Social media has been a phenomenon. Before Facebook’s founding in 2004 there was the likes of Bebo, Faceparty, and MySpace. However, the last ten years have seen a huge spike in both users of social media and reasons for using it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the economy hard, and small businesses in particular. The UK Government is moving at great pace to implement unprecedented economic assistance measures, but even with their best efforts, the dramatic drop in footfall over recent weeks has made it difficult for small businesses to survive even in the short interim period.

STARTUP3 is a new business acceleration programme that aims to bring innovative tech ideas into the industry through its extensive business and growth programme and pool of corporates and investors! Funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 programme, it allows startups and SMEs to gain extensive and expensive set of business services for free, mentors from big European corporations, direct access to the corporations and investors.

As a keen runner, I have always felt a little caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to headphones while exercising – from the inner earbuds, which while relatively comfortable, tend to be quite unstable and are prone to falling out; and the over-ear versions which are pretty sturdy but by the end of a run feel like they’ve pushed your ears through a mangle (and are not to mention very sweaty). My interest was piqued therefore, when I heard about a new earphone kid on the block, Drown Audio, so I was all-ears when I spoke to Founder and President, Mark O’Callaghan.

Coronavirus is on everyone’s lips, not literally but figuratively. And for very good reason. It seems so long ago already that the only thing in the news was all things Brexit, and how companies will need to adapt in order to survive, and now that has been brushed aside by a much bigger and more urgent threat – coronavirus.

Farm491, the AgriTech incubator based at the Royal Agricultural University, has adapted its season of events exploring the future of British Farming to comply with the UK’s Covid-19 social distancing measures. The organisation has developed a programme of webinars throughout April, many of which will be available to everyone, with a few select online events being held exclusively for its members.

The current global situation has affected many different industries, businesses and individuals and it is safe to say we are only just getting into the real mix of it. A lot of people have been talking recently how this could change the world in some way forever. One area that is has affected in an interesting way in the insurance technology area. We decided to catch up with and ask a few questions to Christian Wiens, CEO and founder of Getsafe about the insurtech space, and the current situation for them. 

Tickets have been launched for a leadership conference that will bring some big names to the town on the 23rd September 2020, as part of a conference organised by Shropshire HR to ‘inspire, challenge and evolve’ leadership in the region.

When Monzo needed to launch their new business accounts, they asked Studio Output to help develop the visual identity. Over a series of design sprints, the partnership delivered an identity system with the simplicity and magic people love about Monzo, and the trust and reassurance businesses need from a bank.

Kickstart is welcoming applications for the fifth iteration of its annual B2B scale-up programme aimed at late-stage startups interested in entering the Swiss market.

Prior to the UK-wide lock-down, Startups Magazine attended a London-based panel discussion, hosted by business advice and consultancy company Invigorate, to address some of the barriers, misconceptions and challenges facing female founders and what the future has in store over the next ten years.

If you ran a hotel right now, apart from running around looking for toilet rolls, you'd be doing some essential maintenance to the building. The sort of thing you never do because there's always ‘the day job’ of running your establishment.

British tech startup StageClip is in active discussions with over 250 American universities to facilitate 'virtual graduations' in light of many in-person ceremonies having to be postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

Pluralsight, the enterprise technology skills platform, has announced that in an effort to encourage technology learners around the world to stay safe and stay home, the company is offering full access to its entire platform of technology skill development courses for free throughout the month of April. Technology learners that currently do not have a paid Pluralsight subscription can now access more than 7,000 courses taught by the world’s leading experts in their respective fields free of charge.

VoxSmart, the global leader in communications surveillance technology for Financial Markets, has recently announced a strategic funding round of £5.5m ($7.2m) from NatWest. 

Smartlands has received the 'Best Crowdfunding Platform' award from the fintech breakthrough awards, which recognises the top companies and products in the financial services and technology industry today.

Kemp Little has launched a free advisory resource to help businesses navigate tax, legal and financial processes thrown into discord by Coronavirus.

When we speak of gender equality, we like to think, in 2020, that we’ve come a long way from the patriarchal society of days gone by. Which is of course true, however, when it comes to business there are still battles to be won and barriers to break down.

This startup has one of the nicest mission’s I have ever come across, and especially with the current global situation it seems we can all use a little bit of Livitay in our lives. At Livitay they are on a mission to make people happier at work. Day to day the co-founders, Jack Needham, James Naylor want to empower teams and individuals to take their wellbeing into their own hands using technology.

Treedy’s, the technology market-leader in ensuring the right clothing size for customers via instantaneous, fully-clothed and precise scanning technology, today announced it is making available its first generation software as open-source in order to facilitate access to its cutting edge quality 3D scans by research institutions, universities and other non-profit organisations.