Fresh money, and who is about to spend it.
142 UK companies on Honch logged a funding event in September. Most of the cash went to a handful of very large deals. This brief looks past the cheque size for the companies growing fastest, and says what each one is likely to buy next.
September looked like a month of giant rounds. Mistral's UK arm, Fluidstack, Tekever and Open Cosmos, plus private equity deals for BMG and FNZ, account for most of the money. Under them sits a long tail of seed and Series A rounds where the sales opportunity is better: small teams that have just been handed a budget and told to grow.
Two patterns run through the fastest growers. The first is AI agents doing a specific job end to end, from recruiting (Jack & Jill) and consumer interviews (Conveo) to contract disputes (Resolutiion) and clinical notes (Tandem Health). The second is the US. Six of the fifteen companies below named America as the main use of the money. A UK company opening a US office buys recruitment, payroll, legal, relocation and sales help, mostly from people it already knows here.
Several rounds were top-ups rather than fresh raises. CloudNC and Velocity both extended rounds that had only just closed. Investors adding to a round within weeks is one of the clearer signs that the numbers behind it are good.
What’s inside.
AI software building a sales team
Young companies with a product that works and a go-to-market team that does not exist yet. The money is mostly going on people: first sales leaders, US hires, demand generation. Decisions sit with founders and move in weeks.
Revenue up 40x since its seed less than a year ago. 350,000 candidates (10x since seed) and 5,000 businesses using Jill. Customers include Ramp, Attio and Multiverse.
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In the full briefingWent from $5.8m raised to $55.8m in one round. Says it works with 400+ enterprises (company figure) including Unilever, Google and Canva.
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In the full briefingARR up 350% in 24 months. 350 clients in 15 countries, half of revenue already from the US. Clients include Greenberg Traurig, ABB and KPMG.
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In the full briefingA seed roughly 2.5x the UK median. 18 staff drawn from Darktrace, Klarna and Luminance. Founder previously ran commercial transformation at the RAF and the Cabinet Office.
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In the full briefingBeat every human entrant in the Summer 2026 Metaculus Cup. A $4m pre-seed to a $25m seed in about a year. Founded in 2024 by an ex-DeepMind researcher.
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In the full briefingFintech that is already scaling
These have revenue, customers and in two cases profits. The rounds pay for the next market or the next customer tier. Bigger buying centres than the AI group, but clearer budgets.
Transaction volumes tripled year on year. 6,500+ businesses on the platform, including Epos Now and the Disasters Emergency Committee. Billed as the UK's largest payments Series B this year.
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In the full briefingDefence, space and compute
The biggest cheques on the list, and still among the fastest growing. Valuations here are moving in months. They buy factories, sites, security-cleared people and everything that goes inside a building.
Health, consumer and impact
Smaller rounds with sharp growth numbers. Two are taking a UK product to the US, one is scaling across Europe from a UK base of users.
Also worth a call
Rounds that did not make the main profiles but are still worth a call: round extensions, very early companies with every function still to hire, and a few outside the main themes.
More from the list.
| Company | Sector | Based | Staff |
|---|---|---|---|
| FNZ | Financial Services | London | 6,297 |
| Fever | Media | Northampton | 5,523 |
| Chelsea FC | Travel & Leisure | London | 3,892 |
| Softcat | Technology | Slough | 3,196 |
| Hibob | Business Services | London | 2,127 |
| Mistral AI | Technology | London | 1,685 |
| Ridge and Partners | Construction & Property | Oxford | 1,651 |
The rest of this briefing is in Honch.
Every company in this briefing, with why it matters, how to sell in, the people to reach and the signals live on each one. Ready to filter, add to a campaign or send to your CRM.
Book a demo- Companies on the listAll of them
- Sales angleOn every profile
- People to contactAt every company
- New briefingsEvery month
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