News
Root filed to go public earlier this week and is targeting a $6bn valuation, according to TechCrunch.
While Lemonade focuses on property and casualty insurance, Root is more at home in the auto and rental insurance space. The first one has been identified as its biggest revenue stream whereas the rental segment of the company is a relatively new addition to the company’s offering, according to the filings.
Root’s solution will sound familiar to those in the industry. It is leveraging artificial intelligence and the internet of things to track users’ driving behaviours. The data is then used to give customers an insurance policy that is more reflective of their driving style.
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Digital wealth manager Nutmeg recorded losses of £21m last year as it struggled to break even for the eighth year in a row.
This comes even as total assets under management grew 41 per cent year-on-year. Nutmeg said it had “significantly out performed” the wider sector, which grew assets by 13 per cent over the same period.
While it is the eighth consecutive year the robo-adviser has made a loss, Nutmeg’s turnover improved from £7.1m to £9.2m in 2019.
Chief executive Neil Alexander said Nutmeg’s trading loss reflected the fact the wealth manager had continued to invest in the growth of the business.
Despite an increase in competition, Nutmeg remains the leading digital wealth manager in the UK with a 36 per cent share of the market. It has also grown to become the UK’s fifth largest wealth manager.
This year Nutmeg said it became the first wealth manager to offer customers the ability to top up their investments using Google Pay and Apple Pay.
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Remote Work Accelerates Adoption of Online Learning and Skilljar Growth.
Insight Partners led the funding round with participation from existing investors Mayfield, Trilogy Equity Partners, and Shasta Ventures. Skilljar will use the new funding to expand its team, fuel go-to-market programs, and accelerate product development.
“The community of learners engaging with products and services through virtual channels has grown exponentially in the New World of Work that we’re currently experiencing. This is a persistent trend that’s changing how companies interact with their customers and partners,” said Skilljar CEO and Co-founder, Sandi Lin. “Businesses are increasingly viewing Customer and Partner Education as a highly scalable driver of product adoption, customer retention, and revenue generation. Skilljar’s growth is a testament to the relevance of our mission and we’re excited to continue helping organizations, individuals, and society transform innovation into impact through education."
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Led by Amir Nathoo, Co-founder and CEO, Outschool is an online marketplace of live, interactive classes that connect teachers and learners over real-time video in a small-group setting. Its offerings are created by independent teachers and include a wide variety of enrichment classes such as cooking, piano and language lessons as well as academic classes such as grammar bootcamps and geometry. Outschool classes are engaging and diverse with classes like: surviving a Zombie Apocalypse During the American Colonial Period, Ready, Set, Bake: Tasty Cupcakes, STEM Design: Build a Satellite, Grammar Detectives in the Rainforest, Bring Your Chickens to Class, and A Taste of Fashion Design .
Classes on Outschool range from one-time enrichment lessons to semester-long core courses, are offered across all subjects, and for learners range from age 3 to 18.
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Redaptive Inc., a San Francisco, CA-based provider of Efficiency-as-a-Service solutions for commercial and industrial customers, closed a $156.5m funding round. Redaptive has enabled over $380 million in sustainability projects and a total energy reduction of 1.1 billion kilowatt-hours, which is equivalent to approximately 778,000 metric tons of CO2 or 1.8 million barrels of oil consumed.
The round was led by CarVal Investors with participation from existing investors CBRE, Engie New Ventures, Evergy Ventures and Linse Capital. The company will use the funds to expand its energy efficiency offerings and deploy over $1 billion in new projects.
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AccessFintech, the leading fintech company evolving the financial industry operating model through data and workflow collaboration, is pleased to announce the successful completion of its Series B round of $20 million, led by Dawn Capital, Europe’s largest venture capital fund dedicated to B2B software.
Existing investors J.P. Morgan, Citi and Goldman Sachs contributed to the round, and Deutsche Bank has participated for the first time. It brings the total capital raised to date to $37 million since 2018.
AccessFintech will use the proceeds of the investment to fuel the next stage of its development, to accelerate product innovation, and to continue its go-to market expansion and extend its partner ecosystem.
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The UK’s global tech exports are predicted to grow by 35% in the next five years to £31.45 billion, according to a new report by Tech Nation. The latest findings revealed that the value of tech exports is to increase by an additional £8.15 billion by 2025, despite potential inhibitors such as the coronavirus pandemic or Brexit.
According to the organisation, the UK digital tech services sector currently exports a much greater value of goods than they import, which last year led to a trade surplus of 55%, approximately 7% more than the average trade surplus among the top 57 countries globally. Last year, the UK was found to be the fifth largest digital tech services exporter in the world, at £23.3 billion, after India, the US, China, and Germany.
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Waitrose has struck a deal to sell online groceries through Deliveroo, sparking fueling speculation over a possible tie-up with Amazon, which owns a major stake in the takeaway courier. The deal will give customers a fast-track service from its stores to their homes, with food that could be delivered within an hour depending on conditions. Deliveroo has teamed up with other supermarkets, including Aldi and M&S, in recent months to deliver groceries to customers’ homes.
Amazon bought 16% of Deliveroo earlier this year in a contentious deal that has been tightly controlled by competitive watchdogs. The ecommerce giant is already fighting to expand its presence in British online food through its Fresh arm, which stocks Morrisons products. Last month, it became the first player to offer free shipping to customers using the Amazon Prime subscription service in what was seen as a turning point for the industry, and it is believed to plan to roll out 30 of its “Go” stores without payment.
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Coty Inc., the cosmetic company, had its net revenue fall to $922.1 million, missing expectations of $1.34 billion. On Thursday Coty posted a bigger than expected quarterly loss and a 56 percent slump in sales, as the coronavirus-induced closure of stores and parlours hammered demand for its beauty products.
Shares of Coty, a majority of which is owned by German conglomerate JAB Holding Co., were down 4 percent in premarket trade. Cosmetics makers are battling the closure of other channels of sales, including duty free shops at airports, and also contending with work-from-home customers focusing on hygiene and personal care products rather than makeup items.
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Recently, Instagram has launched a redesigned Shop section, where users can browse products from their favourite brands and creators. Now the company is bringing a similar experience to the main Facebook app. The company said that in the United States, it’s started testing a new section called Facebook Shop — like Instagram Shop, it’s basically a shopping destination where you can find products from a variety of different businesses. This is distinct from Facebook Marketplace, which is designed for peer-to-peer sales.
In addition, the company is announcing new tools for businesses running Facebook Shops, including new design layouts, the ability to see a real-time preview of collections, the ability to automatically create Shops if you’re a new seller and new data in Commerce Manager. Shops will also feature a new messaging option for customers to send sellers a message through Messenger, WhatsApp or Instagram Direct.
On the Instagram side, the company said all sellers in the United States will be able to use the Instagram checkout feature “in the coming weeks,” managed either through Facebook’s Commerce Manager or through partners platforms BigCommerce and Shopify (with more integrations planned). Instagram will waive its selling fee for checkout through the rest of the year.
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