Rebecca Burn-Callander

Rebecca Burn-Callander takes a look at the state of businesses in the UK

An organic baby food start-up, backed by the TV gastronome Prue Leith and Craig Sams, the co-founder of the upmarket confectionery firm Green & Blacks, is forecasting a turnover of £2m in its first year, having secured lucrative deals with Waitrose, Asda and Booths.

America’s fastest-growing restaurant chain, MOD Pizza, has arrived in the UK, opening its first outlet in Leeds after securing backing from Carphone Warehouse founder and TalkTalk chairman Sir Charles Dunstone and his business partner Roger Taylor.

Sugru, the maker of a colourful hi-tech adhesive putty that can be used to fix almost anything, will launch its maiden crowdfunding round in the US later this year, after rules banning ordinary Americans from backing start-ups were finally overhauled.

TransferWise, the money transfer platform, has raised $26m (£17.

The San Francisco workspace that was home to tech successes Uber, Blippar, Supercell and Spotify in their early years is expanding to the UK as part of a new partnership with RBS.

Leon, the healthy fast-food business, is planning to sell a stake to outside investors as it gears up for a major international push after a strong year of sales in the UK.

A start-up that wants to make uncomfortable, saggy, itchy tights a thing of the past has proved a hit with consumers, generating £10,000 in sales each day and driving up month-on-month revenues by 30pc.

Britain’s entrepreneurs are being locked out of home ownership because high street banks deem them too risky for mortgages under rules introduced in the wake of the financial crisis.

Britain’s small businesses are losing more than £9bn a year to fraudsters who send false invoices, viruses posing as bills, or who pose as suppliers on the phone, it has emerged.