General Electric backs German renewable battery start-up Sonnen June 7, 2016 General Electric has bet on renewable energy storage with a stake in a lithium battery start-up. GE Ventures, the engineering giant's venture capital arm, paid a "double-digit million sum" for a slice of Bavaria-based start-up Sonnen, which has become Europe's largest maker of lithium-battery energy storage systems. Read more: Oil major Total makes near €1bn wager on renewable energy Sonnen, [...]
Firing up innovation in Japan: Entrepreneurship has been frowned up in Japan but a new breed of youngsters are hoping to make the country a world class technology player once again June 6, 2016 The eighties were a boom time for Japan, when the country’s high-tech innovations meant the likes of Sony, Nintendo, Mitsubishi and Toshiba were global leaders. Its technology had changed society, from the appearance of the first bullet train in 1964, to Sony’s Walkman in 1979, through to the Nintendo GameBoy in 1989. Japan’s dominance in [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 31, 2016 It's the last day of May, people are back at their desks after a long weekend in the UK and the US and markets in New York are pointing up. Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 14:30 London time. Ahead of the open the S&P is up by 0.04 [...]
The Slovakian makers of the 700mph Hyperloop have invented their own super-safe material which is 10 times stronger than steel May 24, 2016 Remember Hyperloop, the 700mph mass transportation system invented by Tesla founder Elon Musk? The technology – which is still at prototype stage – has been seized on by a company in Slovakia, which today announced that it has come up with a new, super-safe material to ensure passenger safety. “Vibranium” may sound suspiciously close to Avatar’s Unobtainium, [...]
Vroom Vroom: Tesla shares jump after Goldman Sachs upgrade May 18, 2016 Tesla shares jumped close to 4 per cent on Wednesday after Goldman Sachs upgraded the carmaker’s stock from "neutral" to “buy”. Patrick Archambault, Goldman Sachs’ auto analyst, said he sees a 22 per cent upside to Tesla's $250 share price target. Tesla shares traded at $212.73 at the time of reporting, up almost 3.94 per cent. Read [...]
Ryan Bertrand’s secret second career as a fintech entrepreneur – and John Terry is backing his latest venture May 11, 2016 The history of football’s relationship with technology is a chequered one, from the game’s long resistance to implementing goal-line gadgetry to the tale of former Aston Villa striker Darius Vassell taking a power drill to his toenail in the misguided belief that it would relieve pain. Ryan Bertrand hopes to change that perception. When he is [...]
Oil major Total makes near €1bn wager on renewable energy with bid for battery maker Saft May 9, 2016 French oil major Total made a €950m (£750m) bid for battery maker Saft, effectively increasing its wager on the renewable energy sector. It said that the €36.5 per share offer represents a 38.3 per cent premium to Saft's closing price as of Friday. The friendly offer has already received unanimous approval from Saft's board, but it's still subject to a review [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 5, 2016 Oil has steamed ahead so far today, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil higher by three per cent at $45.70 a barrel after wildfires in Canada, as well as fighting in Libya dragged on production. International benchmark Brent crude added 2.6 per cent to $45.75 a barrel. Yesterday the latest US inventories posted a higher than expected addition to stockpiles [...]
Tesla executives Greg Reichow and Josh Ensign announce their departure ahead of Model 3 launch May 4, 2016 Electric car giant Tesla has announced two of its top motor executives will leave the company ahead of its widely-anticipated, mass-market Model 3 car. Tesla said its vice president of production, Greg Reichow, who had previously been pegged to lead the manufacturing of the Model 3 vehicle, would take a leave of absence after a [...]
Tesla Motors beats expectations in first quarter results and primes for the launch of its Model 3 vehicle May 4, 2016 Tesla Motors has beaten analyst expectations in its first quarter results and ramped up production as demand for its mass-produced Model 3 electric car has sky-rocketed. The figures Tesla posted revenue of $1.15bn (£793m) for the first quarter of 2016, a 22 per cent increase from the same period in 2015, while sales climbed 45 per cent year on [...]