Uber leads $170m investment round in scooter startup Lime May 7, 2020 Bike and scooter-sharing startup Lime today said it has secured a $170m (£138m) in a fresh funding round led by Uber. Google owner Alphabet, its investment arm GV and Bain Capital are also among the backers taking part in the investment round, the company said. As part of the cash injection, Lime will take control [...]
Elon Musk and Grimes name son X Æ A-12 May 6, 2020 Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and singer Grimes have confirmed they have named their newborn son X Æ A-12. Musk announced the birth of their son on Monday, tweeting: “Mom and baby all good”. He also announced the child would be called X Æ A-12 and Grimes later explained the choice of name. Musk also took [...]
Ocado investor Royal London to oppose executive pay report May 5, 2020 Ocado investor Royal London is preparing to vote against the online supermarket’s executive pay report at its annual meeting tomorrow, branding boss Tim Steiner’s £58.7m payout “excessive”. Steiner’s remuneration package included a £54.1m Growth Incentive Plan award, linked to the company’s share price growth between 2014 and 2019. The scheme paid out £87.5m to Ocado [...]
Rival states launch cyber attacks on UK and US coronavirus labs May 5, 2020 British and American spooks have issued an urgent warning after uncovering a string of cyber attacks launched by rival states against healthcare organisations fighting coronavirus. Healthcare bodies, pharmaceutical companies and local government organisations in the UK and US have all been targeted in the attacks, which are aimed at gathering information about the Covid-19 outbreak. [...]
Coronavirus: What is the NHS contact-tracing app and how does it work? May 5, 2020 The eagerly-awaited NHS contact-tracing app has been rolled out for the first time today, with key workers on the Isle of Wight the first to trial the new technology. The smartphone app, which is available to healthcare and council workers from today and the rest of the island from Thursday, is expected to be rolled [...]
Investment firms deploying new tech are the most trusted among investors May 4, 2020 Investment firms that are deploying new technology are the most trusted by both institutional and retail investors, according to new research. Nearly two-thirds of institutional investors and nearly half of retail investors with an adviser trust their investment firm because of an increased use of technology. There is growing interest in the use of artificial [...]
Startups’ coronavirus Future Fund is a ‘bad deal’ for founders May 4, 2020 The government’s flagship support scheme for startups hit by coronavirus, the Future Fund, has been described as “simply not good enough” and “a bad deal” by one of the UK’s leading tech entrepreneurs. Priya Lakhani, founder and CEO of education technology company Century, said the terms under which money could be accessed through the scheme are [...]
The City View podcast, from City A.M., with Priya Lakhani OBE May 4, 2020 In this episode, Christian is joined by Priya Lakhani, founder and CEO of Century – an AI-powered education platform. Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS Priya, who served as a business adviser to the coalition government, gives a candid and forthright assessment of the government’s support packages for businesses. [...]
UK tech firms suffer worst quarter since financial crisis May 1, 2020 British tech firms have posted their worst quarterly performance since the global financial crisis as the Covid-19 crisis stunts growth, new figures have revealed. Business activity across the tech sector declined for the first time in almost eight years, according to the latest KPMG UK Tech Monitor index. The headline index dropped to 47.1 from [...]
Amazon and Apple earnings: Covid-19 crashes the tech titan party May 1, 2020 It’s been a busy week for Silicon Valley as the major US tech firms lined up to report earnings for the first quarter. Google, Facebook and Twitter all delivered upbeat figures, proving that social media services are well-placed to weather the Covid-19 storm. But the mood was dampened somewhat last night as coronavirus costs weighed [...]