News
BLEND Network, the peer-to-peer property lending platform, has completed £10m of late-seed round financing.
The platform launched earlier this year to make the property market more efficient while saying it would deliver double-digit return to investors.
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Farfetch has teamed up with Syte, a visual AI startup, to help customers search through its products using a screenshot or a photo and offer a more cohesive shopping experience.
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Investment firm Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has reached an agreement with fellow investor Elliott Advisors (UK) to provide £29 million in funding for fintech specialists TotallyMoney.
The huge sum follows a stellar 12 months for TotallyMoney which has reached one million customers since launching its Free Credit Report (FCR) in 2017.
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Lightfoot, the creator of car technology that rewards better drivers, has raised £3.2m from BGF.
Lightfoot’s in-car technology rewards good drivers by allowing them to monetise their smooth driving with prizes, discounts and rewards.
The company, which was launched in 2013 by entrepreneur Mark Roberts, claims to have more than 20,000 drivers using its tech.
The funding will be used to drive growth in Lightfoot’s fleet business, for expansion into the consumer market and to increase its workforce.
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Mercaux, a SaaS retail technology platform that powers digital in-store experiences for offline retailers, has successfully raised £3.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Nauta Capital.
The London-based company was founded in 2013 and is used more than 100,000 times per day and deployed in more than 250+ stores around the world. Clients include French Connection, United Colors of Benetton, Nike, Under Armour and Karen Millen.
The company intends to use the funds to increase its commercial international growth and develop its technology.
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Starling, the digital bank, is working with the Post Office to provide its banking services on the high street.
Customers will be able to use post offices to both deposit and withdraw money in their Starling accounts.
The move will provide its personal customers with more choice on how they choose to bank and will also benefit its business customers, such as retail businesses, that deal mostly in cash.
Starling's main banking is still focused within the digital sphere, but this partnership with the Post Office has come about as a response to customers request for more options on how they bank.
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Anine Bing, the US luxury womenswear company, has decided to open its first UK store after closing a $15 million Series A funding round earlier this year.
The company was started in 2012 by Danish model Anine Bing and her husband Nicolai Nielson, and has stores in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid and Berlin, as well as over 300 stockists worldwide.
The shop will be based in Mayfair, London, an area popular with many other luxury brands such as Agent Provocateur, Mulberry, Breitling, Phillip Plein, Jigsaw and Smythson.
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Monzo, the UK challenger bank, has managed to raise £85m in Series E funding at a £1bn valuation, enabling it to reach unicorn status.
The startup was founded in February 2015 and has grown its customer base to over 1 million users.
The company currently hires 450 people and is looking to double this number over the next year.
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Amazon has launched its try-on-first Prime Wardrobe service in the UK, four months after rolling out in the US market and a week after introducing it in Japan.
Prime has developed from its early days of offering free/next day delivery to a wide range of benefits, the newest addition being the possibility to trial clothes before deciding whether to buy them or not. Which Amazon is hoping will lead to both larger orders and more satisfied customers.
The concept involves customers being able to purchase between 3 to 8 items of clothing and having a week to decide whether they intend to keep them or not. It is only at this point that the customer is charged for the items they haven't returned.
Current retailers that are involved include Calvin Klein, Puma, Lacoste, Levi’s Ted Baker, New Look and LK Bennett.
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Debenhams, a British multinational department store chain, has revealed that it is closing up to 50 of its underperforming stores in the next three to five years, a move that will put around 4,000 jobs at risk.
Already this year, Debenhams has issued three profit warnings and written off £512.4m on leases and goodwill, leading to a loss of £491.5m, the biggest in its 240-year history.
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