Diversity in entrepreneurship is boosted through the launch of Barclays Eagle Labs' 12-week virtual accelerator programme which helps early-stage tech businesses founded by one or more Black entrepreneurs.

OpenUK has announced its 2021 Kids Digital Glove Giveaway, sharing 5,000 Digital Gloves, sustainably made in the UK, and sponsored by Nominet and the Open Data Institute. With a focus on engaging children in practical open source software coding, whilst teaching the open source definition and the sustainable development goals, the course builds on OpenUK’s 2020 Summer Camp.

Environmental service company, Legasea has been named as a finalist in the Manufacturer MX Awards, in the category of Sustainable Manufacturing Company of the Year.

Xero has unveiled its redesigned flexible work program, giving its growing product and tech teams the opportunity to work where they perform best, at home, in the office or a mix of both.

Algbra, a sustainable and values-focused digital finance provider dedicated to providing ethical finance solutions and promoting financial wellbeing, has attracted a wide range of high-profile backers. The Seed investment round, led by New World Group and SFC Capital earlier this year, was oversubscribed.

According to research by iwoca, almost 80 new businesses were created every hour across the UK in the first half of 2021. Analysis of Companies House data reveals that 340,534 businesses were registered in the UK between January and June 2021, an increase of 32% from 257,243 over the same time period in 2019.

A new study by card payment provider, Dojo, reveals the daily habits of some of successful female entrepreneurs, to see just how their routines contribute to their success. 

Endeavor Nigeria has unveiled the inaugural cohort of entrepreneurs for its ten-week Endeavor ScaleUp Program that aims to support Nigeria’s most promising business leaders. 

UK-based Prsnt, the instant gifting app, is going public later this month after a successful beta testing phase over the past six months during which the search term 'online gift' increased over 80% last year. The app enables users to choose a gift from hundreds of the UK’s high street brands (online or in-store) and sends it directly to another person’s smartphone.

QJumpers, a sourcing and recruitment software provider, has announced it's AI Talent Sourcing. The tool scours publicly available information and uses AI to find, rank and engage highly qualified, passive job candidates that previously could not be found through traditional sourcing and advertising methods.

BP Ventures has €10m in-car digital payments provider, ryd. The company offers a single digital payment solution for drivers, for services such as fuel purchases, EV charging and car washing, via its app or through integration with smart car systems.

AirBolt, a consumer and enterprise tracking and access company, has announced the closing of its $2m series seed fundraising round, with a majority growth investment led by 72Capital. The investment will accelerate plans to expand AirBolt’s range of connected devices and global partnerships. It will also allow AirBolt to grow more aggressively internationally, expand into new product categories, and enhance its global live tracking service to deliver more peace of mind to its growing community of users.

Cera, a UK based provider of at home healthcare services, has now delivered more than ten million in-person healthcare visits to older and vulnerable people throughout the UK, in their homes, since the outbreak of COVID-19.

A new survey of 2,000 UK adults has revealed the fate of COVID-inspired business launches.

World Suicide Prevention Day takes place on the 10th September 2021. Overseas employees face very specific challenges that can differ depending on their host nation. Employers must be aware of the support, or lack of it, available in different countries and ensure their provision leaves no gaps.

Making.com, an online platform that simplifies the connection between people looking for production technology and suppliers that offer it, has launched. It is a platform to group technologies around the products they help make, allowing creators of all sizes access to the ‘hidden network’ of machines, manufacturers, tooling suppliers and therefore the knowledge previously accessible only through long-established private networks.

In 2020, Siemens Smart Infrastructure and WUN H2 partnered up to build a hydrogen production plant in Germany. The plant will run on renewable energy and will be carbon-free, contributing to Germany’s pledge to become gas-neutral by 2050. However exciting the news, Siemens is an established business within automation industry, the road to carbon neutrality is often harder for small manufacturers. Here Neil Ballinger, head of EMEA at automation parts supplier EU Automation, shares some tips.

Guy Rigby, Founder and now Chair of the Entrepreneurial Services Group at Smith & Williamson, and his fellow crew member, entrepreneur, investor and sports enthusiast, David Murray – will row across the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in 'The Entrepreneur Ship'. Rigby and Murray will begin their row from the Canaries to Antigua on 12th December 2021, hoping to arrive in February 2022. The completed challenge will see them recognised as the oldest pair in the world to row any ocean.

COVID-19 has shown the power of clinical trials. It took less than 300 days for one vaccine to go from being an idea in a lab to be ready for administering to the general public. The question now is how we can accelerate clinical trials for other diseases, at a time when the healthcare industry is stretched and doesn’t have the capacity to run patient research at the speed or scale that’s needed.

Here, we caught up with Dr Matt Wilson, Founder and CEO of research automation platform, uMed, who is on a mission to help more healthcare providers and their patients take part in clinical studies.