News

Apart but still together

We Are F, the social media and creative boutique for female-founded brands, has connected a team of NHS GPs with the PPE they urgently require – following a campaign to raise funds for the NHS.

Israeli start-up chooses Detroit as its US base

Autonomous machine vision pioneer, Inspekto, is one step closer to having a strong presence on US soil upon striking up a partnership with the Michigan Israel Business Accelerator.

Funding round to help companies do more while sharing less data

Applied Blockchain has completed a £2m funding round lead by Hong Kong based venture capital firm, QBN Capital. The newly-injected funds will be invested in developing a platform using privacy enhancing technologies to help companies to collaborate and generate meaningful outcomes together, without having to share any of their data.

Accelerating in the days of coronavirus

Seven Italian startups selected to participate in Israel’s first accelerator program for Italian startups could not have imagined in early January that the coronavirus pandemic would spread so rapidly and inflict such deadly damage to their country and around the world during their stay in Eilat.

Driving customer growth and product innovation

UK-founded marketing technology company ContentCal has secured a £2.5 million investment from early and growth stage investor Fuel Ventures with participation from existing shareholders. The new funding will be focussed on driving customer growth, product innovation and doubling the size of the team.

Keeping Kent businesses moving during the pandemic

YourLocal.Delivery, a new free online store service, is supporting local businesses to sell their goods online and help them to survive current difficult trading circumstances. Since its launch last month, a number of Kent businesses have signed up to the service and are already experiencing sales. 

SMEs missing out on thousands of pounds in unclaimed funding

UK businesses are still missing out on thousands of pounds of unclaimed tax credits, according to new figures from Leyton, the UK’s leading innovation funding consultancy. Leyton’s clients – 85% of which are SMEs – claimed an average of £78,000 in R&D tax credits last year.

Gen Z payment pioneers launch open-banking software

VibePay has announced its open banking driven offer for businesses. The latest products will allow brands to process frictionless checkout and subscription payments online, increasing transaction success and reducing fees, whilst giving brands a gateway into their engaged Gen Z community.

New sustainable investment app launches crowdfunding campaign

A new fintech platform for sustainable investments, Clim8 Invest has launched its first ever Crowdcube campaign.

It’s about open solidarity

Since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared on the 30th January, OVHcloud have been carefully observing how the situation has developed across the globe. Today, depending on the guidelines issued by governing healthcare authorities, the company is managing local situations in all regions where it has teams. It is doing this to guarantee the employees’ safety, and also guarantee continuity for customer services.

Free digital skills training to support productivity and growth

Business and public, private and voluntary sector professionals in the Tees Valley and County Durham are now able to sign up to free digital skills training – both technical and creative – following some quick thinking by Teesside University as part of its comprehensive response to Covid-19.

Struggling SMEs offered free access to 3D made-to-measure tech

As the global retail industry continues to feel the full impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Swiss retail technology company meepl – the easy-to-use and time-saving online shopping companion for clothing – has announced it will offer complimentary access to their smartphone-enabled, 3D body scanning technology for vulnerable SMEs working within the fashion industry.

Fixed fees waived in bid to support startups and SMEs

During times of great uncertainty for businesses large and small, global affiliate network Awin is giving startups and SMEs a helping hand, by waiving the monthly fee for the first three months for companies launching an affiliate programme using its Awin Access self-managed solution. This is in addition to zero setup fees. 

Here’s how startups are helping the global problem

When Google for Startups announced its accelerator on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in November, it did not foresee how dramatically day-to-day life would soon change. The COVID-19 pandemic and its widespread health, social and economic consequences have made the goal of the program – to help founders build technology to solve serious issues facing our world – even more pressing.

STARTUP3: A new opportunity for startups and SMEs

STARTUP3 is a new business acceleration programme that aims to bring innovative tech ideas into the industry through its extensive business and growth programme and pool of corporates and investors! Funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 programme, it allows startups and SMEs to gain extensive and expensive set of business services for free, mentors from big European corporations, direct access to the corporations and investors.

AgriTech season moved online in response to Covid-19

Farm491, the AgriTech incubator based at the Royal Agricultural University, has adapted its season of events exploring the future of British Farming to comply with the UK’s Covid-19 social distancing measures. The organisation has developed a programme of webinars throughout April, many of which will be available to everyone, with a few select online events being held exclusively for its members.

Tickets now live for leadership conference in Shrewsbury

Tickets have been launched for a leadership conference that will bring some big names to the town on the 23rd September 2020, as part of a conference organised by Shropshire HR to ‘inspire, challenge and evolve’ leadership in the region.

It’s business time for the UK’s best-loved bank

When Monzo needed to launch their new business accounts, they asked Studio Output to help develop the visual identity. Over a series of design sprints, the partnership delivered an identity system with the simplicity and magic people love about Monzo, and the trust and reassurance businesses need from a bank.

Real-time passenger data from St Pancras station

UK startup OpenSpace, whose digital twin platform measures real-time passenger movement, have discovered a new use for their technology in the fight against coronavirus. The pioneering system currently deployed at St Pancras station in London, can monitor social distancing through detecting and visualising the distance between passengers in real-time. It can also compare historical weekly and daily information for trend analysis.

Kickstart opens applications for a new cohort of tech startups

Kickstart is welcoming applications for the fifth iteration of its annual B2B scale-up programme aimed at late-stage startups interested in entering the Swiss market.