Gotham Air is Uber for helicopters March 13, 2015 Pills, pets, hot stone massages – there's an Uber for all of them. But now the "hail something from your smartphone" model has gone considerably more upmarket, after the launch of Gotham Air – an Uber for helicopters. Admittedly hailing a helicopter comes with more conditions than hailing a cab. Firstly, at the moment it's [...]
Uber rival Lyft valued at over £1.5bn March 12, 2015 TAXI APP Lyft has raised $530m (£353.6m) from a new funding round, softening the blow dealt by a US judge’s ruling against the ride-sharing service. Lyft is now valued at more than $2.5bn after the round led by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten closed this week. Rakuten now owns an 11.9 per cent stake in the [...]
Uber rival Lyft valued over £1.5bn after £353m funding round March 12, 2015 Taxi app Lyft has raised $530m (£353.6m) from a new funding round, softening the blow dealt by a US judges’ ruling against the ride-sharing service. Lyft is now valued at more than $2.5bn (£1.67bn) after a funding round led by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten closed this week. Rakuten now owns an 11.9 [...]
Alibaba just invested in Snapchat: Four charts showing just how big its new $15bn valuation is March 12, 2015 Everyone’s favourite disappearing messaging app, Snapchat, has raised a new round of funding from Alibaba which values the firm at $15bn (£10bn). It’s a vote of confidence for the four-year-old app, which has just introduced a host of content-driven advertising features in a bid to start generating some revenue. The app picked up $200m from [...]
Uber teams up with UN in a bid to recruit one million women drivers March 10, 2015 Uber has announced plans to create one million jobs for women as drivers by 2020, as it looks to bounce back from negative publicity received in recent months. The taxi app company has partnered with the United Nations to accelerate economic opportunities for women and help them to become more independent. UN Women executive director [...]
Everything you need to know about the Apple Watch: Share price, spec, features, UK release date and what the analysts say March 9, 2015 Apple chief executive Tim Cook has revealed details of the highly anticipated Apple Watch, including the price and release date. The tech giant's first wearable device will go on sale on 24 April with a starting price of $349 (£299). There will also be an 18 carat gold version priced at between $10,000 and $17,000 with more limited [...]
London cab firm Addison Lee embarks on global expansion with New York launch March 3, 2015 London cab firm Addison Lee is expanding its services to the hotly contested taxi battleground of New York. The expansion, its first outside London, will give the firm access to the second biggest cab market in the world after London's, which is worth an estimated £2.2bn. The private equity-owned firm said the expansion was spurred [...]
2015 Forbes’ billionaires list: Bill Gates joined by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Uber’s Travis Kalanick and Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel March 2, 2015 While Forbes’ list of billionaires is topped by the usual suspects – Microsoft founder Bill Gates, business magnate Carlos Slim and investment guru Warren Buffett – young tech entrepreneurs are hot on their heels. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg joined the top 20 for the first time with an estimated fortune of $33.4bn (£21.7bn), placing him [...]
Uber has launched its own quarterly magazine: Momentum March 2, 2015 Not content with branching out into grocery and fast food delivery Uber has decided to try its hand in the media business. The ride-sharing giant is launching its own quarterly magazine – Momentum. The publication will be targeted at the company's 150,000 drivers. Momentum will be on sale in Boston, Oklahoma, San Francisco, New York [...]
Nasdaq near 5,000: Not a bubble – yet – CNBC Comment February 23, 2015 YES WE’RE in a bubble.” “Heck no, we’re not in a bubble.” That was the conversation at a recent tech meet in Shoreditch, where entrepreneurs and investors debated whether the Nasdaq trading within striking distance of 5,000 means bubbly tech stocks are about to burst. The tech-heavy index has not traded above the 5,000 mark [...]