Local businesses are core to our communities, but the impact of COVID-19 has been tough on business owners. As the UK steadily reopens its doors to businesses and people alike, Google has pledged to support small businesses across the country with a burgeoning package of products, tools and services to support the reopening and growth of British commerce.

New research by Hitachi Capital Business Finance has explored the challenges businesses led by single parents face. The research surveyed more than 300 single parent business owners asking about how they started their business, running their business day-to-day, and plans for the future. Their responses were benchmarked against a nat rep sample of 1,466 business owners. 

KETS Quantum Security, world leaders in integrated quantum cryptography hardware solutions, pitched against ten other start-ups from Bristol’s world-leading tech scene to win the ‘Best Elevator Pitch’ audience vote at Tuesday’s inaugural online version of SETsquared Bristol’s Tech-Xpo.

Advanced Engineering is on the hunt for ground-breaking startups to showcase their latest products and inventions as part of its Enabling Innovation Zone. The show, which is the largest annual engineering event in the UK, will take place on 4th-5th November at the NEC, Birmingham, and will allow smaller enterprises to accelerate their growth by making the right connections in the world of advanced manufacturing and technology.

Speechmatics and Puzzel, European Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) provider, have partnered to transform customer experiences in contact centres through Puzzel’s Agent Assist technology.

Sage has announced new updates to its Small Business Accounting Solution. Designed to support small businesses in the construction industry, the updates enable customers to manage their day-to-day accounting in the cloud, as well as comply with sector specific UK Government requirements for the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).

The Central Research Laboratory has teamed up with KPMG Emerging Giants and a group of leading VC firms to create a 3 day bootcamp for startups raising equity rounds between £300k and £3m.

Breed Reply, European investor in early-stage Internet of Things (IoT) businesses, has increased its investment in Dutch AgriTech company, Connecterra.  As part of its Series B funding round, Connecterra has secured €7.8m from existing investors, Breed Reply and Sistema, alongside new investors including AgTech specialists ADM Capital, French food safety enterprise, Kersia Group and Dutch impact investor, Pymwymic.

At a time when many professional growth strategies have been put on hold as businesses navigate the huge impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, one of the country’s career coaches is working to support and empower ambitious employees as they continue on their own pathways to success.

Made Smarter, the movement helping SMEs join the Industry 4.0 revolution, has reached a major milestone having now funded more than 100 businesses.

After a successful round of funding, an innovative new app called SplitBill, which allows users to effortlessly divide a bill or expense in a seamless and cashless way, has launched today.

Britain’s small businesses achieved three years of innovation in just three months as they battled to keep trading during the coronavirus lockdown. While such efforts to keep revenues flowing have been successful for some owners, concerns about employment prospects and future investment remain for many as lockdown restrictions begin to ease.

The re-opening of shops provided a much-needed relief for retailers in the last two weeks, as the number of companies with a negative assessment of trading conditions plummeted from more than half (54%) to 37%, according to the latest Opinium-Cebr Business Distress Tracker.

Global small business platform, Xero has announced its new analysis has revealed the extent of COVID-19’s impact on UK small business employment and revenue between March and May 2020, showing a 28% drop in revenue and a six percent decline in employment. Late payments to UK small businesses increased by 7.8 days between February and May 2020.

Performance marketing agency, Journey Further, has announced it has teamed up with Europe’s first revenue-based finance provider, Uncapped, to offer performance marketing support to entrepreneurs, startups and scaleups across the continent.

SETsquared Bristol has been awarded ‘Hottest Accelerator’ in Europe at The Europas Awards. The University of Bristol led incubator, based at Engine Shed, supports the growth of technology-based businesses, helping them move from initial ideas into commercial viability. 

More than two-thirds of business leaders across the UK have no idea how much employee sickness is costing their business, according to e-days, the absence intelligence platform.

French software provider, Saagie has announced a $28m fundraising round with Crédit Mutuel Innovation, alongside NewAlpha Asset Management, Seventure Partners and AG2R LA MONDIALE. Historic investors Cap Horn, BNPP Développement and C.Entrepreneurs (managed by Cathay Innovation) also participated.

The Lloyds Bank National Business Awards has launched the Pivot for Purpose Award, a new trophy celebrating the fantastic achievements of UK organisations to support communities and key workers during the lockdown.

The pioneering supplier discovery platform connecting retailers with verified and sustainable suppliers, Sourcing Playground has announced that it has been awarded funding by Innovate UK to deliver an AI platform that will overhaul retail supply chains.