Meet the hottest 50 UK tech startups which are now “scale-ups” November 3, 2016 50 of the hottest startups from across the UK have now been named the country's top "scale-ups" – the fastest growing businesses boasting average growth of 47 per cent over the past year. Jobs website Adzuna and smart city technology firm Pavegen are among the new cohort of businesses chosen to join the scale-up club of [...]
How much did Twitter acquire Magic Pony for? November 2, 2016 Twitter caused a stir last year, buying up a nearly unknown startup from London working on artificial intelligence technology, in a surprise deal that signalled the status of the UK as a leader in AI. Magic Pony was snapped up for a reported $150m, back in June. Twitter reported spending $85.2m on two acquisitions since the start of the year, [...]
Keeping in the loop: City A.M. talks with LoopMe founder Stephen Upstone October 31, 2016 Stephen Upstone, chief executive and founder of LoopMe, is pondering his company's reach. "I think that out of the top 10 global brands, as rated by Interbrand, we work with eight of them,” he says. His business has touched 1.5bn people, handles 500bn bits of data a day, and has opened offices from Los Angeles to [...]
BT boss says “it’s quite possible” that 80 per cent of today’s jobs won’t exist in the future October 29, 2016 Gavin Patterson probably doesn't want to worry anyone but he thinks it's "quite possible" that 80 per cent of the jobs that people do today won't exist in the future. Yes, 80 per cent. Speaking at the HSBC Innovation Summit on Friday, the BT boss said: "It's a combination of ubiquitous networks, ubiquitous data, ubiquitous [...]
Polls could well be wrong on US election just like they were with Brexit, says Nigel Farage October 29, 2016 Nigel Farage had some words of warning for those dismissing Donald Trump's chances in the US presidential election. Speaking on his LBC show, the former Ukip leader said: "They thought Brexit wouldn't happen." Discussing his appearance in Mississippi alongside the Republican presidential candidate, Farage said: "I was there to talk about Brexit and possible crossover with the [...]
The House of Lords is investigating the pros and cons of driverless cars October 28, 2016 Anyone feeling edgy about the progress of driverless cars and their imminent arrival on UK roads can rest easy (sort of). Next week the House of Lords will get cracking on its inquiry into autonomous vehicles and their future on UK roads. The science and technology committee will meet on Tuesday 1 November and hear evidence [...]
America is embracing the opportunities of AI while the rest of the world frets October 25, 2016 The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to generate concerns. The latest furore emerged at the start of this week. Researchers in the top ranked University College London computer science department claimed that an AI algorithm correctly predicts the outcome of 79 per cent of cases heard at the European Court of Human Rights. The current fear [...]
UK law firms still growing but competition from US firms and smaller players puts a squeeze on profits October 24, 2016 Lawyers in the UK risk being left twiddling their thumbs, as US and new firms increase competition and put a squeeze on top and bottom lines, a report out today has found. Only three-quarters (75 per cent) of the Top 100 UK law firms reported revenue growth this year, according to figures from PwC, down from [...]
As Stephen Hawking questions AI, will it be the best or worst thing to ever happen to humanity? October 20, 2016 Suranga Chandratillake, general partner at Balderton Capital, says the Best. Evolution is powerful but slow. As a result, we humans are stuck with the bodies and minds we have today – and we know that neither will change dramatically in our lifetimes, or in those of our children. It is technology that frees us from these [...]
Amazon’s £49 virtual assistant launches in the UK today: The Amazon Echo Dot October 20, 2016 Amazon has announced that the all-new Echo Dot launches in the UK today. Whereas the larger Echo device has its own speaker, the puck-sized Dot must be connected to external speakers to allow you to control your home entertainment system using your voice. It also works alone if you'd just like to chat to Alexa, the Echo's artificial intelligence, using a [...]