespoke buildings and infrastructure closer to reality. Khosla’s investment lets us put many more of them to work in more countries while expanding beyond bricklaying.”

The backdrop is an industry that technology has barely touched. Since 1945, manufacturing productivity has risen more than eightfold while construction productivity has gained roughly 10 per cent, and has fallen since the 1960s. The result is a housing shortage the Centre for Policy Studies puts at 6.5 million homes, with just 446 homes per 1,000 people, the second-worst rate in Europe. In the capital, where London built just 7 per cent of the homes it needed last year, the delivery gap is starker still.

“Construction costs have exploded while the industry itself has barely changed in decades,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. “That combination has produced the housing crisis: we know how to build, we’ve just made it too expensive and too slow. Monumental is solving this by bringing robotics into the physical world, and the proof is already standing: canal walls, houses, a school, 100 structures already built by robots. Beautiful buildings, built at scale, don’t have to cost what they cost today.”

Founded in 2021 by al Khafaji and CTO Sebastiaan Visser, whose previous company Silk was acquired by Palantir in 2016, Monumental was the first to bring Palantir’s forward-deployed engineering model to robotics. It has recently appointed a dedicated UK country manager and is growing its on-the-ground team here.

Nor is it an isolated bet. From bricklaying to fruit picking, where Dogtooth raised £14 million this month to help growers beat labour shortages, investors are backing robots to do the physical work Britain cannot find the people for. Monumental says its crews move up into safer, higher-skilled roles operating the machines. The bricks, it seems, will get laid either way.

ATLANTA — England and Argentina meet Wednesday in a World Cup semifinal that revives one of soccer’s oldest and most storied rivalries, bringing together Lionel Messi and England’s dynamic scoring duo of Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham with a place in Sunday’s final on the line.

The match kicks off at 3 p.m. ET at Atlanta Stadium, also known as Mercedes-Benz Stadium, marking the sixth World Cup meeting between the two nations and the first in 24 years. The winner will advance to Sunday’s final in New Jersey to face either France or Spain for the championship.

A Rivalry Steeped in Controversy

Few fixtures in World Cup history carry the historical weight of England versus Argentina. The rivalry is forever tied to Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal during the 1986 quarterfinal, along with David Beckham’s red card for kicking Diego Simeone during their dramatic 1998 round-of-16 clash. England holds a narrow edge in their World Cup head-to-head history, with three wins to Argentina’s two across their five previous meetings on the tournament’s biggest stage.

Wednesday’s match also marks uncharted territory for one of the sport’s greatest players. At 39 years old and playing in his sixth World Cup, Messi has never faced England in more than 200 international appearances, adding a fresh layer of intrigue to the historic rivalry.

Golden Boot Race Adds Extra Stakes

Beyond the semifinal berth on the line, Wednesday’s match doubles as a direct battle for the tournament’s Golden Boot. Messi leads the race with eight goals, tied with France’s Kylian Mbappé for the tournament’s high mark, while Kane and Bellingham each sit one goal behind with six apiece.

Remarkably, it marks the first time in men’s World Cup history that two players from the same country have each scored six or more goals in the same tournament. Kane and Bellingham have combined for 12 of England’s 13 total goals this tournament, an extraordinary level of reliance on two players that mirrors Argentina’s own dependence on Messi, who has personally scored eight of his team’s tournament-leading 17 goals.

Contrasting Paths to the Semifinal

The two teams have arrived at this stage through very different routes. Argentina, the defending champions seeking to become the first team to repeat as World Cup winners since Brazil in 1962, has needed extra time in two of its knockout matches, requiring additional time to get past Cape Verde in the round of 32 before rallying from a two-goal deficit against Egypt in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, Argentina needed extra time again to beat 10-man Switzerland 3-1, with Julián Álvarez scoring the decisive goal in the 112th minute.

Messi reflected on the significance of reaching another semifinal at this stage of his career.

“Getting to another semifinal is not a normal, mundane thing, so this is something we should really enjoy because we don’t know if it will happen again,” Messi said.

England’s own path has also tested the squad’s resilience. The team needed extra time to beat Norway 2-1 in the quarterfinals, with Bellingham scoring both goals to continue his rise as one of the tournament’s standout performers. That victory followed a difficult stretch that included criticism from manager Thomas Tuchel, who had earlier described aspects of England’s play as “sloppy” following an uneven display.

Key Storylines to Watch

Bellingham enters Wednesday’s match on the back of consecutive braces, having scored twice in each of his last two World Cup appearances. According to tournament statistics, only Kane, with four such matches, and Gary Lineker, with three, have more multi-goal games for England at the World Cup than Bellingham now has. Across World Cup history overall, only Peru’s Téofilo Cubillas has more two-plus-goal games among midfielders than Bellingham.

Kane, England’s all-time leading World Cup goalscorer, struggled in the heat during England’s win over Norway but returns to Atlanta, where he scored a brace against Democratic Republic of Congo earlier in the tournament. Should he remain healthy throughout the match, Kane will earn his 121st England cap, which would stand as the most of any outfield player in the program’s history.

England does enter the match with some injury concerns. Midfielder Declan Rice, who has been battling illness, remains a doubt for the match, while veteran Jordan Henderson is unavailable due to a wrist injury. Argentina, by contrast, reported no injury concerns heading into the semifinal.

Confidence Despite the Pressure

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford addressed the mounting pressure surrounding the squad’s pursuit of what would be the country’s first World Cup title since 1966 and first ever won on foreign soil.

“You’ve seen throughout the tournament our desire to win tackles. We’ve not got into any scuffles or anything,” Pickford said. “We’ve been very well respected within the game. Decisions go our way [or] they don’t go our way, we just reset, we go again, and we let the football do the talking.”

A Statistical Coin Flip

Predictive models have struggled to separate the two sides. Opta’s supercomputer gave England a roughly 39% probability of winning in regulation time as of Tuesday, compared with Argentina’s 32% chance, with the model estimating a nearly 30% probability that the match extends into extra time. Updated projections including extra time and penalties put the overall win probability closer to an even split between the two nations.

Argentina’s attacking output has been historic in its own right. The team’s six wins so far this tournament mark its longest outright winning run in World Cup history, and Argentina has scored exactly three goals in each of its last four matches, putting it within reach of matching the all-time Argentine World Cup scoring record of 18 goals, set at the inaugural 1930 tournament.

What’s at Stake

Whichever team advances will carry significant historical weight into Sunday’s final. Argentina is chasing back-to-back titles for the first time since Brazil’s consecutive championships in 1958 and 1962, while England is seeking to end a 60-year wait for a second World Cup trophy and its first on foreign soil, powered by a Kane-Bellingham partnership that has already rewritten the record books for England at a single tournament.

England and Argentina meet Wednesday in one of the most anticipated matches of the 2026 World Cup, and fans around the world have multiple free options to watch the semifinal live, depending on their location. Here’s a country-by-country breakdown of where to catch the match without a subscription.

Match Details

The semifinal kicks off at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 15, at Atlanta Stadium, also known as Mercedes-Benz Stadium, in Atlanta, Georgia. The winner advances to Sunday’s World Cup final at New York-New Jersey Stadium against either France or Spain.

Kickoff times vary significantly depending on time zone. In the United States, the match starts at 3 p.m. ET. In the United Kingdom, kickoff falls at 8 p.m. BST. Viewers in India will see the match begin at 12:30 a.m. IST on Thursday, July 16, while fans in Australia will need to tune in early, with kickoff scheduled for 5 a.m. AEST on Thursday.

United Kingdom: Free on BBC

British fans have the simplest path to watching for free. The match is being broadcast live and free-to-air on BBC One, with coverage also available online through BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website. All three options are accessible without any additional subscription cost beyond a valid UK television license, making this one of the most straightforward free-viewing options available anywhere in the world for Wednesday’s match.

Australia: Free via SBS

Australian viewers can watch the match for free courtesy of SBS, which holds broadcast rights to the tournament in Australia. Cord-cutters and those without traditional television access can stream the match through the SBS On Demand platform and mobile app, both of which are free to use without a subscription.

Canada: Free on CTV

In Canada, the match will be available for free on CTV, though viewers will need to log in using their television provider credentials to access the broadcast. Canadian fans who prefer additional coverage options can also watch through TSN, the country’s dedicated sports network, or its streaming platform TSN+, though the latter requires a paid subscription.

United States: Free Broadcast on Fox and Telemundo

In the United States, the match airs nationally on Fox for English-language commentary, with a Spanish-language broadcast simultaneously airing on Telemundo. Because both Fox and Telemundo are major over-the-air broadcast networks, U.S. viewers can watch either feed completely free of charge by connecting a standard digital TV antenna to their television, without needing any cable subscription or streaming service.

For those who have cut the cord entirely and prefer to stream on a smart TV, tablet or mobile device, several streaming platforms offer free trial periods that could cover the match at no cost. Fox’s dedicated streaming service, Fox One, offers a three-day free trial that would encompass Wednesday’s semifinal. Streaming service Fubo, which carries Fox, ABC, ESPN, CBS and more than 100 other channels, has also offered a free one-day trial that could be used to access the broadcast without payment.

India: Coverage on Zee5

Viewers in India can access the match through Zee5, one of the country’s major streaming platforms, with kickoff scheduled for 12:30 a.m. IST early Thursday morning local time.

A Historic Broadcast Slate for a Historic Rivalry

Wednesday’s match carries significant historical weight beyond its broadcast details. This will be the first meeting between England and Argentina at a World Cup in 21 years, and the first time in his career that Lionel Messi has faced England, despite having made more than 200 international appearances for Argentina.

The rivalry between the two nations remains one of the most storied in World Cup history, forever tied to Diego Maradona’s controversial “Hand of God” goal during their 1986 quarterfinal meeting. England holds a narrow historical edge in their head-to-head World Cup record, though both teams have needed extra time in multiple matches to reach this stage of the tournament.

England advanced to the semifinal following a dramatic 2-1 extra-time victory over Norway in the quarterfinals, powered by a Jude Bellingham brace that included a 93rd-minute winning goal. Argentina, meanwhile, reached the semifinal with a 3-1 extra-time win over Switzerland, continuing what has been a five-win, unbeaten run through the tournament for the defending champions.

What to Expect on the Pitch

Both teams enter Wednesday’s match with significant firepower up front. Messi leads the tournament’s Golden Boot race with eight goals, while England’s Harry Kane and Bellingham sit tied for the tournament lead among teammates with six goals each, marking the first time in men’s World Cup history that two players from the same nation have each scored six or more goals in a single tournament.

England will be without midfielder Jarell Quansah, who remains suspended for the second game of a two-match ban following a red card in the round of 16, and veteran Jordan Henderson, who is unavailable due to a broken arm. Argentina has reported no significant injury concerns heading into the match.

A Note on Accessing Streams While Traveling

For fans traveling outside their home country during the tournament, some streaming services may restrict access based on location due to broadcast licensing agreements. Travelers looking to access their usual home-country coverage while abroad can typically do so using a virtual private network, or VPN, which allows a device to appear as though it is connecting from a different location. It’s worth noting that streaming access and blackout rules vary by provider and country, so fans should check the specific terms of their preferred broadcaster before relying on this option.

With so much on the line and such broad global interest in the fixture, Wednesday’s England-Argentina semifinal is expected to draw one of the largest global television audiences of the tournament so far, as fans across multiple continents tune in through their respective free and paid broadcast options to watch one of international football’s most storied rivalries renewed on the sport’s biggest stage.

British business travellers could be boarding a direct train from London to Cologne by 2030, after start-up operator Gemini Trains vowed to break Eurostar’s 32-year grip on the Channel Tunnel with new routes, new stations and introductory Paris fares of about £59.

The British-based company, which says it is backed by a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund, wants to run rival services to Paris, including Disneyland Paris and Charles de Gaulle airport, alongside the Cologne route. It then aims to expand to Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, putting three of Germany’s biggest commercial centres within direct rail reach of London for the first time.

For firms trading with the Rhineland, the difference would be stark. Gemini says London to Cologne would take about four hours, similar to Eurostar’s London to Amsterdam service. Today the same trip can take up to six hours with at least one change.

With capacity at St Pancras under pressure, Gemini plans to make Stratford International its main London hub, with trains also calling at Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International, where Eurostar suspended services in 2020. That would restore a direct continental link for Kent’s business community after more than a decade of lobbying. The company has also signed a ticketing and co-branding partnership with Uber, building on its order for a fleet of Siemens high-speed trains announced last year.

Gemini is set to lease eight electric 200m trains carrying more than 550 passengers each, running about eleven services a day by 2030 before “rapid expansion”. Eurostar operates about 26 daily services from London. Tickets will be dynamically priced, with standard class promising “more comfortable seats, good wifi and mood lighting” and business class offering food and a privacy screen.

For more than 30 years Eurostar has been the tunnel’s sole passenger operator, and the crossing still runs at about 50 per cent capacity. But the ground is shifting. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Trains, which has ordered 12 Alstom trains for a planned 2030 launch, has secured access to Temple Mills, the east London depot that is the only site in Britain able to house and maintain cross-Channel trains, a decision the regulator said unlocks around £700 million of investment. Italy’s Trenitalia and Spanish start-up Evolyn are also circling, after the rail regulator opened the door to Channel Tunnel competition last year.

Gemini missed out on Temple Mills but said it was speaking to the Department for Transport about a potential new depot at Ashford, and would consider sites in Belgium or Germany.

“Sometimes we think of ourselves as reincarnations of those early day Victorian pioneers,” said Adrian Quine, the chief executive. “Despite having a solid team of experts Gemini Trains is very much a disruptor operator which constantly challenges the status quo.”

He added: “The forecast growth through the Channel Tunnel is enormous, yet only 50 per cent of the slots on the track are currently used. Eurostar, a monopoly operator, has become lacklustre and very expensive. We will shake things up by offering new routes, new stations, new trains, new interiors, new cheaper fares and encouraging people to shift from plane to train.

“For too long there has been no choice but Eurostar, who in 32 years have opened up virtually no new routes and in fact have cut some. Rail is one of the last great industries that has not been liberalised.”

The incumbent is not standing still. Eurostar is preparing to invest £1.7 billion in a fleet of 50 double-decker trains, enabling direct services to Geneva and to Frankfurt via Cologne by 2031, and a report commissioned by the company projects passenger numbers on London routes will rise by 50 per cent over the next decade.

Gwendoline Cazenave, the chief executive of Eurostar, said: “The UK now needs a bold vision to match the private investment on the table – more depot capacity, a bold expansion of St Pancras and a seamless border. Now is the time to act to ensure Britain plays a leading role in Europe’s high-speed rail future.”

For SMEs weary of pricey Paris fares and awkward connections to Germany, competition in the tunnel cannot come soon enough.

Jamie Young

Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the ‘covid era’ and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine’s coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at jyoung@cbmeg.co.uk

Parenting has never been easy, but raising children in a time where screens are everywhere, while we are still learning how they affect us, can be very worrying.

Dr Tony Sampson, a reader in digital communication at the University of Essex, says parents shouldn’t fall into the trap of moral panic.

“There is a tendency for anxious parents to become caught up in a prevailing media panic and see all adolescent brains as simply hardwired for social media addiction,” he says.

But children and teenagers have what’s called neuroplasticity – their brains are better at adapting and bouncing back than adults’ brains.

“We read a lot about the ways in which social media erodes attention,” he says.

“[But] social media does not shorten or erode attention. It captures it and diverts it toward engagement with commercial content.

“Positive technological use can help boost neuroplasticity for creativity, exploration and learning.”

MM Band Services, the East Yorkshire company providing luxury tour buses to some of the world’s biggest music artists for more than 25 years, has been acquired by Netherlands-based Pieter Smit Group – one of the largest businesses of its kind in Europe

An East Yorkshire firm that supplies luxury tour coaches to the stars has been acquired by a Dutch competitor. MM Band Services has been ensuring some of the globe’s most prominent musical acts reach their performances in comfort for more than a quarter of a century.

Throughout the years, the company, headquartered in Burstwick, Holderness, has delivered transport for international performers and their entourages, including Teddy Swims, Beyoncé, the Foo Fighters, Mumford and Sons, Neil Young, Linkin Park, Kasabian and numerous others. And now the firm is poised to accelerate forward following its acquisition by one of the sector’s largest operators – Netherlands-based Pieter Smit Group.

The transaction, completed for an undisclosed sum, enables the Dutch group to expand its Nightliner tour coach fleet by 24 vehicles, while also establishing a strategic foothold in the UK. Meanwhile, the MM Band Services team and brand will continue to function as before, with managing director Mike Moulds staying at the helm.

Mr Moulds established the business 26 years ago, with his inaugural coach purchase being a vehicle commissioned for veteran British rock outfit Status Quo. The company’s drivers clock up millions of miles annually, throughout the UK and as far afield as Greece and Finland, with connections to Scandinavia and mainland Europe.

The vast majority of buses are supplied to prominent artists in the music industry, along with comedians, drag shows, podcast creators, pantomime casts and golf tours. Last year, the company designed and constructed a bespoke double decker “Star Bus” for US singer-songwriter Teddy Swims, specifically crafted to meet the star’s requirements for his UK and European tour, reports Hull Live.

The £650,000 vehicle is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world to run on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel – an alternative to diesel that cuts fuel emissions by 90 per cent. The Star Bus – designed and built by the MM Band Services team over 18 months – featured an en-suite bedroom for the star, a downstairs toilet, kitchen facilities with a sink and fridge, desk and office space, a lounge area and comfortable, quilted sleeping bunks with gel-cooled mattresses for up to 10 people.

Louise Smit, Pieter Smit chief executive, said: “This step is a natural continuation of how we have always approached our business: staying close to our clients and adapting to the realities of international touring. Since Brexit, operating between the UK and Europe has become more complex. While we already had a strong Nightliner offering, the addition of MM Band Services significantly expands our capacity, allowing us to offer greater flexibility and more reliable support across both regions.”

Pieter Smit Group was founded in 1980 and operates hubs across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Poland and Portugal. Chief financial officer and chief operating officer Jeffrey Ringenier commented: “This acquisition is about positioning. International tours increasingly move between the UK and mainland Europe. With MM, we now have the right structure in place.”

A statement published on MM’s website read: “For years, MM Band Services has been a trusted name in premium artist and crew transportation across the UK and Europe. From intimate club tours to massive arena productions, our mission has always been clear: providing artists and crews with a seamless, comfortable, and reliable home on the road.

“To elevate our service to the next level, MM Band Services is proud to operate as a Pieter Smit Group Company. By joining forces with the premier name in European entertainment logistics, we have completed the puzzle for international touring.

“While we maintain our dedicated UK team, specialist management, and premium fleet of luxury sleeper buses, this partnership gives our clients direct access to a massive European network of trucks, trailers, and specialised event logistics.”