News

Tech Nation has announced the 32 climate tech companies who have been accepted into Net Zero 2.0 – the second iteration of the Net Zero programme.

FedEx Express has announced the launch of the Small Business Grant Competition in Europe. The competition offers a total grant pool of nearly €250.000 to European small businesses to help them grow and achieve their ambitions. For the first time, the competition will be run as a single pan-European contest, open to small businesses based in 16 countries.

Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer AG, announced that it has co-led a $15m Series A investment round in agriculture and biotechnology innovator, Andes, with Cavallo Ventures. Other new investors Builders VC, Germin8, Accelr8 and Wilson Sonsini participated, alongside existing investors KdT Ventures and Endurance.

British mental health startup, MYNDUP has raised £300,000 in an oversubscribed third round of seed funding. Founded in February 2020, the company has now received £500,000 in investment and grants since December last year, with investors recognising MYNDUP’s innovative offering and potential for further growth.

Akribian, a Swedish startup, is spearheading the way in which children learn maths through short adventure game-based learning that helps children retain information and encourages long term academic success. Its first product ‘Count on me!’ is a maths app based on a new concept of Game-Embedded Teaching (GET) which combines science and game design to encourage children to discover the magic of mathematics and accelerate their learning. 

Bobacino, the startup bringing a unique boba experience to a growing audience of boba enthusiasts, announced it is partnering with PopID, the facial recognition payment company, to offer consumers a faster, easier and safer way to pay.

Whether these businesses will opt for working from home full time or hybrid working – where employees split their time between home and the office – remains somewhat unclear at this point. For some, a return to pre-pandemic office life is on the cards, but for others, there’s simply no going back to the way things were.

Has COVID made you complacent to other workplace risks? Adapting to a new way of operating has now become the norm for many small businesses. Demonstrating a fair presentation of all workplace risks could save SMEs money on insurance premiums.

OLIO, the community sustainability app, has announced a $43m Series B round to fund its fight against the $1.3trn of food waste created globally each year.

Following what INvolve call the biggest set-back for women’s equality in a generation, and as children and workers finally return to school and workplace, Suki Sandhu OBE has called on all companies to ‘stop shelving gender equality and set the precedent’ if we are to solve the gender inequality crisis caused by the pandemic.

Digital technology companies from Greater Manchester are set to receive a free to access two-day masterclass to support with securing funding to help develop innovations and accelerate their growth in the region. 

Environmental service company, Legasea has been named as a finalist in the Manufacturer MX Awards, in the category of Sustainable Manufacturing Company of the Year.

Xero has unveiled its redesigned flexible work program, giving its growing product and tech teams the opportunity to work where they perform best, at home, in the office or a mix of both.

Algbra, a sustainable and values-focused digital finance provider dedicated to providing ethical finance solutions and promoting financial wellbeing, has attracted a wide range of high-profile backers. The Seed investment round, led by New World Group and SFC Capital earlier this year, was oversubscribed.

According to research by iwoca, almost 80 new businesses were created every hour across the UK in the first half of 2021. Analysis of Companies House data reveals that 340,534 businesses were registered in the UK between January and June 2021, an increase of 32% from 257,243 over the same time period in 2019.

Research by DNV and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) reveals that despite the growing attention in the public, among legislators and companies, the shift to business models that design waste out of the system seems to progress slowly, and circular economy is rising on corporate agendas across geographies.

Diversity in entrepreneurship is boosted through the launch of Barclays Eagle Labs’ 12-week virtual accelerator programme which helps early-stage tech businesses founded by one or more Black entrepreneurs.

AirBolt, a consumer and enterprise tracking and access company, has announced the closing of its $2m series seed fundraising round, with a majority growth investment led by 72Capital. The investment will accelerate plans to expand AirBolt’s range of connected devices and global partnerships. It will also allow AirBolt to grow more aggressively internationally, expand into new product categories, and enhance its global live tracking service to deliver more peace of mind to its growing community of users.

OpenUK has announced its 2021 Kids Digital Glove Giveaway, sharing 5,000 Digital Gloves, sustainably made in the UK, and sponsored by Nominet and the Open Data Institute. With a focus on engaging children in practical open source software coding, whilst teaching the open source definition and the sustainable development goals, the course builds on OpenUK’s 2020 Summer Camp.

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