Dimos Raptis

Here are some UK VC Trends as We Enter H2 2025 🚀 👉1.2 trillion tech sector & #3 globally overall – UK remains a powerhouse with deep early-stage pipelines and thriving scale-ups. 👉VC up ~31% YoY (Jan–Apr), led by standout mega-rounds in AI, healthtech, biotech and deep tech. 👉UK AI startups raised $1.03 bn in Q1, the strongest Q1 in 3 years – but securing growth capital and talent remains a challenge. 👉Healthtech (/life sciences) took the lead with $1.8 bn in Q1 – more than fintech and software combined. 👉VC investment is becoming more focused: fewer but larger rounds into specialised verticals (AI, drug discovery, AI-infra). Why it matters: 👉Investors are favouring depth over spread – champions of specific verticals are winning funding . 👉UK’s mature ecosystem + policy reforms (e.g. pension and department-backed funds, NWF) offer momentum, but better exits and visa/tax clarity are still needed . 👉As someone in recruitment, I’m seeing strong demand for talent in AI, healthtech and deep tech—especially in roles requiring specialised expertise. Built-in Opportunity: Founders with technically rich propositions and evidence of focus continue to unlock deep pockets. The key for H2? Demonstrate real product-market fit in niche verticals—and the capital will follow. My Opinion: I believe the shift to quality over quantity in funding rounds is a healthy sign – it shows maturity in the UK ecosystem.🏅

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Today we’re introducing Guide's long-awaited integration with Ashby ATS—bringing Aria, Guide’s AI RC agent, to all Ashby customers. The launch of this integration and our partnership with Ashby will enable more TA teams to: ↳ Automate interview scheduling with Aria, Guide’s AI RC agent, including both Copilot and Autopilot modes ↳ Deliver beautiful, branded candidate portals and interview prep to every candidate seamlessly If you’re an Ashby user looking to free up RC bandwidth and improve the candidate experience, the wait is finally over 🔥

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Another great month of AI innovation in the UK👏 A few standouts raises worth noting (and congratulating):   Maze – Series A, $25M. Building autonomous AI agents that actively hunt and remediate cloud security issues. Treefera - Series B, $30M. Using AI to trace nature-based assets at the source, from forest to supply chain.   Wordsmith AI - Series A, $25M. Built for in-house legal teams, taking legal AI beyond templates and prompts.   Literal Labs - Pre-Seed, £4.6M. Logic-based model training using Tsetlin Machines.   assisterr AI - Series A, $2.8M. Enabling anyone to build, own and monetise small language model agents - tokenised, no-code, and decentralised. Their focus is on agentic systems, accountable AI, and targeted solutions that solve real problems and drive adoption, love to see it! Huge congrats to all involved, can’t wait to watch the growth🤠

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Tech salaries are shifting fast in 2025. We’ve seen a clear trend across the UK: - Mid-level engineers are flatlining - Seniors and specialists (AI, data, platform) are surging - London pay is no longer outpacing the rest of the UK by default Hiring managers: If your salary bands are based on 2022 numbers, you're probably missing out on great people - or losing them at offer stage. Get the full breakdown in our 2025 UK Tech Salary Report (link in comments) 👇

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