Last Week in the City: Trade fears re-emerge August 3, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (30 July to 3 August 2018). Interest rates were raised in the UK for the second time since the financial crisis, but the move was widely expected. The earnings season continued. Growth in all regions was [...]
London mayor Sadiq Khan should park the cap on taxis – it’s actually TfL licensing that is clogging up our roads August 24, 2018 Congestion is snarling up London, and Sadiq Khan is right to be worried. Traffic speeds are now well into horse and cart territory. In the morning peak, passengers on the route 15 bus between Tower Hill and Charing Cross are now down to crawling along at an average of 4.2mph. The number of private hire [...]
SoftBank’s Vision Fund leads $250m series D investment into data storage tech firm Cohesity June 11, 2018 Californian data storage firm Cohesity has closed an oversubscribed series D round at $250m (£186.2m), led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund in its second ever enterprise investment after workspace messaging app Slack. The round also saw participation from Cisco Investments, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Sequoia Capital. Cohesity’s chief operating officer and president [...]
Fortnum and Masons suffers major data hack, with 23,000 customers potentially affected July 2, 2018 British retail behemoth Fortnum and Masons has been the latest victim of a major data hack, it was revealed today. The personal information of some 23,000 customers is left at stake, exposed through a partnership the company had established with survey company Typeform for its food and drink awards. Specifically, those who voted through Typeform [...]
Uber’s suspended its self-driving car trial after a crash left vehicle on side March 26, 2017 Uber has suspended a programme which was testing its self-driving cars on the real roads of Arizona after… well, just look a that picture. The crash on Friday did not cause any serious injuries but it will bring the tests in Arizona, as well as Pittsburgh and San Francisco, to a halt while it investigates. [...]
Cowardice over the housing crisis is pushing young Brits towards the spectre of 1970s socialism July 23, 2018 As the government creaks alarmingly under the weight of Brexit, it may seem odd – if not downright contrarian – to kickstart a discussion about the housing crisis. For many Brexiteers such as myself, Brexit is not a moment in time or a destination in itself. It is not a chance to relive the past, [...]
Sir Nick Clegg has become chairman at on-demand social care startup Cera March 10, 2018 Sir Nick Clegg has been appointed chairman of the advisory board of a homecare startup founded by a former NHS doctor. Clegg joins the board of Cera, which was started by Mahiben Maruthappu in an effort to help tackle the social care crisis. Read more: Nick Clegg admits "soft Brexit" hopes are dead The startup, [...]
China’s Didi Chuxing is partnering with 12 auto giants including Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi on a car-sharing platform February 7, 2018 Chinese ride-hailing behemoth Didi Chuxing announced today that it has launched a car-sharing platform alongside 12 auto giants including Geely Auto and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi. Didi said it intends to utilise its artificial intelligence strengths and national network to help the “entire automotive industry chain”. The company, which bought out Uber’s China business in 2016, said it [...]
Citymapper’s launched a mincab-bus hybrid carpooling service after Transport for London approves PHV licence February 21, 2018 Citymapper is launching an on-demand carpooling service in the capital that’s part minicab, part bus, after Transport for London finally approved its application for a private hire licence. The tech startup, which has been experimenting in recent months with different types of on-demand transport, will serve central London with several eight-seater cars stretching between Clerkenwell [...]
Uber’s facing some serious allegations of sexism, harassment and a toxic work culture February 20, 2017 Uber is facing serious allegations of sexism in the workplace after explosive revelations from a former engineer at the billion-dollar startup. Chief executive Travis Kalanick labelled the behaviour "abhorrent" and "against everything we believe in", promising an investigation, after former engineer Susan Fowler published details of her experience at the company. In the blog post, she describes being [...]