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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Wazoku expands into UAE to bring its AI-connected innovation ecosystem to the GCC countries

Innovation scaleup Wazoku is expanding into the GCC region, with the establishment of a dedicated presence in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Algorithmiq to speed quantum computing advancements with NVIDIA Accelerated Computer

Algorithmiq has announced a venture to accelerate error mitigation techniques for near-term quantum devices.

Heim Health raises £2.2m to bring healthcare home

Heim Health, a software platform powering at-home healthcare, has announced a £2.2 million seed round to revive community-based healthcare through a tech-led, scalable model of delivery – easing pressure on hospitals and delivering better experiences for patients.

Veriam launches integrated access and subscription management platform

Veriam has announced the launch of its platform that combines identity management, access control, and subscription services into a single, efficient solution. This new platform aims to make complex processes simple by eliminating the need for multiple tools, helping organisations manage user access and subscriptions with minimal effort.

CommBox secures $15M investment, prioritising AI in customer experience

CommBox, an enterprise-grade omnichannel, AI-powered customer experience platform, has announced the completion of a $15 million growth investment round from PSG Equity, a growth equity firm that specialises in partnering with software and technology-enabled services companies to help navigate and capitalise on transformational growth.

Fret Zero: 3 in 4 UK business leaders suffer from sustainability stress

Three-quarters of UK business leaders (72%) say they are stressed out over sustainability targets and the pressure to reach Net Zero, according to research by BT.

Pruna AI secures $6.5M to sustainably optimise ML models and empower AI engineers

Pruna AI, the AI optimisation engine empowering ML teams to simplify code and streamline models, has announced that it has successfully raised $6.5 million in a seed funding round led by EQT Ventures with participation from Daphni, Motier, and Kima, along with support from high profile angels including Roxanne Varza, Hervé Nivon, and Olivier Pomel.

IonKraft secures €3.5M equity funding to fuel circular economy in packaging

Aachen-based startup IonKraft GmbH, a spin-off of RWTH Aachen University, has successfully closed a first equity financing round of €3.5 million. The round was co-led by M Ventures (the strategic investment fund of Merck) and TechVision Fund and joined by High-Tech-Gruenderfonds.

Serial entrepreneur Bev Hurley CBE recognised with IED Outstanding Contribution to Economic Development award

Bev Hurley CBE, Executive Chair of YTKO and previously CEO for 25 years, has been recognised for her Outstanding Contribution to Economic Development at the Institute of Economic Development (IED) Annual Awards 2024.

AI makes companies hire more managers

The rise in AI adoption by companies encourages the hiring of more managers – rather than fewer – relative to other positions, to supervise the implementation of this new technology. That’s according to a working paper co-authored by IESE Business School professors Mireia Giné, Sampsa Samila, and José Azar that analyses 375 million US job vacancies over more than a decade.

Architecture AI platform Gendo raises £4.3m seed as demand skyrockets

Gendo, the AI platform which transforms how architects and designers bring ideas and sketches to life, has raised a £4.3 million seed round. This comes less than four months after the company emerged from beta and announced their pre-seed raise of £855k.

Mimica wins Lineage’s London Food Chain Innovation Challenge 2024

Lineage, the large global temperature-controlled warehouse REIT, has announced the winner of its pioneering initiative, the Food Chain Innovation Challenge London. After a full day of pitching at the Science Museum to an esteemed judging panel, Mimica, the brand behind dynamic food expiry labels, was crowned regional champion and walked away with the $5,000 prize.

Airbound secures $1.7M to make drone delivery economically viable everywhere

Airbound, a drone technology startup, has announced a $1.7 million seed round led by Lightspeed to build the world’s most efficient delivery drone. With its proprietary blended wing body tailsitter design, called TRT, Airbound aims to transform logistics, reducing delivery costs by two orders of magnitude compared to traditional options.

Tech Cornwall accelerates startup support following Slush’D event

Cornwall’s flourishing tech ecosystem took centre stage last month at the highly anticipated Cornwall Slush’D 2024, showcasing the region’s most innovative startups and highlighting Tech Cornwall’s strengthened commitment to supporting early-stage businesses.

Slow tech adoption cost the UK economy £111 billion

Virgin Media O2 Business and Cebr have published a new report, ‘The economic and social benefits of digitalisation’, revealing the significant growth potential UK businesses have left untapped. The report highlights that if all British-based firms had increased their digital technology usage in 2021, the economy could have seen a staggering £111 billion boost in turnover by 2023.

Funding boost for Revolver’s fight against childhood cancer

Revolver Therapeutics is pleased to announce its new funding is from UK Innovation Science and Seed Fund (UKI2S), managed by Future Planet Capital, and from o2h Ventures to progress its transcription factor inhibitors.

DeepL unveils voice translation solution: DeepL Voice

DeepL, the global Language AI company, has announced the launch of its first voice translation solution DeepL Voice, with the first two products unveiled: Voice for Meetings and Voice for Conversations. DeepL Voice makes it possible to conduct virtual meetings across several languages as well as real-time translation for in-person conversations.

RealWear acquires smart glasses AR startup Almer Technologies

In a strategic move set to reshape the industrial Augmented Reality (AR) landscape, Almer Technologies has announced its acquisition by RealWear, a company in wearable computing for industrial applications. This strategic acquisition, financially backed by TeamViewer marks a significant leap forward in the mission to empower frontline workers worldwide with cutting-edge AR technology.

Bitsight acquires Cybersixgill to help enterprises to preempt cyberattacks

Bitsight has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cybersixgill, a global cyber threat intelligence (CTI) data provider. Together, Bitsight and Cybersixgill will provide unmatched visibility into an organisation’s external attack surface, supply chain, and the threats targeting it. As a result, security leaders can proactively identify, prioritise, and mitigate risk across their first and third party environments. 

NatWest Cushon and Future Planet Capital lead the charge in UK pension access to British innovation

Future Planet Capital is working with NatWest Cushon, with a view to the Cushon Master Trust potentially making an investment in the British Co-Investment Fund (BCF). Any future investment will be subject to commercial terms, due diligence, and Trustee approval. If approved, NatWest Cushon’s participation would signify a major step forward, creating new avenues for British pension funds to access high-growth, private technology companies at scale.