Startups in UK now have 60% failure rate

startups

As the UK economy continues to tighten, startups continue to face uncertainty providing a potential opportunity for VCs to pick up cheap deals.

According to data from advisory company Startup Genome, the failure rate of UK startups is currently 60%, with the primary reasons being running out of cash or failing to raise new capital.

While VC funding in the UK is also struggling, with a report from PitchBook detailing how the opening quarter of 2023 saw VC funding in the UK fall to £2.9 billion, this has put a strain on the declining value of startups as they continue to battle the consequences of the macroeconomic environment.

Claire Trachet, M&A expert and CEO of business advisory, Trachet, comments on how the fate of these UK startups could impact the M&A sector:

“With the Bank of England announcing an interest rate rise to 5.25% coupled with an inactive IPO market, scaling businesses will find it increasingly difficult to secure funding. As a result, this presents optimism for VCs and investors who will be able to capitalise on these startups.

“Acquirers know they will be getting a bargain from low valuations, potentially leading to a flurry of M&A deals, presenting a more positive outlook for M&A activity in the UK. Whilst these startups could sell out for less than what they are worth, it also presents a greater opportunity compared to failing as a whole.

This trend of startups selling parts of their business – or the entirety of it – could continue as various companies are suffering from having raised excessive funds and presenting unrealistic valuations.

According to a report from Innoven Capital, approximately 55% of early-stage investors feel that startups were overvalued in 2022. As a result, these companies are often left with business models that are unable to tackle the current market’s challenges.

SWEATCOIN – GAME ANALYSIS #1

Sweatcoin
Gamepay

Sweatcoin gameplay review and analysis from Gamepay – introduction

  1. Game Overview
  2. Getting Started with Sweatcoin
  3. How to Earn in Sweatcoin
  4. Conclusion

Sweatcoin is a mobile application that will literally reward you for sweating. They accomplish this by translating your outside steps into a currency that can be spent on goods and services. And you will be in a good company – since its inception in 2015 Sweatcoin has attracted more than 100 million users.

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Game Overview

Sweatcoin uses Google Fit. It’s a Google-created health-tracking platform for the Android operating system. Similar to a fitness monitoring app, it tracks your motions and steps. You may exchange your coins for NFTs, goods services, and experiences both free as well as heavily discounted.

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SweatCo Ltd. was the firm that launched it. It was an instant success since it was new and claimed to transform your outside walks into “money.” The earned amount can be used to purchase different products, services, discounts, and other items that are available.

You’ll be earning Sweatcoins, SWC when you clock in your steps on a daily basis. For every 1000 steps clocked, you will get approximately 0.95 SWC. The coins earned will accumulate in your Sweatcoin account. Please note that only verified steps are converted into sweatcoins. The company has developed its own proprietary movement verification model to ensure that dishwasher shakes, cradle swings, dogs’ run in a park are not counted to sweatcoin generation.

Getting Started with Sweatcoin

The Sweatcoin app does not show the distance you have walked or the route you have traveled during your current session. It just shows the steps, so if you’re serious about monitoring and charting your path, we recommend using another free activity tracker that includes these functions.

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Once you download the Sweatcoin application and sign up, you will be asked to sign in to the app, and the first thing you will see is a step counter. This is the screen where you will be able to view how many steps you have taken for the day and how much you’ve earned. You will have to provide access to your fitness tracker application in order for Sweatcoin to track your steps.

There are 2 types of Subscriptions mode in Sweatcoin, Free and Premium.

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The Free mode gives you the standard earning feature which allows you to clock 10,000 steps per day and get access to the standard marketplace and auctions where you can view and purchase the offers and discounts listed with earned Sweatcoins, SWC.

The Premium mode gives you unlimited 2x Earning with no limitations to how many steps you can clock in per day, Premium marketplace and auctions which gives you early access to offers and discounts available, Donations given to organizations by Premium users will be doubled, and get exclusive access to upcoming latest features.

They provide a 1 week free trial for a Premium subscription for everyone.

sweat coin
sweat coin

You can get free Sweatcoins daily by opening the gifts available. These gifts will give you a random amount of Sweatcoins depending on how lucky you are. Everyday Sweatcoin enables you to utilize 2x Boost for free for 20 minutes. Make the most out of these 20 minutes by activating at your active time of the day.

How to Earn in Sweatcoin

sweat coin

The most basic approach to earn via Sweatcoins will be to clock in steps on a daily basis to earn as many Sweatcoin points SWC as possible by either utilizing the Free membership or Premium membership depending on how active you are and using the acquired points to purchase deals and discounts from their marketplace.

sweatcoin

Another way to earn will be through the referral program. By inviting your friends and family onboard to Sweatcoin will instantly get you five Sweatcoins, even though it’s not much it’s still a method you can utilize to accumulate more points while also sharing the offers and moments with your friends and family.

And if you are lucky enough to be located outside of the US and China (a few other countries are excluded too) you can opt-in to start earning their upcoming crypto token called SWEAT. Create your crypto wallet by clicking on this banner in the app:

sweat coin

And on September 13th at 12:00pm UTC you will receive an amount of SWEAT equal to your sweatcoin balance at 12:00pm UTC on September 12th. Install Sweat Wallet App to manage your future SWEAT holdings – buy NFTs, earn interest, trade, etc: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sweatwallet

Conclusion

Sweatcoin is a legitimate smartphone software that allows you to earn “money” (and soon crypto token) by walking about while the program runs in the background. It has several appealing characteristics as well as some obvious shortcomings.

Appealing characteristics:

  • Now the steps your take on a daily basis has some form of reward
  • The application is fairly easy to use
  • Available in most regions
  • Sharing offers and discounts with your friends and family
  • Ability to walk into crypto – no need to part with your hard-earned cash to start learning web3 world

Shortcomings:

  • If you want to make a lot of money from it, this is not the application for you
  • Limited offers and discounts
  • As the program operates in the background, the device’s battery life may suffer
sweatcoin

SWEATCOIN breakdown:

Ratings: 4.5/5

Potential Daily Earnings: 10 Sweatcoins

Starting Cost: Free

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PeoplePerHour supports freelancers with pandemic insurance

peopleperhourNew research from freelance marketplace PeoplePerHour suggests that up to two-thirds of the UK’s 1.6 million freelancers have been unable to claim financial support during the Covid pandemic.

Of those surveyed, 65% said they did not qualify for the Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

Currently, freelancers and the self-employed have no entitlement to Statutory Sick Pay, which means many are left without any income should they contract the virus. Unsurprisingly, the survey also found that the vast majority (89%) of respondents are concerned about the loss of income that might result.

In light of the challenges freelancers face, the company has partnered with insurtech Indeez to create#CoviSure – the first insurance package for independent workers who are unable to work due to Coronavirus.

It is being rolled out across the UK and France for £3.99 a month (€4.99 a month in France).  #CoviSure will ensure freelancers are financially protected, mitigating income loss and providing peace of mind for independent workers while they take time to rest and recover.

The package underwritten by Chubb insurance will be rolled out across the UK and France for £3.99 a month (€4.99 a month in France).  #CoviSure will ensure freelancers are financially protected, mitigating income loss and providing peace of mind for independent workers while they take time to rest and recover.

“The Government has done its best to look after as many people as possible during this difficult time, but some have unfortunately fallen through the cracks. Freelancers are particularly at risk and so we felt obligated to do something about it,” said Xenios Thrasyvoulou, Founder and CEO of PeoplePerHour.

The income protection policy  will pay out if a freelancer is unable to work due to hospitalisation or if they have to self-isolate following a positive PCR test for Covid-19. The product is also available directly on the Indeez platform.

Subscription to the 3-month protection offers a lump sum benefit of up to £1,000/€1,000 in the event of an inability to work due to contracting Coronavirus.

For more information about #CoviSure, please visit #CoviSure

 

 

In-Play Report from Admix Says Ads Will Rock 2021

in-play

In-play advertising pioneer Admix has released a revealing report showing the state of in-play ads that are transforming the advertising industry under lockdown and beyond.

In-play is disrupting traditional advertising models within games where ad units can be displayed directly within a game’s environment. From billboards in endless runners to large screens in stadiums, in-play’s non-intrusive nature is adding to the gaming experience, not detracting from it.

In the report, premium mobile game developers ranging from industry titans to emerging studios such as Peaksel have all reported an increased interest in the in-play advertising model.

To find out more about in-play advertising or to read the full report, please click here.

The total surveyed partners combined have amassed billions of downloads across all games and more than three billion downloads across Android and iOS. The sample included 80 respondents including eight from Pocket Gamer’s list of Top 50 Global Studios.

Extra revenue

New privacy regulations, mainly spearheaded by Apple removing the IDFA, have created huge uncertainty with publishers. Without the IDFA, the lack of attribution measurements could result in a drop in CPMs, which publishers rely on to monetise.

As a result, publishers have been looking at alternative solutions to mitigate a potential revenue drop. In-play advertising emerges as a top contender for additional revenue, providing brand spend less susceptible to be affected by the lack of IDFA.

Player first

Another quality of in-play and gamer-first advertising is an uninterrupted and undisturbed experience for gamers. When questioning respondents on how their players have reacted to in-play ads, a majority said that players are entirely unaffected would have been a positive result.

In reality, 93% of players felt no negative impact of in-play ads in their games, and more than a third of players loved having them in the game. This is a fundamental change as more games adopt this ad format globally.

Hypercasual games leading the trend

The nature of ad placements appearing in game scenes goes across all genres, not least sports and racing games environments where ad placements are especially natural and non-intrusive.

But there is more. The fastest-growing developer segment globally is most interested in the in-play model. The format is a revenue-generating way for studios to increase their impressions per session in a player-friendly way, which integrates perfectly with hypercasual’s typical monetisation strategy.

Most exciting ad format of 2021

This report also looks forward to the future of in-play, asking a variety of questions about how developers intend to use it. Almost every developer questioned reported that they plan to use more in-play ads (94%) with no developers planning to use fewer.

The most powerful result for in-play, however, came from asking developers what format they’re most excited about in 2021. In-Play was the winner, with rewarded video coming in second, and interstitial video following with a distant third.

“It’s fantastic to see such an epic shift in attention and positive sentiment to our new revenue stream. We have spent the last few years developing the technology to scale and support this new monetisation format, and now it’s really starting to pay off for our developers,” said Sam Huber, Admix CEO.

The report follows Admix’s impressive start to 2021 making two key hires from Google and Spotify to expand its operations in the US and Europe while Forbes recently invited Huber to join the Forbes Council as a thought-leader on games and Advertising.

Juggle Jobs Gets Jiggly With Accountancy Cloud

juggleJuggle Jobs and Accountancy Cloud have announced a partnership to ‘address the growing number of startups that request high-quality flexible CFOs to work alongside their accountancy solution’

Many of Accountancy Cloud’s clients are at a growth stage where the need for a CFO to provide strategic direction and manage the relationship with Accountancy Cloud exists, but the budget for hiring does not. Accountancy Cloud is a challenger accountancy service using Open Banking and real-time financials to improve financial visibility.

Blending software and flexible staff, Accountancy Cloud offers best-in-class, personalised services to their customers, without the expensive fees associated with outsourced accounting firms.

It has built smart AI and machine learning technology to restore order to clients’ books, handle taxes and track cash. This, combined with a team of skilled finance professionals, means Accountancy Cloud provides a service that matches their customer base, who are naturally disruptors themselves.

Similarly, Juggle is a provider of experienced professionals to progressive startups. Its flexible hiring and management platform combines intelligent AI with the best of the human touch giving companies a curated experience expected in Executive Search, but without the price tag.

Accountancy Cloud approached Juggle after using the platform to hire inflexible professionals themselves, as they have a network of more than 45,000 flexible professionals, 50% of whom are within the finance and accounting vertical.

Alongside the community of professionals, they have a hiring and management platform that allows companies to find, onboard, pay, and manage experienced flexible staff at a fraction of the cost of traditional executive recruitment.

Wesley Rashid, CEO of Accountancy Cloud said: “The companies we work with are often in need of a CFO, both to manage the relationship between us and them and also to curate the financial strategy. However, the bulk of these companies are at growth stages and so finding and affording senior financial hires can be somewhat out of their reach.

“Accountancy Cloud used Juggle to find, hire and pay a number of our flexible staff and the process and outcome could not have been better, therefore a partnership in order to provide a much-needed service to our clients was a no-brainer.”

As well as partnering with Accountancy Cloud, Juggle recently published a guide to help start-up businesses make the right choices about hiring a CFO. The e-book Hiring a Part-time CFO: A Founder’s Handbook, is available FREE to download here.

Romanie Thomas, CEO of Juggle, said: “Eventually, all start-ups will outgrow their original accounting function and in order to approach scaling that up they must first outline their eventual needs.

“Knowing this is the first step in developing a role that can adjust and grow with the business. Having top tier talent on a flexible basis is the most sensible decision a startup can make.”