London number one as it beats Paris and Berlin to top Europe’s tech hotspots December 5, 2016 London is leading the way among cities in Europe for technology companies, with the booming sector set to outperform other industries over the next four years despite the vote to leave the European Union, according to a new ranking. The capital beat Paris and Berlin into second and third places respectively, while the broader Thames [...]
Uber’s created its very own lab for researching artificial intelligence December 5, 2016 Uber is getting deeper into the artificial intelligence game, creating a dedicated lab staffed with top researchers by acquiring a startup with expertise in the technology. The 15 staff of Geometric Intelligence will form the basis for the billion dollar startup’s San Francisco Lab, which will research the growing area of AI and machine learning [...]
Now you can carpool a black cab for the price of a Tube journey December 5, 2016 Londoners will soon be able to share one of London’s iconic black cabs with a someone else heading in the same direction, with promises of making travelling by taxi as competitively priced as public transport. Uber rival Gett will launch a carpooling service, Gett Together, in the capital and plans to roll it out to [...]
This European flying car maker just raised €10m in VC money December 5, 2016 We may live in a world of talking virtual assistants, contactless payments and a world of knowledge in our pockets – but we won't truly be in the future until cars can fly. Pleasingly, though, flying cars came a step closer today, after a German company trying to develop a pint-sized plane raised €10m in [...]
VW’s launched a new company to discover the future of transport December 5, 2016 Volkswagen is launching a new business that will focus on the growing area of urban mobility such as on-demand travel and electric cars. Moia will operate as an independent company within the German car group based in Berlin and will "act more nimbly, like a startup" but with access to the expertise and funding of [...]
How tech startups and investors really feel about Brexit December 5, 2016 What is going to be the impact of Brexit on UK tech startups?Will the flat-whites downed by the geeks of Shoreditch turn even flatter? That’s been the topic on the lips of almost every observer of the scene in the last few weeks, especially given how international the staffing is in most tech companies, particularly in [...]
AppLovin: Firing the 5G starting gun December 5, 2016 Dubbed the “Brexit Budget,” this year’s Autumn Statement was one of few surprises – other than that it would be the last. The chancellor certainly lived up to his “Spreadsheet Phil” epithet. But Philip Hammond gave a welcome nod to UK tech industries, all too aware that their impetus will play a prominent role in [...]
Britain’s got tech talent (for now): Top VC firm warns Brexit risks UK’s crown December 5, 2016 The UK's position as the tech capital of Europe is at risk of being lost to rivals if it fails to secure access to talent and skills in Brexit negotiations, a top investor has warned. Nearly a third of European startups call the UK home, a share that could fall "dramatically" while other countries grow, [...]
Risk and reward: Adam French, co-founder of Scalable Capital, left Goldman to develop an algorithm for matching retail investors with the right ETFs December 5, 2016 For two years, Adam French knew he was leaving Goldman Sachs. “The day I quit was quite liberating – it’s just not that easy to step away from a Goldman job,” says the former trader, and chief executive and co-founder of digital investment management firm Scalable Capital. There was no “eureka moment”, he adds – [...]
EU Commission piles pressure onto US tech giants Facebook, Twitter, Google’s YouTube and Microsoft to improve responses to hate speech December 4, 2016 The EU Commission has warned US tech firms Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft and Twitter they need to act faster to tackle online hate speech or will face laws forcing them to do so. The warning yesterday came six months after the four technology giants signed up to a voluntary code of conduct to take action in [...]