Five big names who made CRISPR possible April 9, 2021 | City Talk Before becoming a reality, many of our craziest dreams had first been imagined in comics, movies and television shows. Being passionate about robotics and AI and also being a movie lover, I have devoured a large number of Sci-Fi movies, with Gattaca being one of my favourites. In this movie, new generations of humans are [...]
US outlines new global plan to tax tech titans April 8, 2021 The US has put forward a new plan on global corporate taxes in an effort to resolve disagreements over upcoming tech tax reforms. President Joe Biden’s administration has submitted proposals that would see tech giants and other large multinational corporations pay higher taxes in countries in which they operate, regardless of their physical presence in [...]
The game-changing applications of neuromorphic high-speed vision April 8, 2021 | City Talk In a very short time, the digital world has become dominated by visual data. Cameras are everywhere, pumping zettabytes of data into phones, cars, tablets, and robots. However, this data is not all created equal. We can categorise digital visual data in the following ways: 1) Static Vision Static vision entails huge repositories of pre-recorded [...]
The Accelerating Competition in the Bionic Hand Industry April 7, 2021 | City Talk The Emergence of Lower-Cost Devices If you wanted to purchase a multi-articulating bionic hand in 2015, you would have had only a few mainstream options, all costing between $35,000 and $70,000 US for a complete solution. Roll forward six years and at BionicsForEveryone.com we now list 14 bionic hands from 13 companies on our website, with another [...]
Plaid valuation tops $13bn after scrapped Visa merger April 7, 2021 Fintech firm Plaid has more than doubled its valuation to over $13bn (£9bn), just months after its takeover deal with Visa collapsed. The San Francisco-based firm today said it had raised a further $425m through a Series D funding round led by Altimeter Capital, alongside other new investors Silver Lake and Ribbit Capital. Existing investors [...]
Ride-hailing giant Grab closes in on largest ever Spac listing April 7, 2021 Asian ride-hailing giant Grab is said to be closing in on the largest ever Spac listing through a deal that will value the company at $35bn (£25bn). The Singapore-based startup, which also offers food delivery and payment services, could finalise an agreement to list in New York via one of Altimeter Capital’s blank-cheque vehicles. Grab [...]
UK launches new competition watchdog for Big Tech crackdown April 7, 2021 Tech giants such as Facebook and Google are facing a tougher regulatory regime in the UK after a new watchdog aimed at curbing their power launched today. The Digital Markets Unit (DMU) will be charged with setting up new rules to give consumers more control over their data, promote online competition and crack down on [...]
Innovate Finance chief exec Charlotte Crosswell to step down in May April 6, 2021 Innovate Finance’s chief executive Charlotte Crosswell has today announced that she will step down from her role in May. Crosswell has run the industry body for the UK’s fintech sector since 2017. Janine Hirt, the body’s chief operating officer, will take over on an interim basis. Her four years in charge saw Crosswell lead Innovate [...]
Facebook’s Giphy takeover to face in-depth competition probe April 1, 2021 Facebook’s takeover of Giphy will face an in-depth competition probe in the UK after the social media giant declined to offer remedies to the regulator’s concerns. The Competition and Market Authority (CMA) last week gave the companies five days to address worries that their deal could harm the digital advertising market and the supply of [...]
Silicon Roundabout: What will London’s tech hub look like after lockdown? April 1, 2021 The cluster of tech companies in East London, also known as Silicon Roundabout, was largely born out of the last financial crisis after soaring rents pushed companies out. This time round the fate of East London may look a little different as tech companies make remote working the norm. Remote working is here to stay [...]