Uber’s heading to the UK courts over workers’ rights July 20, 2016 Uber and its drivers will head to court today to battle it out in a legal case over workers' rights. The hearing at an employment tribunal is due to begin in London and is expected to rule on the status of some Uber drivers in the first case of its kind in the UK. The action [...]
Cheers! Now Deliveroo’s delivering wine, beer and cocktails July 19, 2016 Drinkers rejoice: food delivery startup Deliveroo is expanding beyond the simple delivery of food and into into takeaway alcohol, including wine, craft beer and cocktails. The startup backed by top investors has inked new deals with Majestic Wines and Brewdog among others to bring the tipples straight to people's doors after testing out the drinks-only and [...]
Let’s not be spoilsports and crush Pokemon Go July 15, 2016 It was a story that gripped the nation for weeks. Unexpected twists and turns meant no one was sure what would happen next. But yesterday, after what seemed like an inordinately long wait, Britons were rewarded for their patience. No, it was nothing to do with Theresa May: Pokemon Go finally launched in the UK. The game, [...]
Telematics will make you safer and save you money – by disrupting the disrupters July 14, 2016 Telematics – the technology for collecting and analysing driver behaviour – has been transforming the face of car insurance for a long time. Now it is set to play a key role in how people engage with market disrupters such as Uber and Zipcar. These new entrants give people a great deal of flexibility in how [...]
Jaguar Land Rover will put driverless cars on Britain’s roads this year July 13, 2016 Jaguar Land Rover is the latest car maker to reveal its plans for driverless cars – and it aims to put them on Britain's roads incredibly soon. The car maker will begin introducing a fleet of driverless cars this year and by 2020, more than 100 of the vehicles will have hit Britain's roads on test routes [...]
YPlan’s co-founder Rytis Vitkauskas on pitching to Ashton Kutcher and how to secure other big-name investors July 12, 2016 Rytis Vitkauskas doesn’t strike you as the sort of person to court celebrities. The Lithuanian born co-founder of YPlan, the events discovery app, comes across as smart, focused and unostentatious. Nevertheless, YPlan has been remarkably successful at getting celebrity backers like Stephen Fry, Pharell Williams and Ashton Kutcher, and Vitkauskas spoke about this at a recent [...]
Uber Technologies has raised $1.15bn from a high-yield loan July 8, 2016 Uber Technologies has raised over a billion dollars to add to its arsenal in its bid to extend its operations across the world. The taxi-hailing app has finalised a $1.15bn (£889m) high-yield loan. The unleveraged loan, which is Uber's first, takes the total amount raised in debt and equity to more than $15bn and helps its [...]
The UK is testing a sharing economy kitemark in efforts to regulate July 7, 2016 Airbnb, Uber and other companies which are part of the so-called sharing economy may soon be able to get a seal of approval that signals they follow rules of good practice in efforts to regulate the industry. The scheme is the first of its kind to monitor the standards of the hundreds of companies which have sprung up in recent years – [...]
Private jet flights from China to Europe soar as sterling falls to Earth July 6, 2016 The number of private jets flying into Europe from China has taken off this year, climbing by 43 per cent on the same period last year. Data from private jet company Magnus Aviation has shown that in June, private jets flying in to Europe from China increased by 41.7 per cent from same month last year. [...]
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 [...]