The future of work isn’t physical versus digital. It’s both, beautifully and intelligently intertwined. That’s the driving force behind Connected Realities, the newly announced theme for Workspace Design Show, taking place 25th – 26th February at the Business Design Centre, London.
In just over a year, AI funding went from explosive to cautious optimism. After the staggering $108 billion poured into AI startups in 2024, 2025 has shown the emergence of a new pattern.
Enterprise AI is facing a severe reality check. Amidst a massive rush of investment, a recent MIT study has delivered a sobering finding: 95% of corporate generative AI pilots are failing to progress to scaled adoption and deliver measurable financial returns.
A new Disability Trading Framework has launched to improve access to supply chains for disabled entrepreneurs and ensure that trading processes are fair and accessible to all.
Deel has announced a $300 million strategic investment, bringing its valuation up to $17.3 billion.
Wild Bioscience (Wild Bio), the Oxford University spinout that develops improved crop varieties using AI and precision breeding, has raised a $60 million Series A investment. This significant funding round was led by the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), with participation from existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), Braavos Capital, and the University of Oxford.
Jack & Jill, the AI recruitment company, has raised $20 million in seed investment to build and expand in Europe and the United States. The round was backed by leading European early-stage firm, Creandum, as well as prominent VCs including Dig Ventures, Entrepreneur First, Ada Ventures, Firedrop, Repeat.vc, Episode1, Playfair, and over 75 high-profile angel investors, including Nico Rosberg, and from companies such as Lovable, Anthropic, and ElevenLabs.
Nila, the healthcare management startup helping expatriates care for elderly relatives back home, has closed an oversubscribed $2.4 million (£1.8 million) pre-seed round led by LocalGlobe. The investment enables Nila to scale its revolutionary care management platform which addresses the stress and challenges that accompany overseeing the health and wellbeing of older family members across borders.
UK cybersecurity startup Ploy has raised £2.5 million to address a growing security threat, with 93% of organisations suffering two or more identity-related breaches per year.
Cambridge Future Tech (CFT), the scientific venture builder, and global built environment consultancy Arup, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the creation of the Deep Rack Venture Studio – an initiative targeting the creation of 16 new startups addressing critical challenges in global data centre infrastructure.
Caracol, one of Europe’s fastest growing deeptech companies and a pioneer in large-format robotic manufacturing, has announced the closing of its $40 million Series B round, co-led by Omnes Capital, Move Capital Fund I, alongside CDP Venture Capital – Large Ventures Fund, which played a key role as a catalyst for international investors.
America is the land of promise for many small British businesses. The population is generally fairly well off and there’s almost five times as many people as there are in this country. The potential to sell many more of your products and services there is enormous.
My professional journey started within the depths of corporate marketing with established brands. In those early years, I managed campaigns backed by generous budgets and renowned brand reputations. While it was thrilling at first, it eventually became a little predictable. Then I started working with startups – and everything shifted.
In a tough economic climate, we hear a lot about ‘productivity’, often reduced to a statistical measurement associated with the economic output of a country or region. Because of their relatively small size, mathematically, startups don’t contribute significantly to the macroeconomic productivity figures.
In Germany, physics curricula include almost no breadth requirements; students take only physics or closely related courses. In my cohort, entrepreneurship wasn’t presented as an option at all. Where university spin-outs do occur, they frequently address extremely narrow problems. These observations reflect a broader European issue: cultural and structural barriers discourage technical talent from founding companies and from working on actual problems that scale.
For most startups, the Cloud is not optional. It’s the backbone of rapid experimentation, product iteration, and go-to-market execution. Platforms like AWS make it possible to launch with minimal upfront investment and scale globally in a matter of weeks. But while the Cloud lowers barriers, it also introduces complexity.
Maia Ventures, an early-stage AgriFoodTech fund, has launched its first fund of €55 million. It will back 20 to 25 companies, with initial ticket sizes ranging from €0.5 to 1.5 million. The fund is fully operational with six investments to date and is targeting a final closing in the coming months.
Aide Health, a UK healthtech startup, has launched the country’s first AI-powered “medical memory” designed entirely for patients – promising to end the age-old problem of forgetting what the doctor said.
Between 40,000 and 60,000 women leave the tech industry each year, costing the economy an estimated £2 to £3.5 billion annually, according to The 2025 Lovelace Report: Unlocking £2–3.5 billion.
Strawberry, the agentic browser with built-in, personalised AI companions, has announced that it has raised $6 million in funding, led by General Catalyst and EQT Ventures, with participation from founders of Lovable, Supabase, and Hugging Face.
