The Pitch, one of the UK’s longest running small business competitions, has returned for 2013 with thousands of pounds in funding to offer innovative startups.

Rob Bailey (pictured) is the CEO of DataSift. He wrote a post this long weekend on how he manages the board of DataSift. You should read it.

“Prepare to kiss a lot of frogs” was the advice I was given when I set out on the journey to raise £400,000 to take Seek & Adore to the next stage. As it turns out, I haven’t actually met many frogs  - although I have certainly met a lot of very interesting people.

Despite the economy avoiding a triple dip recession, many leading entrepreneurs remain concerned about long-term growth prospects, according to the latest Smith & Williamson Enterprise Index which is issued quarterly.

Crowdcube have used its own funding platform to raise £1.5 million in just three days.

The NextWomen are running a Pitch Evening with Investors on April 30 2013. This event, sponsored by Orrick, aims to support women-led businesses prepare and practice their investment pitches with a real panel of investors. 

Every week Entrepreneur Country will be profiling one start-up that has hit our radar for their game-changing concept, innovative technology or world class business strategy. We begin with Made TV, the largest holder of local Television licences in the UK who are proving why local is ‘hot’ right now, how they plan to become the UK’s most profitable local TV owner and why they are now looking for investment.

Healthy fast-food retailer Vital Ingredient is set to more than double in size creating up to 150 new jobs in central London, after securing a £2.75 million finance package from Santander's Breakthrough programme.

The word ‘investment’ is, more often than not, associated with equity allocation. However, for entrepreneurs, the value that investment can bring extends far beyond the financial benefit, particularly in the very early start up stage.

Let me not bury the lede. I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product).