Zoopla investor ploughs £3.3m into London gig economy startup’s seed round February 25, 2020 Collective Benefits, a gig economy startup which is set to exit Facebook’s London accelerator next month, has closed £3.3m in seed funding. The round was led by Stride.VC, a backer of Zoopla, Secret Escapes and Pill Pack, with participation from Delin Ventures and Insurtech Gateway. Collective said a number of angel investors also joined the [...]
Revolut closes $500m from early Netflix investor as it seeks to turn a new leaf February 25, 2020 British digital banking giant Revolut has today revealed the close of $500m (£387m) in additional funding, making it tied with Klarna as the most valuable privately held fintech firm in Europe at $5.5bn. The funding, which was led by new investor TCV, takes Revolut’s total amount raised to date to $836m. TCV, a Silicon Valley-based [...]
Investors splash the cash on British fintech startups February 24, 2020 Global investors poured money into the UK’s fintech sector last year, almost doubling the amount invested here between 2018 and 2019 — despite the rest of the world suffering a slight downturn in funding. British fintech companies attracted $48.5bn (£37.4bn) of investment in 2019, up 91 per cent from $25.4bn a year earlier. Data released [...]
EU imposes tougher AI and data rules to curb tech giants’ power February 19, 2020 The EU has today proposed a raft of new artificial intelligence (AI) rules to curb the power of US tech firms, forcing them to share their data with smaller rivals. The white paper, which is part of a wider digital programme released today by the European Commission, set out ways to limit the perceived dangers [...]
Klarna and Stripe investor Atomico launches fifth tech fund at $820m February 18, 2020 London venture capital giant Atomico has today revealed the close of its fifth fund, aimed at young European tech startups, at $820m (£630.2m). The investor has previously backed global companies such as Klarna, Stripe and Supercell, as well as British success stories such as Farmdrop, Habito and Graphcore. The closure of Atomico V brings the [...]
Jeff Bezos launches climate change fund with $10bn donation February 17, 2020 Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos has revealed he will be committing $10bn to the cause of fighting climate change, with the launch of the Bezos Earth Fund. The billionaire said in an Instagram post the fund would be used to provide grants to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), scientists and activists — or “any effort [...]
London crypto startup secures $8m from Target, Localglobe and MMC February 17, 2020 Cryptocurrency asset management startup Copper has today revealed the close of an $8m (£6.1m) funding round from a number of major investors. Target Global, Localglobe and MMC Ventures all participated in the series A round, which have backed the likes of Transferwise, Delivery Hero, Interactive Investor and Gousto between them. Copper, which designs and manages [...]
EDF acquires electric car charging firm Pod Point in £100m deal February 13, 2020 EDF has bought a majority stake in electric vehicle charging point manufacturer Pod Point as part of a deal worth more than £100m, City A.M. understands. The tie-up also forms part of a new joint venture with Legal & General Capital, in which the latter will also take a 23 per cent stake in Pod [...]
Mixed year for Crowdcube as Brexit uncertainty bites crowdfunding appetite February 12, 2020 The UK’s largest crowdfunding platform struggled to achieve its targets under the weight of political uncertainty in 2019, but still managed to report a significant jump in revenue. Sales at Crowdcube rose 36 per cent last year, as a record number of businesses opted to use its services to raise funding from customers and investors [...]
Curve opens US office as embattled startup heads across the Atlantic February 10, 2020 London fintech startup Curve has today revealed its first US office, as it opens up shop in Brooklyn, New York as a base for its Stateside operations. The move follows a spate of negative reports about the card management firm, including allegations of misrepresenting user data and editing its own Wikipedia page to hide controversies. [...]
