What makes London a tech hub? June 29, 2020 | Sponsored Why the key to London’s future success is in its past – and what the UK must capitalise on to top the US as the world’s leading tech hub. 2019 was a bumper year for the UK tech sector. London overtook Beijing to become the third biggest tech hub globally and UK tech investment topped [...]
Can Fintech and big data transform a post COVID-19 landscape? June 29, 2020 | Sponsored COVID-19 has transformed the world in a short space of time, possibly forever. With this change brings opportunity, and Fintech has the potential to be part of a brighter future. The SARS-CoV-2 virus epidemic has generated widespread strife and conflict in economies across the globe. Virtually overnight, consumers shifted their activities online. There is an [...]
Increasing the opportunities for female leaders in Fintech June 29, 2020 | Sponsored Fintech emerged from the 2008 financial crisis to transform traditional financial services, with aspirations to innovate, build trust and, deliver greater efficiency. While progress has been made for customers and businesses, are we optimising our ability to innovate? Despite the UK being one of the fastest growing Fintech economies, female founders make up only 17% [...]
Not just for unicorns – Fintech services all June 29, 2020 | Sponsored Fintech is commonly associated with unicorn companies. But it is there to service a far wider part of the economic community as the recovery begins. As the country emerges from lockdown and turns its attention to rebuilding the economy, one resource that is of crucial importance is Fintech. A complex and diverse industry that is [...]
Uber Eats orders skyrocket 160 per cent in lockdown June 29, 2020 Orders on Uber Eats have jumped significantly since lockdown began, rising by over 160 per cent as the UK turned to food delivery apps to replace the high street. The number of new restaurants on Uber Eats’ UK platform has almost doubled in the last four months to a total of 17,000, as smaller independent [...]
Deliveroo debuts dine-in feature for reopening restaurants June 29, 2020 Deliveroo has today announced a new so-called table service feature, which will help restaurants cater to customers choosing to dine in without breaching social distancing measures. Available from 15 July, the tool will let customers browse the menu, order and pay at a restaurant via the Deliveroo app. Deliveroo has said it will not charge [...]
Draper Esprit’s bet on tech pays off as portfolio value jumps 18 per cent June 29, 2020 UK venture capital firm Draper Esprit has invested £90m in the year ended 31 March, increasing its gross portfolio value to £703m. The firm has continued to make investments in key tech sectors already benefiting from historic trends, and which have been accelerated by the coronavirus crisis. The figures Draper Esprit’s gross portfolio value increased [...]
The failure of the track and trace app is the least-worst thing about it June 27, 2020 Last week, the UK government announced a radical change in direction in its track and trace programme. Its contact-tracing app, first announced in early May and once promised as a “world beating” solution, was pulled from development. The NHSX app was abandoned because Apple and Google refused to yield on personal privacy restrictions that are [...]
Amazon buys self-driving startup Zoox for $1bn June 26, 2020 Amazon has acquired US self-driving startup Zoox, marking its first major step into the driverless cars market. The deal is valued at more than $1bn, the Information first reported. Amazon declined to confirm the size of the acquisition. Zoox chief executive Aicha Evans and chief technology officer Jesse Levinson will continue to lead Zoox as [...]
Microsoft to permanently close all retail stores June 26, 2020 Microsoft has said it intends to keep all of its retail locations closed permanently, as it reorganises its sales offering towards online shopping. It said its retail team members will “continue to serve customers from Microsoft corporate facilities”, remotely providing sales, training, and support. No job losses were mentioned. It added that it will reimagine some of its [...]