Anna Wood

Anna Wood is the Editor of Startups Magazine. She joined the team in June 2023 as Deputy Editor, and has since been promoted to Editor of the publication. When it comes to the startup sector, Anna has a keen interest in spacetech, biotech, medtech, anything that flies, and shining a light on the gender and diversity funding gap. Outside of work hours, you can find Anna tucking into a book, a nice meal, and playing her Switch!

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iplicit secures £25M to scale its next-gen accounting software platform

iplicit, the cloud accounting software platform purpose-built for the UK mid-market, has announced a £25 million investment from technology growth investor One Peak. This new investment marks iplicit’s first external institutional funding round and will be used to significantly accelerate iplicit’s product development and fuel its exponential growth.

‘YC for VC’ selection announced for Europe’s first VC accelerator

Mountside Ventures has announced the selection of Europe’ first Emerging VC Manager Programme.

Female Advisory Board launches peer group to accelerate growth of Yorkshire businesses

The Female Advisory Board (FAB), the UK’s first all-female peer advisory group, has launched FAB Enterprise to help female-led businesses with a turnover of £3 million+ to accelerate growth. Building on the success of its FAB Scale and FAB Grow groups, the Yorkshire-based company continues its mission to unite like-minded business leaders, offering a collaborative space to support, challenge, and learn from shared experiences.

Intryc raises $3.1M seed to transform customer support quality assurance with AI automation

Intryc, the platform transforming customer support quality assurance (QA) through AI-powered automation, has announced a $3.1 million seed funding round. The oversubscribed round saw participation from General Catalyst and scouts from Sequoia, alongside existing investors Episode 1 and 500 Emerging Europe, bringing the company’s total funding to $4.2 million. The announcement follows the company’s successful completion of Y Combinator’s Summer 2024 cohort.

GSMA launches new innovation fund for startups

The GSMA, in partnership with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has launched the GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI, to empower small and growing enterprises in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) across Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.

MintNeuro wins three government ARIA awards to apply advanced chip tech to neural devices

MintNeuro, a startup working in scalable, low-power semiconductor technology for minimally-invasive neural implant applications, has announced that it is the recipient of three major funding awards from the UK government’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) in collaboration with leading institutions.

BGF delivered £489 million in investments in 2024

BGF deployed £489 million in 2024, introducing 47 businesses into its diverse portfolio of 360 companies.

Blackfinch Ventures invests in Adia Thermal to accelerate heat pump adoption

Blackfinch Ventures, part of the Blackfinch Group, has invested £300,000 in Adia Thermal, a UK startup transforming the heat pump market with its innovative retrofit technology. The investment reflects Blackfinch’s focus on supporting companies that drive meaningful progress in the energy transition while delivering strong potential returns for investors.

Black and disabled workers seeking flexible jobs in record numbers

The latest Work Index from the future of work experts, Flexa, has analysed data from throughout 2024 to reveal the biggest work trends of the year, and those set to shape how we work in 2025.

AllBright enters administration, claims suggest

Rumours circulating suggest that AllBright, the women-only members’ club, has entered administration.

President of ACM to address critical AI themes at “AI Everything Global” Summit

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has announced that its President, Yannis Ioannidis, will deliver key insights on AI at the AI Everything Global conference. The event, scheduled for February 3-6 in the United Arab Emirates, brings together more than 500 Chief AI Officers from companies like Amazon, Meta, and more to address the rapid acceleration of AI adoption worldwide.

Barclays boosts London’s tech ecosystem with Eagle Labs expansion

In a significant boost for London’s thriving tech sector, Barclays Eagle Labs is set to expand its footprint by partnering in seven sites across the city, designed to support tech startups and entrepreneurs on their growth journeys.

OpenAI eyes $240Bn valuation and new funding amidst DeepSeek success

Recently, competition in the AI sector has been heating up, and it has now been reported that OpenAI is in talks of raising a new funding round of around $40 billion, which would lift the AI company’s valuation to as high as $340 billion.

Smartify secures £1.5M to transform arts and culture experiences

Smartify, the visitor engagement platform, has successfully raised £1.5 million to bring new technologies to the arts and culture sector and continue expanding its international presence.

Gift-giving trends in Europe and the UK: where, how, and what were they buying in 2024?

Flowwow, a global gifting marketplace for local shops in 40+ countries, has shared new insights from its 2024 market research, revealing a remarkable surge in cross-border gift orders across Europe. The European personalised gifting market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.01% from 2023 to 2029, driven by disposable income increases and product innovations.

Disruption to construction: meet the real-life balloon homes

Construction is costly and time-consuming, and the need for homes is increasing. Automatic Construction is a New York based startup that has developed a method called Inflatable Flexible Factory Formwork (IFFF) to improve both of these factors.

Oxyle raises $16m to lead fight against water contaminating “forever chemicals”

When Fajer Mushtaq turned on the tap as a child in Delhi, one question always loomed: was the water safe? Today, that same question haunts communities worldwide as PFAS – toxic “forever chemicals” used in everything from non-stick pans to firefighting foam – contaminate water supplies at an alarming rate. Today, Swiss startup Oxyle has announced a $16 million funding round to scale its breakthrough solution to destroy, not just relocate, PFAS from wastewater. This builds on its $3 million pre-seed round in 2022, growing support for its mission.

British employees work 215 hours of overtime a year, with plans to change jobs

HiBob has revealed the average British employee is working 215 hours of overtime per year.  More than two in five (42%) workers do not receive any additional compensation for overtime worked, meaning these individuals work a yearly average of £4,022 for free.

IoT Tribe and Siemens launch Flywheel Programme for AI in aerospace and defence startups

IoT Tribe has launched the Flywheel Programme, an initiative designed to empower early-stage startups developing agentic AI and advanced technologies for the Aerospace and Defence sectors – developed in collaboration with Siemens Digital Industries Software.

SatVu and University of Glasgow develop Heat Loss Index with ESA funding

SatVu has received €244,853 in funding from the European Space Agency (ESA) to conduct a feasibility study, in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, to enhance the analysis of building energy efficiency.