The way in which consumers are searching for products online has changed. In recent times, there has been a significant increase in question-based searches from consumers looking for quick solutions to their needs, overtaking direct searches for brand names. It’s clear the consumer environment is evolving, so what can be done to ensure existing and emerging businesses can keep up?

It’s a myth that investors expect founders to not pay themselves a salary. Anthony Rose, CEO and Co-founder of SeedLegals, explains why.

Today’s smart cities are transforming the way we live, work and play. But far from being just a 21st-century gimmick, there are significant, even life-changing, advantages to the implementation of smart technology in cities around the world. 

What a year for venture investing. Crunchbase recently released figures that show venture funding soared to a total of $288bn for the first half of 2021. This represents an all-time record high and four times the level of VC spending four years ago! With all this money raised, it seems natural that venture funding would be the first port of call for startup founders. However, that view is based on several myths. Sometimes venture capital is simply not the right fit for many businesses. And I say that as a venture investor myself.

As a small business owner, PR should be considered as a crucial part of your business strategy. Despite our obsession with social media and the glut of information that we consume daily, nothing can take away from the feeling of certitude that traditional press channels provide us. Be it in the form of news, business features or a founder profile piece, if it has the press’s seal of approval, it positively influences the way audiences respond to that piece of news.

Startup OLÉ, a technological event for entrepreneurs, returns with 400 international speakers from 36 different nationalities. The way this edition will be available will be mixed, with the 6th and 7th of September being presented in digital format and the 8th to the 10th in person in Salamanca, Spain. To facilitate access to all the content, Startup OLÉ'21 will be streamed in its entirety, completely free of charge and on their YouTube channel.

Unleash live, an AI video analytics platform, have announced an $8m Series A funding round led by SafetyCulture. Unleash live’s AI powered real time analytics platform, ‘Intelligent Remote Vision’, generates immediate insights that enable enterprises to materially drive down costs, raise productivity, increase accuracy, and improve safety. The company has seen over 500% growth since March 2020.

In this article, we speak to Natalia-Pawlak, COO of My Wardrobe HQ and Co-founder of My Ventures.

According to the NHS, a carer is anyone who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction and cannot cope without their support. The care they provide is unpaid. Staggeringly, 13.6 million people in the UK have unpaid caring responsibilities, most of whom also work.

The economic landscape of the past eighteen months has been interesting to observe, to say the least. While many organisations have been able to carve out a new niche under pandemic conditions; indeed, some have even flourished, a vast swathe of enterprises have been unable to translate their operations to a radically altered business landscape, and have fallen by the wayside.

38% of respondents have been approached over five times for a new job in the last year. That’s according to research from Talent Works, which surveyed software and government professionals to determine their opinions on different working policies and how often they are approached for new job roles. The survey also found that five percent have been approached more than ten times in the past year.

Botify has announced that they have closed $55m in Series C funding led y InfraVia Growth, with participation from Bpifrance through its Large Venture fund, as well as existing investors Eurazeo and Ventech. Nicolas Herschtel from InfraVia and Antoine Izsak from Bpifrance Large Venture will join Botify’s Board of Directors.

Businesses today are expected to take sustainability seriously. This is certainly an ethical responsibility at a time in which society is running headlong into the irreversible effects of climate change. It is also demanded by consumers across generations.

iwoca have launched its cash advance product on Funding Xchange for small business online sellers. iwoca will be using Open Banking to offer automated revenue-based repayments to e-commerce businesses with a business bank account on the marketplace.

Office workers feel less confident in their potential for progression at work than freelancers, according to new data from freelance platform, Fiverr. The COVID-19 pandemic has not been easy for workers, from furlough to job losses, the UK workforce has taken more than just a financial hit.

Sayata has raised $17m in series A funding that will drive expansion into several new insurance lines. Team8 Capital and Vertex Ventures led the round, who joined original investors Elron, Kamet, and OurCrowd.

One of the UK’s most well regarded businesswomen, Angela De Souza and BBC presenter, Janey Lee Grace, will be coming together to celebrate the success of business women across the globe.

AgTech startup Fieldin has completed a $30m Series B funding round, led by Fortissimo Capital, with the participation of Zeev Ventures, Icon Ventures, Luxembourg-based Maor Investments, and Akkadian ventures.

Since Google rolled out its core web vitals update in June 2021, there have been visible ranking changes for many websites. Numerous reputable websites that had previously had top rankings for their targeted keywords saw a decrease in ranking, on the other hand, smaller websites experienced an increase in how Google ranked them in June and July 2021.

As a provider of data cleaning services to businesses large and small, REaD Group is always keen to find out what the needs of our clients are. As such we conducted a survey into SMEs to look at what they knew about GDPR, how they hold and manage their customer data and what they do to keep it clean and up to date.