Techcrunch Disrupt: Let the (tech startup) battle commence October 20, 2014 European tech startups, including two teams from London, went head-to-head yesterday in the first round of a battle at Disrupt, one of Silicon Valley’s biggest annual tech conferences, which is currently in London for the first time. London startups Lobster – an online marketplace for regular people to licence their photos and videos – [...]
City & Gild: Catching a cab, or catching up? June 13, 2014 I wrote recently about the sharing economy and the fact that hotels in New York are in court with Airbnb. Surprise surprise, now the black cabs are on strike because of Uber. As the hoteliers of New York claim their grievance is with Airbnb not paying hotel tax, the cabbies are apparently upset because they [...]
The global economy is now at serious risk and investors aren’t prepared, says SocGen’s uber-bear January 15, 2014 If you've heard of Societe Generale's bear king Albert Edwards then you probably know that he thinks that loose monetary policy will result in uncontrollable inflation. Or as he puts it in a note published today, we will ultimately see inflation "spill like a tidal wave from the financial markets into goods, services and wages". [...]
Carlyle ponders sale of London minicab firm Addison Lee June 30, 2014 Carlyle Group, the US-based private equity firm, is considering selling Addison Lee, the London minicab company. The decision is part of an evaluation of the business, which Carlyle bought a majority stake in for around £300m in April 2013. The evaluation, to be conducted by Credit Suisse and likely to be completed by autumn this [...]
Snapchat valued at $10 billion with new investment as monthly users reach 100m August 27, 2014 Evan Spiegel, the 24-year-old founder of Snapchat, must finally feel some vindication in his decision to turn down Facebook’s hefty $3bn (£1.8bn) offer for the hugely popular app last year. Snapchat is in the process of raising a new round of investment valuing the mobile messaging app at $10bn (£6bn), the Wall Street Journal reports, [...]
Counterstrike gamer’s Twitch live stream crashed by SWAT team in remarkable video August 28, 2014 The stranger side of Amazon's recent acquisition, Twitch: a professional gamer’s live streaming session was crashed by a SWAT team, a surreal event captured in a remarkable YouTube video. Jordan Mathewson, who games under the alias “Kootra”, found himself the unfortunate victim of a prank known in the gaming community as “swatting”. According [...]
In defence of easyProperty: Sir Stelios bites back September 21, 2014 Jon Moulton’s unprovoked attack in his column directed against me personally is nothing more than a cheap shot. Worse still, he has clearly not done his homework on easyProperty.com – the latest brand extension from easyGroup, my personal investment company. First, I believe he failed to declare an interest in the matter, as I [...]
How incompetent policymakers have kept the Eurozone in perpetual crisis September 9, 2014 THE EUROZONE lurches into yet another crisis, with fears of deflation and a further drop in output. There are several dominant explanations as to why Europe has been unable to recover from the crisis. Depending on their tastes, most commentators subscribe to them either on their own, or in various combinations. One puts the blame [...]
Charlotte grabs an awards treat to last all night August 31, 2014 The City A.M. awards are fast approaching and with the shortlists being revealed next week, we thought we’d get the ball rolling by announcing the winner of our competition. We offered one lucky reader the chance to win two tickets to the awards and a night’s stay at the venue, Grange St Paul’s Hotel. We’ve [...]
Why it’s time to unleash corporate venture capital to spur on startup growth September 4, 2014 The Bank of England’s small business lending figures disappointed again last week. Access to finance – especially for small firms – has been a perennial problem, exacerbated by the financial crisis and downturn. It’s therefore surprising that, amid all the ways government has tried to increase access to finance over the last few years, it [...]