Spotify out of tune as revenues soar but losses swell May 23, 2016 Spotify, the world’s biggest music subscription service, saw its revenues rise 80 per cent to €1.95bn (£1.5bn) in 2015. However, the company saw its net losses increase to €173m (£134m) from €162m in 2014. The streaming giant’s revenues soared thanks to a 78 per cent increase in subscriptions to €1.74bn (£113.8bn) while advertising revenues grew [...]
We’re fintech investors, but here’s why we’ll never be based in Silicon Valley May 23, 2016 In 1934, Willie Sutton was asked by FBI agents “why do you rob banks, Willie?”. Sutton replied dryly, “because that's where the money is”. We create rather than rob banks, so why did we set up outside of Silicon Valley, where the tech money is? Because that’s where the banks are. Anthemis is in London, New York and Geneva, [...]
Sainsbury’s is testing a smart fridge to stop you wasting money on food May 23, 2016 How much cash do you end up wasting on food because you can't remember what you already have (or don't have) sitting in the fridge at home? Sainsbury's thinks that it could be quite a lot and might just be one of the reasons for families wasting on average £235 each year – that'll be £1.5bn [...]
Phones 4U founder John Caudwell is backing this mobile startup May 23, 2016 Phones 4U founder John Caudwell has put his weight behind a new mobile startup launching today which aims to simplify buying a new mobile and do away with lengthy contracts. Unshackled.com will sell phones and sims separately and has partnered with peer-to-peer lender Zopa to offer financing for the upfront cost of the device. Founded by the former chief operating officer of Phones 4U [...]
Can AI be creative? Google wants to find out May 23, 2016 First they came for the manual tasks, now they're eyeing up the careers of musicians, art directors and other creative types – will robots and artificial intelligence leave any jobs for us humans? Google's latest project, Magenta, will explore the possibility of machines learning creativity, leaving anyone thinking the rise of the robots would give us all time [...]
This alcohol monitoring Skyn wristband from BACtrack might help you avoid hangovers May 23, 2016 It might feel like Friday is a long way away, but if you're still feeling the hangover pain from the weekend and don't want to overdo it in future, science may have just created the product for you. BACtrack, a medical device maker based in San Fransisco that also develops breathalyzers, has won a $200,000 US national contest [...]
The Chinese town where robots replaced 60,000 workers May 23, 2016 A Chinese manufacturing hub enlisted a fleet of robots to help overhaul its growth strategy. Kunshan, in Jiangsu province of China, used to be one of the country’s best performing economies. But its reputation was dented after an industrial explosion killed 146 people in 2014. At the time, it was blamed on poor safety standards [...]
Fraud with Problems: Ravelin boss Martin Sweeney talks Hailo, fake credit cards and machine learning May 23, 2016 "There’s a real tension at the heart of fraud detection: if you want to stop online fraud, just switch everything off.” Martin Sweeney is, of course, being facetious. But fraud, he impresses, has become an accepted fact of the on-demand economy. “We as consumers are accepting that most of the things we buy have a premium [...]
Sports data firm Guscio launches on Aim after purchasing Sportsdata and Dataplay May 23, 2016 Guscio, a technology company focused sports data has today begun trading on the alternative investment market (Aim) of the London Stock Exchange. The firm has bought two businesses – Sportsdata and Dataplay – for around £2.5m. Guscio purchased the two tech companies by issuing new shares, and also raised £1.5m with a placing of 37.5m [...]
Traditional banks’ dominance of lending market set to continue despite peer-to-peer growth, report finds May 23, 2016 Banks will fight off competition from non-traditional lenders and continue to dominate the borrowing market over the next decade, a Deloitte report has suggested. The firm’s Marketplace Lending report estimates that by 2025 marketplace lenders (MPLs), previously known as peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders, will account for up to around six per cent, or £35.5bn, of the [...]