One of the UK’s biggest tech venture capital investors Accel Partners now has $500m more to play with April 12, 2016 The venture capital firm which was an early backer of Facebook, bet on start startup Slack, and most recently invested in Deliveroo and Funding Circle in the UK, has raised $500m (£351m) for a new fund to invest in startups across Europe and Israel. “Entrepreneurship is flourishing everywhere across Europe and Israel; we’ve never seen so many great founders, both gritty and [...]
Videogames simulate everything from bus driving to long haul trucking, but what exactly is the appeal of this esoteric genre of mundane job simulators? April 11, 2016 Some seven miles outside of sleepy Folkestone, a Volvo FH16 Globetrotter thunders along the M20 like an angry metal brick on wheels, the piercing beams of its powerful headlights carving through the darkness like the reaper’s flashing scythe. Its 16 litre, 750 horsepower engine roaring like a hungry princess ready for her next meal. The [...]
EU referendum: One way Brexit could actually be good for UK fintech April 11, 2016 The UK's prospering fintech sector has been urged to speak up in favour of remaining in Europe ahead of June's referendum and largely backs staying. But, there could be one serious advantage to leaving the union, some experts suggest If Britain were to leave, there would be a greater opportunity for innovative technology startups to disrupt the world of [...]
Britain’s financial regulator is the first to launch a fintech accelerator April 11, 2016 The FCA is getting experimental with fintech. The financial regulator is launching an experimental scheme which will allow new financial technology companies to test out innovations which are as yet unregulated to foster innovation in the market. The so-called sandbox project is the first of its kind to be directly led by a financial regulator [...]
Digital mortgage broker aims to bring market into “21st century” and save consumers £29bn after securing £1.55m in seed funding April 11, 2016 A digital mortgage broker aiming to save consumers up to £29bn a year launched today after securing £1.55m in seed funding. Habito said it was “taking aim at the £95bn mortgage broking market, one of the only pillars of the consumer finance sector yet to benefit from technological disruption”. The startup uses technology to analyse every [...]
Now you can split London black cab fares with friends (just like Uber) April 11, 2016 One of the features beloved by Uber users is being able to share a fare with a mate at the tap of a phone, but now, you'll be able to do the same with a black cab. Anyone getting one of the 15,000 London black cabs via on-demand app Gett, can now split the cost between [...]
What’s the future of finance? Here’s what those in the know say April 11, 2016 We asked those in the know – from challenger banks and traditional banks to fintech startup stars – what's future of financial services? As the Innovate Finance Global Summit kicks off, here's what the experts had to say. Taavet Hinrikus, chief executive and co-founder, TransferWise "In five years’ time, some parts of the sector will be almost universally controlled by [...]
UK cyber security company Darktrace embarks on funding round to secure $400m valuation April 10, 2016 UK cyber security company Darktrace has turned to Silicon Valley in a bid to secure funding which would see the company valued at $400m (£283.2m). The company, which is headquartered in both Cambridge, UK, and San Francisco, USA, was founded in 2013 by mathematics and computer specialists from the University of Cambridge and intelligence experts from MI5 and GCHQ. [...]
Now Nationwide is testing behavioural biometrics instead of pins and passwords for logging on to online banking April 10, 2016 Pins and passwords are so passe. Nationwide is the latest financial institution to explore new ways of verification and authentication, testing out a new method of accessing your bank account based on how you use your phone – from the way you hold it to the speed you type. And with 70 per cent of us [...]
Harry Potter and the curious tale of GCHQ April 10, 2016 How do you keep Harry Potter news under wraps? With the help of a spy agency – and not the fictional Ministry of Magic kind either With no real life invisibility cloaks or veritaserum potions available, the publishers of the enormously successful series had a little help from a surprising place – the UK's spy agency GCHQ. [...]