The term resilience has become synonymous for SMEs that can weather Brexit - but what does this actually mean in the context of one of the most seismic events to effect the UK economy and private sector? Jenny Tooth, CEO of the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) comments.

Beauhurst highlights the UK’s fastest growing tech startups in 2018.

GTR Ventures, the world’s first investment and venture-building platform specialised in trade and supply chain, has announced three new deals with Lucidity, iLoan and RM-Tech. These three investments, representing an expanded pivot towards markets in China and South Asia, were announced on the first day of the Singapore Fintech Festival, the world’s largest fintech gathering.

Mercia Technologies portfolio company nDreams, the award-winning virtual reality (VR) developer and publisher, has set up a dedicated team to create VR games and experiences for the fast-growing location-based entertainment (LBE) market. The first two titles, Shooty Fruity Arcade and Perfect Balloon Flight, will hit arcades in the coming months.

Shooty Fruity Arcade sees the critically acclaimed home VR game tailored specifically for an over-the-top arcade experience, giving even more people the chance to prove their skills as a mutant fruit-shooting checkout assistant! nDreams has joined forces with the likes of Ctrl V, VR Junkies, SynthesisVR and SpringboardVR as key arcade partners, with the game launching this winter.

Helping people to find a co-founder would unlock the potential of UK entrepreneurship with millions more people likely to become entrepreneurs if they had someone to set up business with, new research from Octopus Group reveals.

One in three (33%) Britons have considered becoming an entrepreneur and a higher proportion (40%) agreed that having a co-founder would allow them to take the leap and start a business.

Those who are currently considering starting a business in the near future were even more positive about the impact a co-founder could make. Seven in ten (70%) prospective entrepreneurs agreed that a co-founder would allow them to take the leap and set up their own business.

Kernel Capital and Suir Valley Ventures have invested €2.25 million in Dundalk based Nova Leah Ltd. The round was led by the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund (RoI), with a €1.5M investment. Nova Leah has developed a pioneering cybersecurity compliance solution for medical device manufacturers and healthcare providers. It has been designed to improve the security of connected medical devices, improve patient safety and reduce associated regulatory costs. The platform has global deployments with a blue chip customer base.

Arthur Krebbers reveals new research by a team of American and Chinese business academics* which shows that bribe-giving can be an entrepreneurial underdog’s plan B.

BBC presenter Claudia Winkleman hosted the 2018 Growth Investor Awards ceremony. Over 450 movers and shakers from the UK’s vibrant SME investment community attended the fourth annual black-tie dinner to celebrate the stellar success of 16 award winners. Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and Malton opened up the ceremony with a keynote speech.

FreeOx Biotech, a spin-out of Hospital Clinic Barcelona-IDIBAPS created in 2017 that is developing a new class of neuroprotective drugs, has closed its first round of funding with €500,000 from private investors Montserrat Esteve and Francisco Javier Alsina.

A week on from an Autumn Budget that failed to address the differences in opportunities for women in  compared to men,

Scottish startup Cyan Forensics, which develops digital forensic technology to help law enforcement catch criminals faster, has closed a £900,000 investment round led by Mercia Fund Managers, bringing its total funding to nearly £1.5million since it was founded in 2016.

AN INCUBATOR designed to help fledgling companies grow and thrive in County Durham has been launched at one of the region’s fastest growing business hubs.