Kayleigh Ciara Kuptz

Are you looking for investors? At foundercentre we have a FREE interactive directory of over 240 UK INVESTORS! https://lnkd.in/ekYQBPZF Filter through which investor best suits your startup needs, and simply start sending applications out. Create a startup profile, and showcase it now! We use specific, targeted questions during the signup stage to ensure that all profiles contain the relevant information in a standardised format for Investors. No more sending back-and-forth emails. Simply copy and paste your unique URL- and Investors can see everything they need about your startup. At foundercentre we are the only FREE startup site to contain centralised directories for everything a UK startup needs. From Investors to Co-Working spaces, founders can now find everything they need, with the click of a button. Grow your startup now for free... #foundercentre #investors #startups #founder #startupspace #ideas

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Following the Johnson v Firstrand bank decision, we've deepened our partnership with the NACFB 🤝 Now, accessing their templates directly from our platform is easier than ever 🌟 Choose the template, add your custom branding, and you're set to go 💼 Take the commission disclosure template for example 🎯 Just input the deal details and send it off for signing in seconds ⏱️ It's that simple! ✨ #NACFB #DocumentAutomation #OperationalEfficiency #Finance ------- 👋 Hi - I'm Josh from Doc2. We work with finance businesses, getting your contracts created and eSigned faster with total compliance and oversight.

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Edinburgh-based Computer Application Services Ltd (CAS) has secured an additional £500,000 equity investment to boost growth.   The company is increasingly referred to by its product name, Workpro, a software system for managing customer complaints and HR casework. Organic growth is providing a 20% uplift this year but, with the market quickly opening up to the benefits of using this software, it’s time to pick up the pace.  Managing workload is just part of the solution - Workpro ensures compliance with procedures which, if not observed, too easily lead to pain and penalties.  Insightful reports let users see where they are “attracting trouble” so that prevention of future issues becomes part of the package.   Maintaining a digital presence – being easily found when people come searching is an obvious must for the marketing team, a never ending task in a busy online world. The new investment will fuel more proactive activities to reach out to target audiences, some of whom don’t yet realise how readily the task of juggling cases and causes can be streamlined and supported by UK developed software. Workpro has all the right data security credentials to pass muster with government and corporate governance.       CAS employees own around half of the company through a combination of direct shareholdings, the Employee Benefit Trust and a monthly share-save scheme. External investors hold the other half – Capital for Colleagues who specifically support employee-ownership, and, more recently, two additional private investors.    CAS CEO Ken Naismith comments, “While CAS and Workpro are obviously good horses for investors to back, we do not take for granted what terrific support has been made available to us when so many businesses are worried about the future. Consumer complaints and employee relations issues are only going to rise as organisations meet 2025’s challenges. Workpro makes light work of heavy caseload and provides essential insights into issues arising from customers and colleagues.”

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“Britons lost roughly £459.7m to APP fraud last year, according to banking trade body UK Finance. However, some experts believe the true figure is likely closer to £700m as around a third of scams are estimated to go unreported”. As the Payments Systems Regulator (PSR) gets closer to implementation with new measures aimed at protecting those who have lost money to fraud, the industry seems to be fighting back, with dozens of firms lobbying for the PSR to delay or scale back its proposals. Why? Few firms are not ready for implementation, others state that the costs associated with becoming compliant will now have to be passed on to the end-customer, and likely destroy the viability of these same firms. Completely agree with Tide Bank’s Chief Executive, Dr. Oliver Prill comment (included in Lars Mucklejohn‘s piece) on the state of play for fintechs and why this has become an increasingly pertinent topic for those dealing with fraud. It’s a situation that, as always, needs a balance struck between regulators and fintechs – it’s clear that both sides want to protect consumers and businesses from fraud, however as ever, the solution is not as clear-cut as it may look from the outside. City AM have really been on the money reporting the recent go-ons within fintech, and it's a necessity not to forget how much this industry can do, and how much more still needs to be done, to really elevate the financial experience for UK citizens and small businesses. https://lnkd.in/dkyjmtin #fintech Ali Youssef Helene Panzarino

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Thinking of fundraising later this year or early next? Things are most certainly going to be different from your previous external raise... Read the blog below to find out my top tips for B2B software founders. Any that I've missed?   📈 Sustainable growth, at all costs 🙂 Focus on retention, not just growth - logo retention shows how sticky you really are 💰 Fundraising is an enterprise sales cycle – it’s taking much longer - plan for 9+ months 👫 Diligence your potential investors more than ever #b2bsoftware #fundraising #venturecapital

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techUK recently asked me to share views on #scaleup #investment challenges, which are condensed into a 3 minute blog post below. Hopefully an interesting read for UK tech entrepreneurs, VCs and policy makers... The opportunity to improve the landscape is clear. 🇬🇧

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Lemon Raises £500K in Pre Seed Funding Round to Enable SMBs to Save Thousands on SaaS Spending Co-Founder and CEO of Lemon Matt Bird commented: “It’s clear that we’re going through a really interesting period for SMBs at the moment,. Taking into consideration the challenging economic landscape with funding drying up everywhere you turn, SMBs now need the tools and services to help them build better businesses as cost-efficiently as possible. With software being the third largest spend for an SMB, we really think Lemon can become a core part of how an SMB uses SaaS. https://lnkd.in/eHzkqN5v Koen Christiaens Edward Stevenson #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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Challenges Faced by SMEs in 2024 Integrating new technologies can be a significant challenge for SMEs. Many businesses struggle with integrating these technologies into their existing systems, leading to inefficiencies and increased costs. ChatFlow offers seamless integration with your existing systems, providing advanced sentiment analysis and real-time analytics. These features allow you to understand your customers better and make data-driven decisions. How are you handling technology integration in your business?  #CustomerSupport #AI #ChatFlow

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Since a date for the upcoming Autumn Statement has been announced, there has been renewed discussion around the state of SMB financing. Small businesses currently face a significant lag between billing customers and the money needed for costs and payroll coming into company accounts, with £23.4 billion being owed to UK businesses in unpaid invoices. The government estimates paying small businesses on time could boost the economy by £2.5 billion annually. Government intervention is still in its infancy around supporting businesses with late invoices. New regulation (that is yet to make a significant impact), stricter penalties and more transparency are some ideas that have been put on the table. Although this is not a new subject for many of us, it's one that needs a continued spotlight on. Invoice culture is still a pertinent issue here in the UK. On top of that, financial products and services are still a far way away from being useful for business owners, and access to finance, even access to a bank account, is still not an easy process for the majority of already time-poor entrepreneurs. As Mimo CEO and co-founder, Henrik Grim eloquently put it in his piece in Finextra, “On the steps of Downing Street, Starmer said “the work begins today”, and while the honeymoon period might not be over yet, the hard graft to boost economic growth must begin soon, and fintech could be at its beating heart”. Jan Gasiewski Kamen Bochev Helene Panzarino Lisa Leid

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13books Capital closes £121m fund to back Europe’s fintech startups. 📈 The fintech fund will back rounds from seed to Series A ranging from £1m to £7m. The close comes as VC investment in the UK has started to show signs of recovery from the slowdown over the past two years. Fintech in particular has recovered well, becoming the UK’s best-funded tech segment once again in the first quarter of 2024. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/diVkG9-7 🔗 #investment #fintech #funding #startups #europe #UKtech

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Are you leading a business in the Scottish Borders? If so, this is for you. AI is already enhancing the service, hospitality, manufacturing, professional services industries. Find out how you can get the most out of AI with this fully funded programme tailored for business leaders and owners. Delivered by CodeBase Funded by Scottish Borders Council

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Monzo Bank is the latest tech unicorn to achieve profitable growth after years of depending on large amounts of outside funding to fuel its growth. The company has posted a very nice profit of £15m, with revenues growing 2.5x and deposits growing 88%. Of course, like many fintechs they were helped by the higher interest rates in the last couple of years. But Monzo can take credit for being at the right scale when the interest rates shifted (which they did mostly through building the best customer experience in UK banking) and for pivoting to profitable growth at the right time. I've been a Monzo customer since its alpha days and even invested a bit in one of its crowdfunding rounds, so it's safe to say I'm a diehard fan. Still, I have to say they have never been as innovative and productive as they have in the last couple of years, finally building some revenue-generating products popular with customers. We will have to see if this trend continues, as interest rates are expected to fall over the next few quarters. https://lnkd.in/eHZ5Ayf2

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A worrying percentage of companies don’t have a compliant IT system. As part of Dial A Geek | B Corp™ onboarding process, we do so much more than set up computers. We start with a technical alignment project, which is a 6-8 week onboarding process. It's the foundation of a secure and compliant business environment. Here's what we do: ✅ Data Storage Solutions: Secure your data. ✅ Cyber Essentials Certification: Achieve industry standards and protect your systems. ✅ Comprehensive Integration: From start to finish. Full Digital Transformation. Every detail is covered. Every step is thorough and precise. No shortcuts are taken (you can ask the 1,000+ companies we have already supported). Want to find out more? Drop me a DM on here.  #DigitalTransformation #Onboarding #MSP #CyberSecurity #CyberEssentials

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This collaboration is a game-changer. 🌍🌲⚡ Huge congrats to Stabiliti confirming their new partnership with at is Worldline UK&I. This collaboration is a game-change, embedding their innovative software into payment systems to match carbon offsets with micro-emissions from transactions - making it super easy for companies to generate green revenue and everyone to contribute to climate action. 🌳   With Stabiliti and Worldline UK&I, forward-thinking companies can now offer their customers the ability to "round-up" their payments to support nature-based carbon removal and local sustainability projects. It's a simple yet powerful way to fund environmental sustainability and transform our impact on climate change. 💚   We believe in the power of Climate Fintech to mitigate environmental impacts, and with Worldline UK&I, we're making it a reality. This partnership is not just about technology; it's about community, transparency, and making every transaction count towards a sustainable future. 🤝   👛 Pocket change for planetary change 🌍🦋  🔗 Check out the full story on Yahoo Finance... https://lnkd.in/eyuj-Ef8 I LOVE how much these lot are out to make a real genuine change to the world. It’s beautiful and I cannot wait to see this take shape. Good work team, you are bloody excellent. 😎😍 #techforimpact #climatechange #carbonoffsetting #payments #fintech

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On the 30th of October GPlates Software Development had its 21st birthday. The first public version of GPlates was released exactly 21 years ago, with development led by the legendary James Boyden, who had teamed up with the no less legendary Hamish Ivey-Law who unfortunately could not join us at the Opera Bar for the birthday celebration. Hamish, we missed you, but we enjoyed the story recounted by James on your cunning and successful plan to both get hired as a team at the time! Enoch Lau also joined the early GPlates team and is credited with developing the initial GPlates python extension. Many years later we were fortunate for GPlates to be picked up for support by AuScope, which allowed us to develop GPlates and its sister python libraries pyGPlates and GPlately into mature and stable software, led by John Cannon and Michael Chin, not to mention the GPlates Portal, GPlates web services and the GPlates App. Many others made contributions along the way, especially Mike Gurnis and Mark Turner at Caltech, Trond Torsvik, Robin Watson and Carmen Gaina at NGU and the Univ Oslo, Ben Mather who initiated the development of GPlately, Mike Tetley who took the lead in developing Plate Tectonic Tools (now part of GPlately) and Adam Kocsis who led the development of rgplates. In addition there are numerous contributors to GPlates plate model development, particularly Maria Seton, Sabin Zahirovic, Simon Williams, Joanne Whittaker, Nicky Wright, Andrew Merdith, Xianzhi Cao, Edward Clennett, Alan Collins, Sergei Pisarevskiy , Nicolas Flament, Grace Shephard Derrick Hasterok, Sanzhong Li, Sheree Armistead, Morgan Blades, Jacob Mulder, Dan Bower, Christian Heine, Eline Le Breton, Shaofeng Liu, Samuel Russell, Ting Yang, Alex Young, Stuart Clark, Yatheesh Vadakkeyakath and Jonathon Leonard. There are many more who have been involved in plate model development and their application – all the ~1900 publications where their work is documented are listed on the GPlates web page https://lnkd.in/gid4gcsj Thanks, Tim Rawling and AuScope for your continuing support. Without AuScope, we wouldn't be here! #auscopeimpact #ncris #ncrisenabled #platetectonics #geology #geophysics #exploration #openscience #opensource

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Check out Alcea's latest blog on how #SMEs can overcome the seven typical challenges faced when looking to adopt #AItools into their businesses. The opportunities are enormous and the challenges are all surmountable! #AI #SMEs

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The Leeds Tech Tribal Meet is next week, and we can't wait to see you again, so book your place now! 🎉 📅 9th July 2024 🕰️ 6pm - 9pm 📍 Duke Studios Last month we discussed : 📊 KPIs for Success: Focus on relevant metrics and impact. ⏳ Avoid Wasting Time: Tailor content to what clients care about most. 📈 Infographic Dashboards: Show clear results, like "Here's how much we blocked, while you were sleeping." 🔍 Client Journey Focus: Interpret data to solve their specific problems. 🧩 Consistent Questions: Provide training if the same issues keep coming up. 💡 Client-Centric Help: Aim to save them money, focus on advice, not sales. 📝 Pre-QBR Forms: Ask clients for their top 3 problems beforehand. 🗣️ Social Proof: Share success stories from other clients. 🚧 Standards & Compliance: Work only with clients committed to high standards. Don't want to miss out on this month's chit chat and pizza (kindly supplied by the one and only Pax8)? Sign up here before tickets run out! - https://lnkd.in/eb4TY3YY #thetechtribe #mspmeetup #mspcommunity

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VIRTUAL ROUND TABLES FOR TECH FOUNDERS The topics are: - Fundraising and Share Options - Selling Your Technology Company for Maximum Value - Scaling and Grooming for Exit - Choosing the right Directors for Success To attend any, please email [email protected] and she will send you a link Fundraising and Share Options 2024 – 17th October Key topics covered will be • Advanced Subscription Agreements and their interaction with fundraises • What will be needed in terms of deck/pitch to reflect market uncertainty • What to expect from the process, transaction and documents • What mistakes to avoid while fundraising • The key points to consider when setting up an option scheme Selling Your Technology Company for Maximum Value 2024 – 14th November Our guest presenter will be Robert Lees, , Managing Partner of Strata, Corporate Finance House, focused particularly on software, IT services and e-commerce sectors. SMB will input on some of the key legal issues. Key topics covered will be • When to start thinking about selling • Strategy for sale • Choosing advisors • Preparing for the sale process • Value Estimation, Price Setting and Negotiation • Running an Auction • Negotiating and Signing Heads of Terms • Due Diligence • Share Purchase Agreement Scaling and Grooming for Exit 2024 - 30th October and 11th December Our guest presenter will be Rob Wirszycz, Serial Entrepreneur Key topics will include: • When, how and from whom to fund raise • Scaling for growth • Building the right team to attract the right investment • How to identify and get noticed by potential acquirers • Grooming for exit • Key legal issues associated with exit In each of these sessions, Rob will draw on his experience of setting up, scaling and exiting multiple companies and provide some tips on how to succeed. SMB will input on some of the key legal issues. Choosing the right Directors for Success 2024 - 16th October and 4th December Our panellists will be Alex Arnot (MyNonExec) and David Martin (Simons Muirhead) Key topics will include: • Why founders often hire the wrong directors • When is the right time to hire directors • Board Evolution to reflect growth • What are the common mistakes to avoid • The importance of top board advisors • Legal considerations when appointing directors

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🌟 Introducing Vestra Property Management 🌟 - https://lnkd.in/e9aESBgg The team at Vestra Software Solutions and I have been hard at work developing Vestra Property Management—a powerful platform designed to make property management more accessible and efficient for landlords and property managers. We aim to streamline every aspect of property management, from lease tracking to resident management, while introducing features like application tracking to simplify the process. We are building a client list for our exclusive testing phase, where selected landlords and property managers can use Vestra PM free of charge. Your feedback will help us refine the platform to meet your needs best. 📋 Key features of Vestra PM: • Comprehensive lease and payment management • Centralized resident tracking and communication • Application tracking and automation • Automated reminders and notifications • Secure, cloud-based document storage • Intuitive dashboards for efficient property oversight • And much more... If you want to revolutionize how you manage properties, we'd love for you to be a part of our early testing group. 🔗 Learn more and sign up for our waitlist here: https://lnkd.in/e9aESBgg

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