More Greek tragedies, plus another excuse to break the internet: What got us talking this week February 20, 2015 Greece was still the word The cat-and-mouse game between Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schaeuble, had everyone guessing. The result? At the time of writing, the Eurogroup was still in negotiations. In the meantime, we've been trying to work out exactly what Varoufakis' leather jacket means, who Greece actually owes, [...]
Food deliveries roll out at Uber and Burger King February 19, 2015 CONTROVERSIAL ride hire firm Uber yesterday launched its latest experiment in delivering more than just people with UberEATS in Barcelona. UberEATS works with local restaurants in the Spanish city to put together a daily selection of meals that can be ordered to arrive in under 10 minutes. Meanwhile, US fast food chain Burger King has [...]
Creaking mindsets: Why businesses are about to learn some hard lessons February 18, 2015 Are we experiencing a revolution in the way that organisations operate? A recent essay in the Harvard Business Review has caused a stir by claiming that we are. The authors, Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms, draw a distinction between institutions that are defined by “old power” and “new power.” The former rely on the exclusive [...]
How much is Snapchat worth? Four charts showing just how big Snapchat’s $19bn valuation is February 18, 2015 Everyone’s favourite disappearing messaging app, Snapchat, has raised a new round of funding which values the firm as high as $19bn (£12.3bn). 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 is looking to [...]
Friday the 13th is lucky for these commuters getting a rally car to and from work February 13, 2015 Friday the 13th may be considered the unluckiest day of the year by some, but weary commuters are in luck today. A fleet of rally cars are super-charging Friday’s commute around the capital by offering to ferry people to and from their destinations throughout the day – thanks to Betfair. No, it’s not the latest company [...]
Apple and Pinterest partner to make app discovery easier February 12, 2015 The app store may have revolutionised the way we listen to music, read newspapers and order a cab, but there is one major problem with it which Apple hasn't addressed. Until now. Among the 1.4m apps, how do people find the app they’re looking for, and how do companies get their app into people’s hands? [...]
Profits soar for Carlyle Group’s Addison Lee February 8, 2015 DESPITE increasing competition from smartphone apps like Uber and Hailo, minicab company Addison Lee continued to grow last year as its revenue and profits surged. The group, which was snapped up by private equity firm Carlyle Group in April 2013, said revenue rose 11 per cent to £196.6m during the year to the end of [...]
Tech #Crunchies 2014: Uber named best overall startup of the year February 6, 2015 Uber's success drove it into first place at the tech Crunchie awards in San Francisco this morning. The taxi-app company picked up the prize for “Best Overall Startup in 2014” at the event, beating runners up GoPro and SnapChat to the title. Uber was founded six years ago and has grown over [...]
Delivering people isn’t Uber’s $40bn dream – Bottom Line February 3, 2015 If Uber floated on the London Stock Exchange tomorrow – don’t hold your breath – it would be the thirteenth largest FTSE 100 constituent. Its $40bn (£26.3bn) valuation is larger than that of Twitter ($24.7bn) or Adobe ($35bn). News that Uber is exploring self-driving cars, mapping and vehicle safety shouldn’t surprise those who watch the [...]
Uber and Google rivalry heating up as both target driverless cars February 3, 2015 Controversial ride-hire app Uber is planning to research self-driving cars by partnering with a leading US university, a move that could put it in competition with its shareholder Google. Google has been exploring driverless cars since 2010 and now has a fully functioning prototype that it plans to begin testing on San Francisco roads this [...]