Softbank leads $525m round in British drug developer Exscientia April 27, 2021 British pharmaceutical company Exscientia has received funding from Softbank Vision Fund just a month after closing its last investment round. Exscientia uses artificial intelligence to discover new drug molecules and has now designed two drugs that are in Phase 1 of clinical trials. The Oxford-based company today announced it had completed a $225m Series D [...]
Oneweb raises $550m as French satellite firm Eutelsat takes major stake April 27, 2021 Oneweb today said it had raised $550m (£395m) in fresh funding from French satellite firm Eutelsat as the race to roll out space internet services gathers pace. Eutelsat, which is part owned by the French state, will take a stake of roughly 24 per cent in the British company and take on similar governance rights [...]
Spotify launches podcast subscriptions as Apple rivalry heats up April 27, 2021 Spotify today revealed plans to launch a paid subscription platform for podcasters as the streaming service’s rivalry with Apple continues to heat up. The feature, which will initially launch in the US, means podcast creators can mark certain episodes as subscriber-only and publish them on Spotify, as well as on other podcast services. It comes [...]
Oppo Find X3 Pro review: An excellent new top-tier handset April 27, 2021 The consumer electronics industry has been hit as hard as any by the pandemic, with companies struggling to even build their products – just try getting your hands on a graphics card or a next gen games console – let alone get them in front of customers. And while there have been a handful of [...]
Digital health app Livi secures $2bn valuation after fresh funding round April 27, 2021 Digital GP platform Kry today said it has raised $300m (£216m) in a fresh funding round after enjoying a surge in demand for remote healthcare services during the pandemic. The new cash injection, led by CPP Investments and Fidelity, takes the company’s valuation to over $2bn — almost three times the price tag given after [...]
Facebook advertising chief issued warning over inflated audience figures April 27, 2021 A top Facebook executive warned colleagues the company must “prepare for the worst” over claims it inflated figures on how many people its adverts could reach, court filings have revealed. Carolyn Everson, vice president of the social media giant’s global business group, wrote in an email in 2017 that the company would be “justifiably” criticised [...]
How curing cataracts offers a 1,500% socio-economic return April 27, 2021 | City Talk According to the World Health Organisation, 95 million people worldwide are affected by blindness or severe visual impairment due to cataracts. Cataracts are disproportionately prevalent in low-and-middle-income countries, where they account for 50% of blindness, compared to just 5% of blindness within developed countries. The socioeconomic effect of cataract surgery is substantial. It allows people [...]
Tiktok to open doors to experts in bid to calm safety fears April 27, 2021 Tiktok will allow experts and policymakers to see how it moderates content on its platform in the tech firm’s latest effort to allay safety concerns. The Chinese-owned viral video app said it will open a European Transparency and Accountability Centre, allowing outsiders to see “first-hand” how it runs moderation and safety practices. The centre will [...]
EU to charge Apple with anti-competitive behaviour over Spotify row April 27, 2021 The EU will reportedly file antitrust charges against Apple this week over accusations its dominance of the app market has harmed competition. The case relates to a complaint lodged by Spotify in 2019, which accused the iPhone maker of unfairly restricting rivals to its own Apple Music service and complaining about the company’s 30 per [...]
Yougov acquires open banking start-up Lean App April 26, 2021 Data analytics firm Yougov has acquired open banking start-up Lean App to help improve its services with financial transaction data. Lean App has been acquired by Yougov on a three year earn-out, tied to enriching and expanding the research company’s data in the UK and the US. Lean App’s founders – Luke Dugdale, Tom Stuart, [...]