With the travel industry under threat and the off-peak season looming, the travel platform behind the ‘daycation’ trend is pioneering an innovative way to breathe life into empty hotels: turning hotel rooms into flexible offices that people can work in for the day.

Business bank, Allica Bank is launching a £100m funding round to help it meet the current high levels of demand for finance it is experiencing from British businesses, and continue broadening services and product lines.

Boris Johnson and his government have been pushing for employees to return to their offices in a bid to get the economy back up and running; but figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in the last week of August, only 50% of workers are back in the office.

A platform for workplace safety and quality, SafetyCulture, has acquired EdApp, a mobile training solution. EdApp currently delivers approximately 50,000 lessons per day across over 90 countries. The acquisition will enable millions of workers across diverse industries to access world-class micro-learning resources, free of charge.

Inspekto has released a whitepaper on the future of quality assurance in the industrial automation market. The paper addresses the needs of automation vendors and distributors who wish to add the first off-the-shelf product for industrial vision inspection to their portfolio.

The automatic saving app offering access to market-leading returns, Chip has raised a total of £10.7m from the crowd and the government-backed Future Fund, as part of the company’s series A round.

A community-led co-working space dedicated to creating real social impact, Impact Brixton has announced the launch of Impact Day - a free working space and training programme for local individuals or organisations working towards social change in Lambeth.

Phos, the fintech behind the software-only Point of Sale (SoftPoS), and Stanchion Payment Solutions, a global specialist in payments systems and integration, have announced a partnership to enable payment processors and banks to accelerate the time to market of innovative contactless payments acceptance solutions for European merchants.

Xero has announced improvements to Xero Tax as it continues to transform the compliance landscape in the UK. Xero Tax is a cloud-based tax and accounts production solution. Designed by accountants for accountants, it provides increased visibility and efficiency when filing for clients.

A new study, commissioned by business bank, Allica Bank, shows that the practice of regular training correlates strongly with high performance in SMEs and will be vital to businesses’ prospects of a swift recovery post-COVID. The study analysed data from over 1,000 companies and ranked their success on a scale that evaluated factors including productivity, growth, consistency and outlook.

W2 is Wincanton’s digital innovation programme for developing products and services across all sectors of the Group to drive sustainable value in the supply chain. Under the W2 umbrella, W2 Labs aims to reach out to both startups and existing partners to bring fresh thinking to the supply chain, help us respond intelligently to business change and develop agile, flexible and potentially transformative solutions that improve Wincanton's customer offering.

Sewio, a UWB-based real-time location system (RTLS) vendor, is giving away three Digital Hero Enablement Kits for free to evangelise ultrawideband (UWB) technology and its advantages to the wider market.

Xero has announced that it is increasing the limits on its Starter plan, alongside improving the functionality of payments and insights tools, to help sole traders and new small businesses get started, manage their cash flow and grow during and beyond the pandemic.

Sustainable fashion app, Nuw has announced the expansion of its services across the UK and Ireland to empower people to reduce their environmental impact of fashion, and give love to the clothes that already exist in our own wardrobes.

When should leaders invest in homegrown talent or go headhunting? Is there a place in a team for driven but disruptive employees? Is leading with transparency always the right way? These questions and more are tackled by former England football manager, Kevin Keegan OBE and BigChange founder, Martin Port in a new series of video interviews launched today.

Xero is calling on the government to step in on tech adoption for small firms after its report reveals the impact on the post-pandemic recovery. The resilience and recovery of a small business is acutely impacted by how digitally enabled they are, according to Xero’s new report on the global impact of COVID-19.

Tech Nation has today announced the launch of the Fintech Pledge with support from HM Treasury (HMT) and the Fintech Delivery Panel, to accelerate the growth of the UK’s fintech sector by enabling enhanced collaboration between banks and leading fintech firms.

New research, commissioned by meeting provider, PowWowNow has revealed only a quarter (25.9%) of companies provided information about Shared Parental Leave (SPL) without it being requested first, suggesting a lack of transparency around the existence of the initiative is preventing its uptake.

Founder of early digital success story, Online Galleries, and former Managing Director of 1stdibs’ international region, Carmine Bruno has announced his new venture: an international marketplace that will set a new standard for dealing antiques and furniture online.

London Tech Week has announced plans to definitively map the UK tech scene highlighting and promoting the best businesses, innovators and thinkers operating across the country.