Cyber Runway, the largest cyber accelerator in the UK, is back and bigger than ever. The entrepreneurship support programme returns for its fifth edition as part of the Cyber Growth Action Plan – a component of the wider Plan for Change. 
 

There’s no doubt that small and medium-sized enterprises are the heartbeat of Europe’s economy; powering our communities, and our economies.

Notion Capital (“Notion”), Europe’s leading venture investor in business software and fintech, has announced the close of its new $130m (€114m) growth fund, Notion Capital Opportunities III SCSp (“Growth Opps III” or “the Fund”). The successful fundraising is a testament to Notion’s strategy, past performance and strong base of supporters, as well as the ongoing resilience of the European tech sector.

Most customers don’t judge products on their own. Instead, they follow what others desire, a psychological driver known as Mimetic Desire. When people see something is popular, it doesn’t just reflect quality; it creates belonging and status.

When Google switched on AI Overviews for more than a billion users, it sent a shockwave through search. Publishers saw traffic collapse overnight, with lawsuits already challenging Google’s new model, writes The Verge. For brands, the reality is just as stark: you’re either cited inside machine-made answers or erased from the conversation.

An estimated £3.7 billion was lost by UK businesses due to internet failures in 2023. So, for SMEs relying on Cloud tools, VoIP, and remote work, unreliable internet isn’t just frustrating – it’s costly.

MyEdSpace, the leading online education platform, announces today (29th September) that it has raised $15 million in Series A funding.

Defence tech startups are booming, led by an influx of former UK armed forces personnel, but critical venture capital funding gaps remain, according to a new report from Dealroom and Resilience Media. The report highlights that despite the overall trend of increasing investment in defence technology, failure to match the US on key technologies, including space tech and semiconductors for AI, could impact future growth and security in the region. 

OXCCU, the Oxford University spin-out developing a one-step process to convert waste carbon into SAF, has raised £20.75 million ($28 million) in an oversubscribed Series B funding round. The round includes new investors Orlen VC, Safran Corporate Ventures, IAGi Ventures (the dedicated corporate venturing arm of the International Airlines Group (IAG), Hostplus, and TCVC, alongside continued support from existing backers Clean Energy Ventures, IP Group/Kiko Ventures, Aramco Ventures, Eni Next, Braavos Capital, and the University of Oxford.

BeeSpeaker, a mobile-first language learning app focused on improving speaking skills with the help of AI-powered virtual tutors, has raised €2 million in seed funding.

New analysis from Sustainable Ventures has examined the potential for AI to accelerate growth in climate tech startups, who play a key role in the race to meet net zero targets. The research has found that AI-related climate tech investment in startups is bucking the market downturn.  Whilst wider climate tech funding has flatlined, capital has instead flowed into AI-focused startups. However, the response to AI in the climate tech community is uneven – with the vast proportion of this investment going into software-based climate tech startups. Hardware developers who are critical to solving 80% of global emissions are potentially being left behind by the current investment ecosystem.

Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), the AI Data Cloud company, today unveiled Snowflake for Startups at the grand opening of its Silicon Valley AI (SVAI) Hub. An evolution of the Powered by Snowflake program, Snowflake for Startups serves as a launchpad to help founders build and scale enterprise-grade AI applications on Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud, delivering new product capabilities, strategic relationships with key venture capital firms and coworking opportunities.

My journey has been anything but straightforward. I started without a clear blueprint for success, but I learned to spot gaps others ignored, take risks, and turn those insights into a scalable SaaS product.

The wrong AI debate

If you scroll through LinkedIn, you'll see the same headline again and again: AI will replace you. It will steal jobs from marketers, product managers, maybe even founders themselves. That's not what I've seen.

For a long time, video was treated as a marketing luxury. It looked great in a campaign, but when budgets were under pressure, it was one of the first things to go. Ads and owned media content were the must-haves, while video sat in a column marked “would be nice.”