Three pitfalls to avoid while building a challenger bank

Placing marketing over product, dismissing potential partnerships and overstaying in a single market are key mistakes entrepreneurs should be on the lookout for when building a challenger bank.

Shaping the future of speech recognition

As we live through the most connected time in history, its clear to see that data plays a huge role in many businesses. It’s what keeps businesses running smoothly, so naturally it needs to be of the highest quality. But what are the most reliable sources? Customer feedback is at the top of most businesses lists. Customers certainly won’t hesitate to tell you what they like or dislike about your product or service. But how can we use all this information? Can conversations with call centres or an online chatbot harvest all the value from these conversations?

UK small businesses accelerate transition to cashless during pandemic

UK SMEs are moving to accept card and contactless payments at an increasingly rapid rate as a result of the coronavirus crisis, according to findings published today by NatWest.

Digital freight platform secures €17m funding round

Ontruck, Europe’s leading digital road freight platform, has secured an investment round of €17 million euros led by OGCI Climate Investments (OGCI CI). Existing Ontruck investors, Cathay Innovation, Atomico, Idinvest Partners and Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures, participated in the round, with Endeavor Catalyst joining as a new investor.

Half of all the Fortune 500 companies were created in a crisis
Half of all the Fortune 500 companies were created in a crisis
This article is part 1 of 4 in the series Getting ahead, staying ahead, and not losing your head

I read once, ‘most people are starting from a disadvantage and do just fine’. I find these words encouraging and motivating. The reason being, they don’t know they’re disadvantaged because they simply, just get on with it.

UK startups are leading the way in AI

Europe’s AI ecosystem is consistent with many of the continent’s other expanding startups, with the UK emerging as the most dynamic country for AI: that’s according to new research from PNY Europe in collaboration with 33INSIGHTS. The UK leads the pack with 529 incorporated companies (27%), followed by France with 424 (21%) and Germany with 182 (9%).

24% of UK businesses now offering delivery services due to lockdown

The team at Quotezone.co.uk, an insurance comparison site, surveyed 600 UK businesses about how they are dealing with the lockdown. The research revealed that two fifths of UK businesses (39%) have had to pivot their offerings since the beginning of lockdown, with 76% of these providing a brand-new service.

5 ways to strengthen company culture during a crisis

When you are trying to navigate the management of a business in the midst of a global pandemic, it’s all too easy to neglect the maintenance of your company culture. Yes, it’s true that other priorities might seem more pressing right now; after all, your clients and suppliers won’t be sending you impatient emails demanding to know how you plan to safeguard your internal team relationships.

Renegade Academy – the programme for new founders

Introducing the Renegade Academy – the programme for new founders brought to you by Huckletree.  

Growing with Blockchain – from disruptive potential to operational reality

Following lockdown, the digital trust that blockchain creates for networks of remote users started to re-define relationships between customers, suppliers, partners and funders in earnest.

Twine engages in global AI research project by leveraging the remote gig economy

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the technological landscape of the future. US-based technology company, is developing a consented and privacy preserving public dataset of human interactions for AI research. This video content will help researchers to advance the possibilities of machine learning within their applications. The contributors to the project are remote workers in the gig economy, also known as the ‘human cloud’. They are being crowdsourced by freelance hiring platform, Twine, through their extensive community of 350,000 freelancers.

To Lead… and Beyond!
This article is part 4 of 7 in the series Here's looking at your leadership

Buzz Lightyear might not be the obvious choice of great leaders but we’re taking inspiration from his famous catchphrase in this article to encourage you to think big and define the vision for your organisation or team.

Pandemic Innovation Conference to host startups and investors online

OurCrowd, the large venture investment platform, will host the OurCrowd Pandemic Innovation Conference on 22nd June to explore the latest technological solutions to the coronavirus crisis, including vaccination, treatment, diagnostics and prevention of the disease.

Net Zero Growth programme to support UK climate change goals

Tech Nation, the growth platform for tech companies and leaders, has announced the new Net Zero growth programme. The programme is designed to support tech companies that are building a greener, cleaner, and more sustainable future, and helping the UK reach its goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Three in five say working from home has improved their lives

As the nation continues to work from home for the most part, more than half of those currently working from home (59%) say being without the office has changed their lives for the better, new data has revealed.

Demystifying unconscious bias in venture capital and corporate innovation

Since the Coronavirus outbreak, multiple concerns about the pandemic deepening social and economic inequalities have been raised. The latest ‘Ecoystem’ webinar session brought together leading investors and one of world’s largest engineering and manufacturing companies in a conversation on challenging industry perceptions to break down barriers to VC funding and innovation.

Providing startups with 360° support at minimal risk

GrowthStep, a one-stop partnership service for startups, has launched in the UK to provide startups in today’s challenging economy with the support they need to focus on carving out market potential and growing their business with often limited resources and budgets. 

How can small businesses overcome the crippling cost of manufacturing?

Mayku are making raw materials and desktop vacuum forming technology accessible for rapid and cost-effective in-house production. Co-Founder and CEO of Mayku, Alex Smilansky, here discusses the commitment to democratising manufacturing, with Under The Roof.

Bootstrapped marketing that’ll win your first customers

Let’s face it. Sales and customers are a startup’s bread and butter. Even if you’d like to go the VC route, you need to show traction. But how do you acquire users and customers without much, or any money? Seems like a chicken and egg problem doesn’t it.

The six biggest pitch deck mistakes and how to avoid them

Raising funding for your startup can be a challenging task at the best of times. And then along came a pandemic, making it even harder.