Startupmag reported, UK startups secured £116.9 million across 17 funding rounds between 9–13 February 2026, with capital concentrated in AI, fintech, energy infrastructure and biotech. The week involved 40 founders and 75 VCs and angel investors, reflecting broad investor participation despite the absence of mega late-stage rounds.
📊 Weekly Snapshot
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total raised | £116.9M |
| Startups funded | 17 |
| Founders involved | 40 |
| Investors (VCs & Angels) | 75 |
🤖 AI: £23.55M Across 4 Seed Rounds
AI remained a dominant theme, spanning edge intelligence, generative tools, and enterprise workflow automation.
| Company | Amount | Stage | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stanhope AI | £5.86M | Seed | Brain-inspired on-device AI for drones & defence |
| Mozart AI | £4.39M | Seed | Generative audio workstation |
| Seamflow | £3.3M | Seed | AI for testing, inspection & certification |
| Electric Twin | £10M | Seed | Synthetic audience modelling |
Insight: Investors are backing both foundational AI models and productised applications, particularly in regulated and defence-adjacent environments.
💳 Fintech: £21M Across 2 Deals
Fintech funding focused on mortgage-linked savings products and AI-driven treasury infrastructure.
| Company | Amount | Stage | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tembo | £16M | Growth | Savings + live mortgage data platform |
| Bracket | £5M | Seed | AI-driven FX & treasury platform |
Trend: Capital continues flowing toward platforms integrating with regulated financial infrastructure and cross-border flows.
⚡ Energy & Circular Tech: £61.43M
Energy infrastructure accounted for the largest share of capital this week.
| Company | Amount | Stage | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| tem | £55M | Series B | AI-native energy transaction infrastructure |
| Uplift360 | £6.43M | Growth | Chemical regeneration of aerospace composites |
Observation: The £55M Series B signals investor appetite for capital-intensive scale when underpinned by software-enabled market innovation.
🧬 Biotech & Healthtech: £3.3M+ Disclosed
Early-stage biotech rounds focused on AI-led drug safety, oncology discovery, and sensor deployment.
| Company | Amount | Stage | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sable Bio | £2.7M | Seed | AI for drug-target safety |
| AMPLY Discovery | Undisclosed | Strategic | AI oncology discovery |
| Vape Guardian | £350K | Early | Vape-detection sensors |
| MOLO | £250K | Pre-seed | Family mental-load platform |
🚀 Defence, Space & Gaming: £5.24M
Applied autonomy and satellite optimisation continued to attract early capital.
| Company | Amount | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Occam | £2.6M | GPS-free drone autonomy |
| The Compression Company | £2.5M | Onboard satellite data compression |
| TruePlayers | £140K | FireHawk FPV gaming expansion |
📈 What This Week Signals
AI + Energy Infrastructure dominated capital allocation
Strong seed-stage momentum, especially in applied AI
Continued investor confidence in regulated markets (finance, defence, pharma)
Absence of mega-rounds kept totals moderate despite healthy deal flow
The week reflects a selective but active UK VC environment, favouring defensible tech, infrastructure plays, and enterprise-linked monetisation models.
