Fintech firm Pipe secures $2bn valuation after funding round May 19, 2021 Pipe, a startup that allows companies to sell their recurring revenue streams, has secured a valuation of $2bn (£1.4bn) following a fresh funding round. The fintech firm today said it had raised a further $250m in a round led by venture capital firm Greenspring Associates. New investors such as Morgan Stanley’s investment arm Counterpoint Global, [...]
EU to demand tougher pledges from tech giants over fake news May 19, 2021 Tech giants such as Facebook and Google will be forced to make firmer pledges to crack down on misinformation on their platforms on new rules being prepared by the EU. The European Commission is planning to hold social media firms more responsible for curbing the money they make through advertising placed next to false information. [...]
Do you know your bots? May 19, 2021 | City Talk Robots are everywhere — from robotic wearables, bionic hands and arms, companion robots, medical devices and even biomorphic drones that model the behaviour of bees. The fastest and most significant new innovations are taking place right now in three subsectors of the robotics sector which focus respectively on cobots, drones and medical robots. Cobots Cobots [...]
Zoom launches events platform as it targets virtual conferences May 19, 2021 Zoom is launching a new platform dedicated to events as the video calling app looks to target the virtual conference market. Zoom Events, which will be available this summer, combines the functions of the company’s meetings, chat and video webinar services into one one place. It will allow event organisers to produce ticketed, live events [...]
Cobots are coming to a workplace near you May 19, 2021 | City Talk The word ‘robot’ is a relative newcomer to the English language. It was the brainchild of Czech playwright Karel Čapek who introduced it in his 1920 hit play Rossum’s Universal Robots. The word is drawn from the old Slavic word, robota, which means “servitude” “forced labor” or “drudgery”. By contrast the word ‘cobot’ is a very modern portmanteau [...]
AI is the next frontier for surgical robots May 19, 2021 | City Talk The introduction of robots into surgery has changed modern surgical practise. The global surgical robotics market is expected to reach $98 billion in value by the end of 2024. Being minimally invasive, surgical robots are helping to perform complex surgeries with geometrical precision even in anatomical areas that are difficult for even human surgeons to reach. [...]
UK tech industry grows tenfold in last decade as London leads Europe May 19, 2021 The UK tech industry has expanded tenfold over the last 10 years as London continues to close the gap on Silicon Valley. Between 2010 and 2020 the number of British unicorns — private tech firms valued at more than $1bn — grew from eight to 81, while the number of companies nearing unicorn status also [...]
Biden charges up $174bn electric vehicle plan in Michigan speech May 18, 2021 US President Joe Biden today called for government grants for new battery production facilities as he made the case for his $174bn (£123bn) electric vehicle plan today. During a speech at a Ford electric vehicle plant in Michigan, Biden vowed to “set a new pace” for the technology and reverse what he described as the [...]
Robinhood poised to publish IPO filings ‘as soon as next week’ May 18, 2021 Trading platform Robinhood is reportedly preparing to publish filings for its initial public offering as soon as next week as it gears up to go public next month. The commission-free app, which saw its popularity surge following a retail trading frenzy during the pandemic, is targeting late June for its float, Bloomberg reported. The filings [...]
These are the jobs of tomorrow May 18, 2021 | City Talk The future looks bright if you are a data analyst, a scientist, a robotics engineer, a business development professional or an artificial intelligence or big data-specialist. These are amongst the top twenty roles that are increasing in demand across all industries, according to the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report. The report claims that [...]