South Summit Madrid 2023, co-organised by IE University, has announced the 100 finalists of its Startup Competition, which this year has broken its record of participation. The finalists, from 21 different countries, will compete to be crowned the most innovative startup in the world during the eleventh edition of the event, which will take place from 7th to the 9th of June at La Nave in Madrid.

For most startups, breaking into the enterprise market can be a challenge. The sales cycles are long, regulatory compliance is daunting, and making sure your product can handle the scale and reliability that enterprise buyers demand can be tough.

Global employee pay company, CloudPay, has partnered with the global reward and recognition platform, Perkbox, to empower HR leaders across the globe, by offering their employees financial flexibility and control.

Climb23, a brand-new business festival aimed at bringing the investment ecosystem and tech startup and scaleup community together, will take place in Leeds on May 23-24. Hosted by Investor Ladder, the event will provide content-rich sessions and networking opportunities to help investors and businesses overcome the challenges faced when accessing potential beyond their own local networks – and accelerate investment into regional ecosystems.

Many hundreds of thousands of new businesses are set up each year in the UK. Indeed, according to Companies House, just over 200,000 new businesses were established in the first three months of 2023. For some, the founders will be content with a lifestyle business or will not wish to scale in any meaningful way. But the majority of businesses will need to raise some form of funding and for many this will be during the early-stage of the business when it is looking to scale.

June 19-23 sees the launch of National Women’s Enterprise Week (NWEW), the first ever UK wide celebration of female led businesses. 

Calling all founders! If you have a disruptive idea that you want to get in front of an audience of investors, changemakers and potential customers, TNW Conference 2023 is the place to be. TNW’s yearly flagship event once more supports founders in their quest to find funding by putting their startup in the spotlight. Will you meet your next backer? We’ll do the intros, so you can work your magic!

Space has inspired countless generations of people who have marvelled at the night sky. It’s no wonder then that the space sector proves to be an attractive option, especially for fresh graduates and early career engineers. But the realities of a sector where remuneration for highly-skilled engineering talent struggles to keep pace with other industries means it is hard for space businesses to retain good talent.

Hattrick is the first female-founded marcomms and PR agency to gain B-Corp status in Manchester. The region has been touted as a UK hotspot for sustainable business in 2023 by B Lab UK, the not-for-profit behind the stringent Certification movement.

In the second instalment of our four-article series, we looked at how startups can often partner with each other to secure cutting-edge solutions, leading to competitive advantages.

In honour of World Password Day, NordPass remind internet users of the most common mistake they make when creating their passwords.

Small businesses hire on average three unsuitable candidates a year with poor soft skills the biggest cause of mismatch, according to new research from global hiring platform Indeed. 

Technology industry leaders will gather in Parliament this month to discuss the future of the UK’s digital economy.

Amazon research shows investors reward startups with a firm commitment to sustainability – with more than half of UK investors declining a startup investment opportunity in the last 12 months due to concerns about a company’s sustainability credentials. The news comes as eight startups from the UK are unveiled as participants in the second Amazon Sustainability Accelerator.

Despite a rise in activity in the construction sector, a wave of strikes impacted the public sector and negated a comeback in consumer spending, causing Britain's economy to stagnate in February.

Huckletree, an independent workspace accelerator and innovation hub, has announced the opening of the Huckletree Innovation Lab at Regent’s University London this September, in line with the start of the academic year. The partnership aims to provide university students with access to a creative and entrepreneurial environment, nurturing a culture of innovation and collaboration on campus.

Ambr, a burnout prevention software company, announced that it has successfully closed its $900,000 pre-seed funding round. The investment was led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from Pi Labs, APX VC, Plug & Play, Loyal VC and a number of strategic angels.

We know from our own research that first-party misuse is increasing dramatically. Two thirds of the merchants we surveyed as part of our last annual Chargeback Field Report said that they have seen first-party misuse rise by an average of 28%. Every chargeback dispute can cost a company 2.5x the cost of the initial transaction and can necessitate companies setting up departments solely dedicated to recovering funds lost to chargebacks.

Fiverr the company that is revolutionising how the world works together, is introducing Fiverr Enterprise, formerly Stoke Talent.

Sustainability management and ESG reporting platform FuturePlus has closed an up-round of £750,000 with further investments from Two Magnolias, Vala Capital and HNW individuals and family offices. Funds raised will secure FuturePlus’ position as one of the hottest sustainability management and ESG reporting platforms since its launch in February 2022.