When was the last time you gave your business a gift?

At Christmas we often think about giving gifts to our nearest and dearest. Well, is your business not something you care deeply about? Why not give your business some gifts this year. Often, we can get so busy this time of year, wrapping presents but also wrapping up as much as we possibly can before we take some well-deserved time off over the festive season. In all that business, we forget to take a step back and see what our business may need, or what may be of significant benefit for our businesses this year.

Despite Christmas having a reputation for being a quiet time for fundraising, many founders will continue negotiating rounds over the holiday season.

As we approach 2025, personal branding is no longer optional for entrepreneurs. It has evolved into a necessary component to achieve personal and professional success.

With registered company insolvencies the highest they have been for a decade, and 50% of new businesses failing within three years, many SMEs face financial trouble; to the point of having to fold. This usually comes down to finances. Many small business owners don't have any accounting qualifications, may never have seen a cash flow statement before, or understand the nuances in respect of tax and VAT. Michael Steed, President of AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians), shares the ‘danger’ signs small businesses need to look out for which indicate they may be in difficulty, and what they can do if they find themselves in financial trouble.

UK startups face a stark challenge: early-stage graduation rates, from Seed to Series A funding, have dropped dramatically from 12.5% in 2020 to just 4.5%. This trend highlights deep-set vulnerabilities in the UK’s startup ecosystem, compounded by a notable slowdown in new tech company incorporations. These shifts have serious implications for the UK’s ability to foster innovation and economic growth.

Tips and tricks from an investor, a startupper, and an event manager.

When it comes to building a sustainable business, the road from ideation to implementation can be challenging, tough, brutal, emotional… but also immensely rewarding. At Growth Studio, we've been fortunate to guide hundreds of startups through this journey, particularly through our work with the recent Amazon Sustainability Accelerator where we put these principles into real action (and for context, the startups we have worked with at Amazon have raised over £39 million in the past three years and increased their sales by over 700%). 

Entrepreneurship often comes with a relentless drive to succeed, the weight of expectations, and the need to constantly be “on.” For many entrepreneurs, these pressures manifest as high-functioning anxiety, which is a state where outward appearances of success mask an internal struggle with overthinking, self-doubt, and chronic stress. It’s like building a business with the brakes on: progress is possible, but it’s slow, draining, and riddled with inefficiencies.

With the colder weather and shorter days, many of us notice shifts in mood and energy levels. For me, winter often means feeling more tired, a need for more sleep, and less time outside – just as work and life seem to be at their busiest.

Get ready for a world where robots walk among us – and I'm not talking about your coffee-addicted co-workers on Monday mornings. As we approach 2025, the world of robotics is on the brink of a transformation that promises to reshape our daily lives and workplaces.

Startups Magazine is excited to announce that we will once again be exhibiting at CES in Las Vegas, on the 7th-10th of January. If you’re attending the show, come by Stand 60311 at Eureka Park to pick up a copy of our Survival Guide, and have a chat with the team!

The New Year offers a unique opportunity for startups to recalibrate, innovate, and plan for sustainable growth. Drawing insights from my column in 2024, here’s a list of New Year’s resolutions for founders and marketers to navigate the challenging yet rewarding startup to scaleup journey.

tiun, a fintech helping media providers to attract, engage and convert younger audiences, has announced a $2.5 million pre-seed funding round led by Founderful. The funds will kick-start their efforts to become Europe's preferred way to pay for online media.

Midlife women are disproportionately held back from founding socially responsible businesses due to competing household and financial demands, according to new research.

bp Ventures has invested $9 million into Zingbus, leading its Series A funding round. The startup, headquartered in Delhi, has built a tech solutions platform for electric bus operators and their customers travelling between cities. Zingbus’ platform provides front and back end digital infrastructure for bus operators, including pricing, fleet management and route optimisation services, together with a dedicated ticketing marketplace.

A month on and the dust is still settling from the outcome of the US Presidential Election, with Republican candidate Donald Trump emerging victorious for the second time, making him the USA’s 47th President.

Personalisation has become one of the most useful tools for business. It can help enhance customer service and experience and drive sales. However, with customers becoming increasingly protective of their data and businesses able to access so much of it, privacy also matters. So, how can businesses strike the balance between personalisation and privacy without crossing ethical lines?

Fintech is a relentless force of innovation, reshaping industries and challenging the status quo. At Intergiro, we’ve built our reputation on spotting trends early, embedding finance where it’s needed most, and delivering solutions that make workflows seamless.

According to new research from Dext, the bookkeeping automation platform provider, the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) surveyed could be losing a staggering average of £742 every month from incorrect invoicing stemming from poor tracking of rechargeable expenses. With the UK home to over 5.5 million SMBs, the figures indicate up to a £1.1 billion monthly shortfall in the economy, signalling the need for a massive overhaul of outdated expense management practices.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on December 9 that it will operate its largest-ever exhibition space for Seoul-based startups at CES 2025, the world's largest consumer electronics and ICT trade show. The event will run from January 7 to 10, 2025, in Las Vegas, showcasing cutting-edge technologies from emerging companies worldwide.