News

Volume raises $2.4m to drive online payment fees to zero

Volume, the transparent checkout startup, has closed a pre-seed round of $2.4m, in an oversubscribed deal led by firstminute Capital and joined by SeedX and Haatch Ventures. Other participants include angels Christian Faes (LendInvest), Russ Carroll (ex-Klarna), as well as angels from MADE.COM, Mastercard, Visa and American Express. Volume improves on current open banking capabilities to reduce the long checkout process, while simultaneously killing hidden fees charged by payment intermediaries.

Beware of inflexible support when choosing how to look after the health and wellbeing of staff

Employers are being warned about selecting employee benefits that are too inflexible in the way they support the health and wellbeing of employees. RedArc, the nurse-led health wellbeing service, believes that although employers are doing the right thing in proactively providing health and wellbeing support for staff, they need to be cautious about overly prescriptive benefits that may not give staff enough of the right kind of support.

UK TECH giants Connectus Business Solutions and KTSL have merged to create the Connectus Group

The businesses and their 60 employees will continue to operate from its HQ in Donacaster, south Yorkshire, and five other UK and Ireland sites, and ambitious plans are in place to create further job opportunities across their commercial, delivery and support functions.

Tech Trailblazers Awards Mark #EarthDay2022 to Recognise sustainable Startups

The Tech Trailblazers Awards welcome entries from enterprise IT startups that help companies or data centres save money while saving the planet. The Awards are open to entries from 27th June until 11.59pm PT on 31st August 2022.

Treeapp and Big Mamma join forces on Earth day

Treeapp, the mobile app which enables anyone to plant a tree for free everyday, has officially partnered with fellow B Corp the Big Mamma group. To celebrate Earth Day on the 22nd of April, Big Mamma will be planting one tree for every veggie and vegan pizza sold at Ave Mario, Circolo Popolare and Gloria Trattoria.

Improving digital experiences in the workplace

Implementing digital transformation into your business is essential for success. But with technological advancements dominating the business world, it’s important to assess the digital additions within your company to discover if they are making the expected improvements.

Earth Day 2022: UK SMEs are striving to be more sustainable

Despite feeling overwhelmed about how to take climate action, research from Ecologi, a climate action platform has shown that eight in ten business owners want to be greener, just don’t know where to start. 

The great recognition: reduce turnover in the workplace

57% of employees say feeling recognised would reduce the likelihood that they would take a call from a headhunter, according to the latest State of Recognition Report from Achievers Workforce Institute, the research and insights arm of Achievers.

Flow Your Money raises to grow self-driving-money platform

Flow Your Money (Flow), the money management app for freelancers and consumers has raised a €3.5m seed investment round led by Eleven Ventures. The round was joined by RockSalt, the venture arm of SaltPay, as well as Silverflow co-founder Robert Kraal (former COO Adyen), Hristo Borisov (founder and CEO of Payhawk), Marnix van der Ploeg (Booking.com) and Travel Health Group’s owner Arnoud Aalbersberg. The investment will enable Flow to scale up its platform, which makes it possible to automatically distribute incoming and outgoing money flows, taking the step towards ‘self-driving money’: smart, fully autonomous money management. Flow now also can expedite European expansion plans as it sets out to become the largest player in this fast-growth market.

Three in five people in the UK cannot define ‘Net-Zero’ 

As the IPCC announced its final warning that the coming years are critical in saving the Earth’s depletion. However, the road to achieving Net-Zero seems unclear, as nearly one in three (30%) say their company is not doing enough to combat climate change.

Creator Fund raises $20m fund for frontier talent in UK universities

Creator Fund, the early-stage VC fund investing in deeptech emerging from universities, has announced a $20m fund.

AWS Impact Accelerator launches for underrepresented founders

AWS has announced it has committed more than $30m to early stage startups led by black, latino, LGBTQIA+, and women founders as part of its AWS Impact Accelerator.

Automation Software solving £10m Problem With Contracts and PDFs

Every day, millions of contracts are drafted, however, due to poor and manual contract management processes, companies a reportedly losing as much as £10m in inefficiencies. Recognising this as a widespread problem, Niels Martin Brøchner, Jarek Owczarek and Viktor Heide founded and developed Contractbook, an automated contract management platform that is now used by over 150,000 businesses, including NHS Trust, TED, The Student Hotel, Mutebox and Eon.

Emerging trends for Fortune 500 companies

Branding and marketing experts Solopress have analysed the techniques employed by some of the biggest names in business.

Partnership encourages people to move around in a healthy and sustainable way

HumanForest and 22 Bishopsgate are partnering to encourage occupiers of 22 Bishopsgate to move around the city in a healthy and sustainable way.

Technology is playing a crucial role in tackling climate change

In light of Earth Day 2022, new research suggests that although UK climate technology is playing a crucial role in tackling global climate change, challenges in accessing funding and a lack of support from the government is impeding the development of the industry.

AMLo raises £2.45m to develop early stage skin cancer test

AMLo Biosciences (AMLo), a medical device company spun out of Newcastle University specialising in the early detection of skin cancers, is pleased to announce it has secured significant further investment totalling £2.45m.

Arbor Steel raises £200,000 for ‘digital identity citadel’ giving control of sensitive data

Arbor Steel has raised £200,000 in a pre-seed funding round to bring its digital identity citadel to customers. Developed following a £100,000 InnovateUK Grant, the platform provides a secure and efficient way to share personal data and interact with services whilst maintaining control.

Pitch introduces recordings to accelerate shift to asynchronous work

Pitch, the collaborative presentation platform for modern teams, has introduced recordings, a feature that gives every team the power of collaborative video storytelling right within Pitch.

PROP tech startup secures deal with a leading law firm

SlothMove, which offers users a ‘stress-free’ change of address and home-setup service when moving home, was only formed three years ago. The business flourished during the pandemic as property sales soared and now legal giants Taylor Rose MW have acquired a stake in the business, which has also been championed by former Dragon’s Den star Piers Linney.