This Earth Day, Gaia’s Farming Co. is urging people to make a sustainable swap from dairy to its deliciously creamy ‘Hemp and Oat M*lk’ and extra chocolatey ‘Hemp and Coco M*lk’.

The best way to understand how an industry works is to get involved in whatever capacity you can. For example, if you want to open a shop, go and work in one. Doing this will give you an insight into what it takes to run a shop on a day-to-day basis. It will give you an understanding of what customers want, the potential pitfalls and the products that sell best. Working in a shop doesn’t mean you’ll make a success of your retail business, but it will give you a solid foundation to build on.

The long-standing Leeds Digital Festival is returning this month for a “mini-fest” focusing on innovation in the sustainable tech sector. Ahead of the usual two-week event in September, the Festival’s organisers are showcasing the many firms and individuals who are trailblazers in the world of using technology for good.

AMLo Biosciences (AMLo), a medical device company spun out of Newcastle University specialising in the early detection of skin cancers, is pleased to announce it has secured significant further investment totalling £2.45m.

Arbor Steel has raised £200,000 in a pre-seed funding round to bring its digital identity citadel to customers. Developed following a £100,000 InnovateUK Grant, the platform provides a secure and efficient way to share personal data and interact with services whilst maintaining control.

The first thing I ask my employees during our monthly 1:1's is 'how are you doing?'. Our sessions are 90% revolved around what that person is dealing with, their workload, their home life - are they struggling? If so, why? 80-90% of someone's output is based on their mindset, so if you don't know what is happening in your teams' minds you can't possibly expect to accurately judge their performance or potential. As its stress awareness month this April here are some honest thoughts on stress in the workplace.

SlothMove, which offers users a 'stress-free' change of address and home-setup service when moving home, was only formed three years ago. The business flourished during the pandemic as property sales soared and now legal giants Taylor Rose MW have acquired a stake in the business, which has also been championed by former Dragon’s Den star Piers Linney. 

Starting a business isn’t an easy task. In fact, developing your idea and encouraging growth can be a journey filled with adversity.

Health issues specific to women, including menstruation, menopause and pregnancy have long been treated as taboo topics resulting in them being overlooked and under-researched.

SEON, a London-based Anglo-Hungarian startup that powers online fraud prevention raised $94m in Series B funding. Led by Silicon Valley-based IVP, the round also includes existing investors Creandum and PortfoLion, as well as, angel investors including founders and senior executives from the very best product-led tech companies: Aiven, Coinbase, DataDog, DoorDash, Figma, G2, GitHub, Public, Slack, Supercell, UiPath, Veriff, and Wise.

Increasingly, the logistics industry is a technological one. The fortunes of the online retail sector is particularly interwoven with the growth of logistics – with both enjoying substantial growth during the pandemic.

End-to-end payment ecosystem provider, Monneo, has simplified the process of making and receiving online cryptocurrency payments. Thanks to its recently launched service, Monneo is enabling online merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments natively through their websites.

GP Bullhound acted as exclusive financial advisor to Sellics Marketplace Analytics (Sellics) on its acquisition by Ascential (Ascential), the specialist information, analytics and e-commerce optimisation company.  

Starting a business is an exciting time. You’re full of enthusiasm and excitement at all the possibilities. It’s fair to say you have big plans for your business - you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.

Tramshed Tech’s award winning Startup Academy supported by Google for Startups runs three times a year – the next kick-starting 5th May 2022 with registration closing 25th April.

Data from Barclaycard Payments, which processes £1 in every £3 spent on credit and debit cards in the UK, shows that many online businesses are still not fully compliant with the new Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) regulation – which became mandatory for all transactions a month ago – and have lost out on £130m worth of sales as a result.

Vaayu, the climate tech start-up that helps retailers reduce their carbon footprint in real-time, has closed an $11.5 million seed funding round led by Atomico, with follow on from CapitalT and participation from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s firm Seven Seven Six, along with a select group of angel investors including Cristina Stenbeck, Chairperson of the Zalando Supervisory Board and non-Executive Director of Spotify and Bryant Chou, co-founder and CTO of Webflow.

Focus MRS, a mixed-reality virtual learning platform, has secured a £150,000 seed investment from Jenson Funding Partners, the startup investment firm.

Hypervine, the cleantech construction startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology to provide end-to-end site data for construction and mining firms, boosting efficiencies whilst enabling massive reductions in carbon emissions, has won a six year Framework with Morrison Construction and Scottish Water. 

These days, entrepreneurs and business owners are actively dealing with a dynamic economy and this presents a unique problem for them. It means that they need to look for ways to raise enough capital for financing their business startup. But raising capital is not so easy and you have to be well aware of what you are stepping into before you start seeing any results.