Let’s talk about money. More specifically, let’s talk about why women struggle to secure it for their businesses.

London based firm, High-Velocity Startups which was established in 2012, through its STRIVE Acceleration Fund has awarded the founder of Jim, Isham Broer, a University of Exeter student, with a £2,000 grant and accelerator support, for his startup business.

The UK has long been a beacon of scientific and technological innovation. With its tech ecosystem valued at $1.2 trillion and $16.2 billion raised in 2024 alone, the UK continues to lead Europe in venture capital investments. A significant driver of this success is the robust support from international investors, particularly from the United States. In 2024, US investors accounted for 42% of the total funding and 58% of all late-stage funding over $100 million. This substantial influx of US capital is crucial in maintaining the UK's status as a global innovation leader.

Building trust between founders and investors is essential for securing investment and support through various growth stages. Honest, clear, concise, and transparent communication creates this trust, especially when founders present realistic plans and projections, and openly discuss risks.

MarketLeap, the fully integrated AI-driven platform to simplify and scale D2C ecommerce, has announced an $8 million Series A funding round led by Smedvig Ventures, with participation from Expon Capital, Motier Ventures, and prominent business angels including former executives from Amazon, SoftBank, and Unilever. This capital injection will allow the company to accelerate platform development and invest in top talent to support its rapid growth trajectory.

Nina Capital, a venture capital firm dedicated to healthcare transformation through technology, has announced the first close of its €50 million Fund III. The new fund will propel Nina Capital’s total assets under management to over €100 million, reinforcing its position as a leading international investor driving impactful healthcare innovation.

A couple of Manchester-based graduates have successfully launched the B2B travel-tech platform Arcube, with Etihad Airways as its first customer. In conjunction with the launch, Arcube is announcing a $1.5 million seed round to further develop the platform and its services, co-led by Fuel Ventures and Oxford Capital.

Breakthrough, an AI self-learning B2B sales messaging startup that launched at the end of 2024, has already secured $600,000 in a pre-seed round, and secured customers including Fortune 500 companies.

HowNow – the AI-powered learning and skills platform, has announced the completion of its Series A funding having raised a total of £7.5 million. Following an initial £4 million Series A investment from Mercia Ventures and FTSE 100 education firm Pearson in February 2023, HowNow recently secured a further £3.5 million from the same two investors, along with Fuel Ventures.  

Edmund, a Czech-based startup specialising in AI solutions for manufacturing, has closed a €500,000 pre-seed round led by Lighthouse Ventures, with Czech Founders VC,  Borovicka Capital, and deeptech investor Tensor Ventures joining. This round of fundraising will be used to enhance Edmund’s platform and expand its presence throughout the EU and US markets.

Fintech scaleup Revving, which is reshaping digital media payments through innovative invoice factoring, has secured a £107 million investment led by global asset manager DWS.

Bluebook, the AI-powered software specifically designed for savvy accounting firms eager to embrace AI innovation and transform traditional accounting practices, has announced it has raised $3 million in funding including $2.5 million pre-seed round led by EQT Ventures and a separate capital injection from Y Combinator. Angel investors in the pre-seed round include Huey Lin (Founding COO of Affirm), Laura Modiano (OpenAI) and Carles Reina (Eleven Labs).

Funding and support are now available for the next generation of great ideas to take silicon photonics from research to implementation.

Noxus has raised $1.5 million in pre-Seed funding. Led by SFC Capital, the round also saw participation from Antler, Bynd VC, Caixa Capital, AltaIR Capital, I2BF Global Ventures, Yellow Rocks, and Smart Partnership Capital plus prominent business angels from the European ecosystem. The funding will help further develop and scale Noxus’ platform and expand operations. 

Healthcare is undergoing a fundamental transformation, shifting from reactive sick care to proactive health management, with consumers firmly in the driver's seat. While the US market has seen the rise of consumer-centric healthcare champions like Hims/Hers, Headspace, and Function Health, Europe's market remains underserved. Today, naturalX Health Ventures has announced a €100 million fund to accelerate this revolution in Europe, becoming the first specialised fund focused exclusively on the intersection of consumer and health in the European market.

FLIT, an engineering company that builds folding electric bikes for urban commuters, has raised £1.2 million in new funding with participation from ACF Investors, Cambridge Angels and former Head of Technical Development at British Cycling, Tony Purnell. The funding will be used to ramp up production of its latest model, the FLIT M2 at its Cambridge facility.

Hydrogen heating technology company HYTING has announced financing from investment and venture capital firm BMH Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen and ebm-papst. The financing will see both firms become shareholders of HYTING, and the capital raised in this round will be used for further product development, expansion of the product portfolio, and to attract new customers.

Ori, a UK-based provider of cloud infrastructure for AI, has secured a key strategic investment from Wa’ed Ventures, Saudi Aramco’s venture capital arm, as it eyes up explosive growth in the Middle East market over the coming 12 months. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.

The global construction industry, valued at $12 trillion annually, builds the infrastructure underpinning modern life – from highways and data centres to renewable energy. Yet, for decades, it has faced persistent challenges: inefficiencies, project delays, cost overruns, and a growing labour shortage. Despite its size, the industry spends less than 1% of revenue on IT, resulting in stagnant productivity growth for decades.

Augmetec, the legaltech startup founded and led by Kritin Sundaram, announces that it has raised over £2 million in seed funding to turbo charge its growth. The round is led by UK-based early-stage investors Fuel Ventures, with participation from Swiss fund 14Peaks Capital, and three industry angel investors, including the Founding Partner of one of the world’s largest law firms, the family office of a $1 billion+ legaltech organisation, and the Head of Fraud at Asia’s largest law firm.