News
GoEuro, a platform that allows users to compare all possible travel routes and book a ticket, has just completed a new $150m funding round with Kinnevik and Temasek, with Hillhouse Capital also participating. This brings the total raised by the startup to $300m.
GoEuro has 27 million monthly users and operates in 36 European countries comparing travel prices across flights, trains and buses, making it the leading multi-modal transport booking platform in Europe. It also makes direct sales on its platform for 80% of its transport providers.
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Memory, a Norwegian startup and maker of time tracking app Timely, has raised $5 million in funding. The round was led by Concentric and Investinor, and included investment from existing investor SNÖ Ventures.
Timely, is a fully automatic time tracking tool that is powered by AI. It automatically records everything employees work on and then creates an accurate time sheet.Timely is currently used by more than 4,000 paying businesses across 160 countries.
Memory will use the new funding to double its current 30-person team. It also plans on refining Timely’s AI model and to accelerate international growth.
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Vonage, originally a VoIP pioneer that now offers cloud-based unified communications and other IP services in the business market, has announced that it is going to acquire NewVoiceMedia, a UK company that builds cloud-based contact centre solutions, for $350 million.
The acquisition will help Vonage to expand its reach via its platform so it can integrate with software providers such as Salesforce, as well as increase the service it offers and thereby improve its margins.
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Oxford VR, a health-focused startup spinout from the University of Oxford, has managed to raise £3.2m in investment from investors including Oxford Sciences Innovation, University of Oxford, Force Over Mass, RT Capital and GT Healthcare Capital Partners.
Oxford VR launched their first product this year, an automated VR treatment to help people with acrophobia, and ran a large, randomised test which was so successful it is now being used in select NHS clinics.
They will use the funding to grow and bring automated immersive, clinically validated VR technologies to market.
Oxford VR is hoping to help millions of people with their VR technology that is more accessible, faster, cheaper and effective than traditional treatments.
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Uber Technologies Inc is, according to Bloomberg, in early talks to buy UK tech company Deliveroo for several billion dollars
Deliveroo, the food delivery company, was co-founded by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski in 2012. Since then it has raised over $850m and was last valued at more than $2bn. As such a successful offer would have to be higher than this valuation. Albeit Uber have stated that they want to place a bigger focus on the food delivery section of the company going forwards.
If the sale does go ahead, it would represent a huge attempt by the US company to try and dominate the on-demand food delivery space in Europe.
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Modulr, a FinTech firm which provides bank accounts for business payments, has raised a new round of funding which was led by Blenheim Chalcot. The company has now raised a total of £10.5m.
The startup, which was founded in London in 2016, has just opened a new office in Edinburgh and plans on increasing its staff to over 100 people across its offices.
According to Modulr it has processed £4.2bn in business payments over the last two years and its transaction volumes have been growing by an average of 11% month-on-month.
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Medopad, a UK HealthTech firm, has acquired Sherbit, a Silicon Valley startup leveraging AI to improve chronic disease patient care.
Medopad focuses on providing technology that connects patients and medical practitioners and allows patient's data to be analysed to improve the detection of any medical conditions.
The company is already working with various hospitals in London such as Royal Free London, Guy’s and St Thomas’, Bart’s, and Chelsea & Westminster. It is also developing projects in countries including Germany, China and Singapore.
The acquisition of Sherbit will enable Medopad to expand to the US.
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Wagestream, a UK FinTech startup that enables employees to get their salaries early, has just received backing from Amazon’s and Microsoft’s billionaire founders.
The company raised a total of £4.5m from investors including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
Their aim is to eliminate the "payday poverty cycle" by providing an app that allows a participating company's employees to access their wages early and charges them a flat fee of only £1.75. The total amount is then deducted from the employee's next pay cheque.
Wagestream has launched a pilot with 25 businesses, including the gym chain David Lloyd.
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MyLife Digital, a privacy tech and data analytics company, has raised £5.7m in funding. Investments included £3m from BGF and £2.7m in venture debt from Barclays.
The Bath-based startup provides Saas to assist organisations with managing transparency around the personal data of their users.
MyLife Digital will use the funds to roll out their personal data management platform internationally and increase their turnover to £120m in the next three years.
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Marketers are starting to focus on the opportunities for in-car commerce as sales in the US of connected vehicles are forecast to grow to 12.7 million a year - or 76% of new cars - by 2024.
Some of the world's biggest automakers, such as General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen, have developed connected-car systems that have varying capabilities, from on-demand music streaming to automatic payments at petrol stations.
The next development could be a digital dashboard that allows drivers to purchase goods, thereby making better use of being stuck in traffic or on long commutes. This could be linked into popular brands, from Starbucks to McDonalds.
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