Starting a business is hard. You only need to look at the failure rate to confirm it. And that’s in a normal, non-pandemic year. For anyone starting out now or looking to do so soon the challenges are astronomical. This is because as well as all the normal startup hurdles involving financing, staffing, cash-flow and the like, businesses are beset with a legacy of COVID-19 and the wider economic ramifications it will leave.
Xilinx Ventures, the corporate venture programme of US technology company Xilinx, has invested over $125m in more than 30 global startup businesses over the last three years, covering technologies in data center, communications, machine learning, automotive, edge computing, and innovative silicon design. It therefore seemed an ideal port of call for this issue’s Startups Launchpad feature. We caught up with Sagi Paz, Head of Xilinx Ventures, and Patrick Rundell, Manager at Xilinx Ventures, to find out more.
Natural intelligence startup, Opteran has raised £2.1m in seed funding. Opteran will use the funds to pioneer its radical lightweight, low cost silicon-based approach to autonomy called Natural Intelligence and expects its technology will significantly expand the potential addressable market for autonomy in machines and robotics.
We couldn’t really publish our annual women in tech issue without featuring our very own Hustle Award winner Joanna Montgomery, Fonder of Little Riot. Montgomery scooped the Biggest 2020 Hero award earlier this summer for her company’s innovative Pillow Talk product, so we caught up with her to find out more.
Mobile phones have become a basic necessity for everyone. With more than 3 Billion smartphone users in the world, equating to 4 out of every 10 people being equipped with smart technology, apps have become one of the fastest-growing markets in the IT industry. This creates infinite opportunities for businesses looking to break into or expand into the mobile realm.
After a very unusual year indeed, the CRL and Mouser cohort is coming to an end, and with the National lockdown and pandemic it caused some interruptions and delays, however, speaking to the startups involved it seems everyone is feeling the same, and is a little bit of sadness that the end is in sight.
As the world’s first training and tracking system, Wondercise analyses and scores users performance after each workout. The business was created with the mission to revolutionise the way people get fit and healthy, and we managed to catch up with the Founder and CEO Eric Chuang to ask a few questions and find out more about the fitness business.
Podcasts are a great way to build your brand and tell the story of your business. Over the past five years, there has been an explosion in the number of corporate and business podcasts available and with it a growth in engaged podcast audiences. According to a September 2019 Ofcom report over seven million people in the UK listen to podcasts each week, a 24% growth over the previous 12 months.
From full national lockdown and the gradual easing of constraints, to a three-tiered regional system of restrictions and then back into another national lockdown. It’s been a long and arduous time for everyone since COVID-19 first reached our shores earlier this year, and even more so for the many hardworking business owners up and down the country trying to keep disconnected workforces operating smoothly.
Like so many startup companies, the origin of Developing Experts was in the recognition of a problem, and an individual with the foresight to come up with a solution. The individual in question is Co-founder, Sarah Mintey, and her company was one of Tech Nation’s 2019 Rising Star Winners, and are one of ten UK companies on Google’s Immersion Growth Program for 2020. For our women in tech issue, Startups Magazine caught up with her to find out more.









