News
Rocket Academy, a startup providing online coding courses, has announced it has raised $1.1m in pre-seed funding. The investment comes from a consortium of 50 marquee tech investors and venture capitalists including entrepreneurs Darius Cheung from 99.co, Marcus Tan from Carousell and Stanley Tang from DoorDash, former Singapore Ambassador to the UN Kishore Mahbubani, SEA tech leaders’ investment network XA Network, and VC firms Taurus Ventures and Hustle Fund.
Sure Valley Ventures, the venture capital firm that invests in deep technology and software startups, is pleased to announce that it has invested in a €3m funding round completed by Ambisense, the IoT and AI enabled environmental risk assessment business. BGF has led the round and, together with Sure Valley Ventures, existing investors Atlantic Bridge and Enterprise Ireland have participated.
A new series shines a spotlight on 25 of the UK’s most innovative entrepreneurs and their ground-breaking businesses that are revolutionising the way we live. An entrepreneur who invented 3D printed personalised gummy vitamins tailored to people’s nutritional needs, lifestyles and goals is just one of the highlights of a new documentary featuring weird and wonderful ideas that will change the world.
Instagram have announced the launch of its first Small Business Mentorship programme in the UK, in partnership with Small Business Britain. Aimed at supporting the country’s entrepreneurs and small businesses after an unprecedented 18 months, the mentorship programme will celebrate their creativity and resilience, as many have turned to Instagram to survive and thrive.
Research platform, Atheneum have announced they have secured a £110m growth capital funding round led by Guidepost Growth Equity. Existing investors also participated in the round including Crosslantic Capital Management, Michael Brehm, Vogel Communications Group, and the founding management team of Atheneum.
LawtechUK has published a feasibility study and proof of concept for a new technological approach to the late payment challenges facing British business. This would work as an ‘SME online dispute resolution’ platform, produced in partnership with a consortium of legal, technology and alternative dispute resolution experts from the University of Oxford, Oxford Computing Consultants, Resolve Disputes Online and Jur.
OurCrowd has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC), represented by the Chairman of its Supervisory Board, Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan, Mikayil Jabbarov, to promote strategic cooperation in the field of investment by the Government of Azerbaijan in OurCrowd’s portfolio.
In celebration of Startups Magazine’s ‘Women in Tech’ issue, Startups Magazine and Inspiration Space have joined forces to host Entrepreneurship Decoded, a live event that brings together ambitious female founders for an honest conversation about what it really takes to start and grow a brand in 2021 and beyond.
iov42, an emerging British startup, which builds blockchain-inspired identification tools, has been chosen over corporate giants including EY, Vodafone and Deloitte to secure a spot as one of only seven tenderers selected to design and develop the next-gen of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). The flagship project from the European Commission hopes to leverage blockchain technology to improve standards of cross-border services for public administrations across the EU.
Startups looking to enter franchise agreements should pay careful attention to the contracts they enter into, a leading law firm has said. Harper James Solicitors said many franchisors are often willing to include a force majeure clause, which changes the franchisee’s obligations in the event of extraordinary circumstances – like the ones that devastated many businesses in the last 18 months.









