Tanso Technologies, a Munich-based sustainability tech startup has announced the closing of its $1.9m pre-seed financing round. The round was led by UVC Partners, a B2B technology investor with a strong focus on enterprise software, with participation of early-stage investors Picus Capital, Possible Ventures (formerly Inventures), and business angels.
The backlash against the recent decision by OnlyFans to ban content depicting ‘sexually explicit conduct’ from its platform – and its subsequent U-turn in the face of that backlash – can serve as an important lesson for startups in how (and how not) to communicate news around big business decisions that might impact their customer base.
As a generation of digital natives, Tim Berners-Lee’s creation has become an intrinsic part of our lives today and as such, we tend to take most changes to the internet in our stride. That said, the internet as we know it is evolving at a rapid pace from its earlier inception, Web 2.0, with the latest developments making way for a whole new browsing experience.
Releaf, an agtech startup that develops proprietary hardware and software solutions that makes African farmers and food factories more efficient and profitable, has raised $2.7m seed funding in a round led by Samurai Incubate Africa, Future Africa and Consonance Investment Managers with participation from Stephen Pagliuca, Chairman of Bain Capital and Justin Kan (Twitch). Releaf also secured $1.5m in grants from The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) and USAID.
FedEx Express has announced the launch of the Small Business Grant Competition in Europe. The competition offers a total grant pool of nearly €250.000 to European small businesses to help them grow and achieve their ambitions. For the first time, the competition will be run as a single pan-European contest, open to small businesses based in 16 countries.
The modern companies that are looking to get maximum returns on investment have to concentrate on developing human capital difference by using effective training and development programs for their staff to improve their productivity. The workforce of an organisation is a valuable asset for any company.
Starting a business is a huge commitment. As a brand-new startup founder, it can be difficult to prioritise your health and wellness when you’re trying to build your client base, create and submit invoices, manage team members, and ensure everything runs smoothly. It can feel like a lot of pressure on your shoulders.
Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer AG, announced that it has co-led a $15m Series A investment round in agriculture and biotechnology innovator, Andes, with Cavallo Ventures. Other new investors Builders VC, Germin8, Accelr8 and Wilson Sonsini participated, alongside existing investors KdT Ventures and Endurance.
British mental health startup, MYNDUP has raised £300,000 in an oversubscribed third round of seed funding. Founded in February 2020, the company has now received £500,000 in investment and grants since December last year, with investors recognising MYNDUP’s innovative offering and potential for further growth.
Akribian, a Swedish startup, is spearheading the way in which children learn maths through short adventure game-based learning that helps children retain information and encourages long term academic success. Its first product ‘Count on me!’ is a maths app based on a new concept of Game-Embedded Teaching (GET) which combines science and game design to encourage children to discover the magic of mathematics and accelerate their learning.
Whether these businesses will opt for working from home full time or hybrid working – where employees split their time between home and the office – remains somewhat unclear at this point. For some, a return to pre-pandemic office life is on the cards, but for others, there’s simply no going back to the way things were.
Spearheading operations from home has been the norm for many business owners as of late. Initially, it might have seemed like an impossible challenge. Without your staff around you, communication is slowed down, productivity lessens and everything is altogether more difficult. Yes, we’ve all learned how to adapt our approach over the course of numerous lockdowns but that doesn’t mean it has been easy.







