The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on businesses and the economy in the UK. Access to finance for business, as provided by banks and financial services institutions, is imperative in these trying times. Whether you’re a shopkeeper, sole trader or multi-national company, the chances are you need help right now, and getting access to that support is a top priority. 

Working from home is the new norm for many professionals and it’s still not clear how long this new way of working will last. So for many small businesses this means adjusting and managing the logistics of running a business remotely for the foreseeable future.

London based FinTech Flagstone, developer of the UK’s largest cash deposit marketplace, has raised $15m (£12m) in venture capital in a round led by OMERS Ventures and supported by existing investors including Kindred Capital and Moneysupermarket Group plc.

As we emerge blinking into the light post lockdown, what will the ‘new normal’ look like? The questions that I am overhearing have changed very recently, from those covering how to survive during lockdown, to those focused around how to get back to normal working? In truth, the questions vary from the theoretical to the practical, but in essence they all ask, ‘how will we adapt to the ‘new normal’?

With most countries in some form of lockdown to slow the spread of CoVid-19, the business landscape for both startups and investors is almost unrecognisable to the start of 2020.

The UK government has taken a number of steps to support businesses and entrepreneurs during the Coronavirus pandemic. One of its flagship schemes is the Future Fund, a £250m package that provides a financial lifeline for innovative startups.

Bot-Hive, a digital marketplace for robotics and AI solutions has successfully completed a six-figure equity funding round. Bot-Hive is a digital marketplace which connects SMEs with the right automation technology for their business and shows them the best way to introduce robots to their workflow processes.

Covid has dominated our lives for the last month. Business models that have existed for years have disappeared overnight. However, it’s not all doom and gloom for startups. Covid has also created a huge opportunity for us to serve people in new and surprising ways. 

Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s growing tech ecosystem, has expanded to 51 startups with the announcement of 15 new joiners to the Hub71 Incentive Program. The Hub71 Selection Committee prioritized global startups in the field of HealthTech and EdTech, which provide essential technologies to support the private and public sector as they adapt to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Founded in early 2019, Funded.club provides recruiting services for startups and scale-ups. Rather than charging based on a percentage of annual salary, Funded.club receives only low success fees that come in 70-80% less than a regular recruiting agency, irrespective of the salary offered or how long it takes to fill a position.

Provider of technology solutions for merchants, banks and capital markets firms, FIS has announced that FIS Ventures, the newly created corporate venture investment division of FIS, has launched an effort to invest a target of $150m in promising fintech startups over the next three years.

Robotical, the edtech startup behind Marty the Robot, has today announced that it is working with South African NGO, Got Game, on Nokia’s Helping hands project to deliver education to previously disadvantaged youths in South Africa.

Temenos, the banking software company, has announced the launch of Explainable AI (XAI) models to enable banks and credit unions to rapidly offer loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have seen their cash flow disrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak. These patented XAI models allow banks to accelerate digital onboarding, conduct eligibility checks and process loan applications for SMEs and retail customers.

Right now we are in uncharted territory. COVID-19 is here, we don't know how long for, and it is affecting so many people in so many different ways. Everyone is feeling different things and everyone has different circumstances. You are not others, others are not you.

The first step in an energy company collaborating with a startup is to ask itself a simple question: why? In part one of this series, we answered that from a wide-angle perspective – because the industry needs to innovate to keep up with the pace of change, and collaboration with startups appears the quickest, surest way to do so. Because the old model of fiercely guarded, siloed research has reached its limit.

The world has been turned upside down and shaken vigorously. Businesses are now scrambling to pick up the pieces and regain a handle on how they can push ahead during these difficult, uncertain times.

More than 28-days on from the Prime Minister’s lockdown measures closed the door on many businesses, Toby Harper said help, for many, was still 'painfully slow.' He said the Chancellor’s new £1.25bn coronavirus package to protect firms driving innovation in UK , which includes a £500m investment fund, asks more questions than it answers. 

Around nine million accidents happen in Germany every year – sometimes with lasting health consequences for those affected. Personal accident insurance helps to cushion the financial burden. Getsafe has decided to offer its customers a digital accident insurance product. This marks an important step for the company towards life insurance and shows that even personal, complex insurance products work on the smartphone. 

Codota, an AI software for developers, acquired its competitor TabNine last year. The company has also announced the global launch of its complete version for JavaScript, merging Codota's semantic technology with TabNine’s textual one for suitable accuracy for developers.

Job roles within tech increased by 40% in the first third of the year thanks to a surge in-demand within the ‘hybrid-tech sector’ – namely fintech, edtech, healthtech, and agritech – according to global recruiter Robert Walters.