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VerifyMy raises £ 5 million to fuel next stage of safety tech company ’ s growth
Safety tech provider , VerifyMy , has closed a £ 5 million fundraising round as the company looks to capitalise on the global wave of age and identityrelated regulation and the growing need for content moderation services .
The investment has come from a group of angel investors including Marijn Muyser , one of the founders at Booking . com .
VerifyMy has two products live in the market – VerifyMyAge , an industry-leading age assurance solution and VerifyMyContent , an end-to-end content moderation solution which combines identity authentication , AI and human moderation and complaints resolution . VerifyMyContent was built to specifically meet Mastercard ’ s requirements in the adult entertainment space .
The company , whose age assurance clients include eBay and Toolstation , will use the new investment to grow the team and fast-track product development as it looks to leverage regulatory tailwinds including the UK ’ s Online Safety Bill , the EU Digital Services Act , California ’ s Children ’ s Code and numerous pieces of US state legislation targeting the pornography and social media sectors .
Working at the office costs twice as much as working remote
With cost of living still top of mind , consumers are rightly concerned about the extra costs added to their energy bills from working at home but new research shows that they needn ’ t be .
MakeMyHouseGreen has produced a study comparing the impact on cost of living by working at home or going to the office to help people who have the option make the right choice .
The study showed that working from home added an average cost of £ 417.06 per year to energy bills , whereas the average cost of commuting was double that at £ 795.72 annually .
Office work often incurs hidden costs that remote work circumvents , but weren ’ t included in the study , suggesting the savings of work from home could be even greater . There ’ s the need for a more formal wardrobe . Higher childcare costs might be incurred to cover commute time . Furthermore , being physically at the office increases the likelihood of eating out – a costlier alternative to homecooked meals .
UMi Debt Finance receives additional £ 4 million of funding to support growing Scottish SMEs
With loans ranging from £ 25,001 to £ 250,000 , the extension of the Scottish Growth Scheme offers significant financial support to growing Scottish businesses .
The scheme , set up by the Scottish Government , has been managed by UMi since 2019 , and during that time has provided £ 12 million of loan funding to over 170 SMEs as well as helping create over 200 new jobs .
Until March 31 , 2024 , the additional £ 4 million of funds can be accessed by Scottish companies that need support pursuing growth plans . Loans can be used for a wide range of purposes including capital investment , exports , contract finance and innovation .
Accompanying one of the flexible business loans , UMi allocates an experienced investment executive to each applicant who will help and guide them through the process .
Applicants can draw knowledge from a team with many years of business and corporate banking lending experience as well as having expertise across a broad range of sectors .
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