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Why don't farmers get paid the futures price when they sell their crop? The answer is basis - the gap between the futures contract price and the local spot price. A short walkthrough of cost-of-carry mechanics, how basis shifts from negative at harvest to positive pre-harvest, why farmers hedge at 'futures minus basis', and how the delivery mechanism keeps the two prices tethered together at expiration.

Ayan Capital (UK) — Secured a £75M ($100M) Shariah-compliant debt facility as it prepares its banking licence application to become a halal digital bank.

Aluminium is the most abundant metal in Earth's crust - yet it costs more than copper. The reason is electricity. A short walkthrough of the Hall-Héroult smelting process that makes aluminium energy-intensive to produce, why China sets the global price, how recycling slashes energy use by 90-95%, and what the rise of 'green aluminium' premiums means for the market.

Paymob (Egypt) — Raised $35M pre-Series C co-led by Mubadala and EBRD to expand merchant payments acceptance across MENA.

Antimony is a brittle silver-white metalloid that quietly underpins modern electronics and fire safety - yet most investors have never heard of it. A short walkthrough of why China controls 60% of global supply, how antimony ends up in flame retardants and semiconductor dopants, why the futures market is thin and price-volatile, and what regulatory headwinds could do to long-term demand.

Amber Electric (Australia) — Raised A$209M Series E from Morgan Stanley's 1GT and E.ON for its consumer and commercial energy flexibility platform.

Arsenic has a dark reputation - but inside modern semiconductors it's indispensable. A short walkthrough of why arsenic is recovered as a copper-mining byproduct rather than mined directly, how gallium arsenide chips outperform silicon in high-frequency and aerospace applications, why there are no listed futures contracts, and what Western dependence on Chinese supply means for semiconductor supply chains.

Spiro (Africa) — Received an additional $18M debt tranche from the Africa Go Green Fund to scale EV motorcycle battery-swap infrastructure in Uganda and Rwanda.

Verda (Finland) — Finnish AI cloud startup raises $189M and crosses the unicorn threshold, competing directly with AWS and Azure for AI infrastructure workloads.

Scan.com (UK) — Medical imaging startup raises $220M ($90M equity + $130M debt) to build the largest diagnostic imaging network in the US.

When nearby futures cost more than contracts months out, the market is in backwardation - and it's telling you something important about supply. A short walkthrough of why a downward-sloping futures curve signals physical scarcity, how backwardation differs from contango, what events like the 1973 oil embargo and 2022 Ukraine invasion did to the curve, and why ETF investors pay a hidden cost called roll drag in deep backwardation.

Zeliq (France) — Paris sales-tech startup raises €7M seed extension and launches agentic AI platform "Zelia," tripling revenue to reach 20,000 users.

CloudNC (UK) — London manufacturing-AI startup raises €17.2M to scale its AI software for CNC machining shops, now used by over 1,000 shops worldwide.

Bitcoin climbed 5.4% to $85,800 Monday, pushing total crypto market cap above $3 trillion for the first time since January 2026 as oil fell and regulatory pressures eased.

Beryllium is one of the lightest structural metals on Earth - four times stiffer than aluminium at a fraction of the weight - yet most investors have never heard of it. A short walkthrough of why aerospace and defence dominate demand, why only 200–300 tonnes are produced globally each year, how pricing works without a futures market, and why the US has designated it a critical strategic material.