News
Tech Will Save US, a UK startup that designs make-it-yourself kits to encourage STEM learning amongst children, has managed to raise £3m in a Series A round led by Initial Capital.
Other investors included Backed VC, SaatchInvest, AllBright, Unltd-inc and Leaf VC. Angel investors Chris Lee (co- founder of Media Molecule), Martin McCourt (former CEO of Dyson) and Jonathan Howell (CTO of Made.com) also participated.
Tech Will Save US, which launched in 2012, will use the funds to expand their product range.
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Gousto, a meal recipe kit service, has managed to raise £28.5m from investors including Hargreave Hale, Angel CoFund, MMC Ventures, and BGF Ventures.
The company, which was founded in 2012, focuses on providing individuals in the UK with the ingredients to create healthy, nutritious meals, while reducing household food waste.
The new funds will allow Gousto to continue building its proprietary technology and work on its use of AI.
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Rent the Runway, a women's clothing rental business, has had $20m invested into it by Blue Pool Capital, a financial firm that principally invests the wealth of Alibaba founders Jack Ma and Joe Tsai.
Rent the Runway, which was founded in 2009, last raised funds in late 2016, when it secured a $60m Series E investment led by Fidelity. That deal valued the company at $750m, according to PitchBook. The new funds from Blue Pool Capital have increased the company's value to just under $800m, according to research firm Lagniappe Labs.
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Here are the key factors defining the wealth management industry according to the Digitalization of Wealth Management report 2018, created by Thomson Reuters in partnership with Forbes Insights:
- Keeping abreast of new technology (68% of the 200 wealth managers surveyed highlighted this)
- Staying relevant to the next generation of investors (69% said this)
- Finding ways to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into investment decision making (41% picked this)
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The truth is that if you fail to innovate, your business will sit still in what has become a fast-paced, technology-driven sector.
Firstly as more people add voice-command devices to their homes, the process of online shopping will shift from scanning through screens to Zero UI, so online retails will need to consider how they make their products available to shoppers searching via their voice.
Secondly automated purchases could be another area open to expansion as shoppers seek out a more efficient way of stocking up on their essentials.
Thirdly the potential for retailers to focus on technological advancements over what their customers want or need should be avoided as they might not see a return on investment. However if customers start demanding a certain digital service, retailers could lose out by not providing it.
Technology will continue to develop and retailers will need to adapt with it, alongside their customers changing demands, to stand the best chance of future success.
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Atom, a Durham-based mobile-only bank, has raised £149m in its latest fundraising round, which was led by BBVA and Toscafund.
Recent accolades for Atom include being voted the UK’s most recommended bank and ranking 14th in LinkedIn's 'Top 25 Startups'.
The funding will allow Atom to continue its rapid growth as well as fund further investment in technology and business capabilities.
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Dennis, a British magazine publisher, is currently building it's ecommerce empire through a relatively new and unusual route for such a company - online car sales.
The company sells new and used cars via its site Buyacar.co.uk. Although the publisher sells only 7000 of the 8 million cars sold in the UK each year, it generated £31m in revenue in 2017, double its previous year and is expected to reach £60m by the end of 2018.
Dennis is excited for the areas of future expansion, both in increasing their current success as well as potentially offering consultancy to other car sellers and car insurance to its customers.
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There were some exciting technological developments in Wales during February including government-backed funding for the country’s superfast broadband scheme, a new science centre to support STEM learning programmes and an app, launched by a 21-year-old student, for sharing petrol costs fairly.
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ResponseiQ, a London-based tech startup that provides intelligent instant callback to improve company's customer service, has managed to raise £850k.
The investment will allow the company to develop a second version of its core platform, expand its team and to reach more markets across the EU and US.
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Hold, a Norwegian EdTech startup, has raised £800,000 in seed funding and relocated to London.
The Hold app promotes mindfulness in students by rewarding them for every 20 minutes they don’t check their phone while on campus. Points can then be traded for rewards such as cinema tickets, free food, drinks or Amazon gift cards.
To read more, click here.