Author: Rhys Gregory

HSBC UK has today launched an exciting new ‘Growth Lending’ offering for high growth tech businesses in the UK, following the UKGovernment’s call for additional investment in the sector last week. The new £250 million fund from HSBC UK will help support well-equitised, high growth, loss-making scale-ups earlier in their growth journey. It provides access to finance, as well as HSBC’s international expertise, it will help businesses achieve their global ambitions. High growth tech scale-ups generally own few tangible assets, but are rich in intellectual property and intangible assets, so IP evaluation forms part of the credit decision process. Scale-ups…

DISCOVERING effective and kinder treatments for children with cancer will be the focus of a new £20m international study involving researchers in Wales. Researchers in Cardiff are set to receive £621,880 from Cancer Grand Challenges, a research initiative co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US, which aims to encourage the world’s leading researchers to tackle the toughest challenges faced by cancer patients. Professor Andrew Sewell, at Cardiff University, will be part of the Next Gen T-Cells (NexTGen) challenge – which will focus on developing more effective and specific treatments for children with fewer side…

The strong demand for high-quality industrial units close to the M4 is evident at a new development at Bridgend where 13 of the units for sale are already under offer, within a month of planning consent being granted. FABCO Holdings has started work on constructing 18 1,292 sq ft units in five self-contained terraces at Felindre Court, part of the Pencoed Technology Park on the edge of Bridgend. Completion is due by September this year. The developers are targeting an energy efficiency rating of A for the units, which will also feature electric vehicle charging points. Each unit is designed…

Seven people are starting sentences totalling more than 54 years, after officers from Tarian, the regional organised crime team for southern Wales, dismantled their organised crime gang (OCG). After the OCG’s encrypted drug deal chats were cracked, officers had the evidence they needed to blow the lid on this drug dealing network and uncovered what proved to be a large scale drug dealing business. Not only was the OCG involved in drugs, but detectives uncovered chats on the dark web about purchasing and importing firearms and silencers. It was uncovered that a number of those involved were in possession of…

Parenting isn’t always easy; the Welsh Government’s Parenting. Give it time campaign wants to help by providing positive parenting information, advice and support for parents with children up to the age of 18. Just three months since physical punishment of children became illegal a series of parenting information roadshows will visit locations across Wales between June and September 2022. The roadshows will offer informal public drop-in sessions at supermarkets and public events, providing practical advice on positive parenting techniques and an opportunity to find out more about the new law on physical punishment. Representatives from local authority parenting and family support services and Parenting:…

Cardiff’s first completely gluten-free coffee shop will open on Saturday, June 25 on Merthyr Road in Whitchurch. The fit-out of ‘Against the Grain’ is now complete with owner Director Frazer Twigg having secured a £15,000 micro loan from the Development Bank of Wales to help fund his new business venture. Serving a range of Barista made coffees and cold drinks, light meals and home-made snacks that are all gluten-free, the coffee shop will allow customers with a gluten intolerance to safely enjoy food and drink without the potential risk of cross-contamination. With a background in customer service, Frazer has been…

A Powys man has passed the halfway mark in a grueling thousand-mile walk around Wales. Janos Foldi, known as Jani, is raising money for Cancer Research UK and Shelter Cymru after his father, a homeless Big Issue seller, also called Janos died of cancer at the age of 62 last year. Jani, 36, is also celebrating LGBTQ+ lives along the way in what he hopes will be the first of a succession of epic journeys that he’s dubbed the ‘Walking Proud Series’, posting pictures under that name on Facebook. He proudly waves his rainbow flag in many of the photos…

Employees at New Directions are being actively encouraged to do their bit for a cause close to their heart with the introduction of a fully paid ‘Giving Back Day’ which is to be taken away from the workplace. Every employee across the New Directions Group of award-winning companies has been given the opportunity to spend a day working to support a cause they feel passionate about as part of the new scheme. The New Directions Group provides specialist recruitment and training support within education, pharmacy and social care, delivers specialist domiciliary care to individuals and their families, as well as…

A new breakfast club is dishing up the opportunity for people in Swansea to connect with each other. The well-being project is partly funded by the Bay Health Cluster, which is made up of eight GP practices spread across the Sketty, Uplands, Mumbles and Gower areas, as it aims to tackle social isolation among adults. Based at Linden Church in West Cross, the weekly drop-ins are run by Red Community Project, an organisation which aims to bring people together and help build good relationships. Each person is offered a cooked breakfast and is encouraged to get to know those around…

The FAW’s vision is to create a leading football nation, one where the game is inclusive, accessible, and successful – from park football to the world stage – a global, local Cymru. The Cymru Men’s National Team has put the country on that global stage with qualification to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. It’s vitally important that this success is felt at a local level and the Football Association of Wales is incredibly pleased to announce that all projected profit from FIFA prizemoney – £4 million – will be invested directly into grassroots facilities across Cymru as a…