Does WeWork spell the end of the unicorns? November 4, 2019 | Sponsored WeWork has undergone a dramatic fall from grace recently. Just two months ago the office rental start-up was expecting to offer shares to the public at a total business valuation of $47 billion. This soon halved and then investors rapidly pulled their support for an initial public offering (IPO) above $12 billion. The IPO was [...]
Venture capitalist firm Draper Esprit has managerial reshuffle November 4, 2019 Venture capital firm Draper Esprit has had a reshuffle at the top with its chief executive moving to the role of chief investment officer. Simon Cook will move into the chief investment officer role to control the Dublin-based company’s £1.2bn of funds across start-ups and pre-float investments. Read more: City startup Freetrade raises £15m from [...]
What Thomas Cook’s collapse tells us about the power of disruption November 4, 2019 | City Talk Whilst the failure of UK holiday firm Thomas Cook was sudden and a considerable shock to many, the writing has been on the wall for some time now. Driven by technology and specifically by the advent of online booking and reservation systems, the travel industry has long been undergoing a radical transformation across each of [...]
The founder of Natural Cycles on creating an algorithm that is revolutionising birth control November 4, 2019 Contraception hasn’t really changed since the 60s. The pill is still very much the most widely-used option, and often an unsatisfactory one at that, with many users struggling with side effects like migraines, mood changes, or weight gain, to name but a few. And while the long-awaited male contraceptive pill passed human safety tests earlier [...]
Tesco investigates technical issues affecting Monzo card payments November 1, 2019 Supermarket giant Tesco is investigating a technical issue affecting customers with Monzo debit cards after cardholders complained they were being charged twice for transactions. Monzo customers have complained on Twitter about issues using their cards in Tesco, prompting the supermarket chain to put up signs at some of its stores saying it could not accept [...]
What does disruption mean for investors? November 1, 2019 | City Talk In this short video, Alex Tedder discusses the opportunities that disruption and innovation bring for investors. We’re really excited about disruption because it’s something that’s taking place around us every day. With disruption you typically get innovation. And innovation creates tremendous growth opportunities for investors. That’s why we’re so excited right now. You only have [...]
Startup entrepreneurs are seeking more advice than ever before November 1, 2019 As a nation, we’re not great at admitting when we need help. We like to soldier on with a stiff upper lip, while often heading for a fall. It was therefore interesting that in a recent poll among our Enterprise Nation adviser community, we found that more than half of them say that small business [...]
Enfranchise the teenager? Votes at 16 is not as mad as you think November 1, 2019 “Votes at 16!” opposition MPs demanded in the debate on whether Britain should have an election. They were denied the chance to vote on this by the deputy speaker, so 16–17 year olds will not be voting on 12 December – a relief, given the gargantuan hurdle of registering 1.4m new voters. But the question [...]
The moral of the pay gap story is that the future looks bright for women in work November 1, 2019 The gender pay gap has widened, read the headlines and news tickers this week, after the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released its 2019 data on pay, including the average difference for men and women in work. As the pay gap debate has highlighted for years now, statistics can be used to tell almost any [...]
