Facebook poaches Standard Chartered executive ahead of cryptocurrency launch June 14, 2019 Facebook has hired a senior Standard Chartered executive as it gears up to launch a cryptocurrency and financial services business, according to reports. Standard Chartered’s European head of corporate and public affairs Ed Bowles is set to join the social media giant in September as director of public policy, the Financial Times reported. The role [...]
UK mobile operators ‘must be cautious’ over Huawei June 13, 2019 UK mobile operators should show “all due caution” before using Huawei’s equipment in their 5G networks, culture secretary Jeremy Wright has warned. In a move that will spark further uncertainty over Huawei’s role in UK telecoms infrastructure, Wright said the government must “think carefully” before it makes a decision about the Chinese tech firm. Read [...]
Digital doctor startup Zava secures $32m series A funding June 13, 2019 Digital doctor startup Zava has raised $32m in series A funding led by HPE Growth as it kickstarts an expansion plan. The London-based platform, which operates in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, will use the funding to grow its business in existing markets and globally. Read more: Startups break records with £4.8bn [...]
Surge in demand for UK tech visas as digital sector draws in top talent June 13, 2019 The number of applications for UK tech visas has soared 45 per cent in the last year as the booming tech sector continues to attract global talent. The surge marks the fifth consecutive year of growth in application numbers, according to industry body Tech Nation. Read more: Facebook to create 500 tech jobs in London [...]
Chinese ambassador warns UK ban on Huawei would send ‘very bad signal’ June 13, 2019 China’s ambassador to the UK has warned a ban on tech firm Huawei would send a “very bad signal” and could harm trade relations between the two countries. Liu Xiaoming told BBC’s Newsnight that Chinese companies could be put off doing business in the UK if Huawei is blocked from 5G networks. Read more: UK [...]
E3 2019: The biggest games, trailers and announcements June 12, 2019 Watch Dogs Legion British politics has now well and truly seeped into the cultural groundwater. According to the game’s French publisher Ubisoft, the latest entry in the Watch Dogs series is set in a dystopian vision of “post-Brexit” London. The Grand Theft Auto-alike allows you to freely drive and roam around a near-future version of [...]
Gympass secures $300m in Softbank-led funding round June 12, 2019 Gympass has raised more than $300m (£236m) in a funding round led by Japanese investment giant Softbank. Read more: Softbank earns $11bn for selling some of its huge Alibaba stake The corporate fitness platform, which offers flexible gym memberships, said it has secured the funding from Softbank’s Vision Fund and existing investors. Softbank’s Latin America [...]
Facebook to create 500 tech jobs in London as it opens new engineering hub June 12, 2019 Facebook has said it will create 500 new tech jobs in London by the end of the year as it launches a new engineering centre in Soho. Roughly 100 of the new roles will be in artificial intelligence, with many of the employees working to detect and remove malicious content, fake accounts and other harmful [...]
Digital tech sector now accounts for a fifth of all UK job vacancies June 12, 2019 Jobs in the digital sector now account for 20 per cent of all vacancies in the UK as the boom in the tech economy shows no signs of slowing down. There were 1.7m digital tech job openings across the country last year, with tech now a major employer across sectors in some of the UK’s [...]
Financial services jobs at risk amid rise of the robots June 12, 2019 As many as one in five jobs in the financial services sector could be replaced by robots within the next five years, a new survey has revealed. Research by KPMG and recruitment firm Harvey Nash showed the rapid rise of new technology such as automation and AI could remove the need for up to 20 [...]