Lyft to pitch fast growth to investors as IPO race with Uber intensifies February 15, 2019 Lyft is set to pitch its fast growth in the US to investors as it seeks to beat out rivals Uber to become the first publicly listed ride-hailing company. It will tell investors its share of the US market is close to 40 per cent, a five per cent increase on a year earlier, having [...]
Revolut’s Valentine’s Day advert caused a social media storm – and shows the pitfalls of using comedy in marketing February 11, 2019 Roses are red, violets are blue, there’s a company in hot water and it’s called Revolut. The fintech challenger bank, which offers a mobile-based banking service, recently launched a new ad campaign of Tube posters that joked about the spending habits of its customers. One of the four adverts read: “To the 11,867 people who [...]
Activist investor Cat Rock turns up the heat after calling on Just Eat to start merger talks February 11, 2019 One of Just Eat’s major shareholders has urged the takeaway giant to start merger discussions with a "well-run industry peer" today, following the recent departure of boss Peter Plumb. Cat Rock Capital Management, which owns a 1.7 per cent stake in Just Eat, said that a tie-up for the online food delivery firm "would be a [...]
How Smart Cities transform operations models February 1, 2019 | City Talk Local and national governments around the world face huge challenges in addressing the services needs and environmental issues that busy, growing modern cities present. Effective and efficient operations models are required, both for the management of urban infrastructure and for the production and delivery of products and services dependent on them. One solution has been [...]
The view from the slopes: This year’s Davos was stuck in aspic January 25, 2019 Leading up to Davos, all the talk was about the notable absentees. As high-profile delegates fell like dominoes, this year’s World Economic Forum looked in danger of becoming a damp squib. But something has been here, and people have been trying hard to pretend it isn’t. It’s the elephant, or even elephants, in the room. [...]
Uber teams up with meditation startup Calm to bring some peace to UK passengers January 24, 2019 Uber has launched a partnership with meditation startup Calm to offer in-app mindfulness exercises to passengers, in a bid to make us all slow down a little more. From today, Uber riders across the UK will be able to access a range of guided meditation and breathing exercises during a trip in one of its cars. [...]
The US government shutdown drags on, but London never closes for business January 24, 2019 As the longest government shutdown in US history rumbles on – sparked by Donald Trump’s insistence to build a border wall that Democrats in Congress have refused to grant funding for – Wall Street and Silicon Valley have been left in serious IPO limbo. Staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have not worked [...]
Coffee to go: Starbucks set to trial London deliveries after US roll-out January 22, 2019 Starbucks will begin trialling a coffee-to-your-door service in London at the end of the month as it looks to tap into the $95bn (£73.7bn) global market for online food delivery. The company has teamed up with food delivery app Uber Eats in a bid to corner the market in the capital by offering delivery from a [...]
Just Eat boss quits in unexpected resignation January 21, 2019 Just Eat chief executive Peter Plumb is to step down from his role at the British takeaway ordering website with immediate effect, the firm revealed this morning. In an unexpected announcement Just Eat said that Plumb is to be replaced after 16 months at the helm on an interim basis by current chief customer officer Peter Duffy [...]
Hacking Wall Street: Are tech unicorns about to disrupt stock market flotations? January 21, 2019 Tech companies have changed the way we chat, bank, travel and date. Are they about to disrupt capital markets too? “In [Silicon] Valley there’s always been that mentality: how do we hack Wall Street?” says Rob Kniaz, a founder of tech-focused venture capital firm Hoxton Ventures. Two weeks ago reports broke that Slack, the workplace [...]