On 1st August, With Life Cultivator was launched as the world's first incubator dedicated to supporting startups and established organisations through periods of substantial growth and transformation.

Meta and Startupbootcamp have joined forces to invigorate the MENA startup ecosystem with a focus on advanced AI technologies. Their collaborative initiative, Llama Design Drive, is tailored to meet the unique needs of startups in the region.

At an event in Paris, Alibaba.com announced its partnership as the first worldwide Olympic and Paralympic e-commerce partner to join the Athlete365 Business Accelerator programme's fourth edition. This International Olympic Committee (IOC) led initiative aimed to aid athletes in their dual-career and career-transition phases by equipping them with entrepreneurial skills.

Thredd, a swiftly growing global payments platform, has reported significant industry-wide growth in fintech-driven digital payments. Adding to this positive outlook, Thredd has also renewed its partnership with Zilch, the pioneering ad-subsidised payments network (ASPN).

South Summit, the benchmark meeting for the entrepreneurial and innovative ecosystem, continues to take steps to ensure that innovation and entrepreneurship are available to everyone. In this sense, South Summit has updated its website so that people with disabilities can navigate with full accessibility and without barriers.

To promote a sustainable and prosperous future through global collaboration, Taiwan has unveiled the Go Green with Taiwan campaign. This initiative encourages participants to submit projects that demonstrate environmental or economic sustainability using products or solutions from Taiwanese companies.

New analysis by the O3 platform, an AI-powered venture classification tool from the University of Oxford and OpenOcean, has uncovered surprising trends in the UK's AI startup funding landscape. Contrary to popular belief, between 2012 and 2021, AI startups outside London received higher average funding than those within the capital.

The European Commission's NGI TrustChain initiative has allocated an additional €1.8 million in grants to top European startups to combat online misinformation and identity fraud using blockchain technology. This latest funding round, dubbed 'democracy grants,' will support 15 startups from 10 different countries, each receiving up to €117,000. The selection process was highly competitive, with 162 startups vying for the grants.

Network X, the world’s most comprehensive event for the telecommunications industry, will return this October to bring together industry experts to network, connect, and discuss some of the biggest issues and innovations in the field to date.

Network X – the world’s most comprehensive event for the B2B telco industry – has released the first look at the agenda, sessions, and big names joining the highly anticipated Network X Headliners Stage 2024. The Network X Headliners offers a unique opportunity for attendees to gain insights from leading figures and stay informed on emerging technologies and their impact on the future of telecoms.

Network X, the global event for the B2B telecommunications industry, returns to Paris this October, uniting the brightest minds and biggest innovators shaping the future of connectivity.

Flo Health, one of the most downloaded women's health apps globally, has secured over $200M in a Series C funding round from General Atlantic. This investment boosts Flo's valuation beyond $1 billion, making it the first digital women's health app to achieve unicorn status.

Litera, a company in legal technology solutions, has acquired FileTrail, a renowned name in information governance and records management.

In March, the European Parliament made history by adopting the Artificial Intelligence Act, establishing the world's first comprehensive legal framework for AI.

Milton Keynes City Council is expanding an electric car charging scheme following a successful trial, providing home charging solutions for motorists without driveways. In collaboration with Kerbo Charge, the council initially tested ‘through-pavement channels’ with six families lacking off-street parking.

Small Business Britain’s ‘Small and Mighty Enterprise Programme’ is set to return this autumn to aid Britain’s smallest firms as the economy begins to recover.

Achieving unicorn status as a founder in Europe is more challenging than winning an Olympic medal. According to a study by Antler, a leading early-stage VC firm in Europe, there are four times more European Olympians than European unicorn founders.

The UK’s premier electric vehicle (EV) event, the London EV Show, is set for an exciting comeback, focusing on startups and entrepreneurial innovation in the EV sector.

IBC2024 is now open for registration, with the global media and entertainment (M&E) industry set to converge on the RAI Amsterdam on 13-16 September. The event will bring the content and technology community together to showcase game-changing innovations, address media’s most pressing trends, and enable collaboration during the four-day exhibition and three-day IBC Conference.

Prosemino, a venture builder dedicated to developing startups that address the net-zero challenge, has announced the opening of a 2,500 sq ft lab at British Land and AustralianSuper’s Canada Water campus. Supported by a developer and in partnership with Energy Revolution Ventures, Prosemino is pioneering a new approach to creating net-zero technologies.