London-based startup, RacketPal is on a mission to help more than one billion racket sports players and enthusiasts meet their perfect playing partners. The team is excited to announce the successful closing of its first pre-seed funding round worth £150,000.

Property consultants, Bidwells latest research has revealed that up to 20 million sq ft of new lab and office space will be required in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc within the next two decades to keep pace with soaring demand, twice the volume of the previous 20 years.

COVID-19 is changing the way SMEs take payments, with the use of cash payments having halved and online card payments rising by a quarter during the pandemic, according to the latest independent research from Close Brothers Asset Finance.

Workplace wellbeing expert, Kate Bishop is offering a free Wellness in Action Plan for all UK employers and workers to help tackle the rising levels of anxiety felt by those returning to work after months of working from home or furlough.

With all the doom and gloom currently out there, especially for a lot of startups and small businesses, Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars created the Summer Startup Fellowship this year in response to obstacles created, and elevated, by the coronavirus pandemic for current college students and recent graduates. The Fellowship program was developed in March of this year in response to the impacts of coronavirus on student job, internship, and entrepreneurship opportunities (50% - 60% of which were dropped or rescinded).

A call has been launched for applications to the Startup Leadership Program London 2021. The Startup Leadership Program (SLP) is a not-for-profit organisation which exists to support entrepreneurs on their path to success and make our world a better place. It is also part of the world's largest network of entreprenuers!

Monday June 29 saw the Demo Day of the exciting first cohort of the innovation 'Lab' by Transport for Wales (TfW). 

'There is not a common, comprehensive definition of what counts as social value, to frame understanding, benchmarking or reporting, and aid comparison of tenders and to determine best practice. This has given rise to significant disparities in what counts as social value activities, and no requirement to focus on improving the wellbeing of those who are most disadvantaged.'

amicable, the tech startup disrupting the family law sector, has raised £488k in funding from existing and new angel investors. The news comes just a few months after a high court judge ruled in favour of amicable’s approach to divorce and separation that focuses on supporting couples through the process and removes the need for couples to instruct two separate lawyers.   

Boris Johnson has announced a £12bn affordable homes programme, providing up to 180,000 new homes over eight years, a slight retraction on his original five year target. Alongside this pledge however, is a sweeping liberalisation of planning regulations, which the Government are quoting to be the most radical since the end of the Second World War.

Global initiative building diversity within Venture Capital, Included VC has launched recruitment for its second annual fellowship. Included VC’s mission is to change the face of the VC industry, dramatically increasing diversity and maximising fund success by transforming networks, staff, dealflow and investments. 

Local businesses are core to our communities, but the impact of COVID-19 has been tough on business owners. As the UK steadily reopens its doors to businesses and people alike, Google has pledged to support small businesses across the country with a burgeoning package of products, tools and services to support the reopening and growth of British commerce.

New research by Hitachi Capital Business Finance has explored the challenges businesses led by single parents face. The research surveyed more than 300 single parent business owners asking about how they started their business, running their business day-to-day, and plans for the future. Their responses were benchmarked against a nat rep sample of 1,466 business owners. 

KETS Quantum Security, world leaders in integrated quantum cryptography hardware solutions, pitched against ten other start-ups from Bristol’s world-leading tech scene to win the ‘Best Elevator Pitch’ audience vote at Tuesday’s inaugural online version of SETsquared Bristol’s Tech-Xpo.

Advanced Engineering is on the hunt for ground-breaking startups to showcase their latest products and inventions as part of its Enabling Innovation Zone. The show, which is the largest annual engineering event in the UK, will take place on 4th-5th November at the NEC, Birmingham, and will allow smaller enterprises to accelerate their growth by making the right connections in the world of advanced manufacturing and technology.

Speechmatics and Puzzel, European Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) provider, have partnered to transform customer experiences in contact centres through Puzzel’s Agent Assist technology.

Sage has announced new updates to its Small Business Accounting Solution. Designed to support small businesses in the construction industry, the updates enable customers to manage their day-to-day accounting in the cloud, as well as comply with sector specific UK Government requirements for the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).

The Central Research Laboratory has teamed up with KPMG Emerging Giants and a group of leading VC firms to create a 3 day bootcamp for startups raising equity rounds between £300k and £3m.

Breed Reply, European investor in early-stage Internet of Things (IoT) businesses, has increased its investment in Dutch AgriTech company, Connecterra.  As part of its Series B funding round, Connecterra has secured €7.8m from existing investors, Breed Reply and Sistema, alongside new investors including AgTech specialists ADM Capital, French food safety enterprise, Kersia Group and Dutch impact investor, Pymwymic.

At a time when many professional growth strategies have been put on hold as businesses navigate the huge impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, one of the country’s career coaches is working to support and empower ambitious employees as they continue on their own pathways to success.