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Trade Republic, a leading European online brokerage that offers commission-free trading similar to Robinhood in the United States, said on Thursday it had raised $900 million from investors at a valuation of more than $5 billion.
The funding round at Trade Republic, which was founded six years ago in Berlin and counts over a million customers in Germany, France and Austria, was led by Sequoia, the storied Silicon Valley investor that recently opened a London office.
Co-founder Christian Hecker told Reuters that Trade Republic would invest the proceeds in expanding across the entire euro zone over the next two years, with market launches in Spain and Italy planned next.
"We want to build the bank of the future," Hecker said in an interview.
"We are the only online broker in Europe that has a banking licence and its own technology."
Like Robinhood, which has spawned a new class of U.S. retail investor that has powered the latest bull market in stocks, Trade Republic offers commission-free investment via an easy-to-use smartphone app.
The hype around retail investing has drawn attention to Trade Republic, Hecker said, adding however that its focus was on helping millennials invest over the longer term at a time of negative interest rates and pension shortfalls.
Trade Republic offers free exchange-traded fund savings plans and commission-free investing in shares and cryptocurrencies.
It manages 6 billion euros ($7.3 billion) in assets. Half of its customers have never invested before in their lives before signing up, said fellow co-founder Thomas Pischke.
Sequoia backed Silicon Valley giants Apple and Google and more recently invested in Stripe, the payments company founded by two Irish brothers, and Klarna, the Swedish 'buy now, pay later' fintech that is eyeing a stock market listing.
“The democratization of financial markets will be one of the most important consumer trends of the next decade," Doug Leone, partner at Sequoia, said in a statement.
"Trade Republic is on the leading edge of this trend and has attracted an untapped generation of European savers who demand increased financial accessibility."
Joining the investment round were TCV and Thrive Capital, as well as existing investors Accel, Founders Fund, Creandum and Project A.
Swedish vegan milk maker Oatly Group AB (OTLY.O), which counts celebrities Oprah Winfrey and Natalie Portman among its backers, raised $1.4 billion in its U.S. initial public offering on Wednesday, the company said in a statement.
The company, whose investors also include rapper Jay Z and former Starbucks Corp head Howard Schultz, said it priced 84.4 million American depositary shares in the initial public offering at $17 each, at the top of its indicated range. This implies a valuation for the company of $10 billion.
Oatly's share sale comes in the middle of a crucial juncture for the U.S. IPO market, which is facing significant volatility due to inflation fears that have forced investors to abandon high-growth stocks, focusing on value stocks instead.
The outcome of offerings this week is being watched for clues on the near-term future of the U.S. capital markets, which have witnessed a stunning rally over the past 15 months as share sales of hundreds of companies, including big names such as Airbnb (ABNB.O), Snowflake (SNOW.N) and DoorDash (DASH.N), breached all-time records.
Last week, at least three IPOs, including mortgage insurer Enact Holdings Inc and hearing care services company Hear.com, were pulled due to choppy market conditions.
The Malmö, Sweden based maker of dairy alternatives sells its products in more than 20 markets across Europe, the United States and China. Known primarily for its oat milk products, it has tie-ups with several cafes in the United States, including Starbucks. It also sells its products online and through food retailers like Target Corp (TGT.N) and Tesco.
The stock market listing comes at a time when the plant-based food sector continues to attract mainstream investor attention, especially as fast-food chains and upscale restaurants create new menus to draw in health and environment-conscious diners.
Much of the demand for plant-based food is being led by millennials and generation Z consumers, who are more than willing to spend on sustainable products that are also healthy.
Last year, Oatly, founded by brothers Rickard and Björn Öste in 1990, raised $200 million in a star-studded investment round led by private equity firm Blackstone Group (BX.N) and including Winfrey, Portman, an entertainment company founded by Jay Z and Schultz.
Oatly's biggest shareholder is a partnership between Belgian investment firm Verlinvest and an entity called Blossom Key Holdings, which is controlled by China Resources Co Ltd, a Chinese government-owned company.
Verlinvest is the investment company of the family behind brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI.BR). Private equity firm Blackstone also owns a sizable stake in Oatly.
Morgan Stanley, J.P.Morgan and Credit Suisse are among the lead underwriters for the offering.
An incoming president will always create a long list of tasks for the team in charge of running the White House. Moving a whole family out and a new one in is bound to have its challenges.
However, Joe Biden has apparently already tested the Secret Service - with his workout equipment. It’s led to some intense dialog about America's cybersecurity as a whole, and even its status as a global player in protecting against digital attacks. Let's take a look at how this played out.
Fitness-conscious 78-year-old Biden is reportedly a fan of the Peloton stationary bikes, sales of which soared when gyms were closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the problem is that the interactive machines come equipped with webcams and microphones to allow users to stream classes and talk to instructors. Not only could this mean the POTUS may turn up in a class with other startled participants, but it also has negative implications for the security of the White House.
Cybersecurity expert Max Kilger at the University of Texas told Popular Mechanics magazine there’s a risk that malicious parties could target the Peloton as a way of getting to Biden and spying not only on his home, but on his workplace.
The expert pointed out that it isn't just the bike either, as that could simply be used as a jumping-off point to access smartwatches and TVs within the White House, should someone successfully install malware.
The Secret Service and the National Security Agency (NSA) have already spoken out to insist they’ll be making changes to the bike's IT infrastructure to mitigate the risk, including removing cameras and microphones and constantly changing the passwords.
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Panaseer, a London, UK- and NYC-based Continuous Controls Monitoring platform for enterprise security, secured $26.5m in series B funding.
The round, which brought total funding raised to date to $43m, was led by AllegisCyber Capital with participation from existing investors Evolution Equity Partners, Notion Capital, AlbionVC, Cisco Investments and Paladin Capital Group, as well as new investor, National Grid Partners.
The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations, its development efforts and business reach.
Led by Jonathan Gill, CEO, Panaseer provides a Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM) platform for enterprise security. The CCM platform uniquely correlates data from all security tools to identify and measure missing assets, control gaps, and advise on underperforming controls.
Clients include the world’s largest institutions and enterprises.
Launched in April 2020 and with a hard cap of £1.25bn, this fundraise marks the firm’s largest to date – nearly double the size of its predecessor fund Livingbridge 6, which closed at £660m in November 2016.
Commitments have been accepted from a global investor base, comprised of a strong network of existing investors bolstered by new, blue-chip Limited Partners (LPs) across the UK, Europe, and the US. For the first time, investors from the Middle East, Asia and Latin America have also committed to the Livingbridge platform.
Livingbridge 7 will focus on investing equity of up to £150m in high-growth, entrepreneurial businesses with enterprise values of up to £300m, over a five-year period. The firm’s investment strategy will remain focussed on its key sectors, including services, technology, consumer and healthcare & education.
Target companies will predominantly be based in the UK, with several investments expected from Livingbridge’s offices in Melbourne, Australia. Transformational M&A and international expansion plans for the Fund’s portfolio companies will be supported by Livingbridge’s US team based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Fund 7 has already secured its first transaction, with Livingbridge’s investment facilitating the merger of two Australian GP groups Better Medical and SmartClinics in January 2021 creating the fifth-largest general practice platform in Australia.
Fiona Dane at Livingbridge, said: “We are thrilled to welcome commitments from such a high-quality pool of global investors, with the strong re-up rates from existing partners a testament to our deep relationships and excellent track-record in providing our investors with strong returns. We are very grateful for their ongoing support.”
“Despite the fund launching just before the pandemic took hold, we successfully secured investments from new LPs entirely virtually, thanks to our established brand and long-standing leadership team.”
London-based digital freight forwarder, Zencargo, enables organisations to make smarter decisions by providing a real-time overview of their supply chain using AI machine learning. In a recent development, the company has raised £30 million Series B funding.
The investment round in Zencargo was led by Digital+ Partners along with participation from existing investors including HV Capital. The company intends to use this latest round of funding to double its team from 150 to 350 people in two years. Also, Zencargo eyes to expand internationally, establishing its presence in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and the United States.
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Amazon has successfully overturned an order to pay $250 million (£214 million) in back taxes after the European Union's second-highest court rejected the European Commission's (EC) case.
The decision is another blow to EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager and her attempts to crackdown on preferential fiscal deals.A judge for the General Court of the European Union found that the commission "did not prove to the requisite legal standard that there was an undue reduction to the tax burden" of Amazon's Luxembourg subsidiary.
The case dates back to 2006 when Amazon established a complex tax structure in Europe that allowed it to take revenue from all EU sales via its Luxembourg operation. This was internally referred to as 'Project Goldcrest' - named after the national bird of Luxembourg.
The EC ruled that the structure was illegal in 2017 and estimated that Amazon had used it to avoid paying around €250 million in taxes. At the time, Vestager said it meant that three-quarters of Amazon's European profits were not taxed and that the company was paying four times less tax than other local companies.
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The UK government has proposed new regulations that could see social media companies fined up to 10% of their annual turnover, or £18 million, for failing to quash online abuse, with criminal charges levied against senior management.
The landmark Online Safety Bill, which aims to clamp down on the spread of unadulterated hate speech on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, will grant Ofcom the powers to enforce a statutory duty of care. This was devised in response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation and has been in development for a couple of years.
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The COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown, and work-life balance have taken an enormous toll on the well-being of employees globally.
The current crisis has brought the issue of employee mental health firmly into the foreground for employers.
According to the report, 78.5% of employers are reporting an increase in requests for mental health support and 90% are concerned that their employees are experiencing burnout, says another.
Based out of London, Unmind, a B2B mental health platform, fills that need sparked by the pandemic by providing clinically-backed tools and training.
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SB Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group Corp, has announced the acquisition of a stake worth $2.33 billion (approx £1.6 billion) in The Hut Group (THG), an online retailing platform based out of Manchester.
With this deal, SB Management will acquire a 19.9% stake in THG Ingenuity, a yet-to-be-formed tech platform division. Notably, the stake values the subsidiary at $6.3 billion (approx £4.5 billion).
The UK company is also planning to raise a capital of $1 billion (approx £706 million), which includes $730 million (approx £515 million) from SBM and an institutional placing of up to $270 million (approx £190 million).
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