Islington AI-powered gig economy startup Catapult nabs £4.3m February 6, 2019 On-demand staffing platform Catapult has raised £4.3m in fresh funding, taking its total amount raised in three years to £10m. The funding was led by Novator Partners, and supported by Dollar Shave Club and Jobbio-backer Elkstone Ventures. The Islington-based startup uses artificial intelligence to match the skills and experience of workers to employers' requirements, with [...]
Stereotypes won’t close the gender funding gap February 6, 2019 The latest figures from the British Business Bank on venture capital funding do not make for comfortable reading. Female-led startups get just 1p for every £1 of VC investment, all-male teams receive £5bn of funding per year, and having a single woman on the team correlates with lower investment. “Shocking”, in the words of chief [...]
Food waste startup Too Good To Go gobbles up €6m from investors February 5, 2019 Danish leftover food startup Too Good To Go has grabbed €6m (£5.3m) from some of its existing investors, as it prepares to expand into four new countries in 2019. The firm, which enables users to collect leftover dishes from restaurants and stores at discounted prices, has partnered with 1,500 retailers in London to date, including [...]
British startups hit by funding drop last year as fintech bucks the trend February 5, 2019 The amount of money pumped into Britain’s startups slipped in 2018, but fintech and blockchain investment provided a silver lining. Funding into the UK’s young companies dropped from 2017’s record high of £8.6bn to £7bn last year, according to data published today by Beauhurst. Deals at seed stage fell 15 per cent to almost the [...]
Business banking startup Anna Money raises £8.5m from Kinetik February 5, 2019 Financial admin startup Anna Money has landed £8.5m in funding from Kinetik, as the banking app aims to take on the big leagues. Anna, which offers a digital admin assistant, current account and banking debit card for small businesses, said it is preparing to launch several new tools in anticipation of HM Revenue & Customs' [...]
What’s holding back the female entrepreneurs? February 4, 2019 Achieving gender equality in economic opportunities is a struggle that has many dimensions. Not only is there a pay gap between men and women who are salaried employees, stark gender gaps also exist in the area of entrepreneurship. In particular, more men report being business owners than women, and even when women are business owners, [...]
HSBC, Goldman and Lord Fink back City fintech firm Bud February 4, 2019 Fintech startup Bud has closed a $20m (£15.3m) funding round from investors such as HSBC, Goldman Sachs and former Man Group boss Lord Stanley Fink. Other investors included Investec’s INVC fund, ANZ Bank, the corporate venture arm of Banco Sabadell and 9 Yards, the venture capital firm which lists former chancellor George Osborne among its [...]
JP Morgan takes minority stake in London startup Smart Pension February 4, 2019 Banking behemoth JP Morgan has made a strategic investment in workplace pensions startup Smart Pension, the firm will announce today, as part of a fresh equity funding round. The size of the round was undisclosed, however Smart Pension said it had raised around £50m to date. JP Morgan took a minority equity stake as part of [...]
Starling Bank courts Irish banking licence as it launches euro accounts February 4, 2019 London digital challenger bank Starling is today kicking off preparations to apply for an Irish banking licence, as it launches support for euro currency accounts this week. Offered to its users based in the UK, the euro account will be available alongside Starling’s existing pound account in order for customers to hold, send and receive euros with [...]
Revealed: The 10 fintech startups in Barclays’ 2019 Techstars accelerator February 1, 2019 It's that time of year again: Barclays has unveiled the 10 startups that have made the cut for its annual fintech accelerator programme, powered by venture capital giant Techstars. Now in its sixth year, the 13-week programme puts the young companies through an intensive training course with access to mentorship from Barclays and industry experts, and [...]