JP Morgan and Barclays are exploring quantum computing technology with IBM December 14, 2017 JP Morgan will begin exploring the potential of quantum computing and how it might be applied to trading strategies, portfolio optimisation, asset pricing, and risk analysis in a new partnership with tech giant IBM. The investment bank is one of two financial institutions, along with Barclays, taking advantage of the commercialisation of quantum technology, which [...]
London startup Pace has raised £2.5m to help hotels boost revenues using artificial intelligence December 14, 2017 A London startup using artificial intelligence to help boost revenues for hotels has raised several million pounds of cash from early-stage investors. Seedcamp, SpeedInvest and Amadeus Capital Partners are among investors putting £2.5m into Pace, with InterGlobe – the company behind India’s larges airline IndiGo – leading the seed round. Read more: European fintech startup [...]
Open Banking: Meet 10 startups that just won cash for innovative ideas December 13, 2017 Nearly a dozen startups have been chosen for a cash prize totalling £5m for their innovative ideas for making banking easier for small businesses. A firm that is a current account for freelancers that can help them manage tax and expenses, called Coconut, and another, Funding options, a marketplace for financial products for small firms, [...]
11 tech startups to watch according to top insurers in Startupbootcamp’s insurtech accelerator December 11, 2017 Nearly a dozen startups looking to disrupt the insurance industry with technology such as artificial intelligence have been chosen for the latest cohort of a London programme, backed by Lloyds Banking Group, Allianz, Scottish Widows and Confused.com among several high-profile financial firms. The 11 early stage startups from nine countries around the world will join [...]
Could fintech be opening the door to more financial crime? December 8, 2017 Fintech startups aim to disrupt current practices and to do it fast. The emerging business model requires product managers find a buyer need, put out a minimum viable product, and iterate change in response to customer use. However, all this innovation—especially with entrepreneurs who have more tech savvy than experience in financial services—opens opportunities [...]
Google DeepMind’s “superhuman” artificial intelligence won top-level chess within four hours of learning game December 7, 2017 DeepMind’s artificial intelligence programme has beaten a top-level chess computer programme after learning the game in just four hours without human help. The Google owned tech company’s machine learning algorithm, which last year won a landmark game of Go against a human player in what has been described as a “superhuman performance”, was applied to [...]
Trump’s tweets have more of an effect on market volatility than North Korean missile tests, finds Goldman Sachs December 4, 2017 Whether US President Donald Trump is making any headway in his campaign to Make America Great Again is hard to gauge. But there is one area where he is having a quantifiable impact, according to Goldman Sachs: market volatility. Analysts at the investment bank noted that in a year when volatility seemed stubbornly flat, rare [...]
From Xero to Hero: Gary Turner has his head in the cloud December 4, 2017 It is the dream of every startup to overtake the incumbent, dominant player in its field. Facebook swallowed Myspace; Uber is usurping taxis; Spotifykilled the CD. London’s fintechs are chipping away at just about every area of financial services. We are witnessing an era of great technological change. Some of the present disruption is quite [...]
Data is the fuel for AI, so let’s ensure we get the ethics right December 4, 2017 Data is the propulsive energy behind the fourth industrial revolution – playing the same role as coal, oil and electricity did in the previous revolutions. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the new engine, just as the railways connected north and south, roads and cars connected our cities, and electrification lit up our homes and allowed domestic [...]
Carwow backer Episode 1 revs up with new £60m venture capital fund as SyndicateRoom launches new EIS | City A.M. December 1, 2017 Episode 1, the software-focused venture capital firm, has launched a new £60m fund to seed UK entrepreneur-led companies. The Enterprise Capital Fund is 60 per cent larger that Episode 1’s first, and received investment from the likes of the British Business Bank and later-stage venture capital firm Draper Esprit. Simon Murdoch, former Amazon UK chief [...]