Fintech Opengamma secures $10m funding led by London investor Dawn Capital April 3, 2019 Derivative analytics platform Opengamma has secured $10m (£7.6m) in funding led by London early stage investor Dawn Capital. The funding will allow Opengamma, which has doubled the size of its workforce and customer base over the last 12 months, to expand its teams in London, New York and Singapore and launch new products in the collateral [...]
DEBATE: Is Apple’s move into finance with the launch of a credit card a good idea for the tech giant? April 2, 2019 Is Apple’s move into finance with the launch of a credit card a good idea for the tech giant? YES, says Andrew Mitchell, vice president at JCB. Despite the steady growth of Apple Pay, it’s relatively early for Apple in the payments sphere. However, this product could be a catalyst, strengthening Apple’s position in financial services [...]
DCMS Committee launches new body to fight fake news as pressure on tech giants builds April 2, 2019 The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee today said it has launched a dedicated division to tackle the ongoing threat of disinformation to democracy. The new sub-committee follows the DCMS Committee’s report into disinformation and fake news, which called for a new regulator to monitor tech giants such as Facebook and Google. Read more: [...]
Aviva and Sesame Bankhall invest £5m in new blockchain mortgage platform April 2, 2019 A new fintech mortgage platform has secured £5m seed funding from Aviva and Sesame Bankhall in a bid to transform the market. Acre – a next-generation mortgage and insurance platform – has announced £5m seed funding from insurance giant Aviva and financial advisor Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG). Read more: Monzo backer Accel stumps up $30m for Chainalysis' [...]
The Matrix was released 20 years ago – how close are we to the film’s vision of a tech dystopia? April 1, 2019 The Matrix first premiered in US cinemas yesterday 20 years ago. It revolutionised the way that we viewed the potential power of machines, and simultaneously marked the dawning of an age of suspicion and fear surrounding our relationship with technology. Yet far from the apocalyptic fears of artificial intelligence (AI), the applications of this emerging [...]
How did Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes build her house of cards? April 1, 2019 Elizabeth Holmes is quite possibly one of the most successful salespeople in history. If you’re unfamiliar with this mind-blowing tale, she was the founder of US medical tech company Theranos, which aimed to revolutionise healthcare by replacing traditional blood tests with miraculous machines that could detect all sorts of diseases from just a finger prick’s [...]
Interiors: Now the clock has sprung forward, treat yourself to a smart tech shower that’ll make you want to get out of bed April 1, 2019 Have you showered today? We might not talk about our hygiene habits, but the daily shower is a mark of modern respectability. Many of us won’t even remember a time before the morning shower – all that luxurious steam, shampoo aromas, maybe a song. But now with technological advances, some of us are having a [...]
Former Hewlett-Packard boss Leo Apotheker did not read most recent financial results ahead of £8.4bn Autonomy deal April 1, 2019 Former Hewlett-Packard (HP) chief executive Leo Apotheker did not read Autonomy’s half-year or quarterly results ahead of buying the software firm for £8.4bn in 2011, a court heard today. Apotheker, who was giving evidence to the High Court, admitted he had not read the firm’s April 2011 quarterly update or July’s half-year results, but had [...]
Lyft shares drop below opening price on second day of trading April 1, 2019 Shares in ride-hailing app Lyft dropped below their opening price today in the first sign of jitters over the company’s hefty $24bn (£18bn) valuation. The tech firm’s share price dropped as much as 11 per cent to $69.40 – below the initial public offering (IPO) price of $72 – before clawing back some ground. Read [...]
Bitcoin makes biggest quarterly price gain since the end of 2017 April 1, 2019 Crypto traders will be hoping Bitcoin can emulate the first quarter of 2017 in the coming months, after it posted its biggest quarterly price gain since late 2017. Investors in the original cryptocurrency saw its price plummet last year after record highs of almost $20,000 (£15,886) per coin in December 2017. Read more: Bitcoin critic warns [...]