Darktrace warns of rise in ‘hacktivism’ and AI threats as profits fall 92 per cent March 8, 2023 Cybersecurity firm Darktrace reported a plunge in profits in the first half of its financial year today amid a rise in employer tax charges and a slowdown in new business. In a trading update on the six months to the end of December, the firm said operating profit had fallen 91.6 per cent to $577,000 [...]
Female tech founders bag £3.6bn despite wider investment slump March 8, 2023 Venture capital investment into tech firms founded by women jumped last year despite soaring inflation and volatility sparking a slowdown in funding across the sector, new figures reveal. Female founders shrugged off the downturn that hit the UK’s tech sector last year and bagged some £3.6bn of VC, up from £2.9bn the previous year, according [...]
AstraZeneca: UK-Swedish pharma giant almost doubled exports to Russia after invasion of Ukraine March 7, 2023 Anglo-Swedish drugs giant AstraZeneca nearly doubled its exports from Sweden to Russia after the Kremlin launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine, according to a report. Sveriges Radio (SR) – the country’s public service broadcaster – said that the FTSE 100 company had exported 2.2 billion Swedish krona (£174 million) worth of chemicals to Russia from [...]
Slack to offer users a ChatGPT AI tool which will write messages for them ‘in seconds’ March 7, 2023 Slack customers will get “new superpowers” after the app unveiled a ChatGPT AI tool aimed at boosting millions’ of its users productivity. The messenger service’s owner Salesforce has teamed up with ChatGPT’s developer OpenAI, a Slack customer, to offer the artificial intelligence chatbot to the system for the first time. ChatGPT is an AI chatbot [...]
London’s capital markets woes deepen as WANdisco eyes New York March 6, 2023 London’s ambitions to elevate its capital markets on the international stage were dealt a fresh blow today as data firm Wandisco became the latest UK tech outfit to reveal it was eyeing a New York listing. In a statement this morning, the AIM-listed firm said it was in the “early stages” of scoping out a [...]
Can Rishi Sunak’s science superpower dreams become reality? March 6, 2023 Rishi Sunak rolled out plans to “cement the UK as a tech and science superpower by 2030” today with promises to tempt in the best global tech talent and deliver a state-backed £370m investment boost. The new “framework” marks the first major outing for the newly minted department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which ministers [...]
WANdisco in ‘early stages’ of US listing as another city firm rejects London for a New York flotation March 6, 2023 Data giant WANdisco has confirmed that it is in the “early stages” of preparing to list its shares in the US, however has reaffirmed its commitment to London’s investment market. The £1bn software group was responding to rumours that the group was preparing to list its shares in the US amid an ongoing debate about [...]
Donelan: Tech success must make Brits’ lives better March 6, 2023 THE GOVERNMENT’S new technology secretary has promised to turn the UK’s research triumphs into “actual, tangible benefits” for the country as she launches a new science and tech framework today. Writing for Morning Wire, Michelle Donelan said the UK’s “most incredible days of innovation are not in our past (but) are happening right now.” Donelan [...]
As a government, we need to bring tech success to ordinary Brits’ lives March 6, 2023 In my new role as Technology Secretary, it won’t surprise you to hear that I get hundreds of emails, and many of them end with that familiar automated line “sent from my iPhone”. I am sure everyone reading this will have had the same, and never thought twice about it. But this week, as I was thinking [...]
“How not to do it”: Tech chiefs slam Sunak and Johnson over Arm listing failure March 5, 2023 The government has come under fire for a failed attempt to woo British chipmaking giant Arm into listing in London after the Cambridge-based firm confirmed it would float in New York on Friday. The move from Arm has dealt a major blow to the UK’s efforts to promote itself as a premier listing hub and [...]