Vita Mojo shakes things up with a £10m series A fundraise, backed by Investec November 28, 2018 Healthy food-focused restaurant chain Vita Mojo has raised £10m in a series A fundraising round led by Investec Bank, as it heads for expansion. The firm said it is now "coming out of stealth mode" to help other businesses with its technology, having already signed up a few major customers such as Virgin Active, Chilango and Wokit. [...]
DEBATE: Should Margaret Thatcher be considered as the scientist to be featured on the new £50 note? November 28, 2018 Should Margaret Thatcher be considered as the scientist to be featured on the new £50 note? Emma Revell, communications officer at the Centre for Policy Studies, says YES. People will argue that science isn’t what Margaret Thatcher was most known for, and they’d be right. But the same could be said of Roger Bannister, a [...]
MPs and international ministers blast Facebook’s Zuckerberg over non-appearance November 27, 2018 Lawmakers have criticised Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for not appearing in a hearing today, which accused the social media platform of undermining international parliaments and regulators. A grand committee consisting of representatives from several countries including the UK, Canada, France and Belgium met in Westminster today, convened by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, to [...]
Musk says employees should work 80 to 100 hours a week if they want to ‘change the world’ November 27, 2018 Entrepreneur and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk has said people need to work around 80 hours a week, up to above 100 hours at peak times, if they want to succeed in business. Responding to the news that Tesla is one of Silicon Valley's most in-demand employers, Musk invited his Twitter followers to join one of his [...]
Tech outages at financial firms double as watchdog warns of data breach risk November 27, 2018 IT failures at financial institutions have more than doubled in the last year, the Financial Conduct Authority has revealed, as firms fight to update their legacy technology to keep apace with fintech startups. In the 12 months to October, the UK's financial firms reported a 138 per cent increase in technology outages to the FCA, as [...]
Owned-social networks are replacing Facebook as a way for brands to market to their communities November 27, 2018 Two months ago, I helped Blewbury in Oxfordshire become the first village in the UK to launch its own social network. We were inspired by the MP Matt Hancock, who during his tenure as digital minister launched a social network for his constituency. His decision to call it “Matt Hancock” attracted much media attention. But [...]
Uber fined by UK watchdog over data leak during 2016 cyber attack November 27, 2018 Ride-hailing giant Uber has been fined £385,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office, for failing to protect its customers' personal information during a cyber attack in 2016. The ICO said today that a series of "avoidable data security flaws" led to the leaking of information about 2.7m of its UK customers, including full names, email addresses and [...]
Five reasons why tech stocks are in trouble November 27, 2018 For months, technology stocks have been the holy grail for growth, with valuations reaching dizzying heights. So, considering that what goes up must come down, perhaps it’s not surprising that stocks started tumbling last week. Share prices for each of the five tech giants – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google (the so-called Faangs) – [...]
DEBATE: Was it right for MPs to use obscure parliamentary powers to seize Facebook documents? November 27, 2018 Was it right for MPs to use obscure parliamentary powers to seize Facebook documents? Kevin Craig, chief executive and founder of communications agency PLMR, says YES. There is something poetic about British politicians using one of the most archaic parliamentary powers to tackle a very modern policy challenge. Since the Cambridge Analytica story broke, Facebook has [...]
Airbnb pinches new finance chief from Amazon ahead of expected IPO November 26, 2018 Airbnb has hired a former Amazon executive to head up its finance team as it looks towards an expected listing in 2019. Dave Stephenson, a 17-year veteran of the online retail giant who most recently served as chief financial officer of the worldwide consumer unit, will join the accommodation platform in January next year. He also [...]