Starling has teamed up with Small Business Britain for a campaign to empower women across the UK to start and grow their businesses.

If you’re looking to launch a mobile app development business, now is a great time. With millions of mobile devices in use across the UK, demand for innovative mobile applications continues to rise. Whether you’re interested in building native apps, hybrid apps, or cross platform apps, this guide will help you get started. For expert insight and inspiration, you can explore how UK app designers approach the process from concept to launch.

FALKIN, a digital safety company that helps people stop scams before payments happen, has announced it has secured $2 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by TriplePoint Ventures, with participation from Notion Capital, BackFuture Ventures, Aviva/Founders Factory, Haatch, Found Capital, and Founders Capital.

A reformed Capital Gains Tax (CGT) regime could be a powerful tool to incentivise wealth creation while boosting long-term productivity, according to research commissioned by Ryan Howsam, CEO of Howsam Ventures and founder of travel insurer, Staysure.     

Swish Solar, a cleantech company based at Velocity, the University of Waterloo’s startup incubator, has closed an oversubscribed $1.5 million pre-seed round. The new financing will accelerate market adoption of its self-cleaning solar technology that helps make renewable energy more efficient and sustainable.

Catalyst, Northern Ireland’s science and technology hub, has announced a new partnership with Ulster University that will embed entrepreneurial thinking and innovation into the academic experience of more than 450 second and final-year students across the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment.

HMRC’s latest statistics on R&D tax relief paint a new picture for the UK’s startup ecosystem. While larger and more established innovators continue to claim and invest, small businesses and first-time claimants are increasingly stepping away from the scheme altogether due to compliance measures and a reduction in rates.

DeepL, a leading global AI product and research company, announced two major business innovations for knowledge workers – DeepL Agent and Customisation Hub. 

During its annual conference, DeepL Dialogues, the company unveiled the general availability of DeepL Agent, an autonomous AI coworker designed to streamline and automate a broad range of tasks for knowledge workers. DeepL also announced continued innovations in Language AI with the release of Customisation Hub and the announcement of over 70 new languages to the platform.

Aquark Technologies has announced it has been awarded a £1,409,702 contract by Innovate UK. The contract will facilitate the future deployment of Aquark’s cold atom-based atomic clock, AQlock, at a major telecommunications site in the UK.

Cizzle Biotech, a British biotech company has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) that could lead to a transformational partnership in delivering how lung cancer is diagnosed across the NHS.

arcoris bio, a Swiss life science research tools and in vitro diagnostics company, has secured CHF 6.3 million in an oversubscribed seed financing round to advance the development and commercialisation of its breakthrough MUSE biomarker detection platform. The round was co-led by Ventura Ace and ZEISS Ventures, with participation from Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) and both existing and new private investors.

When you’re building a business or entering into a property deal, you often start from a place of trust. You want to believe in people, especially those who promise growth, and who your vision as you do. But trust without verification can cost you dearly.

Balnord, an early-stage investor for the Baltic Sea Region, has announced that it has oversubscribed its €70 million fund target and is well on its way to achieving a final close of €100 million by mid-2026.

Cambridge Photon Technology (CPT), a deeptech spin-out from the University of Cambridge, has raised £1,556,000 in new funding to accelerate the commercialisation of its photon-multiplier technology. The pre-Series A round combines £926,000 in equity investment with a £630,000 grant from Innovate UK’s Investor Partnerships: Clean Energy and Climate Technologies programme.

Legal complexity is one of the biggest hidden barriers to growth for UK startups and SMEs. GitLaw, founded by UK entrepreneur Nick Holzherr, has raised a $3 million pre-seed round to power the launch of its agent – part of GitLaw’s platform built for startups and small businesses, not law firms – that helps teams draft, review, and negotiate contracts in minutes, for free.