Steve France at Florismart is ending the Dutch monopoly on the flower industry using tech August 7, 2017 Upon reflection, breakfast at the The Ivy Chelsea Garden, abloom with foliage as it is, was an appropriate location to meet Steve France. The reason it is so apt is that France is chief executive of Florismart, a platform that is challenging, and successfully diminishing, the Dutch monopoly on the cut flower trade by culling [...]
How to increase app downloads July 27, 2017 | City Talk Whether you’re an app developer, you are responsible for commissioning app development or you’re simply tasked with promoting your organisation’s apps, the challenge of ensuring your app is found, downloaded and used has never been more difficult. The rise of the app has been well documented. In the 10 years since the smartphone (and then [...]
London cyber security startup Callsign, used by Lloyds and Deutsche Bank, has raised a huge $35m series A led by Accel and PTB Ventures July 27, 2017 A security startup focused on digital identity which helps keep Lloyds and Deutsche Bank protected has raised a huge round of funding from venture capital investors. London-based Callsign has landed $35m in a series A round of funding led by Spotify backer Accel and PTB Ventures a New York-based early-stage investment firm specialising in digital [...]
Tapping third-party app stores to improve downloads July 25, 2017 | City Talk Generally speaking, app developers, like brands in a supermarket, are in a battle for two scarce resources: consumer attention and shelf space. Lab Cave, a mobile games company headquartered in Madrid, is looking beyond distribution on the “digital shelves” of the Apple App Store and Google Play. It’s part of a bid to cash in [...]
Aviva and Founders Factory are betting on these five fintech startups for artificial intelligence, blockchain and virtual reality expertise July 24, 2017 Aviva is betting on virtual reality, artificial intelligence and blockchain when it comes to technology. The insurer has unveiled the first five startups to benefit from a multi-million pound investment into new technology with startup accelerator and incubator Founders Factory. And the two have also created their own startup together, OnCare, aiming to take the [...]
Barclays bPay, a £20 contactless pay wristband, given away for free in latest sign bank’s wearable has flopped July 19, 2017 Barclays has started giving away a contactless payments device normally costing £20 in the latest signal that its technology efforts have failed to take off. The bank is offering the bPay wearable band or key fob, used to pay for things with just a swipe, for free in a push to get them into people's [...]
Open Banking’s a step closer with these 20 fintech startups, but the clock is ticking on the CMA’s deadline July 19, 2017 The UK’s progress toward making banking more open has taken another step forward after 20 fintechs were chosen to test out a new way of sharing banking information for the benefit customers. A call for startups was put out as part of the competition watchdog’s ambitious plans to disrupt the big four banks’ hold on [...]
Blue Raspberry review: A powerful, portable and pricey microphone for on-the-go recording July 12, 2017 Blue, as well as being a boyband and a state of mind, is the California-based company behind the world’s most popular USB microphones. The company’s products brought studio-quality hardware to the consumer-grade market at a time when USB mics were little more than call centre headsets. The Snowball mic alone helped to kickstart home [...]
The UK’s digital economy is among the best in the world, according to this new study July 12, 2017 The UK has one of the best digital economies of any country in the world, ahead of the US and the rest of Western Europe, and is considered part of a small number of "digital elite" that are "both highly digitally evolved and advancing quickly." That's according to a major new study of 60 countries [...]
Revealed: Monzo’s annual report and the 6 things we learned about the digital challenger bank July 5, 2017 Monzo has released its annual report, revealing how the fintech business is doing. Here's what we learned… 1. It's u-turning on lending Monzo told City PM last year that it would be concentrating solely on the current account, with no plans to expand into traditional banking products. Clearly, things have changed. It will now start [...]
