Monzo losses deepen in 2018, as operational costs increase faster than growth July 2, 2018 Digital challenger bank Monzo has seen its losses increase fourfold over the last year, logging pre-tax losses of £33.1m in the year ending February 2018. Up from just £7.9m the year before, Monzo said this was the result of its operating costs ballooning from £8m to £34.9m as it invested heavily into becoming "a fully [...]
Playtech’s share price has dropped dramatically, after its second profit warning this year July 2, 2018 Playtech the maker of gambling software for clients like News UK, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, issued a second profit warning yesterday for this year, causing its share price to drop dramatically as markets opened. Blaming an “increasingly competitive backdrop” for the continued hit on its revenues in Asia, the company’s share price fell by 23 [...]
There’s a new Chinese tech venture in town, and it’s backed by the London investors that supported Softbank’s Vision Fund July 2, 2018 London-based global investment firm Centricus has announced it will be launching a Chinese tech venture fund in partnership with China Merchants Group (CMG) and SPF Group, for a total of 100bn yuan (£11.41bn). Labelled the 'China New Era Technology Fund', the partnership will see the state-owned CMG deploy 40bn yuan in capital alongside additional Chinese-based [...]
City veteran Michael Spencer invests millions into a biometric fintech startup June 29, 2018 Founder of NEX Group and serial entrepreneur Michael Spencer has led a $16.5m series B fundraising round into a biometric fintech startup called Veridium. A leader in user authentication through biometric technology like fingerprint and face scanning, Veridium's round was accompanied by additional investment from Citrix Systems and financial services investor Michael Powell. "In today’s [...]
Trading places: Monzo co-founder takes a back seat to make way for a new CTO as international expansion plans get put on the backburner June 28, 2018 Monzo co-founder and soon-to-be former chief technology officer Jonas Huckestein is making way for a new kid on the block, as business printing house Moo’s CTO Meri Williams joins the team. Speaking to City A.M. ahead of the announcement, Williams explained that while there’s nothing at Monzo she wants to change or do differently, she’s [...]
Deliveroo pays workers to settle gig economy employment case June 28, 2018 Takeaway delivery firm Deliveroo has settled a legal claim by 50 of its couriers for a reported six-figure sum, in another legal battle involving employment rights in the gig economy. The claim revolved around the alleged failure of Deliveroo to give its couriers legal employment rights, such as the minimum wage and paid holiday. Multiple [...]
We meet a former Nasa space engineer who has launched a platform to combat unethical payday loans June 28, 2018 No, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to launch a peer-to-peer lending platform. But let’s take a minute to consider what such a business would look like if a rocket scientist did decide to do such a thing. Cue space engineer Nadeem Siam, who has spent the past three years building peer-to-peer lender Welendus. After [...]
Peltarion, the AI platform used by Nasa, Tesla and Deutsche Bank, has opened a London office June 26, 2018 Swedish artificial intelligence (AI) startup Peltarion has launched a new office in London. The office has been created with global expansion in mind, with staff being hired for digital sales and marketing as well as tech development. Peltarion's operation AI platform, which enables companies to produce real-world AI applications at scale and speed, launched in [...]
Wimbledon to serve up highlights packages using IBM artificial intelligence technology June 26, 2018 The Wimbledon tennis tournament, which starts next week, will use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help compile its highlights packages this year. The All England Lawn Tennis Club and technology partner IBM said the Watson AI platform had been taught to recognise players’ emotions, which it would combine with an analysis of crowd noise, players’ [...]
Transferwise announces partnership with UK challenger bank Monzo on international money transfer June 25, 2018 Challenger bank Monzo has announced a partnership with fintech unicorn Transferwise on international payments. It marks the second big tie-up for Transferwise in recent weeks, after confirming it was working with France's second largest bank BPCE Groupe. Today, the companies said the partnership will mean Monzo customers can make international payments after the challenger bank [...]