In the loop: UK challenged to do more to boost female entrepreneurship and Apple workers’ window woes

We’ve rounded up the best startup stories from the last seven days. Check out why Bumble has outlawed profile pics with guns in them after the Parkland school shooting and what Uber’s ousted CEO Travis Kalanick plans to do next

In the loop: UK challenged to do more to boost female entrepreneurship and Apple workers’ window woes

UK barely makes global top ten list of good places for women to start a business

Few would argue against Britain being Europe’s primary startup nation. However, Blighty may still have some ways to go before female founders are on an even playing field with their male counterparts, new research from MasterCard, the financial-services company, reveals.

Having tracked startups in 57 markets across the world, the researchers ranked New Zealand as the best nation for female founders. The country was followed by Sweden, Canada and the US in that order. Embarrassingly, the UK came tenth.

On a similar note, this week also saw an open letter from 200 business leaders and MPs urge the government to do more to support female entrepreneurs. They said they were “deeply concerned” that women-led startups only receive 9% of VC funding in Britain. We can only agree.

Employees at Apple’s new campus keep walking into glass walls

Apple’s new headquarters opened their doors last year. But while the new campus has certainly wooed visitors, employees at Apple Park are seemingly struggling with the new building. To be more precise: they keep crashing into windows.

In 911 transcripts obtained by San Francisco Chronicle, three workers were revealed to have been left bloody and confused in January after having walked straight into glass doors and walls. And these were not the first times the glass walls and doors have been an issue. Apparently the ultra-transparent glass has caused some confusion in the past with employees resorting to sticking post-it notes to show where the walls are. Apple officials have said they’re working to solve the issue.

However, the big question that remains unanswered is what Microsoft thinks about Apple employees essentially failing to use windows.

Travis Kalanick launches a venture fund

Despite finding himself ousted as Uber’s CEO in June last year, Travis Kalanick has barely left the headlines. And it seems as if the controversial co-founder of the ride-hailing scaleup plans to keep it that way, having revealed this week that he’s starting a VC firm.

Dubbed 10100 and pronounced “ten one-hundred” the new fund will focus on “large-scale job creation” and invest in real estate and ecommerce, according to Kalanick’s announcement tweet. While few details are known, some speculate that the name indicates that it will primarily invest in startups with between ten and 100 employees.

Kalanick recently sold a third of his Uber shares for roughly $1.4bn. It’s great to see him willing to invest some of that money in the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Bumble bans guns in photos

No matter how you look at it, the devastating school shooting in Parkland Florida on Wednesday February 14 changed the debate about gun violence in America. Thanks to the surviving students’ unfaltering dedication to preventing similar tragedies, the movement for change keeps gaining momentum. And tech startups are actively joining these students and taking a stand.

For instance, this week saw Bumble, the dating app, ban profile pictures with firearms and knives in them. Moreover, the startup also announced a $100,000 donation to March For Our Lives, the organisation founded by survivors of the Parkland tragedy.

Afterward Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO and founder of Bumble, told Time Magazine that the company has “received very ugly messages” in response to the decision, which makes the startup’s position even more admirable.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eric Johansson
Eric Johansson
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