By: Emily Nicolle

Technology editor, covering all things tech, fintech and venture capital. You can reach me on Twitter via @emilyjnicolle, or email me at: emily.nicolle@cityam.com

Amazon hits back at Hammond’s digital tax with high street venture

Amazon is launching a programme to help digital businesses find success on the high street, with a series of pop-up stores across the UK. The move follows comments from chancellor Philip Hammond that the tech giant and other online behemoths hold a “near-monopoly” over physical stores, contributing to retail's economic downturn. The e-commerce giant will open [...]
Mark Zuckerberg survives shareholder revolt at annual Facebook meeting

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has survived a shareholder revolt which sought to strip him of his chairman title, and reduce his monopoly over the firm's controlling shares. Zuckerberg owns 60 per cent of Facebook's voting shares, and acts as both its chief executive and chairman. Other motions, which requested the breakup of Facebook as a [...]
Bristol scaleup Ultrahaptics buys US augmented reality rival for $30m

Bristol-based firm Ultrahaptics has acquired one of its main Silicon Valley rivals in a deal valued at $30m (£23.8m). Leap Motion, which specialises in hand-tracking technology, will join Ultrahaptics, bringing over its staff and technology to the combined group. The two companies had been partnered for almost six years before the tie-up. Ultrahaptics' technology projects [...]

City fintech Yapily scores $5.4m from Transferwise founders and Localglobe

May 30, 2019

London fintech startup Yapily has closed $5.4m (£4.3m) in seed funding from King’s Cross-based venture capital firm Localglobe and HZ Holtzbrinck Ventures. Other investors included Transferwise co-founders Taavet Hinrikus and Ott Kaukver, and C-suite executives from Twilio and Unicredit. Read more: Transferwise is Europe's most valuable fintech at $3.5bn Yapily will use the funding to [...]
Netflix speaks out against Georgia’s anti-abortion law

May 28, 2019

Netflix has pledged to work with activist organisations and politicians to fight the US state of Georgia’s recent anti-abortion legislation. The streaming giant’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos said the firm has many female employees in Georgia, which is a major hub for television and film production. “It’s why we will work with the American Civil [...]
Facebook-backer Index Ventures leads $4m series A for UK legal startup

May 28, 2019

Seedlegals, which helps UK startups automate the fundraising process, has secured $4m (£3.2m) in funding from one of the world's most successful venture capital firms. San Francisco and London-based Index Ventures led the series A funding round, putting Seedlegals among the likes of Facebook, Just Eat and Slack in its portfolio. Additional participation was provided by Kima Ventures, [...]
Salesforce’s venture capital arm raises second European tech fund at $125m

May 23, 2019

The venture capital arm of Salesforce has closed its second fund for European tech startups at $125m (£98.7m), with a renewed focus on enterprise cloud. Salesforce Ventures said it was the most active corporate VC in Europe last year, making investments across the spectrum in digital payments, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. It follows the software giant's [...]
Wealthsimple grabs $100m in new funding round from Allianz

May 22, 2019

Digital wealth giant Wealthsimple has raised a CA$100m (£58.8m) investment round, led by the investment unit of insurance firm and asset manager Allianz. The Canadian fintech, which operates in the UK and US alongside its home country, manages an online investing service and a commission-free stock trading app, with over $4.5bn of assets under management. Read more: [...]
Banking unicorn N26 rapped by German regulator in money laundering probe

May 22, 2019

Digital banking startup N26 has been ordered by the German banking regulator to step up its anti-money laundering policies, after a probe found the fintech firm was deficient in several areas. Bafin said today it has issued an order against N26 to "take appropriate internal safety measures" in order to comply with rules on customer due [...]
Mobility software firm raises $4.6m from Amadeus and Global Brain

May 21, 2019

Artificial intelligence mobility startup Immense Simulations has closed its series A funding round at $4.6m (£3.6m), after spinning out from the government’s Catapult tech programme in 2016. The round was co-led by Amadeus Capital Partners, previously named one of Europe’s most active AI investors, and Japanese venture capital giant Global Brain. Additional investment was provided [...]

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