Founded by Starlin Marot in September 2025, Bad Girl Books began as a series of pop-up events designed to bring the online romantasy community together through indie books, special editions, and merchandise.

Ms Marot, originally from Palm Beach County near Miami, will open the new store in Walton Street on Saturday, followed by a series of author visits throughout the summer.

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The store, a former ceramics studio, will stock one of the UK’s largest dedicated ranges of romantasy titles – about 2,000 books – alongside special editions, gifts, merchandise and products from independent female-owned brands.

There are other stores in the UK which have romantasy books but this is claimed to be the first store solely dedicated to the genre.

Romantasy fiction fans queue up outside an event (Image: Starlin Marot)

Ms Marot said she was inspired to start reading romantasy fiction, a fantasy romance crossover genre, three year ago after trying a novel by Sarah J Maas, one of the leading authors in the genre.

She added: “The reason I like the romantasy genre so much is because it is so inclusive and empowering.

“It can be empowering to celebrate stories written by women, which feature women’s voices and desires.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting lots of new customers.”

Bad Girl Books in Oxford (Image: Andy Ffrench)

Bad Girl Books’ first pop-up event in London tempted more than 1,000 people to sign up within three days, while more than 8,000 readers have attended its last four pop-up events across the UK.

The launch in Jericho will be marked by a “mini-summer romantasy festival” every Saturday and Sunday in July and August, when more than 50 authors will host signing tables in the shop, which has been painted pink and looks ready to open.

Starlin Marot outside a Bad Girl Books pop-up event (Image: Starlin Marot)

Ms Marot, a former marketing student, said the store is intended to fill a gap in both the local community and the wider UK book market.

She said earlier: “I started Bad Girl Books as a way to meet the romantasy community in real life and create a genuinely fun, unique shopping experience.

“The response has honestly been unbelievable. So many people showed up to the pop-ups that I was able to scale incredibly quickly, and within six months I’d raised enough money to open a permanent shop.”

Starlin Marot who is opening a new bookstore (Image: Starlin Marot)

Sarah J Maas is thought to have sold more than 75 million books worldwide. Her fantasy series, including A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, and Crescent City, have been translated into 40 languages.

Her readership is heavily driven by the BookTok community on social media, and she frequently tops the charts as one of the bestselling living fantasy authors.

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

NETGEAR has launched Insight 10.0, a new version of its cloud network management platform. The release marks its latest push into AI-led network operations for small and medium-sized businesses and managed service providers.

The updated platform is aimed at organisations managing increasingly complex networks as they add cloud services, connected devices, AI applications and staff working across multiple locations. Insight 10.0 is designed to help smaller IT teams handle those demands through greater automation and a single management interface.

Insight 10.0 adds what NETGEAR describes as AI-powered operations, with tools intended to spot issues earlier, surface contextual information, and guide administrators through troubleshooting and routine tasks. NETGEAR is positioning the platform as a step beyond basic monitoring and control, arguing that network management systems increasingly need to identify anomalies and suggest responses rather than simply report status.

That approach reflects a broader shift in the networking market, as suppliers use AI to reduce the manual work required to run distributed infrastructure. For smaller businesses and service providers, the pitch is that this can narrow the gap with larger companies that have dedicated networking teams.

The platform also focuses on unified visibility across network performance, device health, connectivity and user experience. Administrators can manage multiple sites, devices, users and customer environments from one cloud-based system.

Another part of the update is a redesign intended to simplify administration at scale. Insight 10.0 includes revised workflows, streamlined navigation, flexible access controls and simpler subscription management, with the aim of reducing the operational burden on lean IT teams and managed service providers.

Market focus

NETGEAR has framed the launch around the needs of SMEs and MSPs, two segments that often lack the staff and resources available to larger enterprises. As more smaller organisations rely on digital tools across several locations, vendors have increasingly packaged centralised network management into cloud services that are easier to deploy and maintain.

Built on NETGEAR’s cloud architecture, Insight 10.0 is intended to provide centralised management across distributed environments. The company also described the platform as the foundation for its longer-term direction in AI operations and AI-defined networking.

Pramod Badjate, President and GM of NETGEAR Enterprise, set out the company’s view of where the market is heading.

“The future of networking is about giving organizations the intelligence to operate increasingly complex environments with confidence. As AI transforms every business, networks must become more adaptive, more automated, and easier to operate. Insight 10.0 is the foundation for our vision of AIOps and AI-defined networking for the millions of small and medium-sized organizations that have historically been underserved by enterprise networking solutions. We’re bringing enterprise-class intelligence to businesses without enterprise-sized IT teams,” said Pramod Badjate, President and GM, NETGEAR Enterprise.

User feedback

NETGEAR also pointed to input from CTI, which said it had used NETGEAR switches in its own locations and had been involved in testing the platform during its beta phase. That suggests the company sought partner feedback on practical issues such as deployment, troubleshooting and configuration before launch.

“We’ve had NETGEAR switches deployed across our own locations for years, and we’ve been part of the Insight development process since beta. So when we recommend Insight 10.0 to customers, we’re recommending something CTI actually runs on. The 10.0 release reflects the feedback we gave – the interface is sharper, onboarding is faster, and the platform handles the two things that cost integrators the most time: post-deployment troubleshooting and manual network configuration. That’s a meaningful change, and it shows up in how we deliver,” said Kenny Red, CTO at CTI.

Founded in 1996, NETGEAR sells networking products for businesses, homes and service providers. In the business market, its portfolio includes switches, routers, access points, software and AV over IP products, with Insight serving as the cloud management layer across those deployments.

The launch underlines how even suppliers focused on the SME market now treat AI-driven administration as a core part of network management rather than an added feature. NETGEAR said Insight will be the platform through which it delivers the next phase of networking, security, cloud and AI integration for smaller organisations and service providers worldwide.

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Komerz has appointed Shahid Sadiq as Group Chief Financial Officer. He joins from WPP.

Sadiq is among the latest senior hires at the UK-founded commerce business as it expands through acquisitions and international growth.

He brings two decades of experience in marketing communications finance. At WPP, he served as Global CFO of WPP Specialist Communications and PR, overseeing finance across a portfolio of operating companies in multiple markets.

Earlier in his career, Sadiq held senior finance and operating roles at Geometry Global and McCann Worldgroup EMEA. He has also served on listed and private company boards as an adviser and Non-Executive Director.

At Komerz, he will lead group finance, capital allocation, investment strategy, fundraising, governance, performance management and investor relations. He will also support the company’s acquisition programme and overseas expansion across four global hubs.

The appointment comes as Komerz pursues a growth financing round valuing the business at GBP £500 million. Founded in 2023, it has completed more than GBP £50 million of acquisitions across brands, technology and marketing businesses.

Those deals include haircare brand NOUGHTY, wine retailer Great Wines Direct, US-based marketing measurement and attribution company Pathformance Technologies, and brand and marketing consultancy Glassbox.

Acquisition push

Komerz has built its strategy around linking marketing, commerce, data and distribution in a single operating model. It says this structure is designed to connect brand activity with sales conversion, retail planning and revenue measurement.

Its platform, the Komerz Operating System, sits at the centre of that approach. The system combines data, planning and execution across areas including consumer targeting, demand forecasting, channel optimisation and market expansion.

The company has grown quickly since launch, and the arrival of a new finance chief points to a greater focus on managing a more complex group structure as acquisitions are integrated and new capital is raised.

Ramesh Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Shahid’s appointment marks another significant milestone in Komerz’s evolution. As we continue to grow and strengthen our global presence, his experience leading complex international organisations and delivering disciplined growth will be invaluable. We are building for the long term, and Shahid brings the financial leadership needed for the next stage of our journey.”

Siddarth Shankar, Chief Operating Officer, said: “Komerz is creating a new kind of commercial growth platform, combining brands, technology, data and distribution within a single ecosystem. Shahid brings world-class financial and operational expertise that will help us accelerate growth, integrate acquisitions effectively, and continue building a category-defining business.”

For Komerz, the appointment underlines the importance of financial oversight at a time when younger technology-led groups are using acquisitions to assemble broader commercial platforms. Bringing in a senior executive from a large listed advertising group may also help reassure investors as the company seeks fresh funding.

Sadiq said the scale of the opportunity was a key factor in his move.

He said: “Komerz is building a highly differentiated platform at the intersection of commerce, distribution, AI and performance-led growth, with a clear vision and significant opportunities ahead. The opportunity to help scale this globally through disciplined investment, profitable expansion and strategic acquisitions is extremely compelling. I look forward to working with the leadership team to build a world-class omni-channel distribution business for brands.”