Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), are being given the chance to engage with their bigger counterparts, along with education and governments, in order to help drive policy reform, close the skills gap, and generate growth, it has been announced.

Ukrainian startup GetOrder, a rising star in the restaurant-tech sector, has raised $250,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by the venture capital fund Digital Future, with additional backing from the United Angels Network. The funding will drive the company’s expansion into European markets and enhance its product offerings for the restaurant industry, aiming to streamline operations and improve efficiency.

AI skills are important in today’s knowledge economy – there’s no doubt about it. Roles requiring such abilities are growing 3.5 times faster than all other jobs combined, meaning that workers need to learn about AI to avoid falling behind their peers. This is especially true in the UK, where knowledge-intensive sectors like financial services, professional services, and technology dominate economic growth.

Growth is what we are all aiming for. In fact, it is the number one mission of the UK government. For founders and startups, the great success stories of the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) being preserved in the UK Budget was welcome news. As was the extension of the sunset clause of the EIS and Venture Capital Trust (VCT) schemes to April 2035 in the Autumn Statement.

The emergence of "death tech" is reshaping how society approaches end-of-life matters, transforming a traditionally sombre industry into one ripe for innovation and growth. Valued at £78 billion, this sector aligns with the burgeoning silver economy, which is projected to reach €5.7 trillion (a third of Europe’s GDP) by 2025.

Global research group, The Hurun Research Institute, has just released the Hurun UK Under30s 2024, showcasing outstanding young entrepreneurs in the UK who are driving growth and job creation.  

Biolevate, a software company accelerating healthcare innovations through AI, has announced that it has raised €6 million in a seed funding round led by EQT Ventures, with participation from bpifrance and prominent angel investors.

The Invest in Women Taskforce has secured over £250 million in funding to support female entrepreneurs in the UK.

After the success of its latest edition, Digital Enterprise Show (DES) 2025 is gearing up for its ninth annual event in Málaga, strengthening the Costa del Sol capital as a European hub for technological innovation. The event is expected to host over 17,000 executives. This year’s edition will again highlight Artificial Intelligence (AI), not only for its transformative impact on digital transition but also for its crucial role in structuring and coordinating various business areas. AI acts as a "digital brain" capable of managing the complexities of today’s technological landscape and ensuring organisational success.

This international hub on cybersecurity, co-funded by Instituto Nacional de Ciberseguridad (INCIBE), an entity under Ministerio para la Transformación Digital y de la Función Pública, through Secretaría de Estado de Digitalización e Inteligencia Artificial, and Universidad de Salamanca has connected Spanish companies with international investors by attending the Finnish event on 20-21 November.

MAGIC AI, the startup that has created the fitness mirror that uses AI to track and train its users has announced it has raised a $5 million funding round.

Vegan meal kit startup Allplants has officially entered administration, with 65 members of its staff having been made redundant already.

The holiday shopping extravaganza of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is fast approaching, and this four-day window isn't just the busiest shopping period of the year, but a golden opportunity for e-commerce businesses to drive sales, attract new customers and supercharge their bottom line.

When Hermann Hauser, co-founder of Acorn Computers in the late 70s and Arm Holdings in the early 90s was asked about quantum computing’s potential recently, he drew a comparison to the early days of personal computing. Back then, the stakes were high, the technology unproven, and the promise uncertain and yet the rewards for those who took the leap were transformative.

emma, the cloud management platform transforming how businesses optimise and scale their cloud infrastructure, has announced the successful closure of its $17 million Series A funding round. This follows its $6 million Seed Round in March 2023, bringing total funding to $23 million within two years. 

A new study, ‘Women Founders in European Deep Tech Startups’ reveals that women founders in the field receive less total funding compared with male founders. According to the study, women are underrepresented in deeptech startups, with less than one quarter (24%) of deeptech startups created in 2022 having at least one woman in the founding team.

Over three-quarters (76%) of UK software buyers expect their business to increase spending on software in 2025, according to Capterra’s 2025 Tech Trends survey. Of this group, 59% expect to spend between 5%-15% more on digital solutions next year compared to 2024.

In law school, one of the first things we learned about negotiation came from Roger Fisher's book "Getting to Yes" – the crucial difference between interest-based and position-based negotiation. Position-based negotiation is fighting over what each party says they want. Interest-based negotiation focuses on understanding why they want it.

Guy Hayler is co-founder of Blue Earth Summit, and Blue Earth Forum – annual events in London that connect 1,000s of climate tech and planet positive innovators, investors, campaigners and policy makers.

Northern Gritstone, the investment company focused on science and technology businesses in the North of England and chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill, has announced a combined £4 million seed round investment into Exciting Instruments with co-investors Empirical Ventures, who led on scientific due diligence, NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance (managed by Praetura Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II) and serial entrepreneurs Stan Boland and Jonathan Millner.