Startups

Businesses aren’t doing enough to help midlife and older workers retrain, presenting a huge threat to the UK’s bid for economic growth, says think tank Phoenix Insights.

Iomob (short for Internet of Mobility), a UK and Spain-based technology start-up, is expected to launch the world’s first seamless mobility technology later this year, after more than three years of research and several pilots. The new platform will be integrated into existing transport and mobility websites and apps all over the world, allowing providers for the first time, to include third-party mobility connections— with a focus on sustainable options— enabling passengers to book and pay for a complete door-to-door journey involving multiple modes of transport on just one website or app.  

Shares, Europe’s first social and community-based investing app, has announced that international tennis champions, Venus and Serena Williams, have been appointed the first ambassadors of Shares as they become shareholders in the company. This news comes shortly after Shares has closed on its $40 million Series B funding round led by Peter Thiel Fund, Valar Ventures.

Booknet (Ukraine) has signed publishing publicity agency, Literally PR, to introduce its popular literary social media network, self-publishing platform, and Bookscription sales concept to the UK following rapid growth in parts of Latin America and Eastern Europe.

When you’re just starting your business, learning the difference between some key terms can be extremely complicated. If your business is based in Hong Kong, you’re probably wondering about the difference between business registration, company registration, and trademark registration.

Full-service event company Creation is celebrating monumental success having ranked 29th in The Sunday Times 100 following a record-breaking financial year and staggering growth.

The retail industry has experienced a huge shift in recent years. The power now lies with the customers. Yet, some brands have been slow to understand the gravity of this situation and find themselves falling behind as a result.

Deliverect, a global scale-up that simplifies digital orders for more than 27,000 locations across 40 markets, today announced new global research, which revealed that more people are purchasing takeaway or delivery orders today than they were before the recent increase in cost of living. The survey, which was commissioned by Deliverect and conducted by Censuswide, found that 57.34% of consumers are now purchasing up to three takeaways in a week now, in comparison to 49% prior to the inflation increase.

Norwegian augmented-reality educational platform Ludenso announces $1m in seed funding to support its creation of the world’s first augmented-reality universe designed for educational publishers.

Enate, a fast-growing and pioneering intelligent automation platform, announced it has received a follow-on investment round of £2 million from Mercia, a growth-focused investment firm with experience backing innovative SaaS businesses.

Swedish-Ukrainian IT company Sigma Software Group is scaling up their Femmegineering initiative to build a female tech community across emerging European tech markets. The organisers will launch educational events, and provide free access to IT courses at Sigma Software University and mentorships by industry leaders to female refugees and local women in Europe.

Acquisitions can be an ideal way for founders to accelerate growth, enhance market share and achieve higher valuations. However, startups considering an acquisition need to think carefully about their objections and plan for all eventualities if they want a merger or acquisition to be a success. 

Sküma Water has raised £300,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by early-stage focused venture capital firm Jenson Funding Partners. Multiple angel investors also participated in the round, including William Ripley, a notable investor in sustainable technology and ex-director of product strategy at Philips

Birmingham not-for-profit hibretOne is hosting an official launch event on Monday 10th October 2022. The free event is a continuation of the company’s efforts to help UK businesses, having already supported entrepreneurs to access £4m worth of grants to date.

EasyTip, the UK’s leading online service for collecting tips in the hospitality industry, is announcing a new partnership with Samtouch Software, bringing fairer and quicker tip payments to staff at over 7,500 hospitality venues across UK. Technological innovation has become vital in driving the post-pandemic recovery of the sector and enabling the administration of staff tips to be more efficient, cheaper, and less time consuming is a significant component of such a trend.

Collctiv, a group payment app that allows friends, families, businesses, charities, and community groups to collect money together, is celebrating a major company milestone after reaching $20 million in processed transactions.

KOOS, an Estonian-based start up, has today announced $4M worth of seed funding led by high profile investors at Plural Platform with participation from investors including LocalGlobe, Tiny.vc and Matt Clifford.

Starting a business comes with unavoidable risk and responsibility. And where there is risk, insurance surely follows. It’s an industry that has a foothold in many aspects of life, from the cars we drive to our homes and our businesses. While it’s another expense to add to the profit and loss sheet, taking out the right kind of insurance for your business is absolutely critical. Even more so for startups because many typically lack financial security and stability in the first few years. In this short guide, we’ll outline the most common types of business insurance that startups take out from the get-go.

Here we are. It’s 2022 and we’re watching the pandemic slowly disappearing in the rear-view mirror. During the pandemic, being locked down in our homes gave us the opportunity to be more creative, have more quality time and do activities with loved ones.

Pets are big business in the UK. According to the PDSA, over half of the UK’s adult population own a pet of some description. This is a lucrative demographic for budding business owners in the pet industry, particularly with regard to ‘pet hospitality’ – an emerging industry borne of the increased mobility of younger pet owners in the UK. But if you were to start your own pet boarding business, where would you begin?