Insurtech startup Cuvva secures £15m to move into long-term car insurance December 3, 2019 Insurtech startup Cuvva is to expand into long-term motor insurance, after raising £15m in a series A funding round. The move follows the recent appointment of former Lloyd’s of London chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown as Cuvva’s chair. RTP Global, Breega and Digital Horizon joined as new investors, alongside Localglobe, Techstars Ventures, Tekton and Seedcamp. A number [...]
US to slap France with tariffs over ‘burdensome’ digital tax December 2, 2019 The US has vowed to slap tariffs of up to 100 per cent on $2.4bn (£1.6bn) of French goods, in retaliation over findings that a new digital services tax in the country would harm US tech companies. US trade representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer said its investigation found that the French proposal was “inconsistent with prevailing [...]
EU Commission to open investigation into data usage by Google and Facebook December 2, 2019 The European Commission has begun a preliminary inquiry into Google and Facebook, and whether the two firm’s data usage complies with EU regulation. “The Commission has sent out questionnaires as part of a preliminary investigation into Google’s and Facebook’s data practices. These investigations concern the way data is gathered, processed, used and monetised, including for [...]
Mobile network Three scraps rewards offering Wuntu November 25, 2019 Telecoms giant Three UK has scrapped its rewards programme for customers, three years after it launched. Wuntu, which was available to all Three users, will shut down on 15 December. Akin to rivals such as O2’s Priority and Veryme Rewards by Vodafone, Wuntu offered users perks such as restaurants and cinema discounts and free taster [...]
Pokémon Sword and Shield review: A spectacular upgrade for Nintendo’s chart-topping series November 21, 2019 Pokémon’s creator GameFreak was uncharacteristically secretive during the development of Sword and Shield, the latest pair of monster collecting games in the world-dominating, 23-year-old franchise. Now it’s clear to see why the studio played its cards so close to its chest: the new games shake up the rulebook in a way that might have given [...]
Trading giant Robinhood makes its UK debut in Revolut challenge November 20, 2019 US fintech Robinhood, a commission-free trading startup valued at $7.6bn (£5.9bn), has today arrived in the UK. The firm’s stock trading service is making its international debut, in a direct challenge to established British rivals Freetrade and Revolut. Robinhood will today roll out the waiting list for its popular app to UK investors, with a [...]
Augmented reality to add £62.5bn to British economy by 2030 November 19, 2019 Virtual and augmented reality (AR) technologies are forecast to add £62.5bn to the UK economy in the next decade, as businesses embrace innovation in the workplace. More than £44bn of the 2.44 per cent injection to UK GDP will come from AR, according to research published today by PwC. The technology is used by the [...]
Gousto investor MMC Ventures reveals £100m scaleup fund November 18, 2019 MMC Ventures has today revealed the close of its first fund for re-investing in its own portfolio of mature companies at £100m. The Scaleup Fund will provide capital to current firms in MMC’s roster that have outgrown the firm’s other funds, such as Interactive Investor and Safeguard Global. MMC, which was an early investor in [...]
Spotify backer Northzone secures $500m November 18, 2019 Early Spotify investor Northzone has today announced its ninth fund at $500m (£387.5m), which it said was raised at “record speed”. The oversubscribed pot attracted both new and existing investors, as a result of increasing interest in European early-stage startups. It takes the total amount raised by the Swedish venture capital giant to €1.5bn (£1.3bn). [...]
Motherhood social app Peanut nets $5m from Facebook backer Index November 14, 2019 Peanut, a social networking app for mothers, has secured $5m in a funding round led by unicorn hunter Index Ventures. The investment takes Peanut’s total amount raised to date up to $9.8m, with previous backers including Felix Capital, actor Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures and Greycroft. Index has previously invested in the likes of Dropbox, Facebook [...]
