Startup Recruitment

There has been an 83% fall in seed-stage investment in UK startups between 23rd March and 17th May 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, according to new research by Plexal and Beauhurst.

Overall UK tech startup funding saw a 50% drop year-on-year during the same period, confirming that, although many startups are struggling to raise funds, seed-stage startups have been the hardest hit.

The Coronavirus pandemic could result in the permanent move to remote working for many people, as companies are forced to encourage home working to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

After being forced to set-up a home office and get used to using cloud remote working tools, employees will be reluctant to return to commuting to the office 5 days a week and asking if they need to do this. This might be an opportunity for huge change in the way we work.

As the UK enters its fourth week of the Coronavirus lockdown, Richard Wheeler Associates is still fully open for business as usual.

RWA has operated a remote working policy for many years, which means we are set-up for and used to working from home. Luckily, the lockdown has not presented any major challenges to the way we work.

Fast-growing UK tech companies secured a record £5.5bn in foreign investment in the first seven months of this year, according to research for the government’s digital economy council. The study for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) revealed that the UK has overtaken the US for the amount of investment per capita.

Funding growth was driven by US and Asian investment in private companies valued at more than $1bn, such as a renewable energy company Ovo Energy and takeaway business Deliveroo.

A recent report ‘EEA Migration in the UK’ published by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommended that there should be no preferential access to the UK for EU citizens post Brexit.

The report was commissioned to provide evidence for the design of a new migration system and found that there is evidence that immigration has, on average, a positive impact on productivity; some evidence that this impact is larger for high-skilled migrants than lower-skilled migrants and that high-skilled immigrants increase innovation.

The UK is no longer the top European destination for foreign workers - results from the Decoding Global Talent 2018 report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and The Network have shown. Germany has replaced it as the European country most job seekers would consider moving to and Germany is now the second most popular work destination worldwide, behind the US.

The battle now raging between the big technology companies for consumer cash is focused on Smart Speakers with integrated AI voice assistants. Having already conquered the pocket with the ubiquitous smartphone, big tech has been struggling to come up with the next must-have gadget that will open up a potentially lucrative new market - the home.

A pilot light was lit when Amazon’s Echo launched in 2014 and became a sleeper hit. The Echo is first a wireless speaker but is capable of much more and is now in its second generation with several variations available. Using nothing but the sound of your voice, the assistant uses natural language processing to play music, search the web, create to-do and shopping lists, shop online, get weather reports and dim your lights —all while your smartphone stays in your pocket.