Unpick the wild world of business winners as Angel Business Club’s Insights Series returns on Wednesday, 2nd December.

How much do you know about the Kickstart Scheme that was introduced by the Government in September 2020? If you are a startup or early stage business, my guess would probably be, not very much, but perhaps you are missing out on something that could be very good for your business.

Kaia Health and Chiesi Group, an international research-focused healthcare group, have announced that they have entered into an exclusive partnership to commercialise the Kaia Health Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Pulmonary Rehabilitation app in Europe.

In October the UK’s small businesses experienced their largest year-on-year decline in revenues since May, according to the latest customer data from the Xero Small Business Insights (XSBI) programme in partnership with AlphaBeta (part of Accenture).

Running an organisation free of issues is what everyone wants. No business wants to fall victim to cyber attacks. However, that's not always the case. Day in day out, cyber criminals are devising means of compromising businesses. According to Purplesec, Cyber crime is up by 600% due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some other factors, such as software issues, make enterprises insecure.

In this article we will discuss no code, the no code startup and the no-code revolution and how it will impact businesses and the world around us. So, what is no code? No idea? Well, essentially it allows programmers, and perhaps more importantly, non-programmers, to create application software through graphical user interfaces and configuration instead of using traditional computer programming (or coding).

The new tiered system of restrictions for England after 2nd December 2020 should give businesses the certainty to plan and recover, according to innovative accountancy firm, Davis Grant.

Bored of the adage 'If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail'? You're not alone. Sadly, truisms - much like a parent's advice - tend to be worth heeding. When it comes to funding, it's best to do it well in advance. Too many companies leave it until there's a cashflow crunch before acting. As trusted advisers, accountants need to play the role of parent, use their wisdom to identify future funding opportunities, model a couple of scenarios, and help clients find a source of finance that doesn't leave them with unfavourable terms.

With a third of UK employees having more than half their holiday allowance left to take, e-days the absence intelligence company, has found that 65% intend to use this up before the end of the year. With less than a month until Christmas, this raises some significant concerns over staffing resources for the remainder of the year.

As December approaches, firms of all sizes will be planning their strategy for 2021. The second lockdown in England has brought yet another blow to the business world, and proves that industries will continue to be impacted by COVID restrictions and a new way of working. Planning for 2021 may be challenging this year, especially for small firms who have found their usual service heavily disrupted.

The need for specific employable skills in the workplace is essential. Attracting and acquiring new talent to all industries is a competitive field, with more students leaving school and attending university than ever before.

Fashion production software company, SupplyCompass, will be hosting its next webinar on 9th December at 12pm GMT: ‘Financing for Fashion Brands’. Teaming up with MarketFinance, SupplyCompass’s webinar will navigate the world of financial planning through the lens of fashion, specifically for SME brands.

On 25th November 2020, the EU Commission published a new intellectual property action plan.  The action plan, touted as “an intellectual property action plan to support the EU’s recovery and resilience” outlines possible future moves, noting that intangible assets are “the cornerstone of today’s economy”, with IPR-intensive industries generating 29.2% (63 million) of all jobs in the EU during the period 2014-2016, and contributing 45% of the total economic activity (GDP) in the EU worth €6 trillion.

A cloud-based CRM provider has announced a new virtual event series, designed to help UK businesses conquer COVID and rebuild revenue for 2021.

The social marketplace with the cult Gen Z following, Depop has been shaking up the fashion industry over the last few years. Starting up in 2011 as an incubator in Milan, Depop founded its HQ in London in 2012 and has fitted in with the smart hipster tone of Shoreditch ever since.

For many, December will soon mark almost eight months of continuously working from home, a complete shift from normality when it comes to working and riding the balance between work and home life. Google trends data also reveals searches for ‘burnout’ peaking as the UK entered a second national lockdown earlier in November.

No Isolation, the company bringing people together through the use of warm technology and the application of specialist knowledge, today launches a new version of KOMP, its one button computer designed specifically for use by seniors. The new model, boasting a wider screen and in-built internet, has been launched in direct response to user feedback following an increase in demand brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, No Isolation has sold 4,300 KOMPs, and the app is currently being used by around 30,000 people across the globe. This means that on average, each KOMP is connected to approximately 7 family members.

In Part One of our Crisis Series, we looked at how brand purpose can be a powerful tool when navigating a crisis. Now in Part Two, we are taking a look at how brands reacted during the onset of the COVID crisis and how these lessons can be applied to building a resilient brand no matter the crisis. We’ll look closer at how to best react using brand personality and values.

Overall VC investments in 2020 are at par with previous years – but in Q3 2020, venture capital funding for all female founders is on pace for its worst year since 2017 (US data). In the week of Global Women's Entrepreneurship Day, four of Europe’s top early stage venture funds (Speedinvest, Amplifier, La Famiglia and Redstone) got together to look into the reasons behind the grim statistics and explore what changes need to take place for more female entrepreneurs to get to a term sheet.