Qognetix has been named a Regional Finalist in the UK StartUp Awards 2026, selected from more than 2,100 startup entries nationwide.

The Birmingham-based deep-tech business is also raising GBP £725,000 to expand its team and continue developing what it describes as an execution-layer platform for intelligent systems.

Qognetix is targeting a part of the artificial intelligence stack that receives less attention than model development. It argues that the industry has invested heavily in models and inference, while paying less attention to how intelligent behaviour is executed, monitored, and constrained once systems operate in live settings.

That gap becomes more significant as AI tools move from trials and demonstrations into operational environments, where organisations want clearer oversight of how systems behave. In response, Qognetix is developing infrastructure designed to make intelligent behaviour more controllable, inspectable and reliable after inference.

Funding Push

The current fundraising effort is intended to support hiring, platform development and the next phase of commercial growth. Qognetix has not disclosed investors in the round, but said the money would strengthen both technical development and market readiness.

This positioning sets it apart from many AI startups focused on model performance or application layers. Instead, the business is building software and controls that govern how AI-driven actions are executed once a system is deployed.

That focus comes as businesses and public institutions place greater emphasis on governance, auditability, and the reliability of AI use. In sensitive or operationally demanding settings, the key question is often not whether a model can generate an answer, but whether the resulting behaviour can be observed, limited and traced.

Qognetix is developing its platform for environments where the cost of unpredictable system behaviour is higher. It identifies runtime control, inspectability, bounded behaviour, deployment reliability and governance-oriented execution infrastructure as core areas of work.

Market Debate

The broader AI debate has begun to move in a similar direction. As more systems enter practical deployment, questions around execution and oversight are becoming more prominent for buyers, regulators and operators.

That shift has created room for companies to build infrastructure between the application layer and the raw model layer. These businesses are trying to solve for operational trust rather than model novelty, especially in sectors where decision pathways need to be understood after a system goes live.

Nic Windley, founder and chief executive officer of Qognetix, linked the award recognition to that broader market view.

“It’s encouraging to see early recognition for the direction we’re building in. We believe the next major challenge in AI is not just what a model can infer, but how intelligent behaviour is controlled and deployed in real-world systems,” he said.

Windley said much of the difficulty emerges only when AI moves into production and must operate within practical limits.

“A lot of the conversation around AI still centres on the model itself, but in production settings, the real challenge is often what happens when that intelligence has to operate reliably, safely, and within defined constraints. That is where we think execution-layer infrastructure becomes increasingly important.” 

The UK StartUp Awards were created to recognise newer businesses from around the country. Qognetix’s regional finalist status places it among a group of emerging companies selected from a large national field of entrants.

For Qognetix, the recognition comes as it tries to turn a technical thesis into a commercial business. It is building for a market in which demand for governance and control tools may rise alongside broader adoption of AI systems in live environments.

“We see this as part of a wider shift in the AI market. As deployment becomes more critical, the infrastructure for execution, control, and governance becomes increasingly important. That is the problem space we are building for,” Windley said.

Taboola says DeeperDive has reached nearly 7 million monthly active users, hitting that mark eight months after launch.

DeeperDive is Taboola’s AI question-and-answer product for publisher websites. In the UK, it is already used by titles including The Independent and Reach publications such as the Mirror, the Express, MyLondon and the Manchester Evening News.

The tool is also expanding into six more languages: French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. Publishers joining that expansion include Ouest France, El Nacional and Ynet.

Taboola says politics, sport, finance, entertainment and shopping are the most common topics for user questions. About half of questions submitted through the service relate to news, entertainment and sports information from the previous 24 hours.

Figures provided by Taboola suggest some publishers are seeing adoption rates of as much as 17% among users on sites where the product has been integrated. In other words, roughly one in six visitors is using the feature to ask questions.

Taboola also says DeeperDive is changing how readers move through publisher sites once they enter the AI interface. The company says the likelihood of a user choosing to read an article after entering the system rises to more than 20%, compared with the low single-digit rates that have long characterised article-to-article recirculation across much of the web.

Another part of the pitch to publishers is editorial data. According to Taboola, newsroom teams using the DeeperDive dashboard can review millions of reader questions each month, often more than 10 million, and use that information to guide coverage and homepage decisions.

Publisher push

The launch and rollout come as publishers look for ways to keep readers on their own sites while generative AI products reshape search and discovery habits. For media groups, tools embedded directly into article pages may help retain audience attention and capture more direct signals on reader interests, rather than ceding that interaction to external AI services.

Taboola has long been known for content recommendation and advertising placements on publisher sites. DeeperDive extends that role into AI-driven discovery and gives the company another path into advertising tied to reader interaction on news and media websites.

Taboola says DeeperDive users generate some of the highest advertiser conversion rates across its network, though it did not provide absolute revenue or conversion figures.

Executive view

Chief Executive Officer Adam Singolda outlined the company’s case for why publishers are adopting the product.

“Publishers love DeeperDive because it brings the AI revolution directly into their own environments, enabling readers to ask questions, have conversations, and discover trusted content in entirely new ways,” said Adam Singolda, Chief Executive Officer, Taboola. “In my career, I have never seen users adopt a new product at these levels while generating such strong engagement and advertiser performance.”

He also set out the company’s view of how AI services may develop across the web.

“I believe the AI landscape will ultimately be defined by two models: subscription LLMs and ad supported LLMs. With DeeperDive, we have the opportunity to build the largest ad supported LLM for the open web, free for publishers and free for users. At the same time, we’re creating a powerful new supply opportunity for advertisers and a meaningful new revenue stream for publishers. People want more than answers. They want trusted content and to be part of a community. While direct AI engines are powerful, I will always prefer watching Knicks highlights on my favorite local or sports site or reading travel reviews from a trusted publication when planning a trip with my family. Experiences built around trusted content and community will only grow stronger over time,” said Singolda.

Taboola says its wider network reaches more than 600 million daily active users across publisher and device partners, giving it a broad installed base from which to distribute products such as DeeperDive.

Fuel prices across the UK have seen a sharp increase since the US and Israel launched their initial strikes at Iran on February 28.

This is largely due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, an important shipping route to the south of Iran.

Data from the RAC suggests the average price of diesel in the UK has gone up by 25.5 per cent from 141.60p per litre on February 26 to 177.68p per litre on March 27.

Meanwhile unleaded petrol has risen by 13.7 per cent from 132.05p per litre on February 26 to 150.11p per litre on March 27.

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All prices include VAT.

Charities, emergency services and businesses across Oxfordshire have been impacted.

Loose Canon Brewery in Abingdon delivers beer five days a week, consistently to 90 pubs in the local area although often that number is higher.

“There’s been quite a dramatic impact in that way,” said Anneli Baxter, general manager, commenting on direct fuel costs.

She added: “Also, customers who visit our brewery shop. They are starting to consider the cost of driving to the brewery to collect beer.”

President Donald Trump (Image: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Ms Baxter further stated that the public – squeezed by the rising cost of living including fuel costs – are weighing up whether they are able to afford luxuries such as beer at the pubs they deliver to.

Dave Richardson, a spokesman for the Oxford branch of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), echoed Ms Baxter’s comments.

He said: “The breweries deliver the beer to the pubs on the lorries – there’s no other way of doing it, so they are having to face that additional cost.”

The Oxford Food Hub, which has vans out six days a week delivering to around 250 organisations, said that the increase in fuel costs is making it its work harder.

Steve Hamon, CEO of the charity, said: “We still have two diesel vans, and since the end of February, we’ve noticed an increase of 31.63 per cent in fuel costs. 

Volunteers and workers at the Oxford Food Hub (Image: The Oxford Food Hub)

“As a smaller charity, every penny counts. Any rise in fuel spending makes it harder for us to continue our regular operations of saving and redistributing surplus food across the county.” 

Small businesses are increasingly concerned by fuel costs, with several saying it is adding to an already pressured landscape.

Robin Holmes-Smith, owner of The Granary delicatessen in Watlington, which has offered a delivery service said the true impact is yet to be felt.

He said: “The difficulty will be in a few weeks’ time when prices go up. If the distribution charges go up, then prices will go up.”

Mr Holmes-Smith claimed he was “cautious” when looking ahead but that his main concern was the rise in minimum wage.

Meanwhile, Ryan Dawson, owner of Oxford Pantry Hampers called it an “extra financial strain along with the other costs of being a small business”.

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If the order is close to his south Oxfordshire base, he will try and deliver the gourmet food or artisan gift hamper himself.

As such the rise in petrol costs is “eating away” at his profits.

The ambulance service for Oxfordshire said it expected to see its costs rise, despite operating a “mixed fuel strategy”.

Loose Cannon Brewery in Abingdon (Image: Loose Cannon Brewery)

A spokesperson for the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said: “Ultimately those rises will increase the trust’s costs given the large number of vehicles we use to provide our services.”

From a private driver perspective, a leading member of the Motoring Action for Oxford group said the situation was causing “much frustration and worry”.

Robbo Leigh explained that private motorists have no way of absorbing or passing on increases in costs, while businesses relying on petrol will be looking to absorb as much as possible.

This includes independent petrol stations with Martin Prew, owner of Milton Service Station, saying his margins on fuel had effectively halved.

Milton Service Station in Oxfordshire (Image: Google Maps)

The company, which was founded in 1965, also sells cars and is a workshop, and Mr Prew has said these areas are currently “subsidising the fuel business”.

Saj Malik, a city councillor and taxi driver, said that he was noticing a downturn in trade as the rise in fuel costs made everybody “extra cautious”.

He said: “Oxford is a student city; we have many quarters that are very deprived. Our prices remain the same; we cannot pass on anything to customers as we have all struggled.”

Mr Malik has called on the government to take action including by reducing fuel duty, a tax levied on petrol, diesel and other road fuels.

He is not the only one keen on support amid the rise in costs.

Independent Oxford councillor Saj Malik (Image: Oxford City Council)

Ms Baxter of Loose Cannon Brewery said: “A reduction in VAT at pump prices would go a long way.”

Mr Leigh said: “The one thing that always arises in conversation is how slow our government in the UK is acting on this issue whereas a handful of countries have already reduced their fuel duties and VAT.”

Mr Prew also called for temporary reductions highlighting that the increase in prices would see a rise in government revenue from VAT which is set at 20 per cent.

Sportif Suzuki in Long Hanborough, Oxfordshire (Image: Google Maps)

However, the government has rejected this view, suggesting that as energy prices rise, people cut back on other spending that would usually be subject to VAT.

A government spokesperson said: “Millions of motorists filled up their cars and travelled over the Easter weekend.

“Our fuel system is robust and continues to work well.”

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While committing to keep the taxes under close review, the government has pointed to its extension of the 5p fuel duty cut from this month to September.

On Wednesday April 8, US President Donald Trump and the Iranian leadership announced a two-week ceasefire, with the theocracy agreeing to allow shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Despite this, uncertainty remains about the safety of ships travelling through the Strait.