A new campaign to help small businesses take action on climate change, by becoming more sustainable and committing to Net Zero, is being launched by Small Business Britain.

For Mental Health Awareness Week, Startups Magazine spoke to Jamie Kerr, Founder of MindKite, a mental wellbeing social media app and global community platform launching in early May 2021.

As a travel company dedicated to putting travellers first, user research has always been an important part of our work. However, in 2020 it took centre stage when the unpredictable happened and a global pandemic changed entire industries overnight.

Whether it’s in a forest, field, garden, tree lined avenue, or plant-filled corner of your home, spending just two hours a week with nature is enough improve our mental and physical health.

Running a zero-waste business always starts with passion. Passion for the products, passion for ‘being better’ and passion for the planet. In order to ensure that you’re going to have the biggest impact, you need to consider all elements of your business from manufacturing and supply chain to the packaging that you use.

Ski instructor marketplace, Maison Sport has completed a new round of funding, achieving a raise of £1.25m, following collaboration with a collective of investors, alongside a Seedrs crowdfunding campaign.

To support ambitious early-stage entrepreneurs developing technologies with the potential to shape the future economy, SFC Capital has invested £25m in 120 companies (April 2020 - April 2021).

One presumption about tech-for-good startups is that they generate less profit than traditional tech companies. This is a myth - they need to take care to prevent the nobility of the cause from getting in the way of their financial ambition, but there is no fundamental conflict between good business and business for good.

If there’s one thing startup founders can take from 2020, it’s that the future is unpredictable in many ways. With the reminder that unexpected factors can affect plans at any time, a key takeaway is to stay agile and build an organisation that can respond to almost any circumstances.

It goes without saying that in 2020 COVID-19 shook humanity to the very core. Millions lost their lives and even more lost their livelihoods. But even amid all this chaos and uncertainty, there’s one group of people who are somehow still finding possibilities in a pandemic.

The global value of marketplace unicorns has soared by 70% since January 2020, fuelled by a rise in innovation and adoption as a result of COVID and record-breaking levels of VC investment, according to new figures. 

With life in the UK beginning to unlock, many employees will be keen to re-book routine check-ups and medical procedures that were cancelled during the peak of the coronavirus crisis. There is, however, a huge backlog of appointments and GPs are still under an enormous strain.

Absence management platform, e-days, has launched its Absence Risk Profiling Report informed by its work with 5,000+ businesses over the last 10 years. The comprehensive report summarises a decade of anonymised data collected on businesses that are looking to improve absence and compresses years of conversations, analysis, and market statistics into one report.

A brand-new and unique smart banking app that encourages sustainable living is releasing a beta product in the coming weeks to start testing with early users before launching to the wider public this summer.

Here, Startups Magazine speaks to Hristian Nedyalkov, Co-founder and CEO at Novus, the next generation impact-driven sustainable banking app.

Innovation, by its very nature, involves change and disruption. This is undisputed, but many businesses can, naturally, have some reservations about disrupting themselves too much. After all, change can often seem like a scary thing. But businesses have now been forced to change by something well beyond their control. The aptitude to risk has changed and ‘pandemic’ will be referenced in the PESTLE analysis of every university student's dissertation for years to come.

The International Live Events Association (ILEA) has partnered with the first Event Tech Live (ETL) USA and Canada, which takes place next month, spreading show news to its more than 45 branches around the world.

Israeli startup, EVR Motors has unveiled an innovative electric motor, based on a new patented topology, which it calls TSRF (Trapezoidal Stator Radial Flux). The company has successfully developed and tested the first prototypes of its lightweight and compact TSRF motor. EVR expects its new motor architecture will be adapted to a wide range of vehicles in cooperation with automotive OEMs and Tier 1s. A production-ready motor is scheduled to be introduced to the global market later this year.

Addressing climate change requires innovation across the world, across industries, and across startups and multi-national corporations. From distributed energy to storage solutions to efficiency and optimisation software - clean technology investment and innovation is surging.

Today’s consumers are an evolved, diverse and versatile breed with ever-changing expectations. They make educated choices, are equipped with relevant information, and continuously challenge the enterprises they interact with. That said, enterprises that go the extra mile to understand their customers and their customers’ needs have an added advantage.