I saw inside an AI-powered Amazon warehouse – here’s what I thought October 16, 2024 Last week, I got a behind-the-scenes look at one of Amazon’s new AI-powered warehouses, in what felt like a glimpse into the future. Inside the 3.5m square foot facility in Nashville, Tennessee, Amazon was finally unveiling the fruits of its AI strategy, revealing a fleet of new AI-powered robots and tools designed to increase efficiency [...]
Reeves looks to charm small business amid tax backlash October 15, 2024 Rachel Reeves has mounted a charm offensive on small business owners this evening after a furious backlash against rumoured plans to hike capital gains tax and national insurance at the Budget this month. At a summit of executives and start-up founders in Downing Street, the Chancellor is expected to bang the drum for more investment [...]
Klarna grows UK network by a third in buy-now pay-later boom October 15, 2024 Klarna said its network of UK merchants has grown by roughly a third over the last year in a sign of booming demand for buy-now pay-later services among British consumers.
Bytes Technology: NHS and HMRC contracts help lift profit as dividend hiked October 15, 2024 IT provider Bytes Technology has posted an uptick in income and operating profit as new and existing clients invest in their software. In its half year results for the six months ended 31 August, Bytes said gross invoiced income jumped by 13.7 per cent to £1.2bn, largely driven by software and from public sector contract [...]
UK start-up funding falls but life sciences sector picks up October 15, 2024 UK start-ups secured $2.9bn (£2.2bn) in new venture capital (VC) funding during the third quarter of 2024, a sharp drop from the $5.7bn (£4.4bn) raised in the previous quarter, according to fresh data from HSBC. The global VC market also slowed, marking its weakest quarter in over four years, driven largely by a downturn in [...]
Entrepreneurs ‘can’t be in doubt’ about our growth pledge, Reynolds argues October 15, 2024 Entrepreneurs who signed an open letter warning about the impact of hiking capital gains tax “can’t be in any doubt” about Labour’s commitment to economic growth, Jonathan Reynolds told City AM. The business and trade secretary was responding to a letter signed by a group of 500 British entrepreneurs, including the founders of Signal AI, [...]
Labour must iron out the kinks in its industrial strategy October 15, 2024 Labour's draft industrial strategy is a good start, but there are a few tensions that need to be resolved, Chris Dorrell writes
Government hails £6.3bn ‘vote of confidence’ in UK data centres October 14, 2024 Keir Starmer’s government hailed billions of pounds of investment into UK data centres as a “vote of confidence in Britain” today, as ministers announced scores of deals during the flagship International Investment Summit. US firms Cyrusone, Cloud HQ, Coreweave and Servicenow revealed plans to inject a combined £6.3bn in funding into the UK’s data centre [...]
Retailers pin hopes on bumper golden quarter with Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas October 14, 2024 The final three months of the year, also known as the golden quarter, are make-or-break for retailers. Retail spending has consistently languished this year, or been propped up by margin-carving discounts, but pent-up demand is expected to give the sector a much-needed boost during the holidays, according to a panel of industry experts. Despite consumer [...]
Servicenow pledges £1.2bn investment into UK business at summit October 14, 2024 American software firm Servicenow has committed to investing $1.5bn (£1.15bn) into its UK business over the next five years, the New York-listed company announced today at the international investment summit. Servicenow, a platform that automates and manages business processes, such as customer service and HR, also plans to expand with new office space and grow [...]