Year of the unicorn: 24 companies have surpassed $1bn valuation this year already February 5, 2021 There has been somewhat of a stampede of companies reaching unicorn status since the start of the year following a strong year for the tech sector. Some 24 companies have already reached $1bn valuation since the start of the year with a particularly strong showing from e-commerce and fintech companies, according to research by Tipalti. [...]
Google owner Alphabet beats revenue estimates as cloud losses grow February 2, 2021 Google parent company Alphabet beat revenue expectations for the fourth quarter, but revealed hefty losses in its cloud computing division. The tech giant posted revenue of $56.9bn (£41.7bn) in the final three months of the year, up from $46bn in the same period last year. Alphabet said the figures were driven by strong performance from [...]
Crypto AM shines its Spotlight on the Agora Conferences February 1, 2021 Last year was marked by a pandemic that halted global economic growth and forced many countries and economies to the brink of collapse; and no one is sure yet when the rebound will firmly start and how long it will take us to get back to “normal” economic growth. Like the rest of the world, [...]
Why football clubs face an increased threat from cyber criminals during the transfer window January 31, 2021 It isn’t just football’s wheeler-dealers springing into action this month for the January transfer window. Increasingly, it is open season too for cyber criminals who see the game as rich pickings for various forms of hacking. “Right now there are big amounts of money changing hands,” says Max Heinemeyer of cyber defence firm Darktrace. “So this [...]
How the Gamestop rally may have been inspired by crypto asset markets January 29, 2021 The allure of the underdog is well-documented, but what happens when the underdog takes on the house and cleans up the table? That’s exactly what happened in equity markets this week, as a Reddit community-fueled, retail money short-squeeze resulted in GameStop (GME), which previously was the darling of short-sellers, rallying all the way to just [...]
‘Robots will take our jobs’: Eigen boss Lewis Liu on the future of the City worker January 26, 2021 It’s very rare a chief executive will say their work will lead to mass job cuts, not least one of an artificial intelligence firm. But Eigen Technologies’ Lewis Liu is not like your everyday boss. He is surprisingly frank in an industry that does an impressive job of spinning mass job cuts. “I’m not going [...]
Intel to probe results hack as chip demand lifts revenue January 22, 2021 Intel is investigating reports that financially sensitive information was stolen from its website last night in a hack that forced the chipmaker to release its quarterly results early. Chief financial officer George Davis told the Financial Times that a graphic in its financial report had been stolen by a hacker. “Once we became aware of [...]
A 21st century Big Bang 2.0 won’t look like the eighties – but it’s worth pursuing January 20, 2021 UK financial services can unlock a new phase of growth by taking a lead on sustainability, digital innovation and governance, and redefining ‘Big Bang’ to be far more than simply deregulating markets. Chancellor Rishi Sunak spoke of the City’s “perfect platform” for a post-Brexit “Big Bang” last week but remained equivocal on how the new [...]
British chipmaker IQE pulls in record revenue amid bumper demand January 20, 2021 British chipmaker IQE secured a record revenue performance last year amid soaring global demand for its technology. The London-listed firm, which makes components for chips used in Apple products, said full-year revenue would come in at roughly £178m. This is in line with its previous guidance of at least £170m and marks year-on-year growth of [...]
Vodafone secures share of £30m government funding to develop remotely-operated drones January 19, 2021 A consortium of 16 companies including Vodafone has won a share of £30m in government funding to develop remotely-operated drones that could be used to test nuclear sites across the UK. The project, led by sees.ai — a tech company specialising in command and control systems for drones — will explore whether operators based in [...]