Schneider Electric and Sustainable Ventures have named the finalists of their Net Zero Home Programme. The joint venture aims to find the most innovative net zero home solutions to help accelerate the net zero home market.

Israeli startup Rise.ai, which offers AI-driven customer re-engagement solutions, has been selected by Google to help businesses offer digital gift cards through their public listing on Google My Business (GMB). The agreement with Google is Rise.ai’s strategy to enable small and medium businesses to survive and even thrive during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

Growing up in a small seaside town, one of my earliest memories is sitting on the sea wall with my dad, eagerly tucking into a pot of cockles, all the while watching the comings, goings, and general hubbub of the fishing boats coming in and out of the harbour.

Sterling Networks was founded in 2014 facilitating networking events for businesses across the Midlands, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and the South West. Over 300 members attend its fortnightly breakfast and lunchtime meetings, and the company has also undertaken the very important role of providing emotional support to business owners at a very challenging time. Startups Magazine caught up with founders Neil and Tracey Davis to find out more.

If you have purchased a new computer within the last few years, you likely lack something - ports. You know, places to plug in your stuff. With streamlining and consolidation, many modern computers (including the entire MacBook family) have shifted to utilising only USB-C and Thunderbolt 3. Because of this, a dock or hub is essential when you Work From Home.

Provider of smart technology solutions for the manufacturing industry, ThingTrax has announced the close of a $1m seed round led by SuperSeed, investing alongside industrial specialist Sumaria.

Online multimedia sales acceleration platform, Crikle has announced full availability of its browser-based application set to transform the guided selling experience in the age of distance selling. Crikle offers a secure online sales consultation and conversion platform that organisations can white label to deliver an optimised, branded digital buying and selling experience for clients.

REACH has opened applications for the inaugural class from its newest region, REACH UK. The technology scale up programme was created by Second Century Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the National Association of Realtors®.

Can personal data from the EU being transferred on the basis of Privacy Shield to the US, guarantee an adequate level of data protection as per the GDPR? Head of Marketing for SmartSurvey, Neil Stone, offers some thoughts and guidance around this issue, while looking at the potential impact of the Privacy Shield’s invalidation for the technology sector and prospective customers.

It was recently reported by manufacturer lobby group, Make UL and Santander UK that the effects from COVID-19 could cost the sector a potential £35.7bn in Gross Added Value this year alone, as output has fallen to an all-time low-leading to implications that the UK’s manufacturing growth will suffer from these effects until 2022.

A new digital platform is empowering utilities field teams and managers to make data-driven decisions in real time, leading to greater safety, productivity and quality assurance.

New research from Superscript, the British business insurance challenger which recently re-branded from Digital Risks, has revealed the true extent to which UK SMEs have been affected by COVID-19.

With the furlough scheme drawing to a close in October, a surge in unemployment is on the cards. Only a third of businesses said that they would definitely retain all of their furloughed staff, while nearly one in five (18%) indicated that they would not be doing so.

The Government has now confirmed that the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF), the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF) and the Discretionary Grant Fund allocated to Local Authorities to pay businesses suffering from the impact of COVID-19 should close by Friday 28th August 2020.

Online learning platform, Coursera has partnered with Digital Boost UK, a partnership with BCG Digital Ventures and Founders4Schools, to offer organisations and charities affected by the pandemic access to digital skills. The partnership is made possible by Coursera’s Workforce Recovery Initiative, where any state and country can provide unemployed workers with free access to online learning.

Each generation handles money in a different way. Afterall, people have grown up in different eras, they place value on different commodities, and some are busy saving for retirement while some are squirreling away their pennies in order to see the world one day. Attitudes towards saving money are most certainly generational, and there are plenty of assumptions people tend to jump to about these attitudes.

Global small business platform, Xero has announced it will host a free to watch content series called Xero On Air in September, designed to connect, inspire and share information with its accountant and bookkeeper partners and small business customers around the world.

AIWAYS, the Shanghai-based personal mobility provider, has arrived in Europe following delivery of the first batch of U5 all-electric SUVs in Corsica. The cars join the rental fleet at Hertz Corsica, operated by local company Filippi Auto, and are now available for residents and tourists to rent.

The Coronavirus lockdown has had a huge impact on Britain’s workforce, resulting a the majority of the working population finding themselves homebound, either working from home or furloughed. It was recently reported that 7 in 10 UK businesses have furloughed staff, resulting in millions of people across the country stuck at home with nothing but time on their hands.

Sure Valley Ventures, the venture capital firm that invests in early stage software companies, has announced that it has led a new €1.5m investment round for Volograms. Atlantic Bridge University Fund and Enterprise Ireland have also made follow-on investments as part of this round.