Getting a better deal for the consumer? That’s music to my ears June 27, 2019 It’s hard to recall now how long we’ve been hearing that the music industry is changing: in flux, in transition, in crisis, most recently in the development of reliable music streaming; like any other industry, the music business is always on the lookout for the next big thing, the opportunity to get in at the [...]
Unilever and SAP lead £4m investment round in digital reward platform WeGift June 27, 2019 The likes of SAP and Unilever have led a £4m investment round into London startup WeGift, which is aiming to become the first real-time digital reward platform. The company secured the £4m Series A funding, which was also led by venture capital firm Stride, as it also reported a 500 per cent growth in annual [...]
Calling the data doctor: How Chronomics wants to educate you about your epigenetics June 27, 2019 How old are you? A simple enough question, you may think, but not for Dr Tom Stubbs, co-founder and chief executive of epigenetic testing company Chronomics. Epigenetics is (to quote the Chronomics website) the study of heritable phenotype changes that do not involve alteration in the DNA sequence. It’s essentially how environmental factors – from [...]
Tech investor raises a record $100m in capital June 27, 2019 London venture capital firm Talis Capital has secured a record $100m (£78.8m) to invest in tech startups across the UK, Europe and US in 2019. The firm has previously backed the likes of Darktrace, Iwoca, Onfido and Luminance. Unlike other venture capital firms, Talis Capital is backed by a network of private investors and does [...]
Blanket bans ‘not the answer’ to Huawei question, report warns June 27, 2019 The UK must find a “compelling” risk management approach to Chinese tech firm Huawei rather than rolling out a blanket ban, according to a report published today. Defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) questioned whether it was realistic to ban all Chinese tech from UK national infrastructure, and argued the government should [...]
Autonomy founder Mike Lynch kicks off testimony in UK’s biggest fraud trial June 26, 2019 Business tycoon Mike Lynch was accused of masterminding a fraud at Autonomy in order to be “seen as a success story” as he began his month-long testimony in the UK’s biggest ever civil fraud trial. Lynch, the founder and former chief executive of Autonomy, is being sued by Hewlett Packard (HP) for $5.1bn for allegedly [...]
European Commission launches antitrust probe into Broadcom June 26, 2019 The European Commission has opened an investigation into whether chipmaker Broadcom abused its market position to hurt rivals in its television and modem market. Read more: Chipmaker’s shares plummet on Huawei ban hit Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust commissioner, is also set to order interim measures against the tech giant to stop its “suspected contractual [...]
Autonomy founder Mike Lynch to testify in $5bn civil fraud case June 26, 2019 British businessman Mike Lynch will testify in court this afternoon in the latest phase of the UK’s largest civil fraud case. Lynch will give evidence at the High Court in central London today as he faces questioning over an alleged $5bn fraud. Read more: HP ‘not suing Autonomy US exec to go after Mike Lynch’ [...]
Apple says Spotify exaggerated user fee claims June 25, 2019 Apple has responded to a complaint by Spotify to the EU commission, stating it only collects a fee on less than one per cent of the music streaming platform’s userbase. Apple said in a filing Spotify pays a 15 per cent fee on about 680,000 of its 100m premium customers. It follows a complaint by [...]
Capgemini shares rise on €3.6bn takeover of rival Altran June 25, 2019 Shares in software and consultancy firm Capgemini jumped seven per cent this morning following the announcement of its €3.6bn (£3.2bn) takeover of smaller rival Altran. Read more: AI software market posts huge growth amid digital transformation boom The French digital innovation giant said the merger will create a group with revenue of €17bn and more [...]