The second heatwave of the summer has hit us this week and thankfully, it isn’t quite as hot as the last one. Those of you who work from home can sit in your gardens and enjoy a nice cold drink while getting some work done. Those unlucky few who are stuck in the office…I hope you at least have air conditioning! While sitting at your desk, your mind may wander to the nice sunny beach you could be sitting on, and hey, who's to say we can’t make that dream a reality? If you’ve left it a bit late to book, there’s plenty of startups out there for your last minute travel needs, so let's take a look and get that holiday booked!

Hotel Tonight

If we’re talking ‘I'm desperate for a holiday, like, get me away ASAP’ then this is the startup you’ve been looking for. This site can get you incredible last-minute deals on hotels for a decent discount. If you’ve dreamed of living in luxury, this is your chance, without hurting your wallet. Their handy app lets you do it all from your mobile phone, so if you want to book it during your commute home, or by hiding your phone under your desk, they’ve got you covered. 

Staze

If it’s a more environmentally friendly holiday you’re looking for, then we have the perfect hotel booking platform for you! Staze offers ‘the most sustainable’ hotels, so you can help the planet while you travel. They have saved 10,424kg of carbon dioxide so far and you can help them increase this number by booking a hotel through their website. 

Fly Now Pay Later

The current economic climate in the UK is hitting many people’s wallets hard, so a holiday may not be on the budget. However, fear not, as this startup encourages its travellers to ‘spread their wings and the cost’ by providing a flexible way to finance their trips. The company currently operates in the UK, US, and Germany and partners with a lot of larger travel brands including Airbnb and Booking.com.

Omio

We’ve all heard of sites like Skyscanner, who can get you the cheapest deal on flights. Now we introduce you to their competition - Omio. This startup offers price comparisons across a whole variety of travel necessities, including bus fares, flights, trains, and ferries. They currently partner with over 800 travel operators, which means they stand a pretty good chance at finding you the best prices possible. Now you just need to decide which part of the globe you’ll be trotting to.

Snaptrip

If staying in the UK is more your thing then you can choose from over 60,000 holiday cottages, lodges, and apartments from this startup. The company was founded in 2014 and now boasts ‘the largest collection of holiday rentals in the UK’. So if a wide variety of staycation options is your cup of tea, check them out! 

We have sadly reached the end of our recommendations for today, but we hope you have found them helpful. Please enjoy the next week of sunny weather, regardless of whether you’re on holiday or not. If you’re wanting to work a little more flexibly and enjoy the sun, please check out our remote jobs here. Have a great rest of your week!

Our victorious Lionesses can hold their heads high this week (and forever!) for finally bringing the European Championship trophy home to England for the first time since 1966. We have loved seeing the startup community, and beyond, come together in support of the sportswomen who are literally paving the way for women in typically male dominated industries. In the startup world, the sports tech sector is among these male dominated industries. However, today we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight some sports tech startups with female founders and/or CEOs. Keep reading to find out more about these startups and the women who run them

The GIST - Jacie DeHoop, Ellen Hyslop and Roslyn McLarty; Co-Founders

This sports media startup allows you to get the ‘gist’ of what’s going on in the sporting world in less than 5 minutes, with 4x weekly updates. See why it’s called ‘The GIST’ now?! This innovative idea was born when the three co-founders wanted to make sports media more accessible to casual fans and female fans, who often struggled to resonate with traditional sports media.

Brizi - Anna Hu, Co-Founder and CEO

This startup and its founders are pioneers in ‘audience controlled camera experiences’, and want to revolutionise the way fan engagement experiences are currently handled. Their software is used by a number of sports organisations, including the US Open and the Philadelphia 76ers, to bring the future of sports fan engagement. Their female co-founder and CEO, Anna Hu, has made both the Forbes 30 under 30 list, and was awarded Ascend Innovator of the Year in 2020.

The Zone - Janaya Reid; Co-Founder and VP of Product

The founders of this app believe that when athletes feel their best mentally, they perform their best physically. They saw a gap in the market for a piece of technology that can help coaches and their athletes to look after their mental wellbeing alongside traditional physical coaching. Their app has been designed to support athletes ‘from their pocket’ in their mental wellness to help them feel and perform at their best. Their female co-founder has an impressive UX/UI history as well as a STEM MBA.

ProDay - Sarah Kunst; Founder and CEO

Personal training can be expensive, making the achievement of fitness goals seem out of reach for many. This lack of accessibility inspired former Apple employee Sarah Kunst to develop a subscription based workout app. Users can workout ‘alongside’ some of their favourite athletes and fitness celebrities in prerecorded workouts. The app is now used by thousands, and backed by some famous sports teams such as the MLB’s LA Dodgers.

That’s all we have time for today but we’d love to hear from you about any more female founded sports startups that you think could be added to this list. We’d like to say a final congratulations to the Lionesses on their victory this past weekend - here’s to the future of women in sports and sports tech!

You may or may not know that the 24th of July was National Tequila Day. While tequila drinking may be fun, a hangover is definitely not. Alcohol-free business is booming in the startup world and it’s not surprising. Not only are alcohol-free drinks better for your health, they’re also better for the environment - talk about a two for one! With summer well underway this year, BBQs and parties are aplenty, and we thought you might need some recommendations for non-alcoholic drinks to bring to your next gathering. Out with the old boring drinks, in with the new exciting drinks created by startups. Keep reading to discover new startups who have made fun alcohol alternatives for you to enjoy this summer.

Pentire - UK Based

This company makes ‘natural distilled coastal botanicals’ on the coast of Cornwall, one of England’s most beautiful seaside destinations. Their non-alcoholic creations were made in collaboration with local botanists and distillers for the ultimate flavour. They also pride themselves on sustainability and offer free next-day carbon offset delivery to support this!

Athletic Brewing Co. - US Based

If beer is more your thing, this startup has some exciting brews for you. Founded only 5 short years ago, this startup has raised an amazing $140.45 million to date. Despite being US based, their unique non-alcoholic beers and IPAs are also sold in the UK so you can get your hands on some of their unique goods.

Days - UK Based

This Scottish startup is providing us with even more alcohol-free beer options - however will we choose? They use locally grown malt barley for their brews and are very committed to using local ingredients because of their proud Scottish heritage. In their own words, they offer ‘great taste, great flavour, great times, zero downsides’. What’s not to love?

Le Petit Béret - EU Based

The name couldn’t really get more French, so it’s unsuprising that this startup makes non-alcoholic wine. Not only is the wine they produce alcohol free, it is also low sugar and made from pesticide-free grapes. The lack of pesticides in their process is hugely beneficial for the environment by preventing soil, water and other vegetation being contaminated by these chemicals.

We hope your summer is filled with BBQs, parties, and lots of delicious non-alcoholic beverages to keep away those evil hangovers, and be a little more eco-friendly. Feel free to send us any alcohol-alternative startups you think we missed out, we’d love to hear about them!