News
Prime Minister Theresa May has said Britain will reap the benefits of a huge £2.3bn investment that could create 1,600 news tech jobs, whilst speaking at a meeting with tech leaders during London Tech Week.
The majority of the investment comes from US tech giants and venture capitalists including Salesforce, a cloud company, which has pledged to invest £1.9bn in the UK over the next five years as well as open its second UK data centre in 2019, which could create 900 jobs.
UAE investor, Mubadala, is also launching a £300m European investment fund based in the UK. NTT Data, deliverer of technology-enabled services and solutions, are investing £41m to open a new office and Innovation Centre in London, which should create up to 200 jobs over the next three years.
In Spring 2019 a new “Start-up Visa” will be launched. This will allow tech founders to use a visa route which is usually only exclusively available to university graduates.
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Deliveroo, the food delivery company, has just launched a £5m innovation fund, in a rather unexpected move.
The three broad aims of the fund are: firstly investing in existing restaurants, secondly developing new brands to operate from delivery-only "Deliveroo Editions", and thirdly working with up-and-coming chefs to support their business through delivery-only options.
It is not yet known whether the CEO Will Shu, who previously worked as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, will play a key role in the fund.
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Bright Little Labs, a UK EdTech startup, has secured investment from Turner International’s Digital Ventures & Innovation fund to help teach kids how to code through spy-based adventure stories. Turner International is the powerhouse behind Cartoon Network and a host of other global brands such as CNN, TNT and Boomerang.
The company was started in 2015 and launched a kickstarter campaign in 2016 for its first product, Detective Dot, which focused of making computer science more accessible to children, parents and teachers.
The funding will be used to develop the platform, grow the London team - including new technical and operational roles - and power its international expansion.
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Mastercard has created the UK’s first Smart Mirror with payment function, which it will begin rolling out later this year; a move it says will shake up shopping as we know it.
The mirror recognises products as they enter the fitting room, creating a virtual shopping basket and a multi-sensory shopping experience. It allows shoppers to change the lighting and language, view/request size and colour variations, seek out further recommended items, request garments to be brought directly to the fitting room and finally, pay seamlessly and instantly by tapping the mirror with a card, payment device or through the app.
A number of US retailers including Levi’s currently use the Smart Mirror, which was demonstrated at the recent Money 20/20 Europe summit, and and it will be rolling out to UK changing rooms soon.
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According to a study by Oliver Wyman’s Retail & Consumer Goods practice - which had 1,500 participants - the following five retail myths were debunked.
1. Myth: Shopping has become truly omnichannel.
Fact: Most journeys are still overwhelmingly single-channel, though this is changing.
2. Myth: The sales channel doesn’t matter.
Fact: When consumers purchase online, they tend to buy more.
3. Myth: Online shopping is about instant gratification.
Fact: Online journeys tend to be longer than in-store.
4. Myth: The retailer doesn’t matter.
Fact: Spend is dramatically higher at brand stores and websites than in multibrand stores.
5. Myth: Consumers always want something new.
Fact: Very often, they are happy to rebuy the same or a similar item.
Following on from these results brands and retailers should focus on integrating their e-commerce units into the rest of their commercial organisations, replacing channels that compete for sales from the same customer with a structure that puts the customer first. In the future, customers will decide where and how they shop, and the retail business must make this as smooth - and profitable - as possible.
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Since the EU referendum, UK tech companies have received over £5bn in venture capital funding, with London taking in 80% of that.
Over the last two years, the UK has earned more than the next three top-earning European countries combined - France (£1.55bn), Germany (£2.15bn) and Sweden (£644m).
London has also come top for funding in some sectors including AI and cybersecurity, with fintech being the sector that attracted the most investment at more than £1.79bn. The capital’s biggest deals included fintech unicorn Transferwise, which raised £211m in November 2017, and digital banking players Revolut (£177m) and Monzo (£71m).
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SkinNinja, a skincare app that allows users to find out what ingredients their skincare products consist of, has raised £750,000 in funding. The round was led by investors Voulez Capital, as well as Firestartr and the London Co-Investment Fund (LCIF). It brings the total SkinNinja have raised to £1m and their value to £3.4m.
The funds will be used to continue developing the startup’s proprietary tech stack, including machine learning and AI, as well as to invest in key hires and expand the company’s B2B offering.
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General Atlantic, a New York-based private equity house, has taken a stake in French online fashion brand Sézane.
Sézane was founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Morgane Sézalory and has been growing rapidly. Although it launched online, it has now expanded to having stores in Paris, New York and is due to open a store in London later this year.
General Atlantic has a diverse portfolio of investments including stakes in other fashion companies such as Tory Burch and Zimmerman.
Two of General Atlantic’s executives Gabriel Caillaux and Melis Kahya have taken seats on the Sézane’s board.
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Hotel Chocolat, a luxury confectionery retailer, has paid off bondholders who purchased “chocolate bonds” with £6.4 million worth of luxury chocolate.
The investors received the equivalent of 6.72% interest, so customers who bought a £2000 bond would receive six boxes worth £18.95 a year.
The funds were used to create 600 UK jobs by contributing to growth and new store opening across the country, as well as increasing support for cocoa growers in Ghana and Saint Lucia.
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Kirsten Ward and Saher Naumaan, BAE Systems threat intelligence analysts, have just launched the first cyber security conference of its kind in Europe, featuring an all-female speaker line-up.
The cyber security conference has been titled RESET, in reference to other conferences in this field which are male-speaker heavy, something the two analysts are keen to change. As well as the fact that women make up only 11% of cyber security professionals worldwide.
RESET will take place on 14th June at University College, London (UCL).
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