News
Secret Escapes, a members-only online marketplace for travel deals, has secured $111m (£83m) in its latest funding push. The series D round was led by Temasek, a Singapore-based investment firm, with support from French firm Idinvest Partners, who are existing investors in Secret Escapes. The round included a mixture of equity and debt investment, with the debt facility coming from Silicon Valley Bank. to read more on this raise, click here.
Automation is coming after jobs, from fast food workers to accountants. Automation is already all around us. Cities are seeing front-end automated restaurants like Eatsa gaining popularity, while in factories automation has already arguably been a part of life for years (if not decades) in the form of heavy industrial and agricultural robots. To read more on how AI is effecting jobs, click here.
Eagle Eye, a leading SaaS technology company has today announced a partnership with Groupon UK, a leader in local commerce. Through the integration of both parties’ digital platforms, Groupon UK will look to provide customers with a range of offers from Eagle Eye’s network of national retailers and food and beverage merchants. To find out more on this click here.
Mobike and Ofo investors are in early talks to push China’s two largest bike-sharing start-ups into a merger. The pair’s combined valuation would likely exceed $4bn (£3bn), the companies are backed separetly by China’s two biggest internet giants -Alibaba and Tencent. To read more on this, click here.
Consumers are now paying for entertainment, food, beauty products and garments, even bacon, all via monthly rate subscriptions, according to new research. 9 out of 10 Brits choose to subscribe to their favourite stores, brands and services instead of purchasing them on a ‘one-off’ basis, demonstrating an 11 percent uplift from the previous year’s results. To read more about the new retail trends, click here.
Trustpilot, an independent online review platform for business and consumers, secured $20m in debt financing. The company intends to use the proceeds for continued technology and product innovation in data-driven customer insights, analytics and automation and growth in the US, Europe and Australia. To read more, click here.
Blow Ltd was launched by venture capitalist Dharmash Mistry and former editor of Elle and Grazia, Fiona McIntosh, in 2013. The chain’s £7.5m investment will be used to set up “beauty bars” – offering blow dry, make up and nail services – in various Debenhams stores. The first three bars will be set up on Debenhams’ Oxford Street, Birmingham Bull Ring and Manchester. If you would like to read more of this article click here.
On-demand delivery firm Deliveroo has raised an additional £285m from investors including Fidelity and T Rowe Price. The deal could be announced this week and is set to alight reports that Deliveroo is seeking to IPO, as both investors backed Facebook and Snap before they went public. If you would like to read more click here.
Uber’s reign in London looks to be over, as TfL declines to renew the ride sharing service’s licence. Uber's current licence is set to expire on 30 September. TfL said it has concluded that Uber "is not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator licence". To read more, click here.
Europe is home to prominent startup and innovation hubs like Berlin, Stockholm and London, with more tech hubs, such as Zurich and Paris, on the horizon. Using CB Insights data has been able to map the top venture capital investors in Europe by country, based on number of portfolio companies the investor had backed. To view Europe’s top venture capital investors click here.