News
New hiring data from LinkedIn suggests the global labour market is improving and continuing its early momentum towards hiring recovery. Progress observed in June held through July, although it did start to plateau towards the end of the month as some countries saw viral caseloads rise and shutdowns come back.
The metal additive manufacturing market will be negatively impacted by the 2020 pandemic. Despite this short-to-mid-term setback, the industry is forecast to rise and exceed $10bn within the next ten years. The emerging and established printer players grab nearly all of the headlines, but most of this forecast annual revenue will be in material sales in which there is great untapped potential.
During the Great Recession in the UK (2008/2009), 35% of tech startup founders went to the University of Cambridge and to the University of Oxford.
The company behind the first FDA-cleared direct-from-fingerstick Complete Blood Count (CBC) analyser, Sight Diagnostics has announced it has raised $71m in Series D funding with participation from Koch Disruptive Technologies, Longliv Ventures and OurCrowd.
Economic recoveries from crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic come in many shapes. The hope everywhere is always that they will be V-shaped, but U shapes are the next best thing. A volatile W and the dreaded L are worst-case scenarios.
A Birmingham-based serial entrepreneur has ‘pivoted’ the strategy for his fresh-produce business to the supply of high grade Protective Personal Equipment (PPE), to support the fight against COVID-19.
FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, has awarded its signature FedEx Access Award to student-run company Echooo, from Belgium at the JA Europe Company of the Year Competition, hosted as a virtual event for the first time on 22nd-24th July 2020.
Of those who graduated between 2000 and 2019, the University of Oxford counts more tech founder graduates who started their business aged 35 or younger than any other university in the UK.
Global technology company, Zoho that offers the most extensive suite of business software applications, has announced BackToWork, a fully comprehensive modular solution enabling businesses and organisations to safely transition back into the workplace. Free for the remainder of 2020, BackToWork, powered by Zoho Creator, is the latest programme to be introduced as part of the company’s ongoing relief efforts, which support businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
Business leaders across the UK have experienced one of the most turbulent years on record, as the Coronavirus pandemic surged across the world, Brexit finally happened, and the possibility of an economic depression looms – the world ahead seems uncertain and daunting at best.
Business bank, Allica Bank has combined data and insight from over 1,000 UK SMEs with a multiple regression analysis to determine what factors most closely aligned with an SMEs’ chances of success and separated the highest performing businesses from their peers. These ‘rules for success’ have been compiled from the research data to support British businesses as they look to chart a course to post-COVID-19 recovery.
TaxScouts, the company making tax preparation effortless for the UK market, has announced a Series A investment round of £5m to further its mission to build a Pan-European Tax Service. The company is expanding into its first market outside the UK and is establishing a team in Spain, following the appointment of a Country Manager.
From the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to Eat Out to Help Out, small businesses in the UK have received a significant amount of Government support during the Coronavirus pandemic. Another important area of support has come from consumers themselves, many of whom have taken it upon themselves to seek out local small businesses instead of global entities likely to survive anyway.
Between 2000 and 2019, the London School of Economics and Political Science has seen 18 female graduates found a tech company after studying at the university. That’s more than any other UK university.
ClearBank and Tide have announced that they are working together again to help UK SMEs turn recovery from the coronavirus crisis into a growth opportunity. In collaboration with Tide, ClearBank has applied for two grants from Pool E of the Capability and Innovation Fund, worth £25m and £35m, that form part of the £775m RBS Alternative Remedies Package.
Innovation has never been more important, and in the current climate it is great to see six more startups join the latest CRL (Central Research Laboratory) accelerator programme, which, for the first time has attracted a major sponsor, Mouser Electronics.
Schneider Electric and Sustainable Ventures have named the finalists of their Net Zero Home Programme. The joint venture aims to find the most innovative net zero home solutions to help accelerate the net zero home market.
Israeli startup Rise.ai, which offers AI-driven customer re-engagement solutions, has been selected by Google to help businesses offer digital gift cards through their public listing on Google My Business (GMB). The agreement with Google is Rise.ai’s strategy to enable small and medium businesses to survive and even thrive during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
As businesses worldwide begin coming out of lockdown into uncharted territory, adapting and surviving the economic and social impacts of COVID-19 is imperative as consumer behaviour, namely spending habits, continue to rapidly change. Alongside a 200% rise in ‘first-time’ online purchases in April, Econsultancy recently reported a 33% increase in ‘online banking or use of mobile apps and payment methods’.
Four Somerset District Councils have joined forces to fund and launch a new scheme to give startups and early stage businesses the best chance of success. Called Somerset Catalyst, it is part of a wider business support programme that is rolling out across the county. Applications for the programme commencing in September 2020 are now invited.
