Bayer leads $25m investment round for healthcare start-up Medopad November 5, 2019 Digital healthcare start-up Medopad has earned $25m in an investment round led by Leaps by Bayer, the German pharmaceutical multinational’s venture capital arm. The investment, which brings Medopad’s total funding to over $50m, will be used to help develop the company’s digital health platform and to fund new clinical studies. Read more: Investment bank in [...]
New technologies to gain funding boost over next five years November 5, 2019 Nascent technologies such as quantum computing, blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) are set to receive significant attention from British businesses over the next five years, new research has found. The amount of firms set to invest in quantum computing is to nearly triple from 11 per cent today to 32 per cent in five years, [...]
Google to buy Fitbit for $2.1bn November 1, 2019 Google is set to snap up Fitbit in a deal worth roughly $2.1bn (£1.6bn). The tech giant is acquiring the fitness tracking company for $7.35 a share, in a move that is expected to be completed next year. Read more: Technical issue with Revolut app leaves customers unable to sign in Fitbit’s stock jumped 16 [...]
Dataminr is helping to save local journalism October 31, 2019 Journalism is in a tough spot. For decades, money and jobs in the industry have been in decline. The government’s Cairncross review, released last year, revealed the scope of the problem. It found that total press industry revenues had declined by more than half over the previous 10 years, and that the number of full-time [...]
Financial Times owner Nikkei loses $29m in apparent fraud October 30, 2019 Nikkei, the Japanese media giant behind the Financial Times, has lost roughly $29m (£22.5m) in an apparent wire transfer fraud. In a statement issued today, the company said an employee of its US subsidiary had transferred the funds after receiving “fraudulent instructions by a malicious third party who purported to be a management executive of [...]
The economic impact of Brexit tariffs only tells us half the story October 30, 2019 Brexit is about much more than the economic costs and benefits, but the idea that the former dramatically outweigh the latter has become the received wisdom in much of the media. Report after report emerges which purports to show that, under any of the various trade arrangements envisaged, the UK will be worse off as [...]
Dear politicians: What the City wants to see in your election manifesto October 29, 2019 With the news of a potential December election hanging in the balance today, the City is bracing itself for another potential new government in Downing Street. Yet while much of the debate in the coming weeks is likely to be centred on Britain’s imminent departure of the EU, the financial sector is hoping to see [...]
Travel startup Duffel picks up $30m to revitalise outdated airline technology October 28, 2019 Duffel, a London-based startup seeking to provide airlines with a fresh software update, has today closed a $30m (£27.1m) funding round led by Dropbox and Slack investor Index Ventures. Existing investors Benchmark Capital, which has backed the likes of Snap and Uber, and Blossom Capital also participated. Duffel helps travel agencies to connect to airline [...]
Beware the chilling consequences of facial recognition technology on society October 28, 2019 Since the 1950s, researchers have been working towards the holy grail of artificial intelligence (AI). Now, as last week’s City A.M. feature outlined, recent advances are moving out of the lab and into our daily lives – with disturbing implications. Facial recognition systems, powered by these developments in AI, are spreading into society. This is [...]
Tory donor acquires stake in former Virgin Money chief’s fintech startup Snoop October 25, 2019 A Conservative Party donor has acquired a stake in the technology business of former Virgin Money chief executive Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia. Lord Brownlow’s investment vehicle, Havisham assets, has bought a £5m share in Snoop according to Sky News, alongside Salesforce Ventures, which Jayne-Anne recently joined as UK and Ireland chief. Read more: Self-driving startup Fiveai [...]