London-based SME funder 365 Business Finance has reported a 49% year-on-year increase in SME funding in Wales.

Small business owners from across the UK have flocked to a new training course helping them to boost growth and fight back against current economic challenges.

Event Sustainability Live (ESL), which makes its debut at ExCeL, London in November, has announced an associate partnership with isla, which was put together by sector professionals in 2020.

The pandemic years forced traditional industries to digitise their operations at speed, but three years on, non-tech enterprises across the UK – from sectors including finance, advertising, manufacturing, and more – are actively embracing the ‘tech mindset’ more than ever.

The intriguing sphere of the Metaverse has captivated the minds of digital enthusiasts worldwide.

StellarUp, a global HR SaaS solution that enables better knowledge sharing through structured and unstructured learning tools, has announced a seed funding of €500K.

Confluent, the data streaming pioneer, has announced its Confluent for Startups programme. The programme offers a risk-free way for the UK’s rapidly growing startup community to deploy the power of Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud, giving access to advanced real-time data streaming for up to a year, at no cost.

Infobip and digital insurance company LAQO by Croatia insurance became the first to adopt a GPT-enabled digital assistant for customer support in the European fintech industry.

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to boost Britain’s economy by £400 billion by the end of the decade, according to a report by Google.

University of Salford Business School is supporting some of the region’s rising entrepreneurs to further bolster their businesses through management training, amidst the current challenging climate for employers.

The Hardware Pioneers Max expo is back, showcasing a lineup of talks on AI hardware, providing exclusive insights from top thought-leaders.

The UK’s cyber accelerator, Cyber Runway, delivered by Plexal and funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in partnership with Deloitte and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies, is accepting applications for its Grow and Scale streams, with submissions open until 14th August.

Pleo has announced revenue and transaction volumes almost doubled in 2022, launching 10 new markets.

The Decarbonisation Technology Challenge is a global competition to find innovators that are reshaping the global energy landscape.

Cyprus-based PropTech startup buildbuild that develops software for managing construction projects and increasing their marginality in the SMB sector has raised $1,250,000 in investments from the Luxembourg-based company Lvl Group SARL.

Upp., a London-based technology business that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to disrupt how retailers market and sell their products online, has raised $10 million in a Seed funding round led by California based Bonfire Ventures.

Brite Payments, one of Sweden’s fastest growing fintechs and leaders in instant bank payments, received top honours in the ‘Payments System of the Year’ category at the recent Retail Systems Awards in London.

Neurons has announced today that Kyle Nel has joined the company’s board, formalising years of collaboration.

Swoperz, the pre-loved marketplace “run by kids and managed by grown-ups”, has secured £250,000 in a pre-Seed round led by early-stage venture capital firm Jenson Funding Partners.

London-based Immersive Fox – a tech startup specialising in AI-generated videos for sales and corporate communication – has closed a €3.3 million [£2.8 million] seed funding round to help advance proprietary AI technology that allows clients to create unlimited video content using their face and voice. 

In this article, Ian Hart, Managing Director, adi Projects division, uses his engineering expertise to explain how he believes AI and humans can work hand in hand.   

With over 4000 Springers attending the two days, the largest Tech Conference of the Greater Region, ICT Spring, had a record-breaking year, which thrilled Luxembourg last June 29 and 30. Bringing professionals and experts from all over the world together, the event offered a unique moment of sharing and networking!

Enate, an operations management SaaS platform, has launched EnateAI powered by GPT-4: a brand-new tool designed to help businesses maximise AI in operations.

Aide Health, the digital health platform that uses conversational AI to help patients better understand and manage long-term conditions, has announed they are one of the 17 digital health companies selected for DigitalHealth.London’s Accelerator programme.

A startup that is revolutionising stroke rehabilitation has won Best Elevator Pitch at Bristol’s Tech-Xpo 2023 Showcase.

Bristol-based deep tech ecosystem, Science Creates, has launched an engineering biology accelerator programme to support life science start-ups and innovators in developing advancements in healthcare, the environment, and quality of life.

As part of its ambitious growth plans and ongoing global hiring process, data management product company, Intix, has announced the appointment of Kurt Florus as the company’s new Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

As many as 2.75 million UK SMEs – 45% – do not have anyone leading their sustainability efforts despite the nation’s small businesses making up 99% of all UK businesses.

Soula.care, an AI-powered maternity care solution for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, has partnered up with Google to become one of the first non-medical health solutions to use Med-PaLM 2 (medical language model) for safe communication on pregnancy wellbeing and parenthood topics with the chatbot.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee arrived in Italy for the WMF - We Make Future event on June 16th. The eminence of IT and inventor of the World Wide Web accompanied the participants of the eleventh edition of WMF, the International Trade Fair, and Festival on Tech and Digital Innovation, which took place from June 15th to 17th at the Rimini Expo Center (Italy), on a journey through time and into the future of the Web and humanity.

A new private sector-backed initiative is set to turbocharge the UK’s SMEs to increase their footprint and exporting power. 

Access to finance is becoming a critical issue for UK small businesses, with new research finding that more than half (53%) would have to put plans on hold if they were unable to secure finance.

Zoom Video Communications has announced the launch of the Intelligent Director for Zoom Rooms.

NatWest is offering 24 months of free business banking to UK businesses switching their main business banking account to NatWest.

The highly anticipated Workspace Design Show is set to take place from October 11-12, 2023, at the RAI in Amsterdam. This premier event offers a fantastic opportunity for professionals to explore the latest trends, innovations, and ideas in workspace interiors. With over 2,500 workplace professionals expected to attend, this is an event you won't want to miss.

London-based Weavr has announced the launch of Embedded Finance Cloud. The new solution will allow banks and other financial institutions to create and distribute embeddable financial products. Weavr believes that to do this efficiently and safely, this new type of orchestration platform is required.

The UK economy could secure a £31 billion boost from the widespread adoption of generative AI, according to new research from KPMG.

The latest research from money.co.uk business insurance discovered that over four in ten (44%) small and medium-sized enterprises are not covered by any commercial insurance.

One of this year's themes for London Climate Action Week is 'Creating a greener London with and for Londoners'.

The three-day event of WMF - We Make Future, the International Trade Fair and Festival, held from June 15th to 17th at the Rimini Expo Centre, has come to an end. Organised by Search On Media Group, it brought together the world of innovation in Italy, with over 60.000 attendance from 85 countries, more than 670 exhibitors, 2.000 startups and investors, over 1.000 speakers, and more than 130 institutional, national, and international guests. This solidifies and emphasises the important role that WMF has always played as a platform for building the future and as an accelerator of education, culture, and innovation in service of global society.

With an estimated 582 million entrepreneurs in the world today, new research conducted by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) – a non-profit membership network of 18,000+ business owners across 76 countries – shows that founders of small to mid-size companies (SMEs) are more focused on driving positive change for their local communities today compared to 2013, and nearly half feel a responsibility to support the next generation of entrepreneurs.

DigiKey, a global commerce distributor offering a large selection of technical components and automation products in stock for immediate shipment, has partnered with GroupGets to launch the “Get MADE” crowdfunding initiative, a collaboration that promotes and funds hardware creators. This program will allow startups to get hardware funded, produced and sold on DigiKey’s website.

Zopa, Banked and Smart Pension are among the winners at this year’s Fintech Awards London 2023, an annual celebration of fintech professionals and companies in London.

Freepik has announced the appointment of Jose Florido as Chief Market Development Officer, United States, effective immediately, and the opening of its first U.S. office located in San Francisco.

Canva, the all-in-one visual communication platform, has released new data and insights from the company’s Visual Economy Report, revealing the majority of business leaders are investing in design literacy and expect employees to demonstrate these skills as the world becomes increasingly visual.

Ferrero Group (Ferrero), a global confectionery group, joined forces with AstroLabs, MENA’s trusted partner for innovation and entrepreneurship, to launch a comprehensive data training program designed to enhance the data literacy and skills of over 130 talents.

TIS – Tourism Innovation Summit, the global tourism innovation forum that will take place in Seville, Spain from 18 to 20 October, has just announced Ángeles Moreno as new Tourism Innovation Global Summit Congress Curator.

The World Economic Forum welcomes 100 innovative tech firms to its Technology Pioneers community.

Technology consultancy esynergy has published brand new research identifying the challenges large enterprises are facing in implementing successful data strategies.

FundMyPitch (FMP), a platform that connects investors with investment-ready companies seeking funds in order to kickstart their ventures, has helped raise nearly £6m in funding for entrepreneurs using its platform in its first year of trading.

As an owner of a growing business, you’ll no doubt be constantly generating ideas for new business and increased order volumes. In this ongoing quest, with many novel platforms and approaches coming to the fore, it may be easy to lose sight of more traditional routes to sales. 

Nearly one in four UK workers (23%) expect to change jobs within the next twelve months - up from 18% in 2022 - according to PwC's Workforce Hopes and Fears survey, in a sign that the 'Great Resignation' is far from over.

Blueshift Memory, designer of a novel proprietary high-speed memory architecture, has signed an agreement with Crypta Labs, developer of a quantum random number generator (QRNG) for resilient encryption, to create a cybersecurity memory solution that will be capable of countering threats from quantum computing.

Finnish Earth observation company Kuva Space has been awarded a five-year commercial contract worth €5M to be the world’s sole provider of hyperspectral data services for the European Commission’s Copernicus Contributing Missions (CCM) programme.

From last weekend, a new test to detect and help prevent early signs of oesophageal cancer has been delivered to NHS patients. The diagnostic company Cyted has launched the Heartburn Health Check programme as part of an NHS-funded rollout, set to benefit more than 80 locations across the UK.

Three in five employees have stated that their mental health has declined this year as a result of workplace stress.

The tech investor, entrepreneur and AI specialist Ian Hogarth has been announced as the Chair of the Government’s Foundation Model Taskforce, reporting directly to the Prime Minister and Technology Secretary.

The six finalists of the WMF Startup Competition, the largest international startup competition competed on the Mainstage in front of an audience and jury from all over the world. Yalla - selected from thousands of applications from around the world - the winner of the Jury Award, secures the Prize offered by Pegasus Tech Ventures: access to the Startup World Cup Finals, scheduled in San Francisco (USA), with a grand prize of 1 million dollars in direct investment. The Czech startup Cyrkl and the Italian startup Wallife were also awarded.

Despite ongoing calls from business and government leaders for a reduction in working from home, employees have ranked flexible hours and working location amongst the top benefits they seek from their employers.

Several dozen cybersecurity startups had applied, three were selected in digital selection rounds to pitch on stage in front of audience and jury at the final of the German Startup Cup.

New data released today by the UK Direct Selling Association (DSA) has outlined a significant (36.4%) increase in the number of people joining direct selling brands in the first quarter of the year as people seek to boost household incomes amidst the cost-of-living crisis.

Jugo has released survey data that unpacks British workers' current virtual habits, including the worst behaviours during digital meetings, as well as the public’s thoughts on the do's and don'ts of virtual etiquette. 

Xavatar, the AI-driven entertainment tech company has announced a partnership with Fexco Group to deliver payment technology in the Metaverse.

Innovation was the star of the seventh edition of the European Digital Mindset Awards 2023, the awards presented at the Digital Enterprise Show (DES) to recognise companies and organisations that are committed to disruptive technologies in their business model. The awards, which distinguish disruption in customer experience, IT management, digital business models, or sustainable strategies fostered by technology, received more than 250 nominations, confirming the digitisation of the business fabric.

Nearly half of UK SMEs (47%) believe they are at greater risk of a cyberattack since the onset of the cost-of-living crisis. Of these respondents, 38% believe this is due to increased malicious insider threats (i.e., disgruntled employees making decisions that are not in the best interest of the company) and 35% believe it is due to negligent insider threats (i.e., overworked or distracted employees making mistakes).

We are proud to announce that we partnered up with  White Label World Expo Frankfurt - Europe’s leading and most influential event where you can network with dedicated to white label professionals, online sellers and suppliers! On the 11th & 12th of October 2023 at the Messe Frankfurt, Germany, thousands of visitors will be looking for unlimited opportunities to scale their business to the global market.  The event is a perfect destination for white label leaders and like-minded eCommerce pioneering sellers immersing themselves in the ultimate platform to connect with business owners and increase profits!

The Business Show is coming to Singapore! It is transforming the Singapore Expo into the ULTIMATE hub for entrepreneurs, business owners and startups on the 30th and 31st of August, it is all set to inspire and encourage the development of startups, SMEs, large businesses and much more!

On 30 June 2023, Intema DeepTech company in partnership with the MTS ecosystem will hold a Demoday, where 11 alumni will showcase their innovative products. The winner gets a chance to launch a paid pilot with a group of corporations working in the banking, entertainment, media, and telecom industries.

Sixteen startups will promote their innovative technologies to an audience of influential investors and business leaders at Bristol's Tech-Xpo 2023 on 28 June.

Women occupy just 10% of executive roles at FTSE firms, excluding company secretaries, according to an analysis of Companies House data.

Eurora Solutions, a provider of leading AI/ML-backed cross-border e-commerce compliance platform, announces the appointment of James Doyle as CEO of its Latin American (LATAM) operations, marking Eurora's strategic entry to the world's fastest-growing retail e-commerce region. 

South Summit has come to an end today after three intense days of celebration in Madrid. Co-organised by IE University, this eleventh edition of the leading event of the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem has had the institutional support of Spain Up Nation, the Community of Madrid and the Madrid City Council, as well as Mutua Madrileña, Google for Startups, BBVA Spark, Endesa, Toptal, Wayra - Telefónica Innovation and Banco Sabadell's BStartup.

The seventh edition of Digital Enterprise Show (DES) kicked off with the presentation of the first Digital Transformation Index developed by Futurum Group and DES to identify how executives currently perceive and respond to digital transformation in their businesses and industries.

In celebration of the individuals making a massive impact to the digital journeys of some of the region’s biggest organisations DTX has launched its top 50 list for 2023.

AstroLabs partners with IMPACT46, in collaboration with PLAYHERA, to release the flagship 2023 Saudi Gaming Market Outlook Report. This first-of-its-kind report provides a comprehensive outlook on the Saudi electronic gaming potential directly from the market, with in-depth insight from local gamers, game developers, and industry pioneers.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak explains why the UK is one of the best places in the world to start a tech business.

Don't be left behind in the AI-driven future of education. Attend EDUtech Europe to learn how leading European educators are using AI to succeed.

Kaya Founders, a Philippines-based venture capital firm, is announcing the first close at US$12 million in funding across two new funds to back the next generation of tech-enabled, industry-shaping startups across Southeast Asia.

Fintech Week London announces the participation of leading financial and insurance institutions at a highly anticipated speed networking event.

Startups Magazine and The Hustle Awards are delighted to announce Neon State as the evening entertainment of the Hustle Awards taking place on 20th July at Steelyard, London.

Chief Information Officers have become increasingly important in the decision-making bodies of companies. As drivers of innovation, they have gone from making technological decisions to being significantly involved in the business plan or in talent recruitment processes and, consequently, in the sphere of the company itself. In this regard, market surveys conducted in 2023 reveal that 80% of CIOs say that business strategies will become an important part of their role in the next two years.

Future Worlds, the on-campus early-stage accelerator at the University of Southampton, will host its annual Demo Day on Wednesday 14 June at 5pm at the British Film Institute on London’s Southbank.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) announces the launch of its first joint hub in North Macedonia set to take regional innovation to the next level and provide local entrepreneurs, innovators, and learners with innovation support.

Cutting edge British tech firms are set to pitch for multi-million-pound deals with Asia Pacific (APAC) investors today just weeks after the UK concluded negotiations with the CPTPP - a £9 trillion combined GDP trade bloc in the Indo-Pacific.

The UK economy is likely to avoid a recession this year, according to trade body the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). However, worrying doubts about confidence and business investment remain as the Bank of England is set to raise interest rates to a peak of 5% by August from 4.5% now.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan will open the 10th anniversary edition of London Tech Week from 12th-16th June 2023. With over 30,000 delegates from 148 countries descending on the capital for the most influential tech event in the UK, London Tech Week serves as a reminder of the UK’s appeal to tech entrepreneurs and investors globally and why it continues to be the gateway to Europe. 

UK SMEs are preparing to increase investment despite concern over wider economy, new research reveals.

London-based manufacturing specialist, Get It Made, has launched a new 2023 grant to support the potential of women in innovation and to boost the growth of female employment within UK industry.

The UK and US will create a ‘data bridge’ as an extension to the Data Privacy Framework which is set to facilitate the free flow of personal data between the two countries.

Have you ever wondered why certain colours are synonymous with specific brand logos? Or why do we instantly recognise the yellow arches which have placed themselves in over 60% of countries worldwide? It’s all to do with psychology.

As cloud costs rise, the ability for businesses to manage their cloud environments as efficiently as possible is more crucial than ever before.

Following meetings with the US president, Congress and business leaders, the government says the UK will host a global AI safety measure summit this autumn to evaluate the tech's “most significant risks”.

Investment platform Shojin, reveals how recent banking failures at SVB and Credit Suisse have impacted investor confidence. 

VivaTech announces that Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter) will be a keynote speaker at our upcoming edition taking place 14-17 June.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee will be the guest of honor of WMF - We Make Future. On June 16th, 2023, the visionary computer scientist and inventor of the World Wide Web will take the stage at the International Trade Fair and Festival on Tech and Digital Innovation, scheduled from June 15th to 17th at the Rimini Expo Centre (Italy).

London continues to be one of the top global destinations for tech companies looking to expand internationally, with fresh data from London & Partners showing the UK capital has attracted more new international tech companies than any other global city in the past decade. 

South Summit, co-organised by IE University and with the institutional support of Spain Up Nation, the Community of Madrid and Madrid City Council, as well as Mutua Madrileña, Google for Startups, BBVA Spark, Endesa, Toptal, Wayra - Telefónica Innovation and Banco Sabadell's BStartup, continued its first day this afternoon with a series of talks and debates focused on AI, in which Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, gave a noteworthy talk.

South Summit, the leading event for the global innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem, opened its eleventh edition today at La Nave in Madrid. Co-organised by IE University, #SouthSummit23 has the institutional support of Spain Up Nation, the Community of Madrid, and the Madrid City Council, as well as Mutua Madrileña, Google for Startups, BBVA Spark, Endesa, Toptal, Wayra - Telefónica Innovation and BStartup from Banco Sabadell.

35% of all venture capital deals made by Investing in Women Code signatories were in female-founded companies last year, compared to the market average of 27%, revealed in the latest report.