Fintech firm Wise confirms plans for London stock market float June 17, 2021 Fintech favourite Wise has confirmed plans to go public in what will be the first direct listing of a tech firm in London. The payments group, formerly known as Transferwise, said it has been profitable since 2017 and sales hit £421m this year. In 2021 the app moved £54.4bn across borders for 6m customers. The [...]
Tiktok owner Bytedance doubles revenue as lockdown fuels viral videos June 17, 2021 The Chinese owner of Tiktok saw its revenue more than double last year as the pandemic drove up interest in the wildly-popular viral video app. In a memo to employees Bytedance said its revenue grew 111 per cent to $34.3bn (£25bn) in 2020, while gross profit rose 93 per cent to $19bn. Bytedance had roughly [...]
Tech hiring hits fresh high amid bumper foreign investment June 17, 2021 Hiring in the tech sector has surged to its highest level in five years as venture capital investment booms despite the impact of the pandemic. Since February tech jobs vacancies have consistently topped 100,000, while open roles rose to 132,000 in one week in May. Hiring is now at its highest level since 2016, having [...]
NHS to receive £36m injection for AI tech in national health bounce back June 16, 2021 The NHS is set to receive a £36m injection to bolster its AI capabilities across 38 new projects designed to make diagnoses faster. While the NHS has been handling the Covid-19 pandemic, concerns over a diagnoses backlog have emerged, with people more hesitant to go to the GP or hospital for check-ups. The new [...]
Lina Khan: How America’s answer to Margrethe Vestager plans to take on Big Tech June 16, 2021 Since taking over as European Commissioner for Competition in 2014, Margrethe Vestager has made her mission clear: to crack down on the ballooning power of Big Tech. The ruthless competition czar has undoubtedly delivered on those ambitions, handing down high-profile fines running into the tens of billions of euros against the likes of Facebook, Apple, [...]
World Wide Web code by London-born Tim Berners-Lee auctioned as NFT June 15, 2021 The World Wide Web’s original source code that was written by its inventor Tim Berners-Lee is up for sale as part of a non-fungible token. With bids beginning at just $1,000 at auctioneers Sotheby’s, the digitally signed Ethereum blockchain non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital asset that records ownership. With the rise of cryptocurrencies, [...]
Switzerland vies to become Europe’s AI hub June 15, 2021 | City Talk With approximately 8.6 million people and four official languages (German, French, Italian, and Romansh), Switzerland is uniquely at the heart of Europe but without being a member of the European Union. In global terms, Switzerland does not even enter the top five as an ‘AI leader’. But when it comes to Europe and its place [...]
Apple and Google under scrutiny from regulator over smartphone dominance June 15, 2021 Apple and Google are facing an investigation by UK competition authorities over concerns their dominance in the smartphone market is harming consumers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today said it will examine whether the companies’ “effective duopoly” over the supply of operating systems, app stores and web browsers should be curbed. The market study [...]
City watchdog vows Big Tech crackdown over scam adverts June 15, 2021 The City watchdog has pledged to use post-Brexit powers to crack down on tech giants such as Google over online fraud. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned platforms they must do more to block scam adverts following a surge in cases during the pandemic. The regulator added it would not hesitate to take tough [...]
Ecommerce fintech Booste plots London launch after €12m funding round June 15, 2021 Booste, a Polish fintech offering revenue-based financing to ecommerce companies, is planning to launch in London after raising €12m (£10m) in a fresh funding round. The startup, which was co-founded by former Uber Eats executive Jakub Pietraszek, provides ecommerce firms with funding to finance growth through digital ads on Facebook and Google, marketing campaigns and [...]