1 to Watch: snap40 to accelerate growth after securing one of the largest seed funding rounds ever in Scotland November 17, 2016 | City Talk Edinburgh-based health technology start-up snap40 recently received £2m in seed funding from investment firm Par Equity. Innovative healthtech snap40 catch deteriorating health sooner by automatically detecting the warning signs. They have developed a single wearable health monitor that’s worn on the upper arm and which continuously monitors patient health across many different indicators – things [...]
Near-miss: A drone came within 20m of a passenger plane as it flew over the Shard this summer November 17, 2016 A drone almost collided with a passenger plane carrying 165 people as it passed over the Shard in July. A report from the UK Airprox Board, which records near-misses in the air, said the Airbus A320 was en route to Heathrow Airport on 17 July when its crew spotted a black drone out of their [...]
Weaker sterling gives Johnson Matthey a £27m profit bump November 17, 2016 Johnson Matthey is one of the companies that has welcomed post-Brexit currency volatility – the sustainable tech and chemicals firm today revealed that the weakened pound gave its profit a £27m bump in the six months to 30 September. The figures Sales were up five per cent to £1.68bn in the first half, from £1.6bn last [...]
Will Snapchat’s IPO go the Twitter way or the Facebook way? November 17, 2016 Reports of a potential (but secret) IPO by Snapchat yesterday brought out the usual round of dot com bubble comparisons. It’s hardly surprising: if the rumours are true, the social messaging app could be valued at as much as $25bn, making it the third-largest IPO ever, after Alibaba and Facebook. This, from a company built [...]
Hold off on criticising Snapchat’s $25bn IPO – it may be a Facebook, rather than a Twitter November 17, 2016 Reports of a potential (but secret) IPO by Snapchat yesterday brought out the usual round of dot com bubble comparisons. It’s hardly surprising: if the rumours are true, the social messaging app could be valued at as much as $25bn (£20bn), making it the third-largest IPO ever, after Alibaba and Facebook. This, from a company [...]
Two thirds of business leaders think technology will create more value in the future than people November 17, 2016 Feeling a little undervalued and overlooked at work? Well, look away now. Some new research from Korn Ferry is unlikely to make you feel much better. A study of 800 global business leaders found that over two thirds think technology will create greater value in the future than people will. Ouch. And 44 per cent [...]
Global fintech venture capital soars to $15.2bn as UK market swings back into action post-Brexit vote November 16, 2016 Global fintech venture capital soared in the first three quarters of the year, as the UK market perks up again post-Brexit vote. Worldwide VC investment in the first three quarters of the year was up by 27 per cent year-on-year, with 839 deals completed in the first nine months of the year, with a combined [...]
Gett has quietly switched up its leadership in Europe November 16, 2016 On-demand taxi service Gett has quietly switched up its leadership in Europe following a huge investment from car maker Volkswagen. Remo Gerber, managing director for Europe, has left his role at the Uber-rival and Gett's recently appointed chief operating officer of western Europe, Matteo de Renzi, has been promoted to chief executive of western Europe. It comes as [...]
From crowdfunding to IPO in 16 months: Edinburgh tech company claims UK first with Aim flotation November 16, 2016 The London Stock Exchange’s junior market today welcomed its first company with roots in equity crowdfunding. Edinburgh-based tech company Freeagent Holdings began trading on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) this morning, with the float raising £10.7m and valuing the company at £34.1m. Freeagent, a cloud-based software-as-a-service accounting software company, is believed to be the first [...]
As cunning as a ZoneFox at the Scottish Cyber Awards November 16, 2016 | City Talk Cybercrime: 'together let’s crush it'. And wherever it happens in the UK for that matter. Scotland’s ZoneFox is one of many innovative cyber security organisations shortlisted for tonight's Scottish Cyber Awards. Other shining lights amongst the nominees include Edinburgh Napier University, Skyscanner, 7 Elements, Payfont, Seric Systems and My1Login. The finalists span business, academia and [...]