KAREN JOY BACUDO

Finance Editor

Affirm and Stripe have expanded their partnership to bring Affirm’s pay-over-time products to Stripe merchants in the UK. From July, British businesses using Stripe will be able to add the option at online checkout.

The move marks Affirm’s first rollout through Stripe’s merchant network in the UK. It builds on an existing partnership in the US and Canada, where merchants using the service have recorded higher revenue per eligible session and stronger conversion rates for larger purchases, according to the companies.

Under the agreement, Stripe merchants in the UK will be able to offer Affirm as a payment option during online purchases. The addition is aimed at businesses seeking more checkout choices as consumers look for ways to spread the cost of purchases.

Affirm, which offers instalment-based credit, said the partnership would expand its reach among British merchants that already use Stripe for payments infrastructure. Stripe, one of the world’s largest payments groups, said the UK launch is part of a broader effort to offer businesses a wider range of payment methods on its platform.

The companies cited North American results as evidence of merchant demand. Stripe businesses that enabled Affirm saw average revenue per eligible session rise by 13.9%, while conversion increased by 21.3% for purchases of USD 250 or more, according to figures they provided.

The announcement comes as payments groups compete for a larger role at the online checkout stage. Buy now, pay later and other instalment products have become a common feature of retail payments, especially for merchants trying to reduce basket abandonment and increase spending on higher-value transactions.

Affirm said its products are built around clear repayment terms and that it does not charge late or hidden fees. The company has positioned itself as an alternative to revolving credit card debt while expanding through direct merchant integrations and partnerships with larger payments platforms.

Stripe brings substantial scale to that effort. It processes more than USD $1.9 trillion in annual payments, which it says is equivalent to 1.6% of global gross domestic product, and serves millions of businesses that accept payments online and in person.

The partnership also extends beyond current checkout tools into emerging forms of automated commerce. Both companies said they are working together on systems intended to support transactions in AI-driven shopping environments, where software agents could play a greater role in purchase decisions.

Earlier this year, the companies announced plans to support Shared Payment Tokens. They said the approach is intended to enable secure pay-over-time transactions in AI-powered commerce settings.

Ruth Spratt, VP and UK country manager at Affirm, described the company’s view of the shift at checkout. “Checkout is no longer just a payment moment, it’s a decision moment,” she said.

“Consumers are increasingly seeking payment options that offer more control and clarity, and merchants are seeing the impact that can have on conversion and customer loyalty. Expanding our partnership with Stripe helps us do exactly that, bringing these benefits to more businesses across the UK,” Spratt added.

Stripe said merchants are balancing growth ambitions with the need to keep online payment journeys simple.

“Merchants want payment options that help them grow without adding friction for their customers, and Affirm delivers that. Bringing this partnership to the UK is the next step in making the right payment options accessible to businesses everywhere,” said Fran Ryan, Chief Business Officer at Stripe.

Leading Labels, founded in 1993, is a long-running clothing retailer that draws shoppers with major brands at outlet prices.

It stocks discounted fashion items from big-name brands, including Calvin Klein, Wrangler, and Joules.

Leading Labels falls into liquidation

But now, Leading Labels is closing down after falling into liquidation.

Jeremy Bleazard of XL Business Solutions Limited was appointed liquidator on May 26, according to The Gazette.

Companies House also says that Leading Labels has accounts overdue dating back to 2024.

Full list of Leading Labels stores set to close

As a result of the company’s collapse, all 15 of Leading Label’s remaining stores are set to close:

• Basildon
• Boston
• Bury
• Carlisle
• Cleethorpes
• Clowne
• Evesham
• Hornsea
• Ipswich
• Kidderminster
• Lincoln
• Norwich
• Stevenage
• Balloch (Scotland)
• Cumbernauld (Scotland)

The company’s website has also stopped working.

Other UK companies that have closed or entered administration/liquidation in 2026

It has been a year for the UK high street, with several retailers entering administration and others announcing widespread store closures.

Major high street retailers LK Bennett and Claire’s both closed all their stores in April, having previously fallen into administration.

Quiz also revealed that it will be closing its 37 remaining stores by the end of June, after falling into administration in February (for the second time in 12 months).

Other retailers have been forced to close stores this year, including:

Iguanas Holdings Limited, which runs 47 Las Iguanas restaurants across the UK, and Poundstretcher are also in danger of collapsing into administration if restructuring plans aren’t agreed, having “fallen into financial difficulties”.

Four UK travel companies have closed in 2026:

Luxury UK holiday company Salamander Voyages also shut down recently after entering administration.

Meanwhile, three UK airlines have fallen into administration or liquidation:

What has a nose, wings and runs off of hydrogen? Ecojet 😎 pic.twitter.com/y8QGiBdFe2

— ecotricity (@ecotricity) July 17, 2023

UK delivery company Yodel is set to be phased out over the coming months after being acquired by InPost.

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It’s also been reported that Morrisons is looking to sell some of its in-store pharmacies as it continues to cut costs.

It’s not been all bad news for the UK high street, with several major brands announcing new store openings for 2026, including Aldi, M&S, and Superdrug.

Is there a Leading Labels store closing near you? Let us know in the comments below.

KAREN JOY BACUDO

Finance Editor

The British Business Bank has committed GBP £100 million to Oxford Quantum Circuits as part of a GBP £260 million Series C funding round.

The round is among the largest completed by a quantum computing company in Europe, highlighting investor interest in a sector that has attracted growing government and private backing.

Bullhound Capital led the financing, with participation from Invus, Mastercard, COFIDES, Rokos Capital Management, IHAG, Fulcrum Asset Management, Pentland Ventures, Magdalen College Oxford, Adaptive Capital Partners, Firgun and 18 West. The British Business Bank also invested GBP £7 million in Oxford Quantum Circuits’ Series A round in 2022.

Oxford Quantum Circuits, known as OQC, was founded in the UK as a spinout from Oxford University. It develops and operates superconducting quantum computers for use in data centre environments.

OQC said it has built an international platform across Europe, North America and Asia, with systems deployed in the UK, the US, Japan and Spain. It plans to use the new funding to expand infrastructure in key markets, broaden its operational presence and continue developing its next generation of quantum systems for commercial deployment.

Quantum computing has drawn sustained attention from policymakers and investors because of its potential to tackle problems beyond the practical reach of conventional systems. Companies in financial services, defence and security are among those exploring how the technology could be applied to complex modelling, optimisation and security tasks.

Scale challenge

The investment also reflects a wider policy push to keep advanced technology companies in Britain as they move from research to commercial growth. The British Business Bank, the government’s economic development bank, has announced funding for deep technology businesses to help retain more of the economic value created by UK science.

Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer at the British Business Bank, set out that view in comments accompanying the deal.

“For deeptech in the UK, the challenge is not invention, it’s scale. In order to build global companies rooted in the UK, our financial firepower must match our scientific excellence. The Bank sees this as nothing short of a national economic imperative, so we are acting at pace to deliver significantly higher levels of funding for UK scale-ups,” said Kalisperas.

George Mills, Senior Investment Director, Direct Equity, at the British Business Bank, linked the investment to the sector’s technical and commercial hurdles.

“Quantum computing has the potential to solve some of the hardest computing challenges that remain unsolved by AI, but it is held back by its ability to scale up. OQC’s systems fill that gap with their world-leading speed and scalability. We are delighted to be backing the team at OQC again as they scale up their commercial offering with the development of OQC TITAN,” said Mills.

Government backing

The deal comes amid a broader effort by the UK government to support quantum businesses as they seek larger pools of growth capital. Ministers have presented quantum technologies as an area where Britain can build companies with international reach from a domestic research base.

Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said the round signalled investor confidence in the sector.

“OQC’s £260 million funding round is a major vote of confidence in the UK’s quantum sector and shows that the UK continues to be the place where the industries of the future are being created. We have the right economic plan and, within it, I set out three ‘big choices’ for the UK economy, one of which is developing AI and innovation. We will always back companies to give them a head start in the global race, which is why we have recently committed up to £2bn to ensure UK quantum companies can successfully reach commercial scale,” said Reeves.

For OQC, the new capital is intended to support both international expansion and product development. The company said customers are seeking secure, scalable access to quantum computing infrastructure as interest in practical use cases grows.

Gerald Mullally, Chief Executive Officer of OQC, described the financing as a turning point for the business.

“This funding marks a defining moment for OQC. It gives us the capital to scale internationally, advance our technology roadmap and meet increasing demand from customers seeking secure, scalable access to quantum computing infrastructure. Quantum computing is becoming critical infrastructure, and OQC is building the platform to deliver it at commercial scale,” said Mullally.