Fair Aim Capital Launches £30m Investment Fund to Bridge AI Transformation Gap for UK SMEs
Fair Aim Capital launches £30m investment fund to bridge AI transformation gap for UK SMEs as they risk being left behind. ONS research reveals 68% of UK SMEs do not use AI technologies, despite SMEs representing 99.8% of all UK businesses.
Share
The investment firm will target profitable UK businesses generating £1-3 million EBITDA, acquiring majority stakes and working alongside management teams to implement AI-first operating models that accelerate revenue growth.
"We're witnessing a concerning divergence in the UK economy," said Andrew Harkness, CEO of Fair Aim Capital. "Large enterprises are investing heavily in AI transformation and pulling ahead, whilst the backbone of our economy, SMEs that employ three in five workers, risk being permanently left behind. This isn't about lacking ambition; it's about lacking the capital, expertise, and bandwidth to execute meaningful change."
Recent data from LinkedIn shows that amongst early AI adopters, 76% report substantial time savings and 50% achieve revenue growth exceeding 10% within 24 months, gains that successful businesses are reinvesting in innovation and customer relationships rather than workforce reductions.
Fair Aim Capital plans to invest in 3-5 assets over the next 3-4 years, working as transformation partners rather than traditional financial investors, with target exits in 3-5 years.
"AI transformation isn't about replacing people, it's about freeing talented teams to focus on creativity, strategy, and high-value client work that drives revenue acceleration," explained Alan Lipschitz, Founder of Fair Aim Capital, who previously led marketing technology company Incubeta to global scale before its successful exit to Carlyle in 2023. "AI-enabled businesses will command premium valuations compared to traditional operations."
The fund targets business services and professional services sectors where AI applications can deliver immediate improvements to customer acquisition, customer experience and operations.
"The window for transformation is closing rapidly," added Harkness, who brings 15+ years of private equity-backed leadership experience. "SMEs that act decisively in the next 12-18 months will establish competitive advantages that compound for years."
About Fair Aim Capital
Fair Aim Capital is a family-backed investment firm focused on acquiring and transforming UK lower mid-market businesses through AI and digital marketing driven growth. Founded by serial entrepreneur Alan Lipschitz and led by CEO Andrew Harkness, the firm combines capital with hands-on operational expertise to create long-term value for all stakeholders.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Wire
24 minutes ago
- Business Wire
Metomic Launches Advanced AI Data Security Solutions to Address Growing Enterprise AI Adoption Risks
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Metomic, a leading data security platform, today announced two groundbreaking AI-powered solutions designed to help enterprises safely deploy artificial intelligence tools while protecting sensitive data. The new Semantic Asset Classification and Data Cleanser address critical security vulnerabilities that emerge when organizations integrate AI agents and large language models into their workflows. Addressing the AI Security Challenge As enterprises increasingly adopt AI tools like Gemini Gems, Dust, and Microsoft Copilot, they face significant risks of inadvertently exposing sensitive information. Metomic's research demonstrates how AI agents can easily extract confidential data such as employee emails, financial documents, and intellectual property when fed unredacted datasets. "The magic trick we demonstrated shows the core problem every company faces with AI deployment," said Ben van Enckevort of Metomic. "When you ask an AI tool to 'give me all the emails referenced in this dataset,' it will comply without hesitation - exposing sensitive information that should never be accessible." Semantic Asset Classification: Intelligent Document Labelling The first solution automatically identifies and labels entire documents based on their content, supporting categories like Board documents, Financial data, HR data, and Intellectual property. The technology combines keyword detection with AI model validation, using multiple frontier models to confirm classifications with high confidence levels. "Rather than looking for individual detections within documents, we examine the document as a whole and attach appropriate labels," explained Dane Stevens, who led the development. "This gives organizations unprecedented visibility into what types of documents they have, where they're shared, and who can access them." Data Cleanser: Sanitizing Data for Safe AI Use The Data Cleanser addresses the need to redact sensitive information before feeding data to AI tools. The solution processes data from multiple sources including Google Drive and Slack channels, automatically removing emails, phone numbers, and other personally identifiable information. In demonstrations, the tool successfully sanitized over 7,000 messages from Metomic's internal development support channel while preserving contextual information needed for AI training. "We can now take sensitive data sources like internal Slack channels and safely prepare them for AI tools," said Sandro Dolidze. "The Data Cleanser redacts all sensitive information while maintaining the utility of the data for AI training and analysis." Availability and Future Development Both solutions are being released in beta with select enterprise customers, with general availability expected in July 2025. Future roadmap items include custom classification labels, batch processing capabilities, and advanced truncation strategies. The platform already supports integration with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zendesk, and various cloud storage platforms. Early access can be requested on Metomic website.
Business Wire
24 minutes ago
- Business Wire
Omilia Appoints Marios Fakiolas as Chief Technology Officer to Accelerate AI-Native Innovation
ATHENS, Greece--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Omilia, a global leader in enterprise conversational AI, proudly announces the appointment of Marios Fakiolas as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Marios returns to Omilia at a pivotal time to lead the company's next phase of technological innovation and drive its transformation into an AI-first organization. With a career spanning more than 20 years across defense, software engineering, enterprise software, and AI startups, Marios brings a unique combination of deep technical expertise and executive leadership. He first joined Omilia in 2017 holding senior technical roles and was instrumental in shaping the company's early voice-first AI capabilities. In 2021, Marios founded HelloWorld PC, a boutique tech firm focused on AI and modern engineering practices. As CEO, he scaled HelloWorld into a trusted innovation partner delivering next-generation AI solutions across sectors. Now, he returns to Omilia with a bold vision for the future. 'I'm thrilled to return to Omilia at an exciting moment in the evolution of Conversational AI,' said Marios Fakiolas, CTO of Omilia. 'We are moving beyond bots into intelligent, agentic systems that understand context, adapt in real time, and deliver real business outcomes. My mission is to drive the agentic transformation of our products, reimagine our platform architecture, and empower our teams to innovate fearlessly. Together, we'll redefine what enterprise-grade AI can achieve.' Marios will report to Dimiris Vassos, Omilia's Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, who leads the company's end-to-end product vision and strategy. 'Marios is a visionary thinker with battle-tested engineering leadership and a relentless focus on customer impact,' said Vassos. 'His previous work with AI-native architectures and proven ability to scale high-performance teams positions him well to lead us into the next era of Conversational AI. I'm excited to partner with Marios as we reshape the future of enterprise interactions.' Omilia's technology roadmap under Marios will be anchored on four key pillars: AI-driven engineering, cloud-native data flywheel architecture, end-to-end GenAI integration, and Agentic AI for Customer Service. His leadership signals Omilia's commitment to staying at the forefront of enterprise AI innovation, with a sharp focus on trust, scalability, and business value. About Omilia Omilia is the global standard for AI-driven customer service transformation. Our native Conversational AI platform revolutionizes how enterprises engage with customers - automating interactions with precision, empowering agents in real time, and delivering seamless, personalized experiences across all channels. Powered by deep expertise in developing proprietary Agentic AI technology, and multi-layered anti-fraud capabilities, we enable enterprises to move decisively and safely into the era of AI-first contact centers. Omilia's Unified Agentic AI learns from across the entire customer journey - from self-service to live agent interactions - unlocking continuous improvement and breaking the 'glass ceiling' of containment that legacy siloed models can't achieve. Trusted by the world's most demanding enterprises and built on over two decades of AI innovation, Omilia delivers measurable outcomes: lower costs, higher efficiency, and unmatched customer satisfaction - all while preserving the human touch where it matters most.
Business Wire
25 minutes ago
- Business Wire
AECOM announces cash tender offer for any and all 5.125% Senior Notes due 2027
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AECOM (NYSE: ACM) today announced that it has commenced a cash tender offer (the 'Tender Offer') for any and all of its $997,293,000 principal amount outstanding 5.125% Senior Notes due 2027 (the 'Notes'). A comprehensive description of the terms of the Tender Offer is included in AECOM's Offer to Purchase, dated July 15, 2025 (the 'Offer to Purchase'), and the related Notice of Guaranteed Delivery (the 'Notice of Guaranteed Delivery' and, together with the Offer to Purchase, the 'Offer Documents'). The following table summarizes the material pricing terms of the Tender Offer, which is being made upon, and is subject to, the terms and conditions set forth in the Offer Documents. The Tender Offer will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on July 21, 2025, unless extended or earlier terminated by AECOM (the 'Expiration Date'). No tenders submitted after the Expiration Date will be valid unless delivered pursuant to the guaranteed delivery procedures described in the Offer to Purchase at or prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on July 23, 2025 (the 'Guaranteed Delivery Date'). Tenders of Notes may be withdrawn any time at or prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on July 21, 2025, by following the procedures described in the Offer to Purchase. The consideration (the 'Total Consideration') offered for each $1,000 principal amount of the Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer will be determined in the manner described in the Offer to Purchase by reference to the fixed spread for the Notes specified in the table above plus the yield to December 15, 2026, based on the bid-side price of the Reference Security specified in the table above, as quoted on the Bloomberg Bond Trader PX4 page as of 11:00 a.m., New York City time, on July 21, 2025, unless extended or earlier terminated by AECOM. In addition to the Total Consideration, AECOM will also pay accrued and unpaid interest up to, but not including, the Initial Settlement Date (as defined below). The settlement date for Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn and accepted for purchase and delivered at or prior to the Expiration Date is expected to be July 22, 2025, the next business day after the Expiration Date (the 'Initial Settlement Date'). The settlement date for Notes delivered pursuant to the guaranteed delivery procedures described in the Offer to Purchase is expected to be July 24, 2025, the next business day after the Guaranteed Delivery Date (the 'Guaranteed Delivery Settlement Date'). For the avoidance of doubt, accrued interest will cease to accrue on the Initial Settlement Date for all Notes accepted in the Tender Offer, whether such Notes are purchased on the Initial Settlement Date or the Guaranteed Delivery Settlement Date. Holders must validly tender (and not validly withdraw) their Notes at or prior to the Expiration Date, or deliver a properly completed and duly executed Notice of Guaranteed Delivery for their Notes at or prior to the Expiration Date, and tender their Notes at or prior to the Guaranteed Delivery Date (as defined in the Offer to Purchase), in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, in order to be eligible to receive the Total Consideration. AECOM's obligation to accept for purchase and to pay for the Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn pursuant to the Tender Offer is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions, which are more fully described in the Offer to Purchase, including, among others, AECOM having raised net proceeds from its concurrently commenced offering of $1,000,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of its senior unsecured notes due 2033 (the 'New Notes Offering'), which, together with cash on hand or other immediately available funds, are sufficient to fund the purchase of all Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase in the Tender Offer (such condition, the 'Financing Condition'). In addition, concurrently with the pricing of the New Notes Offering, the Company intends to issue a conditional notice of redemption to the holders of the Notes to redeem any and all Notes that remain outstanding after completion of the Tender Offer at a make-whole redemption price based on a make-whole spread of 50 basis points over the yield of the Reference Security specified above, calculated pursuant to the applicable provisions of the indenture governing the Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but not including, the date of redemption. The date of redemption is expected to be August 14, 2025 (the 'Redemption Date'). The redemption of any and all Notes that remain outstanding after completion of the Tender Offer will be made in accordance with the provisions of the Indenture, and will be conditioned upon the satisfaction of the Financing Condition. The Tender Offer does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or other financial instruments that may be issued or otherwise incurred in connection with the New Notes Offering. AECOM reserves the right, subject to applicable law, in its sole discretion, to: (i) waive any and all conditions to the Tender Offer at any time and from time to time; (ii) extend or terminate the Tender Offer; or (iii) otherwise amend the Tender Offer in any respect. AECOM is not soliciting consents from holders of securities in connection with the Tender Offer. AECOM has retained BofA Securities to act as exclusive Dealer Manager for the Tender Offer. D.F. King and Co., Inc. has been retained to serve as both the tender and information agent (the 'Tender and Information Agent') for the Tender Offer. For additional information regarding the terms of the Tender Offer, please contact: BofA Securities at debt_advisory@ (email), (888) 292-0070 (toll free) or (646) 743-2120 (collect). Requests for copies of the Offer to Purchase and other related materials should be directed to D.F. King and Co., Inc. at aecom@ (email), (888) 887-0082 (U.S. Toll Free), (212) 365-6884 (Banks and Brokers). Copies of the Offer to Purchase and Notice of Guaranteed Delivery are available at the following web address: This press release is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell with respect to any Notes nor is this announcement an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase new debt securities, or a notice of redemption of the Notes. The Tender Offer is being made solely pursuant to the Offer Documents, which set forth the complete terms and conditions of the Tender Offer. The Tender Offer is not being made to, nor will AECOM accept tenders of Notes from, holders in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. None of AECOM, its affiliates, their respective board of directors, the Dealer Manager, the trustee of the Notes or the Tender and Information Agent makes any recommendation to any holder of Notes in connection with the Tender Offer. Holders must make their own decisions as to whether to tender their Notes and, if so, the principal amount of Notes to tender. About AECOM AECOM (NYSE: ACM) is the global infrastructure leader, committed to delivering a better world. As a trusted professional services firm powered by deep technical abilities, we solve our clients' complex challenges in water, environment, energy, transportation and buildings. Our teams partner with public- and private-sector clients to create innovative, sustainable and resilient solutions throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm that had revenue of $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2024. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements All statements in this press release other than statements of historical fact are 'forward-looking statements' for purposes of federal and state securities laws, including any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives for future operations, profitability, strategic value creation, capital allocation strategy including stock repurchases, risk profile and investment strategies, and any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance, and the expected financial and operational results of AECOM. Although AECOM believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause AECOM's actual results, performance and achievements, or industry results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: AECOM's business is cyclical and vulnerable to economic downturns and client spending reductions; potential government shutdowns, changes in administration or other funding directives and circumstances that may cause governmental agencies to modify, curtail or terminate AECOM's contracts; government contracts are subject to audits and adjustments of contractual terms; long-term government contracts and subject to uncertainties related to government contract appropriations; losses under fixed-price contracts; limited control over operations that run through AECOM's joint venture entities; liability for misconduct by AECOM's employees or consultants; changes in government laws, regulations and policies, including failure to comply with laws or regulations applicable to AECOM's business; maintaining adequate surety and financial capacity; potential high leverage and inability to service AECOM's debt and guarantees; ability to continue payment of dividends; exposure to political and economic risks in different countries, including tariffs and trade policies, geopolitical events, and conflicts; inflation, currency exchange rates and interest rate fluctuations; changes in capital markets and stock market volatility; retaining and recruiting key technical and management personnel; legal claims and litigation; inadequate insurance coverage; environmental law compliance and inadequate nuclear indemnification; unexpected adjustments and cancellations related to AECOM's backlog; partners and third parties who may fail to satisfy their legal obligations; managing pension costs; AECOM Capital real estate development; cybersecurity issues, IT outages and data privacy; risks associated with the benefits and costs of the sale of AECOM's Management Services and self-perform at-risk civil infrastructure, power construction and oil and gas construction businesses, including the risk that any purchase adjustments from those transactions could be unfavorable and any future proceeds owed to us as part of the transactions could be lower than we expect; as well as other additional risks and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements set forth in AECOM's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof. AECOM does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statement.
