Growing a business in the current economic climate is a challenge. With rising costs slashing profit margins and prohibiting growth, external investment has become almost a necessity for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to expand.

Small businesses are being offered the chance to take over a shop on Oxford Street, rent-free, as part of a new project launched today by Westminster City Council, in partnership with New West End Company.
 

Signalling that it has entered the next phase in its rapid growth, Brite Payments has announced the appointment of Alexander Kassai as Chief Operating Officer and Fredrik Strömqvist as Chief Financial Officer.

Secure Code Warrior, the agile learning platform for developer-driven security providers, today announced it closed its Series C funding round, led by Paladin Capital Group. At $50M USD, this marks the largest investment since the company’s inception, bringing its total funding to date to over $100 million USD.

CIBC Innovation Banking has announced that it has provided €12 million in debt financing to Phrase, a global cloud-based localisation software provider, headquartered in Prague, that helps brands localise and translate content more efficiently and manage the end-to-end process at scale.

Octopus Group, a group of entrepreneurs and investors backing the people, ideas and industries that will change the world, has announced the launch of Springboard, a programme aimed at creating and accelerating new businesses across the UK and Europe that will help to solve society’s biggest problems.

The government’s Help to Grow: Management course is helping SMEs up and down the UK to drive growth by supporting them to develop management skills and resilience to future shocks.

Carly, the CarTech company that directly connects drivers with their car’s under-the bonnet data, has launched their hotly anticipated Universal Onboard Diagnostic Scanner in the UK, following significant success and over two million users across Europe and the US.

Seraphim Space, known as Generation Space in the US, which runs the dedicated accelerator for global startups in the SpaceTech industry, has opened its applications for its 12th cohort (Mission 12).

Wing Cloud, the company behind the open-source Wing Programming Language (Winglang), launched out of stealth with $20 million in seed funding led by Battery Ventures, Grove Ventures, and StageOne Ventures; with participation from Secret Chord Ventures, Cerca Partners, and Operator Partners. Angel investors include Amit Agarwal, President at Datadog; Armon Dadgar, Co-Founder and CTO of HashiCorp; Benny Schnaider, Co-Founder of Salto; Zack Kanter, Founder of Stedi; and other industry leaders.

A new report has revealed that more than a quarter (26%) of small business owners in the UK believe that they will be forced to cease trading if the outlook for their business does not improve - a potentially detrimental blow to the UK economy.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has launched a new Business Council to fuel economic growth and make the UK a leading hub to do business.

The startups event of the year is back! Taking place this Thursday, 20th July, at the Steel Yard, The Hustle Awards are not to be missed.

One Young World, the global community for young leaders, has announced the winners of its global Entrepreneur of the Year Award, this year supported by TFG Asset Management.

Business leaders are urged to keep a close eye on 5G availability, as the UK gears up for the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Switch Off and will soon rely solely on the internet for phone calls. Yet, new analysis suggests some UK businesses may struggle with connectivity post-Switch Off as the 5G rollout has been so slow.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and InspiredMinds (tm) flagship product World Summit AI (WSAI), one of the world’s leading AI events, are announcing a new partnership to co-locate CES Unveiled Amsterdam at global tech summit – World Summit AI this October.

Cloud communications and contact centre provider Ringover, has announced that it has been rated a High Performer in the G2 Grid Report for Contact Centre, Call Tracking, and VoIP Services for Spring 2023.

Hands In, the group payments solution provider, is excited to announce its strategic partnership with inai, the APAC regional payment specialist. This pioneering collaboration aims to spearhead transformative growth in the travel, leisure, and hospitality sector, offering innovative payment solutions to clients in Europe and expanding into the Asia-Pacific, Australian, and China (APAC) markets.

“We have shrunk their repair times from weeks to days, and even to just a few hours” is what Fitim Mehmeti Co-Founder & CSO of Timely, the Swiss-German based, pan-European inventory management startup said it saved HAUSER refrigeration technology in Austria in its first year. Now, having grown to over 300 clients across Europe serviced by a 30+ team, it is coming to the UK to help our businesses do the same.

UKG, a provider of HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions for all people, has completed the acquisition of Immedis, a global payroll provider with technology and services supporting more than 160 countries and 120 currencies.