Driverless car startup Five raises $41m investment from Direct Line and Airbnb backer March 4, 2020 London tech firm Five has today closed $41m in funding from a slew of new investors, including Trustbridge Partners, Direct Line and Sistema VC. The series B fundraising was supported by existing backers Lakestar, Amadeus Capital Partners, Kindred Capital and Notion Capital — which between them have backed the likes of Airbnb, Klarna, Graphcore and [...]
Government faces lawsuit over £108m PPE contract with pest control firm June 15, 2020 The government is facing legal action after awarding an £108m contract for personal protective equipment (PPE) to a pest control company worth just over £19,000. The Good Law Project today filed legal proceedings against the government over its multimillion-pound deal with Pestfix — which has just 16 staff — to provide equipment such as gowns [...]
What a cock-up: Porn retweeted by government account November 25, 2019 The usually-staid official twitter account for the government in Wales left its followers shocked this afternoon after posting a graphic pornography clip. Officials have apologised after explicit imagery was retweeted by the government account, before being quickly deleted. The mishap was caused by a cyber attack as opposed to an accidental slip of the hand, [...]
Office Politics: How will independent consulting change post-Covid? May 27, 2020 The coronavirus crisis has permanently changed the way we work, showing that remote working is now an increasingly viable solution. As the world learns to adapt to a post-covid working world independent consultants are well placed to support this. When the gig economy is mentioned, Uber and Deliveroo are often the first names that come [...]
Morgan Stanley banker moonlights as an Uber driver to win top role in upcoming IPO October 18, 2018 A top banker at Morgan Stanley has reportedly been moonlighting as an Uber driver outside of working hours, in a bid to win the deal to take the ride-hailing firm public in 2019. Michael Grimes, a technology banker in the US for Morgan Stanley, has been running the job on the side for several years despite [...]
Watchdog launches investigation into Amazon’s Deliveroo investment October 16, 2019 The competition watchdog has launched a probe into Amazon’s investment in food delivery app Deliveroo. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today said it would investigate whether Amazon’s investment would “result in a substantial lessening of competition”. The e-commerce giant led a $575m funding round in Deliveroo in May. Read more: CMA puts brakes on [...]
Insurance industry must improve corporate culture, Bank of England warns November 5, 2019 The Bank of England sent out a warning to insurance bosses today, demanding that they improve workplace culture following a spate of sexual harassment revelations. In a “dear CEO” letter written to corporate heavyweights in the insurance industry, the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) flagged recent instances of alleged abuse as of “deep concern”. Read [...]
Snakes and Ladders: Who is moving jobs in the City this week? November 4, 2020 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. Firms are continuing to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic as they vie to be in prime position to recover from the economic fallout of the crisis. This week, [...]
Uber Eats riders and restaurant workers to strike over gig economy pay October 4, 2018 Uber Eats workers are to stage a strike later today with a small number of workers from JD Wetherspoon and TGI Fridays over gig economy pay and conditions. Some McDonalds and Deliveroo workers were also set to take part in the rally in Leicester Square at 11am this morning, while Uber Eats drivers are preparing their own separate strike outside its [...]
Exodus reduces Libra members to 21 companies October 14, 2019 The final membership roster of Facebook’s controversial cryptocurrency project Libra has been revealed, having taken a significant hit after several major players abandoned ship. The Libra Association said 21 companies had signed the charter, committing to pay a $10m (£7.9m) founders’ fee and introduce a Libra incentive scheme, following a council meeting in Geneva. Uber, [...]