Many startups would have been forgiven for spending the last three months focusing purely on survival. Yet, as lockdown restrictions lift, an alternative story is beginning to emerge.

Startups Magazine recently spoke to Nicky Pasquier, CEO Virtuoso Assistant, the digital marketing for entrepreneurs and small business. 

Launching a new business is not for the faint hearted even when market conditions are ‘perfect’. Doing that in the midst of the worst global pandemic in over a century is, by any standards, rather bold.

Bagboard, the creation of former credit trader Ben Ayres, advertising executive Ashleigh Bishop, and startup specialist Charlie Ayres, has hit over 100% funded with 13 days remaining. Bagboard marries major brand advertising campaigns and environmental impact, with a mission to empower consumers to use their collective spending power as a force for good.

Neuroscience-based people development company, Sesh has announced that it has secured $1.6m in pre-seed funding. The funding will enable Sesh to accelerate the development of its human comprehension AI, ​Empath​, that identifies states of mind and emotional mood of people in any video source.

Technology has come a long way in the past decade, and the telecoms industry is no exception. Since 2010, this sector has seen incredible advancements and the worldwide revenue of telecoms services is estimated to be £1,026bn.

Online investment platform, Seedrs has announced record-breaking activity levels on its Secondary Market, following the introduction of variable pricing in the August trading window. The introduction of variable pricing offered sellers the opportunity to list their shares at either a premium or a discount of 10%, 20% or 30%, relative to the mark-to-market share price and was developed in consultation with Seedrs entrepreneur and investor communities.

The Women On Top Podcast has announced its exciting brand expansion. This new direction will see the podcast evolve into a multimedia digital platform including online magazine, email newsletter, podcast and virtual events later in the year.

Nova, the Liverpool-based tech cofoundery have provided us with another great startup to speak to. This time we chat to Georgia Wheadon, Founder of Umii, the app designed to tackle lonliness at uni.

Right now, your customers are likely continuing to be bombarded with emails about COVID-19 — from their local supermarket, pet store, doctor, restaurant, gym, the list goes on — particularly as lockdown restrictions begin to ease.  

The startup bootcamp Renegade Academy from Huckletree is back this September. It’s a 6-day (evenings only) interactive bootcamp for people with a business idea or concept, to help them get it off the ground.

A London-based business growth agency is offering free coaching and mentoring sessions for aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to launch their own startup.

Investment syndicate, Equity Gap is celebrating 10 years as one of Scotland’s most successful angel investment groups with record investment figures and a healthy pipeline of new deals. Meeting the challenge of COVID-19 head on, the syndicate completed 22 investments in the first half of 2020, with total member funds invested since inception topping £20m.

Crowdcube has launched a new flagship secondary product, the Direct Community Offer (DCO). The DCO gives later-stage businesses a way of offering early investors a return on their investment while simultaneously giving new investors a chance to buy a stake in a business they believe in.

Taking single use plastics out of circulation is no easy feat, but the answer might lie closer than we think.

Coronavirus has caused businesses around the world to face the most impactful shake up in traditional operations many of us have ever experienced, one person who knows a lot about businesses is Business Development Director at The Translation People, Alan White, so Startups Magazine spoke to him about the current climate.

Murata has announced the launch of its Open Innovation website to create collaborative relationships with startups to develop solutions in the mobility, energy, healthcare, and wireless markets.

The coronavirus crisis and the impact it has had on businesses and financial resources has made the prospect of growing a business seem like a distant reality for some organisations. But for British small and medium-sized B2B organisations, Brexit is an opportunity to look beyond the EU to new geographies.

As part of its increasing investment in digital technologies, global motor and industrial equipment manufacturer, WEG has acquired control of a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) business. Mvisiais a Brazil-based machine vision startup that specialises in applying AI tools in industry.

Otter.ai announced today the launch of Otter for Events - a new collaboration service that completely changes the virtual and offline events experience for organisers and audiences alike. With Otter Live Notes’ AI technology fully capturing event conversations and turning them into highly accurate interactive, collaborative transcripts in real-time, this offering provides a wealth of previously untapped benefits and value. It is targeted at any organisation hosting a virtual, live, or in-person event - no matter the audience size.