Alexandra Heal

Revealed: Europe losing 600 football pitches of nature and crop land a day Investigation shows extent of green land lost across UK and mainland Europe to development from 2018 to 2023

Very cool visual investigation from the Guardian and co

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Builder.ai ‘Chief Wizard’ Sachin Dev Duggal made $20mn in share sales [FREE TO READ] Former chief executive of collapsed Microsoft-backed start-up also borrowed against holdings

SCOOP! Sachin Duggal, founder and "chief wizard" of the now defunct tech unicorn Builder.ai, made $20mn from selling shares in the company

Builder.ai collapsed last month, after raising half a billion dollars, when revenues had to be dramatically restated

With @bondhack.ft.com

on.ft.com/4k8t44A

Oops sorry forgot to credit @zdboren.bsky.social and @jonahfisher.bsky.social. Clearly got eyes for Ellie only

‘No Plan B’: Water companies fear pollution crackdown will stop them spreading sewage sludge on farmland

Unearthed story here

unearthed.greenpeace.org/2025/06/09/s...

Warning over 'dirty secret' of toxic chemicals on farmers fields - BBC News Campaigners say that farmers' fields are being contaminated by chemicals and microplastics in sewage sludge.

Did you know our food system spreads human sewage contaminated with PFAS (forever chemicals) onto the crops we eat?

Absolutely gross. Important story by @ellieodonnell.bsky.social

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Inside the collapse of Microsoft-backed UK tech unicorn Builder.ai [FREE TO READ] Top investors including Qatar are realising they may have backed a business that largely reported artificial revenues

NEW: The full story of how Microsoft-backed Builder.ai, the UK tech startup that raised over half a billion dollars, is alleged to have artificially inflated its revenues before collapsing into scandal last month

Somehow the tale even includes tennis

W/ @bondhack.ft.com 🎾

on.ft.com/4kwMNfa

Microsoft-backed Builder.ai relied on auditor with links to founder [FREE TO READ] Findings related to one of the UK’s best-funded tech start-ups raise corporate governance alarm

The news follows several of our @financialtimes.com investigations into Builder.ai over the past year and a half, most recently with the great @bondhack.ft.com. Most recently, we revealed it had relied on an auditor with links to its founder Sachin Dev Duggal

on.ft.com/4kfcdxW

Microsoft-backed Builder.ai collapsed after finding potentially bogus sales [FREE TO READ] Failed UK start-up revised down revenues to just a quarter of prior estimates

SCOOP - An internal investigation at Builder.ai, the UK tech start-up that had received over $500mn from major investors including Microsoft, found evidence of potentially bogus sales at the start-up before it collapsed this week

on.ft.com/4jhmQPc

with @bondhack.ft.com

Very deserving winners.

Just read their latest instalment - a family who owed £10,000 for having earned just a £2 or so over the limit each week, now having to pay back everything they received in benefits.

Despite DWP not alerting them years ago when they first went over

Microsoft-backed UK tech unicorn Builder.ai collapses into insolvency [FREE TO READ] Once high-flying group founded by Sachin Dev Duggal says its was unable to recover from ‘past decisions’

Builder.ai just went bust. Around half a billion dollars invested from the likes of Microsoft, QIA and Insight Partners wiped out.

Full story here with @alexandraheal.bsky.social. Comes after a run of probing FT stories (led by Alex) on the company and its founder Sachin Duggal

on.ft.com/43gI8YN

Private equity targets Europe for big buyout deals [FREE TO READ] Total value of large private equity deals in Europe increased at twice the rate of the rest of world in 2024

The total value of big European buyout deals increased at more than twice the rate of the rest of the world last year, according to my analysis of Dealogic data.

Private equity firms are taking advantage of the continent's economic headwinds to snap up cheap companies

on.ft.com/3WbZeTG

Gisèle Pelicot, the woman at the heart of a trial that has shocked France [FREE TO READ] She has shown extraordinary strength as a court hears how she was drugged by her husband and raped by strangers

What an incredible woman. Jaw dropping courage

Gisèle Pelicot, the woman at the heart of a trial that has shocked France on.ft.com/4fY6rhs

A tale of two platforms:

BlueSky user numbers have hit a new record high in recent days, while the number of people deleting their accounts on X/Twitter has rocketed 🚀