Biotech firm Oxford Nanopore plots London listing March 30, 2021 The Oxfordshire-based scale-up helping to track coronavirus mutations has announced plans to list in London later this year. Oxford Nanopore, which specialises in DNA sequencing technology, today said it had started preparing for a London float but disclosed no further details. “Oxford Nanopore Technologies Limited has today informed its shareholders that it has started the [...]
Green light: Competition watchdog clears Uber’s Autocab takeover March 29, 2021 The competition watchdog has given the green light to Uber’s takeover of taxi tech firm Autocab, giving the ride-hailing giant a much-needed boost for its UK operations. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a phase one investigation into the merger in January to examine how the deal could harm the private hire vehicle market. [...]
Cazoo confirms it will go public in merger with US SPAC March 29, 2021 Cazoo has agreed to a deal with a New York-listed SPAC in a deal which values the online used car platform at $7bn. The company, which was founded by serial entrepreneur Alex Chesterman in 2018, will merge with Ajax I, a blank-cheque vehicle led by billionaire investor Dan Och. The deal, which will see Cazoo [...]
Top City investor James Anderson gives Deliveroo the cold shoulder March 29, 2021 Deliveroo’s flotation has been snubbed again, this time by a leading tech investor who remains unconvinced by the platform’s model outside of London. The tech platform is targeting a market cap of almost £9bn in its upcoming London listing as demand soared during lockdown. The City has largely welcomed the blockbuster float as it tries [...]
Financial services firms unaware of cybersecurity risks attached to remote working March 28, 2021 As the UK starts to emerge from the pandemic the debate surrounding remote working has reared its head again. New research shows bosses are unaware of the cyber security threat attached to more employees working outside the office. As lockdown restrictions start to ease more firms are considering a pivot to a more permanent remote [...]
Online used-car unicorns Cinch and Cazoo gear up for funding boost March 27, 2021 Two British online used-car startups are going head-to-head in a £10bn race to raise new capital as they look to cash in on a rapidly-growing sector. Cinch, which is part of the private equity-backed Constellation Automotive Group, is in talks to raise roughly £500m of fresh funding from investors, Sky News reported. The discussions could [...]
‘Snotty tweets’: Amazon clashes with Elizabeth Warren over taxes and unions March 27, 2021 Amazon has become embroiled in a rare public row with US senator Elizabeth Warren over issues including its tax and employment practices. The dispute kicked off on Thursday when the Massachusetts senator posted a video accusing Amazon of “exploiting loopholes and tax havens to pay close to nothing in taxes”. The ecommerce giant replied saying [...]
A New Domaine – An Interview With Michael Baum March 27, 2021 | City Talk After the IPO of his billion-dollar ‘unicorn’, Splunk, Michael Baum spent two years working on the investor side, for Silicon Valley venture capital firms. But he found it all a bit repetitive. “Every entrepreneur who walked through the door said: ‘I want you to help me create the next Splunk.’ But I thought, I’ve already [...]
20-second Covid test to be distributed across the UK and Europe March 26, 2021 A freshly approved and fully recyclable 20-second Covid-19 test is set to be distributed across the UK and Europe, London-based distribution company HISTATE has said this morning. The rapid test, known as Virolens, has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for use and sale in the UK. The trials show [...]
Curve launches NFT auction in bid to raise cash for London theatres March 26, 2021 Fintech Curve has joined the NFT bandwagon and launched an auction in a bid to raise cash for London’s theatres that have been left devastated by the pandemic. Non-fungible tokens are cryptocurrency takens which certify the ownership of a unique digital file using blockchain. They have become a way for creatives to raise cash during [...]