> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # EP + Weekly: The Biggest UK Startup Stories This Week - URL: https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/ep-weekly-the-biggest-uk-startup-stories-this-week-12/ - Published: 2026-10-17T10:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-17T10:00:01.000Z - Description: Two billion-pound software businesses, two very different ways to make money. Explore how Quantexa’s long-term contracts compare with Paddle’s cut of software sales, and what their diverging growth reveals. - Author: Sharoni Banerjee - Tags: Ecosystem Intel --- Two London software companies, both worth billions, are losing money. In their 2023 accounts, **Quantexa** and **Paddle** reported almost the same revenue: *£57.9 million and £57.3 million.* Since then, their roads have split. **Quantexa** has doubled its revenue to £126.4 million and says it’s “IPO-ready.” **Paddle** says it was growing 40% year on year as of July 2025. The real difference is how they earn. Now, **Quantexa** sells software to banks and governments on big, long contracts, including *£175 million from HMRC*, and **Paddle**, on the other hand, keeps 5% plus 50 cents of every sale it handles for other software companies. A few huge contracts, or a small cut of millions of sales. Same size, same city, opposite bets. Read the full breakdown of [*How Quantexa Makes Money*](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/how-quantexa-makes-money-inside-its-2-6-billion-business/) and [*How Paddle Makes Money.*](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/how-paddle-makes-money-the-merchant-of-record-behind-your-checkout/) --- ## Also on EP+ this week: → Deliveroo floated at 390p and sold at 180p:[ *The Deliveroo Founder Took the Order, DoorDash Took the Lot*](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/the-deliveroo-founder-took-the-order-doordash-took-the-lot/) → \[[*How Speechmatics makes money*](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/how-speechmatics-makes-money-the-voice-ai-you-never-see/)\]: the voice AI you never see, billed from $0.12 an hour. → Neko Health raised $700 million to open its first New York clinic. What that says about [*who funds UK longevity*.](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/what-neko-health-and-a-cambridge-seed-round-say-about-who-funds-uk-longevity/) → Two clocks run out in 2027\. Can [*UK nuclear companies* ](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/can-uk-nuclear-companies-beat-the-regulators-clock/)beat the regulator’s? → The application fee is the smallest part. What [*UK crypto regulation*](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/what-uk-crypto-regulation-will-cost-a-startups-runway/) could cost a startup’s runway. → When a co-founder leaves, the company can buy their shares back, but only by the rules: [*Company share buybacks.*](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/company-share-buybacks-and-the-rules-uk-founders-must-follow/) → Up to £20 million a year under EIS from April 2026, if you qualify as a [*knowledge intensive company*](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/what-is-a-knowledge-intensive-company-eis-status-criteria-and-limits-explained/). --- ## The wider ecosystem: who gets to stay, and who gets to leave? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/05/a4/05a4a052-18ab-4836-8924-ec8b322c371c/content/images/2026/10/UK_Startup_Ecosystem_at_a_Crossroads_2.png) UK startup ecosystem infographic London’s IPO market got a real test last Friday. Airtel Money listed at about £5.3 billion, which is the biggest London IPO in five years, and its shares slipped about 2% on day one. It was also the first IPO above £1 billion since 2021, the year Deliveroo floated. Two days later, City leaders warned the Chancellor , that the UK is becoming an ***“incubator nation”:*** a country that builds great companies, then loses them just as they get big. That same Friday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the government will change the law so non-compete clauses stop blocking hiring, that’s the rule that stops people joining a rival or starting their own company for a set time after leaving a job. 20 founders had signed an open letter asking for it last month! Nvidia pledged $250 million of computing power over five years for UK AI safety research, and none of it is cash. It also plans small stakes in five British startups: **Boltz, Foresight, Hiverge, Prima Mente and Riverlane.** One Forrester analyst warned that small stakes like these still leave UK startups relying on foreign money to grow. Meanwhile, UK venture funds raised a record $6.9 billion in the third quarter. Oxford chip startup Salience Labs raised $125 million, and it’s also expanding in Silicon Valley. --- ## One pattern we noticed The money to start is rarely the problem; the money to finish is. UK venture funds raised a record **$6.9 billion** in a single quarter. **Quantexa and Paddle** are both valued in the billions, and Quantexa says it is IPO-ready. **Deliveroo** floated at 390p and sold at 180p. **Airtel Money** got London’s biggest IPO in five years, and its shares slipped on day one. *The cheque going in is easy to find, but the exit is where the price really gets decided.* --- ## One number **£600,000:** the gap between Quantexa’s and Paddle’s revenue in their 2023 accounts. --- ## Question of the week Would you rather earn from a few huge contracts or a small cut of millions of sales? ***Email us at editorial@entrepreneurplus.co.uk and tell us. We read every single answer, and yours might end up in next week’s brief.*** --- **Sources:* EP+’s own reporting (Quantexa, Paddle, Deliveroo, Speechmatics, Neko Health, UK nuclear, UK crypto regulation, share buybacks, knowledge intensive companies); City AM (Airtel Money, incubator nation, Salience Labs); Briefs Finance and Bloomberg (non-competes); Tech Funding News and City AM (Nvidia); HSBC Innovation Banking UK and Dealroom (venture funds).*