Softbank plugs $200m into European-focused Abu Dhabi tech fund February 18, 2019 Japanese investment giant Softbank is said to have stumped up half of the cash for Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala's new $400m (£309.5m) fund for European tech startups. Mubadala, which has conversely contributed around $15bn to Softbank's $100bn Vision Fund, said last week that its venture arm would be launching the $400m tech fund this year. The move will involve a number of Mubadala's [...]
Berlin banking tech startup behind N26 and Oaknorth nabs €30m from Skype-backer Bessemer February 18, 2019 Software-as-a-service startup Mambu, which provides banking rails to the likes of N26 and Oaknorth, has raised €30m (£26.3m) from the world's oldest venture capital firm. Bessemer Venture Partners, which has backed the likes of Skype, Linkedin and Pinterest, led the round with participation also coming from Acton Capital, the venture arm of Commerzbank, Point Nine Capital [...]
Meet the startups tapped by John Lewis & Partners in its experiential retail accelerator February 18, 2019 John Lewis & Partners has lined up six startups for its Jlab innovation programme, after more than 160 businesses applied to its experiential technology accelerator. A panel of judges heard pitches from 11 startups earlier this month, offering up new ways to navigate stores from a mobile phone or interact with digital screens without needing [...]
Twitter is great, just don’t make an Elon Musk-sized mistake February 18, 2019 Despite a staggering $20m personal fine from the US finance watchdog the SEC and the loss of his chairmanship at Tesla for an errant tweet, we learned last week that Elon Musk’s 280-character updates have won the approval of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, aka @Jack. “He’s focused on solving existential problems and sharing his thinking [...]
It’s search and rescue time for the future of marketing February 18, 2019 Search marketing is all about making your brand easy to find on the internet. It accounts for half of all UK digital ad spend, and is worth over £3.1bn. Given all that, you’d expect that marketing degrees would devote some course time to this subject. However, it’s pretty shocking that none of the UK’s top [...]
Forget social networks – the future is community media, says the boss of Disciple Media February 18, 2019 In February last year, Matt Hancock (then culture secretary, now health secretary) launched his own smartphone app, imaginatively titled… “Matt Hancock”. Many scoffed at the idea of an MP thinking themselves so important that they needed an app. And there were jokes about how the app asked for user consent: “Matt Hancock would like to access [...]
Google and Salesforce inject $75m into London’s Gocardless February 18, 2019 City fintech firm Gocardless has raised $75m (£58.1m) in a series E funding round, led by new investors Adam Street Partners and the venture capital arms of Google and Salesforce. The company aims to fix the way businesses collect invoices and make recurring payments by building debit technology on top of the world’s existing banking systems. Chief [...]
Tech giants should be held to compulsory ‘code of ethics’, MPs say February 18, 2019 Facebook and other tech giants should face stricter regulation to tackle the spread of fake news and misuse of personal data, MPs said today. Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was harshly criticised in the final report on disinformation by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee, having declined several invitations to attend [...]
Business lender Iwoca rakes in £150m financing from Augmentum Fintech and NIBC February 18, 2019 Small business lending challenger Iwoca has closed a total fundraise of £150m, led by an earlier £7.5m investment from London-listed fund Augmentum Fintech. City A.M. understands the raise was made up of a £20m series D equity funding round and £130m in debt capital. Existing investor Prime Ventures also participated, alongside NIBC Bank. A person [...]
A brave new driverless future? Let’s separate fact from fiction February 18, 2019 You can’t browse the internet without seeing a sensational headlines announcing the imminent ascendency of the driverless car. “Fully driverless cars could run on UK roads by end of year”, “Britain’s driverless revolution will be a car crash as safety rules are recklessly scrapped” and “Driverless Car! It’s about to happen on UK roads” – to [...]