Dash for cash? One in four over-55s raid their pension fund to pay for luxury holidays and clear debts November 10, 2015 Plan to dip into your pensions savings? You’re far from alone. Some 27 per cent, or over one in four, employees aged between 55 and 64 plan to head for their pension pot while still in work. The figures show most, over two thirds, want to use the cash to either pay off a debt [...]
Electric car charger POD Point launches £1.75m fundraising on Crowdcube November 9, 2015 POD Point, which builds charging points for electric cars, has announced a £1.75m crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube to help drive its expansion. The company is looking to raise £1.5m with an equity sale, amounting to around five per cent of the company, and £250,000 with an eight per cent bond over a three year period. [...]
London beats Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris to be named best city in Europe for digital startups – Nesta November 9, 2015 London has been named as the best city in Europe for digital startups, according to Nesta’s European Digital City Index. The capital beat rivals Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam to be named as the number one destination for digital entrepreneurs looking to start and scale up a digital business. This comes as the Mayor of London [...]
Fintech start-up acquirer Silver Falcon to float on London Stock Market November 9, 2015 Silver Falcon, a shell investment company that is aiming to acquire fintech start-ups is today floating on the London Stock Market. The newly formed company is aiming to take advantage of London’s booming fintech startup scene, that in September City PM reported had seen record investment so far in 2015 of £357m. The directors of Silver [...]
Michael Dell talks EMC deal, leadership style, cyber attacks and how to prevent digital fear among companies November 8, 2015 Imagine striking the biggest tech deal of all time. Well, Michael Dell, founder of the eponymous tech company, is trying to do exactly that. Three weeks ago, the giant announced a $67bn bet on digital storage company EMC. “We believe that scale matters,” says Dell. “We believe that converged infrastructure is real. The software-defined data [...]
How the Northern Powerhouse could boost SMEs – Investec Comment November 8, 2015 Critics of the chancellor's ambition to create a Northern Powerhouse often dismiss the idea as a gimmick. The challenge of rebalancing the UK economy is certainly immense. A recent report by the Centre of Cities showed that gross value added per worker in 2013 in the areas covered by the Northern Powerhouse was 13 per [...]
Founder of Indian startup TinyOwl held hostage for two days by workers after he announces layoffs November 6, 2015 It's never easy for an entrepreneur to make redundancies – but the process turned into a nightmare for Gaurav Choudhary and Saurabh Goyal, co-founders of Indian food delivery startup TinyOwl, after their workers reportedly held them hostage for two days. The Economic Times reported that after TinyOwl's founders decided to make 112 redundancies as part of a deal with VC firm Sequioa Capital, which [...]
Pensions prove a sore subject for one London insurer’s chief exec… November 6, 2015 Don't throw stones in glass houses. Take the plank out of your own eye before removing the dust in another’s. there’s a lot of ways of saying it. Personally, The Capitalist favours “don’t bang on about the Treasury reviewing pension tax breaks while you’re busy downgrading your own company’s scheme”, but that doesn’t have the same lyricism [...]
Laggard no more? A look at what European markets offer investors and why platforms are peering across the Channel November 5, 2015 If you want to keep up with alternative lending, you should probably be looking to the continent. Last week, Seedrs announced a partnership with ING, which will see the platform become the bank’s equity crowdfunding partner in Belgium and Luxembourg. ING will refer businesses to Seedrs if it thinks a firm could benefit from funding [...]
Ask the alternative finance experts: What you need to know about investor protection in crowdfunding November 4, 2015 David Walker, corporate partner at Memery Crystal, and Guy Rigby, partner and head of entrepreneurs tax and business services at Smith & Williamson, address some of the issues around investor protection in alternative finance. Alternative finance is a high-risk investment sector. Are there any ways to minimise risk? DW: All investments carry a degree [...]
