London VC 4BIO raises first tranche of new $150m advanced therapies fund September 9, 2019 London-based venture capital firm 4BIO has completed the first round of fundraising for a new fund focused on the advanced therapies sector, which uses stem cells, genes and tissues to treat chronic medical conditions. 4BIO said the first tranche had attracted over $50m (£40.4m) of capital. The firm is hoping to raise $150m of capital [...]
Back to school: Spend on or swerve these office gadgets? September 9, 2019 For kids up and down the country, the start of the school term means shiny new pencil cases and stationery. But for today’s modern office worker, what’s the equivalent in terms of the new kit that employees need? If you’re back from holiday, here’s what to spend on, and what to swerve. To 5g or [...]
AI investment in UK reaches record high September 9, 2019 Investors poured a record level of money into the UK’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector during the first half of 2019. Trailing behind only China and the US, the UK is currently third in the world for raising investment in AI after hitting an all-time high in the six months to June this year. Investment in [...]
US charges Chinese professor with fraud in latest Huawei clash September 9, 2019 US prosecutors have filed charges against a Chinese professor who allegedly stole technology from a Silicon Valley firm to give to Huawei. According to the complaint, Bo Mao entered into an agreement with an unnamed California tech company to obtain its circuit board, claiming it was for academic research. Read more: Huawei accuses US of [...]
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic faces first investor vote of confidence on stock market listing September 8, 2019 Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism venture Virgin Galactic faces its first test of investor confidence in a proposed stock market float tomorrow. Would-be shareholders will vote on whether to back the entry via investment vehicle Social Capital Hedosophia (SCH), or whether to withdraw their cash entirely. Read more: Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic plots public listing [...]
Apple rewrote Siri to ‘deflect’ feminism and #MeToo questions September 6, 2019 Apple tweaked the software behind Siri to change how its voice assistant responds to “sensitive topics” including feminism and the #MeToo movement. The project saw Siri’s responses rewritten so it would say it was in favour of “equality”, without ever saying the word feminism, according to leaked documents seen by The Guardian. Read more: Apple [...]
New York attorney general launches antitrust probe at Facebook September 6, 2019 New York’s attorney general has launched an investigation into Facebook for potential antitrust violations. Letitia James’s probe will span several states as she focuses on “Facebook’s dominance in the industry and the potential anticompetitive conduct stemming from that dominance”. Read more: Can Facebook Dating convert Likes into love? “Even the largest social media platform in [...]
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accuses China of using ‘arbitrary detention’ for political gain September 6, 2019 Justin Trudeau has hit out at China for using “pressure tactics” in trying to secure the release of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou. The Canadian Prime Minister has said that Beijing is “using arbitrary detention as a tool to achieve political goals” after they detained Canadian nationals Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Read more: [...]
Robot rollout: Number of businesses using automation doubles in 2019 September 6, 2019 The number of businesses adopting automation at scale has doubled in the last year, though most say they have yet to assess how this could impact their employees. Roughly eight per cent of companies have deployed over 50 cases of automation this year, twice as many as in 2018, according to a report by Deloitte [...]
Facebook Dating app looks to convert Likes into love September 5, 2019 Has a Facebook Like ever led to love? Almost certainly, but the social network doesn’t want to leave it to chance. Mark Zuckerberg’s tech giant today launched a dating app that will allow its billions of users to Like somebody’s profile if they’re interested – Facebook’s own take on Tinder’s swipe right. Read more: Huge [...]