Welcome to a new series of articles for Startups Magazine. Over the next few months I would like to invite you to accompany me on a journey; a journey that many readers will already have started and many others will be contemplating. For those that have already started the journey then I hope that they will still find some of my words useful, and for those yet to start then I trust that this series will make navigation so much easier.

The Inspiring Fifty UK awards, hosted by accelerateHER, has announced the 50 trailblazing winners of this year’s contest. With over 500 entries received the calibre of entrants was higher than ever with women from the world’s biggest tech brands featured on the winning list.

Faced with obstacles like gender discrimination, financial security, geographical bias, or availability of funding, entrepreneurs are demanding stronger community support. As a response, a new global movement of ecosystem builders is raising €2.7mn within two years to implement innovation projects that will democratise entrepreneurship and empower founders.

In this article, Startups Magazine speaks to Hugh Gibbs, Co-founder of SearchLand, to find out more about how the all-in-one SaaS data platform is helping businesses streamline their workflow and maximise their portfolios.

In this article, Startups Magazine speaks to Christian Wiens, CEO and Co-founder of Getsafe, to learn more about how the startup is changing the insurance industry.

Freelancing has been a popular source of income for people who like to be their own 'boss' for a long time now. However, when the pandemic came along at the end of 2019, this popularity touched new heights, mainly because full-time workers weren’t able to get to their offices.

Creative workspace and accelerator, Huckletree has announced the launch of its Futures Hub, a redesign of their flagship space in its White City workspace - including three new focused ecosystems for innovative businesses to make their home - Future Living, FoodTech and Creative Labs.

Tanso Technologies, a Munich-based sustainability tech startup has announced the closing of its $1.9m pre-seed financing round. The round was led by UVC Partners, a B2B technology investor with a strong focus on enterprise software, with participation of early-stage investors Picus Capital, Possible Ventures (formerly Inventures), and business angels.

At a time when many people around the UK are making career changes and starting new enterprises, aspiring business owners will be looking for the right business loan to get their companies off the ground. Choosing the right loan partner is an important decision, and it’s crucial that people know what to look for before they commit. The important thing to remember is, it’s about much more than just the money.

WeWork has launched Growth Campus Europe, an initiative targeted to boost economic recovery across nine European countries; Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Czech Republic.

Investment firm, Spex Capital and London’s life sciences cluster organisation, MedCity open today their first joint call as part of their exclusive partnership to identify and fund the next generation of digital health and medtech innovators.

As a generation of digital natives, Tim Berners-Lee’s creation has become an intrinsic part of our lives today and as such, we tend to take most changes to the internet in our stride. That said, the internet as we know it is evolving at a rapid pace from its earlier inception, Web 2.0, with the latest developments making way for a whole new browsing experience.

Microsoft Deputy CTO brings decades of climate science, technology, and business acumen to the Climate Intelligence innovator.

Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer AG, announced that it has co-led a $15m Series A investment round in agriculture and biotechnology innovator, Andes, with Cavallo Ventures. Other new investors Builders VC, Germin8, Accelr8 and Wilson Sonsini participated, alongside existing investors KdT Ventures and Endurance.

British mental health startup, MYNDUP has raised £300,000 in an oversubscribed third round of seed funding. Founded in February 2020, the company has now received £500,000 in investment and grants since December last year, with investors recognising MYNDUP’s innovative offering and potential for further growth.

Akribian, a Swedish startup, is spearheading the way in which children learn maths through short adventure game-based learning that helps children retain information and encourages long term academic success. Its first product 'Count on me!' is a maths app based on a new concept of Game-Embedded Teaching (GET) which combines science and game design to encourage children to discover the magic of mathematics and accelerate their learning. 

Bobacino, the startup bringing a unique boba experience to a growing audience of boba enthusiasts, announced it is partnering with PopID, the facial recognition payment company, to offer consumers a faster, easier and safer way to pay.

Releaf, an agtech startup that develops proprietary hardware and software solutions that makes African farmers and food factories more efficient and profitable, has raised $2.7m seed funding in a round led by Samurai Incubate Africa, Future Africa and Consonance Investment Managers with participation from Stephen Pagliuca, Chairman of Bain Capital and Justin Kan (Twitch). Releaf also secured $1.5m in grants from The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) and USAID.

Tech Nation has announced the 32 climate tech companies who have been accepted into Net Zero 2.0 - the second iteration of the Net Zero programme.