VCs held off on startup investments because of Brexit July 20, 2016 The figures are in: and they show that in the build up to the EU referendum, venture capital investors held off on putting their cash into startups. VC investment "plummeted" 40 per cent according to the latest report from CB Insights and KPMG. Some $2.8bn went into VC-backed firms in Europe, of which the UK grabs the biggest share, dipping below [...]
Britain hasn’t lost Arm: Its acquisition is the start of a new Great British tech story July 19, 2016 A week ago, many were wondering whether the UK’s tech sector would become less relevant in a post-Brexit world. The news of Arm’s acquisition by SoftBank for £24bn means many things for UK tech – but irrelevance is not one of them. This acquisition is positive and timely news. Following the referendum, it’s an immediate vote [...]
Santander’s added $100m to its fintech venture fund July 18, 2016 Santander is ploughing a further $100m (£75.3m) into its venture fund to invest in fintech startups around the world. The cash doubles the bank's UK-based venture investment fund, Santander InnoVentures, which has already invested in blockchain startups Ripple and Digital Asset Holdings. “A deeper investment in our fintech fund represents Santander's success in investing in disruptive new technologies that will help [...]
How artificial intelligence, peer-to-peer technology and blockchain are changing the insurance industry forever July 14, 2016 Just as fintech is transforming the banking world, “insurtech” has set its sights on the insurance industry. There are firms like Trov, which provides insurance on-demand and enables consumers to catalogue insured belongings. Buzzmove uses home removals data to create a new distribution model for insurance – people are more likely to renew or buy [...]
Why companies like Twitter are paying top dollar for AI startups July 12, 2016 Big tech firms acquiring artificial intelligence startups are paying top dollar for them and are increasingly looking for those yet to bring in revenue, bucking the trend of wider tech M&A. “A good AI engineer is worth more than many company chief executives right now,” said Victor Basta of advisory firm Magister Advisors which identified the pursuit of talent in AI as one [...]
Soon VW cars will let you control your home from the driving seat July 6, 2016 Troubled car maker Volkswagen is taking another step forward in its drive towards a technological future (and away from that emissions scandal) in a new tie up with electronics giant LG. Fresh from inking an investment in Uber rival Gett in a bid to become a "mobility company" rather than a traditional car manufacturer, the maker of VWs, Audis and Porsches [...]
Could AI halt blindness? DeepMind and this London hospital are finding out July 5, 2016 DeepMind, the pioneering British artificial intelligence company owned by Google, is researching how the technology may help save people's sight in a new partnership with leading London eye hospital Moorfields. The firm's machine learning technology, which has already demonstrated its ability to beat humans at the chess-like game Go, will be used to analyse two [...]
Demand for Accenture’s consulting services has pushed up the firm’s revenue, sending the share price higher in the pre-market June 23, 2016 An up-swing in Accenture's consulting business has helped the company beat analyst expectations in its third quarter. The Dublin-based company reported a better-than-expected 8.6 per cent rise in quarterly revenue to $8.43bn (£6.44bn) from $7.77bn in the same period last year. Net income rose to $897.2m, or $1.41 per share, for the three months to the end of May, [...]
Robot rubbish: Most workers don’t fear automation June 21, 2016 The robots are coming, or so say experts, pundits and commentators. The World Economic Forum predicted that expanded automation and artificial intelligence (AI) would mark the fourth industrial revolution, which could lead to the biggest upheaval in the labour market in a century. Meanwhile, the Bank of England’s Andy Haldane has hypothesised that up to [...]
The UK is about to become a world leader in artificial intelligence June 20, 2016 With the news that Magic Pony has been acquired by Twitter, we are witnessing a crucial turning point – five of the world’s biggest technology companies have now purchased UK-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies. See Magic Pony Technology and Twitter, SwiftKey and Microsoft, VocalIQ and Apple, DeepMind and Google, and Evi and Amazon. Over the coming days [...]