Here’s how Uber wants to solve commuting May 24, 2016 Uber has already revolutionised our late night trips after a night out, but now Uber wants to do the same for your daily commute to work. The boss of the billion dollar startup Travis Kalanick has spoken about one of the bigger plans for the company and the future of commuting – carpooling. "Is there a way that someone could pick [...]
Are Apple’s glory days over? May 24, 2016 It has been among the most innovative companies in the world for decades, but Apple’s star has dimmed recently. It reported its first fall in sales since 2003 – before the iPhone even existed – and was overtaken as the world’s most valuable company again last week by Google’s parent Alphabet, after briefly surpassing it in [...]
Spotify out of tune as revenues soar but losses swell May 23, 2016 Spotify, the world’s biggest music subscription service, saw its revenues rise 80 per cent to €1.95bn (£1.5bn) in 2015. However, the company saw its net losses increase to €173m (£134m) from €162m in 2014. The streaming giant’s revenues soared thanks to a 78 per cent increase in subscriptions to €1.74bn (£113.8bn) while advertising revenues grew [...]
We’re fintech investors, but here’s why we’ll never be based in Silicon Valley May 23, 2016 In 1934, Willie Sutton was asked by FBI agents “why do you rob banks, Willie?”. Sutton replied dryly, “because that's where the money is”. We create rather than rob banks, so why did we set up outside of Silicon Valley, where the tech money is? Because that’s where the banks are. Anthemis is in London, New York and Geneva, [...]
Sainsbury’s is testing a smart fridge to stop you wasting money on food May 23, 2016 How much cash do you end up wasting on food because you can't remember what you already have (or don't have) sitting in the fridge at home? Sainsbury's thinks that it could be quite a lot and might just be one of the reasons for families wasting on average £235 each year – that'll be £1.5bn [...]
Phones 4U founder John Caudwell is backing this mobile startup May 23, 2016 Phones 4U founder John Caudwell has put his weight behind a new mobile startup launching today which aims to simplify buying a new mobile and do away with lengthy contracts. Unshackled.com will sell phones and sims separately and has partnered with peer-to-peer lender Zopa to offer financing for the upfront cost of the device. Founded by the former chief operating officer of Phones 4U [...]
This alcohol monitoring Skyn wristband from BACtrack might help you avoid hangovers May 23, 2016 It might feel like Friday is a long way away, but if you're still feeling the hangover pain from the weekend and don't want to overdo it in future, science may have just created the product for you. BACtrack, a medical device maker based in San Fransisco that also develops breathalyzers, has won a $200,000 US national contest [...]
The Chinese town where robots replaced 60,000 workers May 23, 2016 A Chinese manufacturing hub enlisted a fleet of robots to help overhaul its growth strategy. Kunshan, in Jiangsu province of China, used to be one of the country’s best performing economies. But its reputation was dented after an industrial explosion killed 146 people in 2014. At the time, it was blamed on poor safety standards [...]
Fraud with Problems: Ravelin boss Martin Sweeney talks Hailo, fake credit cards and machine learning May 23, 2016 "There’s a real tension at the heart of fraud detection: if you want to stop online fraud, just switch everything off.” Martin Sweeney is, of course, being facetious. But fraud, he impresses, has become an accepted fact of the on-demand economy. “We as consumers are accepting that most of the things we buy have a premium [...]
