News

A new survey of 2,000 UK adults has revealed the fate of COVID-inspired business launches.

World Suicide Prevention Day takes place on the 10th September 2021. Overseas employees face very specific challenges that can differ depending on their host nation. Employers must be aware of the support, or lack of it, available in different countries and ensure their provision leaves no gaps.

Making.com, an online platform that simplifies the connection between people looking for production technology and suppliers that offer it, has launched. It is a platform to group technologies around the products they help make, allowing creators of all sizes access to the ‘hidden network’ of machines, manufacturers, tooling suppliers and therefore the knowledge previously accessible only through long-established private networks.

Social art experience Paintclub rebrands to capitalise on its pandemic digital pivot and global expansion, with new brand strategy and identity by fst.

In 2020, Siemens Smart Infrastructure and WUN H2 partnered up to build a hydrogen production plant in Germany. The plant will run on renewable energy and will be carbon-free, contributing to Germany’s pledge to become gas-neutral by 2050. However exciting the news, Siemens is an established business within automation industry, the road to carbon neutrality is often harder for small manufacturers. Here Neil Ballinger, head of EMEA at automation parts supplier EU Automation, shares some tips.

Guy Rigby, Founder and now Chair of the Entrepreneurial Services Group at Smith & Williamson, and his fellow crew member, entrepreneur, investor and sports enthusiast, David Murray – will row across the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in ‘The Entrepreneur Ship’. Rigby and Murray will begin their row from the Canaries to Antigua on 12th December 2021, hoping to arrive in February 2022. The completed challenge will see them recognised as the oldest pair in the world to row any ocean.

COVID-19 has shown the power of clinical trials. It took less than 300 days for one vaccine to go from being an idea in a lab to be ready for administering to the general public. The question now is how we can accelerate clinical trials for other diseases, at a time when the healthcare industry is stretched and doesn’t have the capacity to run patient research at the speed or scale that’s needed.

Here, we caught up with Dr Matt Wilson, Founder and CEO of research automation platform, uMed, who is on a mission to help more healthcare providers and their patients take part in clinical studies.

Startup OLÉ, a technological event for entrepreneurs, returns with 400 international speakers from 36 different nationalities. The way this edition will be available will be mixed, with the 6th and 7th of September being presented in digital format and the 8th to the 10th in person in Salamanca, Spain. To facilitate access to all the content, Startup OLÉ’21 will be streamed in its entirety, completely free of charge and on their YouTube channel.

Unleash live, an AI video analytics platform, have announced an $8m Series A funding round led by SafetyCulture. Unleash live’s AI powered real time analytics platform, ‘Intelligent Remote Vision’, generates immediate insights that enable enterprises to materially drive down costs, raise productivity, increase accuracy, and improve safety. The company has seen over 500% growth since March 2020.

38% of respondents have been approached over five times for a new job in the last year. That’s according to research from Talent Works, which surveyed software and government professionals to determine their opinions on different working policies and how often they are approached for new job roles. The survey also found that five percent have been approached more than ten times in the past year.

Botify has announced that they have closed $55m in Series C funding led y InfraVia Growth, with participation from Bpifrance through its Large Venture fund, as well as existing investors Eurazeo and Ventech. Nicolas Herschtel from InfraVia and Antoine Izsak from Bpifrance Large Venture will join Botify’s Board of Directors.

One of the UK’s most well regarded businesswomen, Angela De Souza and BBC presenter, Janey Lee Grace, will be coming together to celebrate the success of business women across the globe.

AgTech startup Fieldin has completed a $30m Series B funding round, led by Fortissimo Capital, with the participation of Zeev Ventures, Icon Ventures, Luxembourg-based Maor Investments, and Akkadian ventures.

iwoca have launched its cash advance product on Funding Xchange for small business online sellers. iwoca will be using Open Banking to offer automated revenue-based repayments to e-commerce businesses with a business bank account on the marketplace.

Office workers feel less confident in their potential for progression at work than freelancers, according to new data from freelance platform, Fiverr. The COVID-19 pandemic has not been easy for workers, from furlough to job losses, the UK workforce has taken more than just a financial hit.

Sayata has raised $17m in series A funding that will drive expansion into several new insurance lines. Team8 Capital and Vertex Ventures led the round, who joined original investors Elron, Kamet, and OurCrowd.

Fed up with restrictions, isolation, cancelled holidays, not being able to make plans – everyone has suffered through the pandemic, quite aside from those who have been hit by the virus itself.

SurePay, inventor and provider of Confirmation of Payee (CoP), has raised a €12.2m round led by Connected Capital with Iris Capital, joining Rabo Frontier Ventures to boost the company’s international expansion.

Inspirational entrepreneurs from across the UK are officially kicking off this year’s Small Business Saturday UK, as the campaign gets underway with its 100 day countdown. Aiming to support, celebrate and send out a ‘big thank you’ to small businesses for the important role they play within communities, particularly throughout the pandemic, the 2021 SmallBiz100 is showcasing a diverse range of independent businesses from across the country.

Play Well For Life (PWFL) are a for-purpose games studio that has developed an approach to the traditional board game. Merging the latest immersive technologies with the power of game-based learning, they offer a fun and engaging table-top game that stimulates social interactions and promotes mental wellbeing. The company is launching a crowdfunding campaign on September 28th to finance the next phase of development.