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.

A slowdown in cost increases across Western Europe, alongside rising prices in parts of Eastern Europe, is creating a more varied picture of affordability for expats and remote workers, according to bunq’s latest findings from the Working Abroad Index 2025. With the global digital nomad community now exceeding 40 million, borderless living has become an established part of modern work life.

Swiss battery startup BTRY AG has raised $ 5.7 million in an oversubscribed seed round. The funds will accelerate the industrialisation of its ultra-thin solid-state batteries – a new category of energy storage combining fast charging, extreme temperature stability, and intrinsic safety in one of the world’s thinnest formats.

As startups scale remotely, the real challenge isn’t productivity. Often, it’s trust, cohesion, and clarity across distance. Leading a team you may never meet, spread across time zones and cultures, demands more than digital tools. It requires founders to intentionally design cultural practices and shared norms that sustain collaboration over time.

As International Stress Awareness Week takes place, new research from global hiring platform Indeed highlights a significant gap between UK employees’ aspirations for workplace happiness and their current experiences of work wellbeing.

LambdaVision, a biotech innovator leveraging microgravity to manufacture its investigational protein-based artificial retina to help patients regain sight lost to retinal degenerative diseases, has closed a $7 million seed funding round co-led by Seven Seven Six and Aurelia Foundry Fund, with additional support from Seraphim Space, providing runway into 2027.