Wise exec: London tech scene already at ‘critical mass’ despite Brexit July 5, 2021 A senior exec at London fintech darling Wise has said Brexit “won’t get in the way” of the capital’s tech ecosystem continuing to thrive. Speaking on City A.M.’s podcast, the firm’s Chief Financial Officer Matt Briers said that while many elements including recruiting have become “harder,” the tech climate is “already at critical mass.” Read [...]
£700bn market: UK’s digital trade talks with Singapore underpin Britain’s role as a global tech exporter July 1, 2021 The UK and Singapore launched negotiations this week on a new ambitious digital trade agreement that could remove barriers and provide access to digital trade. Government statistics show this digital trading relationship was worth £3.2bn in 2019, out of Britain’s total tech exports of nearly £63bn globally. As the value of the entire digital global [...]
Google cracks down on financial fraud and scams in UK June 30, 2021 Google says it will clamp down on financial fraud on its platforms in the UK, but the country’s watchdog says legislation will be needed to really tackle the problem. Watch the full report.
It’s all over: Softbank pulls plug on Pepper the robot, sources say June 30, 2021 SoftBank Group is slashing jobs at its global robotics business and has stopped producing its Pepper robot, according to sources and documents reviewed. Watch the full report.
Yours too? 700m LinkedIn accounts allegedly for sale following data breach June 29, 2021 LinkedIn data of over 700m users has been exposed in a new data breach, according to multiple reports. LinkedIn has a total of 756m users, which means that the data of more than 92 percent of its users has been compromised in this new breach. The new dataset obtained by an unknown hacker is said to [...]
Visa snaps up Swedish open banking platform Tink for €1.8bn June 24, 2021 Visa today said it has agreed to buy Swedish open banking platform Tink in a deal worth €1.8bn (£1.5bn). Tink, which was founded in 2012, enables financial institutions and fintech firms to develop financial products and services through access to data. The company is partnered with 3,400 banks and financial institutions, reaching millions of customers [...]
Fintech firm Wise to directly list on the London Stock Exchange in early July June 24, 2021 Fintech firm Wise has confirmed it will float on the London Stock Exchange with a direct listing, it said in a statement this morning. The payments group, formerly known as Transferwise, had previously made an announcement on 17 June of its expected intention to float. “Since announcing our expected intention to float last week, [...]
No Brexit hit: London remains world’s most important fintech hub outside the US June 23, 2021 A newly-published report has shown that London remains the second most active city in the world for fintech, behind San Francisco, but that the fintech space in the rest of the UK is expanding rapidly. London’s fintech space is primarily powered by its thriving ‘challenger bank’ sector, with Brexit and the pandemic having little impact [...]
Revolut revenues surge as firm says it’s on the road to profitability June 22, 2021 Fintech firm Revolut made an adjusted full-year operating loss of £122m last year but a spike in customer numbers, the firm says, means it is on the path to profitability. Customer numbers jumped 45 per cent in the year ending 31 December and the firm’s adjusted revenues surged by 57 per cent to £261m, up [...]
Unicorn nest: UK hits milestone of 100 $1bn tech companies, more than rest of Europe combined June 20, 2021 The UK tech sector has now 100 UK tech companies valued at $1bn or more, according to new data from Dealroom and Tech Nation, shared with City A.M. this weekend. The UK’s 100th tech unicorn, Tractable, an AI startup building computer vision tools, announced a $60m Series D raise, which takes the company’s valuation to [...]