London and Berlin have pledged to strengthen business links between the two European capitals by announcing an extension of a partnership agreement signed by both city’s trade and investment agencies last year. The city-to-city agreement has been renewed to coincide with a virtual event marking the 20th anniversary of the twinning of the two cities, involving the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Governing Mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller.

A London-based business growth agency has expanded its services to six countries, following double-digit growth in 2020. SME GRO.TEAM now has a range of advisors on hand to provide support to the US, Canada, South Africa, Spain, New Zealand and Australia. It has tailored its website to the various local markets following both the successful delivery of several ad-hoc overseas projects, and a spike in online traffic and enquiries from across each country.

Tech startup, Isotropic Systems has announced its partnership with diversity and inclusion consultancy, Inspired Human. Perrine Farque, Founder of Inspired Human and diversity and inclusion expert has partnered with Isotropic to help the organisation drive further diversity in the tech sector. An ambitious programme has been agreed involving the CEO’s personal commitment to double female representation in the workforce within the next 12 months, kicking off the programme in Q4 2020 the company is making huge strides to close the gender gap in the tech sector.

On the back of new quantum algorithm breakthroughs, quantum software company Phasecraft has closed a record seed round for a quantum computing company in the UK. Its new £3.7m seed funding round is led by VC firm LocalGlobe with Episode1 along with previous investors.

Europe’s Hottest Accelerator, SETsquared Bristol has announced the six companies that have been awarded their 2020 Breakthrough Bursary. Angel Investors Club, Engineer2Engineer, Latchaid, Lurncampus, FluoretiQ and YelloButterfly will join SETsquared Bristol’s incubation programme in January 2021 to grow their technology startups.

Fintech business lender MarketFinance has launched a Business Booster Fund that will make grants of £5,000 available to UK small businesses. The initiative forms part of the MarketFinance commitment to SMEs and giving back to the community. These grants are aimed at supporting passionate and driven UK-based entrepreneurs, giving them a kickstart as they head into 2021.

As interest in security continues to be a major issue for motorcycle owners, Monimoto - the smart tracker for motorcycles, has successfully secured €404,400 in total funding from 392 investors.

Finland-based startup Rundit, a platform for portfolio management and monitoring, has raised €1m in seed funding to further its mission of making investor reporting easy and transparent so that VCs and LPs can make better data-driven decisions.

Innovative SMEs and startups are utilising the opportunities created amid the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report published by the Great British Entrepreneur Awards & Community and business finance marketplace, Funding Options.

Fierce competition gives boost to startup community as three winners of the first ABB Electrification Virtual Startup Challenge 2020 will receive $30,000 investment each to work in close collaboration with ABB Electrification R&D teams.

Plexal, the innovation centre and coworking space based at Here East in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, has announced a partnership with Omani innovation development company AL JABR to support startups in Oman with navigating the challenges posed by Covid-19.

After seeing such success in 2020, Startup OLÉ is continuing with its international events, and launching the third Latam Digital Roadshow with the support of its main partners.

When it comes to job satisfaction, Denmark tops the list of the best places to work in digital in Europe - beating the UK, Germany and France - according to the 2020 Digital Talent Global Work Happiness Index.

Poncho, a digital startup backed by Kamet Ventures, has launched to address the growing childcare crisis and the resulting unprecedented pressure facing working parents. This comes as one in six childcare providers is expected to close by Christmas and 87% of parents report having needed to homeschool at least one child since May.

New research by Accountancy and Finance, HR and Data Analytics recruiter, Wade Macdonald has found that nearly half of UK businesses outperformed their initial predictions for this year, a more assured position than many were expecting only nine months ago.

In a recent study of 2,100 UK adults, undertaken by global affiliate network, Awin, it was found that as many as one in five Britons (19%) are planning to carry out their Christmas shopping online for the first time this year.

‘Workcation’ has officially been added to the Oxford English Dictionary this year: and for good reason. Italian startup hotel booking platform, DayBreakHotels - who set up a bespoke ‘smart working’ service in the summer to open hotels up to a nation of remote workers - saw a 350% surge in bookings from business customers during the second lockdown (compared to the first lockdown), as Brits looked for a change of scene after months spent working from home.

HumanForest, London’s only truly sustainable e-bike, has secured it’s target crowdfunding investment of £1.25m. The campaign is now overfunded thanks to commitments from more than 445 investors so far.

Sage has called for urgent additional government support to give small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) the confidence to invest their way to recovery in 2021.

Businesses' biggest concern over Brexit is how new regulations will impact their trading after 1st January, a new poll revealed.