The government’s £500m Future Fund is now open for applications with innovative and high growth British businesses able to secure investment to help them through the COVID-19 outbreak. UK-based startups can now apply for a convertible loan of between £125,000 and £5m, to support continued growth and innovation in sectors as diverse as technology, life sciences and the creative industries.

Collision from Home announced that Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization will be speaking at Collision from Home on 23rd-25th June. The Director-General will be asked about COVID-19 and the fight against this unprecedented global pandemic from the unique viewpoint of the World Health Organization's overarching access to the frontline.

Space Forge, the organisation leading the space manufacturing revolution, has secured a £600k of funding package from the Development Bank of Wales, alongside Bristol Private Equity Club and Innovate UK. This funding will help the company continue developing their reusable manufacturing satellite, ramp up their capability in Newport, Wales and Bristol and build upon UK and European partnership schemes.

The world economy might be stopped in its tracks because of the coronavirus, but Dutch-African tech company, Tunga, is not. The organisation with a network of over 400 African software developers, has received a Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) loan to build further capacity.

Technology platform for mobile computer vision and augmented reality (AR) solutions for enterprises, Scandit, has announced that it has raised $80m in Series C related funding led by G2VP, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm of former Kleiner Perkins partners. They were joined by Atomico, GV, Kreos, NGP Capital, Salesforce Ventures and Swisscom Ventures. Scandit has previously raised $43m.

The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, and necessary Government restrictions to curb the spread, has thrown millions of the UK’s small and medium sized businesses into a period of uncertainty, and in many cases, hardship. The Government has announced a series of sweeping, comprehensive and extraordinary measures for businesses to help them weather the storm

Africa is a land of innovation! For several years now, initiatives have been multiplying to publicise the dynamism of this continent full of future. From Futur.e.s in Africa organised in Casablanca in collaboration with Cap Digital to EDF’s Pulse Africa competition, African technology is seducing by its ability to break codes and propose effective solutions to current issues.

According to new research from Small Business Britain and BT Skills For Tomorrow, UK small businesses are moving more of their services online for survival as the sector looks to take its first steps towards recovery.

A new smart employee app, called Blink has officially launched. Over the past 15 months, Blink has been developed and deployed in partnership with organisations including Stagecoach, Domino’s and the NHS to empower and protect frontline and key workers inside their organisations.

The Institute of Coding (IoC) is partnering with social inclusion enterprise, Sisterhood, to host a free virtual workshop and inspire young women to turn their passion for social good into a career that sees them at the forefront of change.

Arieli Capital has signed a cooperation agreement with Ramat Negev Regional Council and Ramat Negev Industries, for the establishment of an ag-tech innovation centre to take advantage of the region’s achievement in turning the desert into an unmatched agricultural success story.

Plans to create a UK Lawtech research and development (R&D) environment - the Lawtech Sandbox - have been announced by LawtechUK, a government-backed initiative delivered through a collaboration between Tech Nation, the Lawtech Delivery Panel and the Ministry of Justice.

On 29th April, 2020, the Red Herring judging panel announced the winners of its competitive Top 100 Europe Award. Inspekto, the German-Israeli company founder of the Autonomous Machine Vision category, was one of the companies to receive the prestigious recognition, which celebrates the achievements of visionary enterprises and their potential to revolutionise their respective industries.

The global pandemic is creating huge uncertainty for people, businesses and livelihoods in the UK. To support those who are looking to better understand the new government financial support that is available and how it can help them, Jim Harra, Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary of HMRC, will be participating in a LinkedIn Live interview and Q&A hosted by Emily Spaven, UK Editor of LinkedIn News, on Thursday 21st May at 3pm BST. 

The banking platform that consolidates multiple cards and accounts into one smart card and even smarter app, Curve, has announced that its premium Curve Metal card and great benefits are now available to its customers in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Mental health startup, Flow has become the highest scoring free depression treatment app in the ORCHA App Library. The inclusion means that many NHS trusts and healthcare professionals, who have their own bespoke App Library using the ORCHA platform, can now include Flow in their library and directly recommend it to their patients to reduce symptoms of depression - particularly during the current coronavirus pandemic.

LuggageHero is bucking the trend by showing that investing in travel startups is not over during these uncertain times surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

To help small businesses and their advisors manage revenue, profit and cash flow, Xero has announced availability of its improved financial reporting tools.

A deep-learning medical imaging analytics company, Zebra Medical Vision, has announed its fifth FDA 510(k) clearance for its Vertebral Compression Fractures (VCF) product. The company’s latest AI solution automatically identifies findings suggestive of compression fractures, enabling clinicians to place patients that are at risk of osteoporosis in treatment pathways to prevent potentially life changing fractures.

As this week is Mental Health Awareness Week, and with the current climate and today's way of living massively changing over the past few weeks, prioritising mental health is more important than ever.