Spotinst has raised $35 million in a Series-B funding round for its AI based workload management platform, which helps companies to manage and optimize their cloud computing spend across several cloud providers.

The funding round was led by Highland, with participation from existing investors Leaders Fund, Intel Capital, and Vertex Ventures. Spotinst has now raised approximately $52m since launch.

Founded by Amiram Shachar, Liran Polak and Aharon Twizer in 2015, Spotinst helps businesses to manage their compute infrastructure across different cloud providers, while also achieving savings of 80% on average on regular cloud computing costs, by tapping into excess compute capacity in data centres operated by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Apperio, the UK-based legal tech start-up transforming the way companies analyse their legal spend, today announces that it has raised $10 million (£7.5 million) in a Series A round, led by Draper Esprit and supported by existing investors Notion, IQ Capital and angels.

Apperio provides companies and their in-house legal teams with complete visibility of legal spend. It allows them to track both billed and unbilled hours, in real-time, run analytics and monitor law firm performance. The technology helps in-house teams to effectively manage budgets, while at the same time helping them to demonstrate value.

Arthur Krebbers offers some advice on how to deal with the peculiar mindset of the typical entrepreneur.

Anthony Rose, CEO & Founder at SeedLegals, discusses when it is right(or not) to give your investors a seat on the board.

A new pioneering investment app has been launched by one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations due to a “seismic shift in client expectations.”

UK's trade legacy is fintech charged, Brexit must be a springboard for international finance and trade or it could spell disaster says IW Capital. 

Private equity and venture capital investment into companies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) reached a record €3.5 billion in 2017, new data from Invest Europe reveals.

A 113% year-on-year increase, this amount surpasses the region’s previous peak in 2008 by 40%, according to the industry association’s Central and Eastern Europe Private Equity Statistics 2017 report, which also shows strong results across fundraising and exits. CEE’s consumer goods and services sector attracted the majority of investment capital with three-quarters of the total, while technology (ICT) followed with 11%. Polish companies were the big draw, receiving 71% of the total amount, followed by those in Romania, Hungary and Latvia respectively.

Ascension has partnered with India based Unicorn India Ventures to launch the first cross border EIS fund between the two countries. The Unicorn Ascension Fund (UAF) will invest in UK-based technology businesses, which can offer their products and services to the rapidly digitising economy in India. 

The EU crowdfunding framework proposed by the European Commission will help to build a capital markets union, foster innovation and support entrepreneurs and SMEs across the EU, says the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in a recently adopted opinion, which strongly supports the Commission's proposals.

The New Payment System Operator (NPSO) is copping out of its responsibility to provide the ‘Confirmation of Payee’ (CoP) service it promised the Treasury Select Committee it would deliver by 2018, says Robert Lyddon, an international banking and finance expert. 

While the future trading relationship with the EU remains unclear, the government’s ambitious new plans to support SMEs looking to export globally is welcome. SMEs are a vital part of the economy and the new strategy will help business owners leverage exporting opportunities, both inside and outside of the EU.

Business owners are being warned to ensure their offices feature seven important elements if they want to maximise their employees’ productivity and efficiency in the workplace.