News

Intuit’s September 2024 Small Business Index has revealed a slowdown in the UK job market, based on data from 25,000 small businesses with one to nine employees. The report shows a decline of around 1,400 jobs and fewer vacancies across the sector, indicating a cooling labour market.

Mollie, a rapidly expanding European financial services provider, has unveiled its new integration with HubSpot, the customer platform for growing businesses. This integration allows UK businesses to initiate and track payments directly within HubSpot, streamlining CRM payment processing and significantly reducing time spent on administrative tasks.

Hormony (Prelude Health), a startup in the femtech space, has been honoured as the winner of the inaugural FemTech category at the Global Tech Awards 2024. This accolade recognises Hormony’s technological innovation and significant impact on women’s healthtech.

Qlik has released a new study involving 250 C-suite executives and AI decision makers across the UK. The research highlights key challenges slowing AI progress in the country and offers insights on how to overcome these obstacles.

Keep, a Y Combinator-backed open-source AIOps platform, has raised $2.7M in a Pre-Seed funding round led by Runa Capital, with additional support from key industry entrepreneurs and venture firms. Participants include Firestreak and Y Combinator, as well as prominent angel investors like Shay Baron (Elastic CTO and Founder), Andrew Miklas (PagerDuty Co-Founder), David Cramer (Sentry Co-Founder), Maxim Konovalov (NGINX Founder), and Nizam Shapira (Epsagon Founder).

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announces Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO of Volvo Group, as a keynote speaker for CES 2025, along with several influential guests. Volvo Group will highlight its vision for a 100% safe, 100% fossil-free, and 100% more productive transportation and infrastructure.

A recent poll commissioned by iwoca, one of Europe’s major lenders to SMEs, revealed that almost half (49%) of small businesses have not seen any benefits from the decrease in inflation this year. The survey, published ahead of the ONS’s upcoming inflation data, highlighted that the cost of running a business remains unmanageable for 50% of the UK’s 5.6 million SMEs.

Technology plays a key role today in optimizing the operations of tourism businesses and destinations and improving the customer experience. In this context, the new edition of Tourism Innovation Summit 2024 (TIS), to be held October 23-25 in Seville, Spain, will bring together CIOs and IT managers from companies such as AR Hotels, Vueling, Catalonia Hotels, Renfe, Ilunion Hotels, and Lopesan, among others, to discuss and learn about the latest trends and technological innovations for the tourism industry. Thus, the CIO’s Summit agenda will address how AI, big data and digitalization can redefine the future of tourism.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), owner and producer of CES, the world’s most powerful tech event, announces Accenture Chair and CEO Julie Sweet will share her insights on the keynote stage at CES 2025 on January 8 at 2 p.m. in the Palazzo Ballroom at the Venetian. Accenture is a long-standing CES exhibitor, showcasing how businesses can leverage emerging technologies, including AI, to enhance customer experiences and operational efficiency.

New Central Hall activation strengthens connections between storytellers and exhibitors, offering education, networking, and workspaces.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the owner and producer of CES, the world’s most powerful tech event, is announcing that NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang will deliver a keynote at CES 2025. CES 2025 will take place in Las Vegas from January 7-10, 2025. Huang will deliver his keynote Monday, January 6, at 6:30pm.

Emphasising how technology touches all facets of our lives, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announces Yuki Kusumi, Group CEO, of Panasonic Holdings Corporation, as an opening keynote speaker for CES 2025. Mr. Kusumi and Kinsey Fabrizio, CTA President, will share the news and discuss what to expect at CES 2025 during an event in Tokyo, Japan.

Manigo, a fintech infrastructure platform based in London, has been acquired by the established investment firm Invex Ventures, known for its focus on the fintech sector.

New research from emlyon business school and Bocconi University has revealed that family-owned businesses are over 3% less likely to license their patents compared to non-family firms. Instead, these businesses are more inclined to develop their innovations internally, with a 6% higher likelihood of commercialising their products in-house rather than through external licensing.

Global Screening Services (GSS), a RegTech pioneer, announces an extended partnership with Swift that will enable financial institutions around the world to access its end­ to-end sanctions screening platform over the same infrastructure that they already trust to move money between more than 200 countries and four billion accounts globally.

The UK Government has kicked off One Big Thing 2024, an ambitious initiative designed to empower civil servants to implement small but impactful innovations across government departments. The programme, which runs from 14 October 2024 to 14 February 2025, will engage 470,000 civil servants, equipping them with the skills, tools, and inspiration to generate and experiment with new ideas.

The Accounting & Business Show Asia 2024 is set to take place on 16 – 17 October at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore. As the rebranded identity of the Accounting & Finance Show Asia, it promises to be the most important tech and strategy event in the region for accountants, finance professionals and business owners.

GISEC Global, the largest and most influential cybersecurity event in the Middle East and Africa, is thrilled to announce the launch of GISEC North Star, an expanded startup zone designed to connect cybersecurity innovators, investors, and industry leaders on an unprecedented global scale. In partnership with Expand North Star, the world-renowned startup and investor networking event, GISEC North Star aims to elevate the cybersecurity startup ecosystem by featuring 250 leading-edge cybersecurity startups and 150 investors. The 14th edition of GISEC Global anticipates over 25,000 visitors and participants from 160 countries.

Sparklo, a global cleantech company, has reached a milestone in its mission to revolutionise recycling and promote sustainability. Since last year, the company has expanded from 100 to over 300 innovative reverse vending machines (RVMs), known as Sparklomats, installed across the MENA region.

AI Transform, the first-ever UK AI conference specifically aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is being held at The Slate in Coventry on 23rd October 2024.