News

The Institute of Economic Development (IED) has today launched the Commission for Economic Renewal, which will bring together some of the UK’s foremost economic development practitioners and academics to formulate the policies and interventions it believes will be needed to rebuild economies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) should check the security and data protection of the technology they are using during COVID-19 lockdown, urges the MCA. Although there has been a rapid adoption of technology by firms, some have not been able to assess security quickly enough, risking exposure of confidential data and client information. The MCA has created a free checklist for SMEs to ensure that they ask the right questions about technology and how staff could use it before it is purchased.

Bot-Hive, a digital marketplace for robotics and AI solutions has successfully completed a six-figure equity funding round. Bot-Hive is a digital marketplace which connects SMEs with the right automation technology for their business and shows them the best way to introduce robots to their workflow processes.

Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s growing tech ecosystem, has expanded to 51 startups with the announcement of 15 new joiners to the Hub71 Incentive Program. The Hub71 Selection Committee prioritized global startups in the field of HealthTech and EdTech, which provide essential technologies to support the private and public sector as they adapt to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Founded in early 2019, Funded.club provides recruiting services for startups and scale-ups. Rather than charging based on a percentage of annual salary, Funded.club receives only low success fees that come in 70-80% less than a regular recruiting agency, irrespective of the salary offered or how long it takes to fill a position.

Provider of technology solutions for merchants, banks and capital markets firms, FIS has announced that FIS Ventures, the newly created corporate venture investment division of FIS, has launched an effort to invest a target of $150m in promising fintech startups over the next three years.

Robotical, the edtech startup behind Marty the Robot, has today announced that it is working with South African NGO, Got Game, on Nokia’s Helping hands project to deliver education to previously disadvantaged youths in South Africa.

Temenos, the banking software company, has announced the launch of Explainable AI (XAI) models to enable banks and credit unions to rapidly offer loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have seen their cash flow disrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak. These patented XAI models allow banks to accelerate digital onboarding, conduct eligibility checks and process loan applications for SMEs and retail customers.

More than 28-days on from the Prime Minister’s lockdown measures closed the door on many businesses, Toby Harper said help, for many, was still ‘painfully slow.’ He said the Chancellor’s new £1.25bn coronavirus package to protect firms driving innovation in UK , which includes a £500m investment fund, asks more questions than it answers.

Around nine million accidents happen in Germany every year – sometimes with lasting health consequences for those affected. Personal accident insurance helps to cushion the financial burden. Getsafe has decided to offer its customers a digital accident insurance product. This marks an important step for the company towards life insurance and shows that even personal, complex insurance products work on the smartphone. 

Confidence levels among UK tech startups have dropped significantly over the past three months as the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, Studio Graphene’s latest Tech Tracker survey reveals, as Studio Graphene has published the results of its Q1 2020 Tech Tracker survey.

Codota, an AI software for developers, acquired its competitor TabNine last year. The company has also announced the global launch of its complete version for JavaScript, merging Codota’s semantic technology with TabNine’s textual one for suitable accuracy for developers.

Job roles within tech increased by 40% in the first third of the year thanks to a surge in-demand within the ‘hybrid-tech sector’ – namely fintech, edtech, healthtech, and agritech – according to global recruiter Robert Walters.

Youth Business International (YBI) has been awarded a $5m grant by Google.org to support over 200,000 underserved micro, small and medium businesses in 32 countries to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. The global economy is suffering from an unprecedented shock as a result of COVID-19. With typically tight margins, micro, small and medium businesses are particularly vulnerable to economic downturn.

Tide, the UK’s leading business banking platform, has launched a new Invoice Protection product in partnership with insurance solutions provider, Hokodo, to help micro, small and medium-sized businesses protect their cash flow against the late and non-payment of invoices.

Curve, the banking platform that consolidates multiple cards and accounts into one smart card and app, now allows customers to move past payments onto a different card for up to 90 days after the payment has been made.

BigChange, the mobile workforce management technology company, is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise, one of the highest official honours for companies in the UK.

The Francis Crick Institute today announces that it is deploying a cloud-native simulation engine developed by UK start-up, Hadean Supercomputing, to simulate how COVID-19 spreads both in the body and through the wider population. The Francis Crick Institute and Hadean are working together to accurately forecast how the virus spreads in order to help governments, public health authorities and businesses make fast, informed, and in many cases, life-saving decisions.

Ingenious has announced that its Infrastructure Ventures EIS Service has led a $4m A-series investment round in Shoreline. The Norway-based startup has built an intelligent field operations and project development platform to help develop profitable wind projects by constructing and operating them efficiently using intelligent schedule optimisation and simulation.

OVHcloud is extending its virtual private server (VPS) range, designed specifically for DevOps teams and small businesses. This wider and more scalable range is better suited to the requirements of businesses.