News
The London-based most prominent venture capital firm, Octopus Ventures and 83North recently backed the AI-powered cancer diagnostics startup from Israel – Ibex Medical Analytics – in a £27.3 million Series B funding round.
Along with Octopus Ventures and 83North, the round was also supported by aMoon, Planven Entrepreneur Ventures and Dell Technologies Capital, the corporate venture arm of Dell Technologies, totaling £37.4 million funding to Ibex Medical.
Pandemic disruptions created a backlog for cancer screening for more than 2 million people. The shortage of pathologists resulted in inaccuracy and misdiagnosis of cancer.
AI-powered cancer diagnosis from Ibex Medical Analytics provides a clinical-grade diagnosis for breast and prostate cancer patients. It enables the use of AI technology in routine clinical practice and AI tools for precision medicine in Oncology.
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London-based insurtech Zego raised $150 million (nearly £108 million) Series C funding in the largest ever funding round by any insurtechs in the region. As a result, it becomes the first UK insurtech unicorn with a valuation of $1.1 billion.
Zego is the third unicorn for the UK in 2021, after fintechs PPRO and Starling Bank.
Intends to accelerate European expansion
The Series C round funding round was led by DST Global along with other new investors including General Catalyst. The existing investors such as Transferwise founder, Taavet Hinrikus, and Zego’s board, Target Global, Balderton Capital and Latitude, amongst others, took part in the round. Also, Joel Cutler, founder and MD of General Catalyst, joins Zego’s board.Z
Zegowill use the funding to expand across Europe rapidly and beyond. The company will continue to invest in technology, following its recent acquisition of Drivit, a telematics company and will double down on its fleet offering. Also, Zego will continue to invest in its team, especially across product, engineering and data science, as it aims to double headcount by the end of 2021.
Estonian Sten Saar is one of the three founders of Zego. One of the Zego’s investors is an Estonian, Taavet Hinrikus, serial unicorn builder and founder of Wise (former TransferWise).
Sten Saar, CEO and Co-founder of Zego, said: “This latest round of funding is a huge milestone for Zego. It is a testament to our relentlessly hard-working team and a clear validation of the need for Zego’s products in the market. That being said however, we see this investment as simply another step in our journey towards powering opportunities for businesses across the world.”
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Octopus Energy Group, London-based global energy tech unicorn, has announced the acquisition of Marvel Lab‘s smart energy technology, ‘Configurable.’ This strategic move will boost the capabilities of Octopus’s tech platform Kraken.
Kraken is a tech platform that automates much of the supply chain, allowing Octopus and other licensees to operate much more efficiently than other energy suppliers.
It is already contracted to serve over 17 million customer accounts, across the globe including partnerships with Origin Energy, E.ON, npower, and others.
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Grocery shopping changed drastically in 2020. Several customers switched to online shopping with the lockdowns of the ongoing pandemic. While Amazon, and other big techs made the most of it, some local startups also thrived on the opportunity and with this new trend many new and upcoming ones are now looking to capture more of the industry.
As far as the UK online grocery startups are concerned they seem to be unstoppable. Just last week, Dija bagged £14.4 million funding and already Weezy is making a lot of buzz for its 15 mins grocery delivery service.
£4.4M investor funding
Now another online grocery delivery startup from the capital — Bother has raised £4.4 million — as a pre-Series A round from early-stage investors of Uber, Just Eat and Not on the High Street.
The household items delivery startup got support from Sun Hung Kai & Co and Venrex Investment Management, the early investors of Uber, Just Eat and Not on the High Street.
So, what’s different about Bother?
Bother isn’t focused on getting groceries to customers quickly. Unlike Dija and Weezy, Bother aims to replenish household supplies before they run out, using AI dubbed as Bother Brain to ‘learn’ what a customer needs and when – Bother preempts the order and puts it in the customer’s basket so they just need to approve it. No subscriptions, no substitutions, just free next day delivery.
Douglas Morton, Bother Founder & CEO comments: “There is no reason for dishwasher tablets to be delivered in a refrigerated van. It is neither convenient, cost-effective nor environmentally sustainable. With the rise of Deliveroo, recipe boxes and on-demand groceries, food can be delivered with increasing convenience, but bulky household items still lag behind, sold predominantly through the same channels they have been for 70 years – the supermarkets.
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On International Women’s Day 2021, UK’s female-led challenger bank — Starling — announces a huge £272 million Series D funding round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company (Fidelity), alongside Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), RPMI Railpen (Railpen), the investment manager for the £31 billion Railways Pension Scheme, and the global investment firm Millennium Management. The new investment values the company at £1.1 billion pre-money.
Since launching in 2017 by Anne Boden, the challenger bank has opened more than two million accounts, including more than 300,000 small business accounts. A new customer joins Starling every 39 seconds. The new fintech unicorn’s total gross lending now exceeds £2 billion, while deposits top £5.4 billion. Starling was voted Best British Bank in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and topped the Which? customer satisfaction table for 2020.
The new funding announced today will support Starling’s continued rapid and now profitable growth. The capital will be deployed primarily to support a targeted expansion of Starling’s lending in the UK, as well as to launch Starling in Europe and for anticipated M&A.
Anne Boden, founder and CEO of Starling Bank, said: “Digital banking has reached a tipping point. Customers now expect a fairer, smarter and more human alternative to the banks of the past and that is what we are giving them at Starling as we continue to grow and add new products and services. Our new investors will bring a wealth of experience as we enter the next stage of growth, while the continued support of our existing backers represents a huge vote of confidence.”
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Amazon has opened its first checkout-free store outside of the US, a Fresh store powered by the "Just Walk Out" tech used in US Go stores. The shop, located in the West London borough of Ealing, offers Brits the same automated shopping experience that has been available to the US public since 2018. Instead of paying at manned or self-service checkouts, AI-powered sensors track the items you pluck from shelves and put in your basket and charges are automatically applied to your card at exit via the Amazon Go app.
"Our Amazon Fresh store in Ealing is the size of your typical convenience food store, which is roughly 2,500 square feet in the front of house," Amazon wrote in a FAQ. "We’re excited to bring this concept to the UK and look forward to opening additional stores in the Greater London area."
The online retailer is getting food supplies from local supermarket chain Morrisons, which it already has an existing relationship with on its Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service. It's also offering a new private food brand "By Amazon," with hundreds of products including "meat, poultry and fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables, bakery, freshly prepared meals and everyday essentials," Amazon said in a press release. While it's using Go-type checkout tech, it doesn't look like it will have the computer vision and AI-equipped Dash Carts for now.
Word on the UK store first broke in 2017 — just months after Amazon unveiled the Go concept — when it registered a pair of slogans with the country's Intellectual Property Office. But, since then the expansion has been cloaked in secrecy while Amazon focused on Go's rollout in the US, where it now boasts around 25 of the physical stores, including a bigger supermarket in Seattle.
With the e-commerce giant riding a tidal wave of orders during the pandemic, the latest unveiling won't go unnoticed by its UK rivals. Not to be left behind, local supermarket Sainsbury's introduced its own cashierless grocery store in 2019 in the hopes of building on the popularity of self-scan shopping.
The online meal delivery provider, Deliveroo, has selected London for a planned $7m (£5m) stock listing. UK government’s stock listing rules reform allows founders to keep more control over key decisions.
In January, the company raised $180 million (£130m) in fresh funding at a $7 million (£5m) valuations. The investment from existing shareholders was backed by Amazon, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, General Catalyst, Index Ventures and Accel. Deliveroo yet not announced the price information for its initial public offering.
London-based, Deliveroo was founded by Will Shu in the year of 2013. He was the first rider when they started operating in Chelsea, West London. In the last 8 years, Deliveroo has been rapidly growing and expanding its meal delivery services in two hundred cities in the UK and the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Australia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Hong Kong.
Leveraging the UK’s economy
The independent analysis says that Deliveroo supported 46,700 jobs in the UK, including 38,300 in the restaurant sector since its launch in the year 2013. There are thousands of riders who are associated and have worked for Deliveroo and are contributing to the UK’s economy.
Eyeing on rapid growth and expansion
The limited-time dual-class share structures provide Deliveroo more control over key management decision-making towards the company’s long-term strategic vision. The dual-class share structure limited to three years, after which the company will move to a traditional single-class share structure.
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor said: “The UK is one of the best places in the world to start, grow and list a business – and we’re determined to build on this reputation now we’ve left the EU. That’s why we are looking at reforms to encourage even more high growth, dynamic businesses to list in the U.K.”
“So it’s fantastic that Deliveroo has taken this decision to list on the London Stock Exchange. Deliveroo has created thousands of jobs and is a true British tech success story. It is great news that the next stage of their growth will be on the public markets in the U.K.”
Will Shu, CEO of Deliveroo, said: “Deliveroo was born in London. This is where I founded the company and delivered our first order. London is a great place to live, work, do business and eat. That’s why I’m so proud and excited about a potential listing here.”
“At Deliveroo we want to be the definitive food company, bringing consumers the best choice of foods, giving restaurants new opportunities to grow their businesses, and providing riders with great work. We are always focused on developing the best proposition for consumers, restaurants and riders and look forward to bringing our service to new parts of the UK as we continue to grow.”
The online grocery industry is gaining momentum during the ongoing pandemic and as more and more consumers are habitual of shopping this way. According to research from Capgemini, 56% of UK consumers expect to get online deliveries at least once a week by 2021.
Also the country-wide lockdown has actually accelerated this shift and consumers have compelling reasons to switch from the neighborhood grocery stores to online.
London’s Weezy promises to deliver groceries in just 15 minutes. At the same time, Turkish online grocery delivery startup Getir is another company that has launched its rapid delivery service in London recently.
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UK chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to announce a change in the contactless limit from £45 to £100 in his budget speech this week.
Industry body UK Finance is believed to have pitched the increase to the Treasury, where it is being seen as symbolic of Britain's ability to make its own rules following its split from the European Union.
The limit was only raised from £30 to £45 in April, partly in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has prompted a surge in tap and pay at the expense of cash.
In September, contactless accounted for 64% of all debit card transactions and 46% of credit card transactions, according to UK Finance.
The Financial Conduct Authority announced in January that it was conducting a consultation on a possible lift in the contactless limit. "It’s important that payments regulation keeps pace with consumer and merchant expectations," noted the FCA. "Recognising changing behaviour in how people pay, as part of a wider consultation, we will shortly be seeking views on amending our rules to allow for a possible increase in the contactless limit to £100."
Sky News is reporting that some major banks have sounded the alarm bell over the proposed new ceiling, preferring a more cautious staggered increase to curb the risk of fraud.
Contactless payments first arrived in the UK in 2007, with a £10 ceiling which has been gradually increased over the last decade.
Rochdale, Greater Manchester-based WCCTV is a leading Equipment-as-s-Service provider of redeployable wireless surveillance products. The company has three offices across the UK, with locations in Edinburgh and Luton alongside its Rochdale headquarters, with a fourth base in Texas, United States.
Now, WCCTV announced that it secured fresh funding of £30M in an investment round led by LDC. With this funding round, LDC will own a minority stake in the UK-based company. As a result of the partnership, LCD will accelerate WCCTV’s ambitious plans to expand into the domestic and international markets and support the launch of new products and services.
The round was led by LDC’s Head of the North West, Dale Alderson, alongside Investment Director Richard Ibbett and Grant Goodwin. Notably, Dale and Richard will also join the board as Non-Executive Directors as part of the deal.
The investment in WCCTV, follows the recent investments of LDC in digital learning provider Omniplex and the Cheshire-headquartered manufacturer of accessories for light commercial vehicles, Rhino Products.
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