The largest global brands in the technology industry today announce their collective commitment to champion racial equity at Black Tech Fest '21, a live festival celebrating Black culture, showcasing innovation, and creating pathways for underrepresented talent. The three-day event will take place online and in person from 19th to 21st October during UK Black History Month. Last year, over 40,000 people streamed Black Tech Fest content across Black History Month and 3,500 attendees from over 20 countries attended the festival, the biggest celebration of its kind in Europe. See here to pre-register.

A pioneering scheme designed to support startup businesses and stimulate growth in Wales is showcasing the best of innovation and tech talent in August.

Thinkific Labs, a platform for creating, marketing, and selling online courses, today announced the launch of the third annual Think in Color Summit.

 

The UK startup is simplifying the world of podcasting and making it more accessible for the storytellers of tomorrow.

HumanForest, a sustainable e-bike sharing app, has announced a marketing partnership with digital wealth manager, Nutmeg.

Perci Health, the world’s first online platform that gives people access to support from multidisciplinary cancer teams, has launched today with £1.5m of seed funding. The backers are an assortment of influential oncologists and cancer surgeons from major cancer centres across the UK.

Foodsteps, a food technology startup that allows businesses to easily calculate, reduce, and label the environmental impact of their food, has formally launched in the UK today. The company is the first UK-based tech firm to provide carbon tracking and impact labelling to restaurants and caterers as well as food businesses.

Vira Health, a digital health company focused on improving long term health for women, has raised £1.5m in seed funding from LocalGlobe, MMC Ventures, and angel investors including Megumi Ikeda, Managing Director, Hearst Ventures, Andrea Zitna of Elvie, former Spotify executive Sofia Bendz, founder of GoCardless Matt Robinson, and Simon Lambert, former CTO, MOO.com, and Treatwell.

NEXUS have a £3,000,000 fund to invest in 2021 and are open to consider all innovative Creative, Tech and Digital UK startup business ideas with priority interest in the following sectors: Tech, VR, Gaming, Digital, Media, Smart Screen/TV, Music, Fashion & Textiles, Events, Film and Dance.

The European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth will make her first official visit to Spain on 9th and 10th September 2021, inaugurating the Startup OLÉ technology event in Salamanca on the 9th. 

It’s no secret that the pandemic has significantly challenged the events industry. Even with lockdown restrictions lifted, a hesitancy to return to large indoor events is predicted to continue for some time. In order to meet these changing customer needs and help to revive corporate events safely, Eventurous Ltd, a full-service events agency near Atherstone in the West Midlands, has launched an exciting new tipi hire service - creating an unusual and inspiring venue solution for business use.

As lockdown restrictions ease and public mobility increases, new research reveals three-quarters (75%) of people have health, safety and security concerns when visiting their nearest city, signalling a need for new security innovations and greater public reassurance on their return to UK cities.

TOCA Football, the world’s only technology-enabled soccer experiences and entertainment company, today announced the completion of its Series E funding round, totaling $40m. Leading the round are current investors WestRiver Group (WRG), RNS TOCA Partners LLC, and D2 Futbol Investors, LLC., who are joined by a group of new investors including Jared Smith, co-founder and former COO of Experience Management (XM) company Qualtrics. This round brings TOCA’s total capital raised to $105m.

ABB Electrification’s Startup Challenge, in collaboration with Microsoft and SynerLeap, has announced its 2021 winning line-up, as Machine Learning, advanced AI and 3D modelling scale-up safe, smart and sustainable solutions.

Five innovative UK start-ups have been shortlisted for the Top Tier Impact (TTI) Group’s inaugural Global Impact Awards, celebrating entrepreneurs around the world at the cutting edge of sustainability and positive impact.

New data released by Tech Nation and Dealroom analyses the UK’s position on the global tech stage in comparison to the US and China. Analysis finds that the UK ranks third in the world for its number of tech businesses valued above $10bn.

Rising numbers of people are returning to trains and buses to get work, newly released figures reveal. The data found that in some parts of London footfall was up almost 300% last week compared to the same time in June 2020.

As we say goodbye to lockdown restrictions, new research from Sky Connect, Sky’s new B2B telecoms business, celebrates the strength and adaptability of British small businesses with a third revealing that the secret to their resilience over the past year is sheer hard work and motivation. The majority of the UK’s SMEs (80%) - which make up over 99% of the business population - believe they have shown resilience at its best throughout the pandemic.

As we successfully hosted the 2021 Hustle Awards last night at the Finsbury Business Centre (in-person finally!) and had a virtual livestream too, we saw five incredible startups take the prize across the five different categories, plus an array of talent that was also shortlisted and five amazing runner-ups. But not only that we saw our community again, and what an amazing feeling that was to be able to speak to some of you face-to-face!

The UK’s first-ever ‘Laptop Library’ has launched to help support and educate the nation’s most underprivileged children. The initiative, launched by grassroots charity CC Foundation in partnership with leading IT service provider Totality Services, will give hundreds of children access to use and borrow laptops.