L Marks plans US expansion
Having only launched in 2012, L Marks, the accelerator, has already partnered up with giants like BMW, John Lewis and Arsenal to enable entrepreneurs to scale their startups. And now it plans to do the same in the US.
This week the accelerator announced that it will open a new centre in Columbus, Ohio. With the new centre, L Marks plans to build close partnerships with the numerous huge companies that have their headquarters in the American midwest.
Commenting on the launch, Daniel Saunders, CEO of L Marks, said: “Whilst most companies don’t look beyond the east and west coasts, at L Marks we like to think more laterally and in the midwest we have a region with a huge cluster of major corporates and a booming scene crying out for the innovation expertise that we offer.”
As L Marks establishes even stronger ties across the pond, going forward, we’re confident that its new partnerships will benefit the UK startups the accelerator supports too.
Workers blame bosses for lack of productivity
Britain is lagging behind other countries when it comes to productivity. For instance, it was a huge talking point in the last spring statement. However, while others have blamed poor infrastructure and low education for the discouraging output, Fellowes, the office product specialists, has released a new survey that seems to put the blame on corporate head honchos.
Having surveyed 1,250 office workers, the researchers found that over a third thinks their bosses weren’t doing enough to boost productivity and 40% thought they were more productive than their employer. Looking at the biggest distractions, Fellowes found that 47% got derailed from work by talking to colleagues, 29% blamed emails and 24% said mobile phones were another huge disturbance.
It seems as if employers want to boost productivity, they have to start with themselves before introducing some stricter rules around the office.
Trussle lands £13.6m series B
From Settled to Yopa, there is certainly no shortage of startups revolutionising the property market. But while those two examples focus on the buying and selling of a place, other proptech startups have their eyes fixed on fixing the funding behind these deals. One of them is Trussle, the online mortgage broker, that this week announced the closing of an impressive £13.6m series B round.
Founded in 2015, the company’s latest round was lead by Goldman Sachs but also included capital injections from the VC firms Fintech Capital and Seedcamp, both of which have contributed to previous rounds.
According to Ishaan Malhi, CEO and founder of Trussle, the funding will be used to build the startup’s brand and product, with the goal to digitise “the end-to-end journey to make home ownership more affordable and accessible to all.”
With investments like these, it’s safe to say that it won’t be long before the property market is changed forever.
GDPR is making people more eager to share data
With two weeks left before the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on Friday May 25, SMEs around the UK are rushing to ensure they’re compliant. Fortunately, all the hassle may be worth it as customers may be more prone to share their data if it’s safely stored.
According to a new report commissioned by DMA, the trade association for the one-to-one marketing industry, and Acxiom, the data marketing advisement firm, two-thirds of consumers feel more confident to share data with businesses due to the incoming laws.
Additionally, it found that 57% prefer to receive some form of personalised marketing from companies and 62% realised that companies need data to prevent irrelevant marketing from reaching their inbox.
British businesses are bullish about international trade
It’s hardly a secret that many SMEs worry about Brexit. Fortunately, new research this week showed that one-fourth of businesses plans to expand into new international markets in the next quarter, with 30% of small-business owners being bullish about international growth.
How to protect your startup ideas
If you have a killer idea for startup, then you better be careful or risk having it stolen. To make it easier, we’ve collected a few tips on how to ensure you, and nobody else, profit from your light-bulb moment. And yes, that was our own totally unique idea.
Airsorted’s new round and perk for animal lovers
Working in a startup doesn’t always mean having a great work-life balance. However, to attract and retain great talent, you may have to offer some great perks. This is something Airsorted understands, having just given new pet owners the option to work from home for a week as their animal acclimatises to their new home. Oh, and the Airbnb host management startup also raised £2.1m in a crowdfunding campaign. But let’s focus on the puppies.
UK retail sales plummet from record high to record low
If anyone expected retail to pick up the pace with the warmer weather, they were surely disappointed this week. Not only did new research show that sales dropped but they also crashed faster than any time in the last 23 years. Yikes.
More than half of UK professionals want another Brexit vote
With the official divorce date between the EU and the UK moving closer, it seems as if many British professionals are less than satisfied with their employers’ preparations for the split. New research from a Morgan McKinley survey shows that 58% want another Brexit vote and 87% didn’t believe the government would get a good deal for Britain.
Debunking cryptocurrency myths
As the buzz around cryptocurrencies is getting louder every day, we looked into the six most common misunderstandings about these new digital assets. From equating all cryptocurrencies to bitcoin to thinking they’re only used by criminals, we made sure to put the record straight. 
