UK AI Startups Land Fresh Funding as Sovereign Data and Tender Tech Draw Investors

Described as a data intelligence provider operating under the guise of a drone company, StirlingX builds what it calls a sovereign intelligence and autonomy platform. Its technology is designed to capture, secure, fuse and analyse data drawn from contested and sensitive environments, with applications spanning critical national infrastructure surveying, mapping and monitoring, as well as detecting and countering hostile drones.

The company is chaired by the former Director of GCHQ, lending it establishment credibility in the defence and security space. Chief executive and founder Dean Jones said the funding would help the company scale alongside partners across critical national infrastructure and defence ministries. Ventura Capital managing partner Mo El Husseiny framed StirlingX as a trusted supplier for the Five Eyes intelligence alliance and beyond, arguing that sovereign-secure data intelligence has become essential for governments and corporations alike.

BidScript targets the tender bottleneck

At a smaller scale, Manchester-based BidScript has raised €701k ($800k) in pre-seed funding, lifting its total pre-seed backing above €876k ($1 million), EU-Startups reported. The round combines follow-on investment from NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, managed by PXN Ventures under the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, with fresh money from SFC Capital.

Founded in 2023 by childhood friends Henry Brogan and Tyler McCarthy while both were still at university, BidScript offers an AI-native platform to help businesses find, qualify, manage, write and submit bids for public and private contracts. The company argues that general-purpose AI falls short for high-stakes tendering, a niche it says demands deep domain expertise. Focused on the construction, engineering, IT and education sectors, BidScript says early customers in the UK, US and Middle East have improved win rates by as much as 50%.

The raise lands amid a busy year for European procurement and RFP automation software. EU-Startups tallied roughly €49.4 million across comparable 2026 rounds, including Paris-based Pivot's €34.4 million Series B for agentic AI procurement and smaller seed rounds in Bolzano, Košice, Helsinki and Sofia. London-based Stotles' €11.5 million Series A in 2025 offers a same-country reference point.

A widening AI funding map

The activity is not confined to Britain. LinqAlpha, an AI-native firm building what it calls an Alpha Intelligence Layer for global public markets, announced $22 million in Series A funding, Finextra reported. Together, the deals reflect investors backing narrowly targeted AI platforms across defence, finance and procurement rather than broad, horizontal tools.

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