X looks to raise $44bn in valuation as Musk woos investors February 19, 2025 Elon Musk’s social media platform X is in discussions to secure new investment at a $44bn (£34.93bn) valuation. The same price was spent by Musk to purchase the firm, formerly known as Twitter, in 2022. Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that talks for this new funding round remain preliminary, and that the terms could either [...]
Fuel Ventures backs AI solution to UK housing crisis February 19, 2025 Venture capital firm Fuel Ventures has co-led a £300,000 investment in PlanningHub, an AI-driven platform designed to help the UK’s housing crisis. The platform is designed to improve access to planning data for property development by simplifying the planning process. PlanningHub’s platform will apply AI to automate aspects of the planning application process, aiming to [...]
UK businesses are struggling to implement AI. Here’s why February 19, 2025 It has been claimed that artificial intelligence (AI) could contribute £200bn to the UK economy. Yet, businesses are struggling with adoption due to a lack of expertise, high costs, and regulatory concerns. A survey by digital transformation company ANS and Yougov of over 1,000 IT decision-makers cited the UK’s skills gap as the leading barrier [...]
Elon Musk’s xAI takes on rival OpenAI with new bot February 18, 2025 Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAI, has officially launched its new chatbot, escalating competition with its generative rivals such as OpenAI, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot. The model, Grok-3, was officially launched on Tuesday and is set to be the tech giant’s most powerful AI chatbot yet. Tech titan and chief executive Musk labeled [...]
UK healthtech bags Europe’s largest pre-seed funding round for female founders February 18, 2025 UK start-up Level Zero Health has raised $6.9m (£5.5m) in a pre-seed funding round, the largest ever secured by female founders in Europe. The funding, led by European venture capital firm redalpine, will accelerate its mission to revolutionise hormone tracking. It will help with its development of the world’s first remote and continuous hormone monitoring [...]
Musk and Google warn UK on tech exodus over safety rules February 17, 2025 Tech giants Google and Elon Musk’s X have warned that Britain’s new online safety laws could force global companies to reconsider their UK presence due to high compliance costs and regulatory overreach. The Online Safety Act, which was passed under Rishi Sunak’s government, imposed strict rules requiring major platforms to introduce age verification and stop [...]
London named Europe’s ‘unicorn capital’ for fintechs February 13, 2025 London leads Europe in fintech ‘unicorns’, a title given to privately-held startups valued at over $1bn, reinforcing its dominance as a global breeding ground for tech unicorns. According to Hurun’s latest index, nearly 80 per cent of the UK’s unicorns and future unicorns are based in London, with fintech being the most dominant sector. Of [...]
Should you use AI for job applications? Here’s what UK hiring managers think February 13, 2025 Managers are increasingly suspicious of AI-generated job applications, with many fearing they aren’t receiving an accurate reflection of a candidate’s skills. According to a new survey by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), three in four managers in the UK say they are not receptive to interviewing people that rely on AI, without tailoring it to [...]
The five UK fintechs tipped to reach unicorn status February 13, 2025 The UK fintech sector is experiencing lightning growth, with several companies on the road to gaining ‘unicorn’ status, a title given to privately held startups valued at over $1bn (£780m). According to Hurun’s recent index, a handful of fintech firms are leading the charge, with valuations of $500m and above. These firms span various financial [...]
Relx: revenue jumps thanks to AI demand February 13, 2025 Data group Relx has reported a seven per cent jump in revenue in 2024 as demand for its analytics and decision tools continued to grow. The information and analytics giant, which serves industries ranging from legal to risk and science sectors, saw adjusted profit rise 10 per cent to £3.2bn, while earnings per share increased [...]