London FinTech startup Iwoca raises $20m series B funding from Commerzbank and Acton Capital July 30, 2015 London FinTech startup Iwoca has landed a new round of funding including investment from Commerzbank. The $20m series B round from the German bank's venture capital arm CommerzVentures, Acton Capital Partners, the Munich-based private equity and VC firm, Redline Capital and other existing investors, will accelerate the lending platform's growth across Europe. “We're aiming to offer [...]
Portable playground: The new mobile games to keep you busy on the beach July 30, 2015 Forget holiday reading: grab a tablet and while away your days on the beach with these top new mobile games. LOST WITHIN iOS/Android, £4.99 This first-person horror adventure takes a heap of genre cliches – creepy asylum, children laughing, creaking floorboards – and uses them to chilling effect. You play a policeman doing [...]
How the UK will become a world leader in FinTech to rival Silicon Valley July 30, 2015 Innovate Finance’s manifesto outlines our vision for FinTech 2020 for the UK. It’s bold and ambitious, but also achievable if we continue to have the support from everyone within our ecosystem. According to Prime Minister David Cameron, his government wants the UK to “be the leading FinTech centre in the world” and has appointed a Special Envoy, [...]
A quiet tech revolution is happening – not in Shoreditch or Birmingham – but in Croydon July 30, 2015 I read Nick Holzherr’s recent article championing Birmingham’s Silicon Canal with a mixture of interest and a large degree of scepticism. As the founder of Croydon Tech City, I agree that the UK’s technological future doesn’t lie solely with the denizens of Old Street. But I argue vehemently with his alternative. If you want [...]
FinTech investment triples to $12.2bn with Europe experiencing biggest growth July 29, 2015 Investment in the flourishing global FinTech sector tripled to a staggering $12.2bn (£8.2bn) last year and grew at more than triple the rate of overall VC investment. Europe's share of investor cash grew at the fastest rate compared to anywhere else in the world as the region cements its reputation as an area for producing successful [...]
Windows 10 launch: Analysts think Microsoft-powered devices will continue to outsell iOS – although Android will always win July 29, 2015 The launch of Windows 10 has people pretty excited – the operating system launched amid much fanfare today as a free update for Windows users. But what will it mean in the war between Microsoft, Android – and its arch-rival, Apple? Data by Gartner shows while devices running Android, Google's answer to Windows, have stormed the [...]
Alibaba invests $1bn in cloud computing arm Aliyun to compete with Amazon Web Services July 29, 2015 Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is planning a $1bn push into the cloud, taking on Amazon by expanding its cloud computing unit Aliyun into international markets. The company, often described as the “Chinese Ebay”, is expanding its cloud computing arm from its current bases in China and Silicon Valley to the Middle East, Europe and Japan, [...]
Amazon proposes drone-designated airspace for commercial deliveries July 29, 2015 Amazon wants a designated airspace zone for drone deliveries, the company told a Nasa convention in California yesterday. Read more: Five reasons delivery drones won't take off Under the company's plans, a slice of the sky between 200ft and 400ft would be designated for whirring drones zipping past each other to deliver parcels. In order to avoid [...]
ING Netherlands bank uses voice biometrics to allow customers to log in to online banking using just their voice July 29, 2015 Online banking can be a chore, largely thanks to the process of remembering complicated pin codes, secret questions or passwords. Shouldn't there be an easier way? If you live in the Netherlands, there is, after a bank in the country introduced a system which allows customers to log into online banking using just their voice. [...]
It’s in the science – here are six proven ways you can make someone fall in love with you July 28, 2015 We've all heard about “The Game” – the so-called ultimate guide for men looking to become God's gift to women. Needless to say, the rules rarely manage to turn their female targets weak at the knees. Read more: It turns out the marketing industry's oldest adage isn't true: Sex doesn't sell Similarly, Glamour magazine's recent “13 [...]