2021 sees the continuation of much of the UKs workforce setting up office at home. However, as the government reveals its roadmap for the lifting of lockdown, workers are considering when to return to the traditional office setting.
Despite the global growth of women-led businesses, funding continues to be a significant challenge. Having gathered multiple data and research, Instant Offices revealed 35% of female business founders still face gender bias when raising their business capital. Female entrepreneurs also receive an average of 5% less funding than their male counterparts.
UK businesses are at risk of losing employee trust through choosing to abstain from reporting their gender gap figures, following on from the EHRC’s second deadline extension. Government figures show that nearly half of 10,000 eligible employers chose not to submit their pay gap figures last year – equalling to nearly 5,000 businesses that possibly have something to hide.
Xero accounting and bookkeeping practices and app partners across the UK and Ireland were honoured at the annual Xero awards. Hosted by Gary Turner, Xero UK & EMEA Managing Director and comedian, Henry Paker in an online ceremony, the awards showcased the achievements of those supporting small businesses through one of the toughest years.
The founder of LatchAid, a FemTech startup using innovative technology to revolutionise breastfeeding and early parenting support, has won the prestigious Women in Innovation award.
To mark International Women’s Day 2021, Sodexo Engage UK is offering women an opportunity to join its job shadowing program, SheWorks.
Digital Boost, a new platform connecting organisations with digital skills founded by serial entrepreneur Sherry Coutu CBE, has today set out a bold ambition to digitally upskill 500,000 women from female-led organisations by January 2022, with 200,000 of those from BAME backgrounds.
Here, Startups Magazine speaks to Shruti Rai, Chief Growth Officer and Co-Founder of Novus, the new sustainable banking app making it easy to generate positive impact from everyday purchases.
Tractable, the AI startup accelerating recovery from accidents and natural disasters, has announced that former Microsoft CFO and Ignition Partners Managing Partner, John Connors, has joined its Board of Directors.
Class-ify, a new digital platform ‘powered by human connection’, has been launched by former Just Eat employees to enable fitness instructors to build their own businesses online. Set to revolutionise the fitness industry by providing a workout experience ‘powered by human connection’, Class-ify helps independent health and fitness instructors monetise their audience and build a global community, all from the use of a laptop or smartphone device.
Retail Marketing Group (RMG), a UK-based marketing agency, has announced the launch of E:VENT Virtual & Hybrid Solutions, a virtual world experience that enables businesses to bring people and teams back together. Designed to keep employees, visitors and customers safe whilst working from home, the new E:VENT solutions provide a bespoke virtual environment for exclusive, secure and innovative events, and offers intimate board meetings to full-scale conference productions, as well as interactive learning, employee engagement, and celebratory experiences.
A recent survey by Arctic Shores, which investigated the talent acquisition landscape for the year ahead, revealed that three in four companies plan to review their diversity hiring practices for 2021. These findings are surprising, considering 81% of companies already run unconscious bias training. This would suggest diminishing confidence amongst talent leaders that unconscious bias training alone is enough to ensure fair, consistent and effective processes.
BLEND (formerly OneHourTranslation), an end-to-end technology-based multi-market enabler, announced the completion of a $10m funding round to fuel its continued rapid growth. Existing investor Fortissimo Capital led the round following a year of strategic expansion reflected in the company’s new brand and offering. BLEND leverages OneHourTranslation’s AI-driven language technology, 25,000 expert linguists, and advanced tech stack to help global brands establish a native presence in fundamentally different markets, worldwide.
Generating £27.8bn gross value added annually, and employing more than 360,000 people, the West Midlands is the UK’s largest centre for Business, Professional and Financial Services (BPFS) outside London. Now, business leaders from Shoosmiths, Wesleyan, Bruntwood, CBRE and Birmingham Law Society, amongst others, are working with the region’s just under 12,500 leading tech and digital companies to see how they can integrate AI and advanced technology into their everyday activities.
Ten exciting startups are pioneering new green technologies with support from 5PRING and its Green Innovation Challenge programme, set-up in partnership with Suez, a large utilities company, and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) last year.
The UK is heading towards a ‘burnout breakpoint’ with search data exposing alarming levels of people seeking help. As we quickly approach the anniversary of the first lockdown, Chris Parke, CEO of Talking Talent who discovered these findings is urging businesses to support employees and implement practical solutions to prevent similar levels throughout 2021 and hordes of workers reaching their breakpoint.
Xero has announced the acquisition of Planday, a workforce management platform with more than 350,000 employee users across Europe and the UK that simplifies employee scheduling, allowing businesses to forecast and manage their labour costs.
Rewire, a fintech startup that develops cross-border online banking services tailored for the needs of expatriate workers worldwide, has announced a Series B funding round of $20m and significant line of credit from a leading bank. Rewire was founded with the vision to empower every migrant to fulfill their financial potential for a better future, for themselves and their families.
Research from Ezra, a global provider of digital coaching, has revealed to what extent the current pandemic could change the face of the professional workplace on a permanent basis. The trend of working remotely is one that has been largely forced on us due to lockdown restrictions and concerns over safety. However, for many it means more time at home and a positive increase in the work-life balance.
Here, Andy Hodgetts, Director of Corporate Finance at Buzzacott, the accountancy firm advising fast-growth companies, shares his thoughts on the recent M&A rush ahead of today’s Budget and the corporation tax update.
