London fintech Upp. pockets $10m as it eyes global expansion June 27, 2023 London-based fintech Upp. has secured $10m (£7.8m) in seed funding as its artificial intelligence and machine learning model wins over investors. The startup, which uses AI to automate online retail, has garnered support in a funding round spearheaded by Californian venture capital firm Bonfire Ventures. Mark Mullen, co-founder of Bonfire Ventures, said Upp. is “the [...]
Venture capital investors brace for ‘real toughy’ of a year as interest rate pain looms June 27, 2023 Venture capital investors brace for 'real toughy' as interest rate pain looms
KPMG: Generative AI could spur £31bn increase in UK productivity June 27, 2023 The UK’s battered economy could get a much-needed £31bn boost from the widespread adoption of generative AI, a new KPMG report has found. According to the ‘Big Four’ firm, generative AI has the potential to increase UK productivity by 1.2 per cent, the equivalent of an extra output of £31bn a year in the UK [...]
AI can be ‘force for good’ but needs regulation, says Keir Starmer June 26, 2023 Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a “force for good”, Sir Keir Starmer has told a UK-India summit in Westminster. The Labour leader said the invention was an “incredible form of technology” being developed “at pace” – but that the UK needed to develop regulations to monitor its application. Speaking at the UK India week 2023 [...]
Uber to slash 200 jobs in layoff resurgence June 22, 2023 Uber is preparing to cut 200 employees from its recruiting team in its ongoing drive to improve efficiency. The ride-sharing app is slashing over a third of its recruitment division, less than one per cent of its total global workforce, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal. It comes as Uber is trying [...]
Government ‘penalising’ investors with ‘baffling’ stamp duty on shares, says Interactive Investor June 22, 2023 Ministers are “penalising” the UK’s investors by levying “baffling” taxes on holding British stocks, one of the UK’s top investment platforms said today.
Musk vs Zuck: Twitter and Facebook bosses agree to a… cage fight June 22, 2023 Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Facebook owner Meta’s boss Mark Zuckerberg appear to have agreed to a cage fight. The social media billionaires will scrap it out after Musk, who also owns Tesla, said he was “up for a cage fight” with his tech giant rival. Zuckerberg posted a story on Instagram this morning, showing [...]
Softbank boss says it’s time to ‘shift to offence mode’ in AI push June 21, 2023 Softbank is planning to scale up its investment activity according to boss Masayoshi Son, who said the firm is going on the offensive. At the Japanese company’s annual general meeting today, billionaire Son said it was time to “shift to offence mode” as the group prepares to capitalise on rapidly developing AI technologies. Recently, chief [...]
Google is ‘killing off industries’ with online ad monopoly, tech bosses tell Westminster committee June 21, 2023 Several small tech companies have accused Google of stifling competition due to its monopoly of the online advertising market – amid calls to increase competition by lawmakers. The House of Lords communications and digital committee heard the tech giant is “killing off industries”, and that its dominance leads to higher prices. In the hearing which [...]
UK banks leading European counterparts in tech readiness, new research reveals June 21, 2023 UK banks are leading against European rivals in their preparation for new technologies but still have much further to go to secure global leadership, new research shows. A new study from IT and consultancy firm Accenture – shared exclusively with City A.M. – shows that around a third of UK bank board members have technology [...]