News
Monzo, a digital mobile-only bank based in the UK, has raised more than £100m from investors including Passion Capital, Goodwater Capital and Thrive Capital, and says Ireland is the first step in its plans for international expansion.
As well as Ireland, Monzo will look to move into other European countries throughout 2018. The firm is also eyeing a potential expansion into the United States.
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Vivino, the world's most downloaded mobile wine app and largest online wine marketplace, has managed to raise $20m in a round led by SCP Neptune International, who join existing investors Balderton, Creandum, SEED Capital and Iconical.
Over the past two years Vivino has seen its user base grow from 13 million to 29 million and it now provides information on over 9 million wines from 3,157 wine regions and 204,154 wineries.
Vivino will be using the Series C financing to further develop their technology and to fuel growth, with plans to expand to new markets such as Hong Kong. The team is targeting $1 billion in wine sales by 2020.
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French cosmetics company L’Oréal has partnered up with designer Yves Béhar to create a wearable UV sensor that tracks sun exposure.
The UV sensor is two millimetres thick and nine millimetres in diameter and is meant to be worn on the user's thumbnail, which should allow for the most accurate sunlight exposure reading. The information the UV sensor collects is transmitted to an app via Near Field Communication (NFC) – a wireless technology that works using magnetic field induction. The user can then track their sun exposure and receive warnings for when they need to seek shade.
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Foresight, a leading independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager, has invested $6.1m of growth capital into PowerLinks, a software platform which automates the buying and selling of personally relevant and user-friendly “native” advertising.
The capital injection is intended to accelerate PowerLinks’ expansion in the US, with planned additions across the sales, client services and technology teams. The company will also partner with global customers to roll out support in dozens of new markets, having recently expanded in Amsterdam and Berlin.
As part of Foresight’s investment, PowerLinks has boosted its management team with the appointment of Alex Rahaman as Chairman and Mickey Christodoulides as Finance Director.
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Twine Health, a service built for helping people who suffer from chronic conditions including hypertension and diabetes, is being acquired by Fitbit. Although Twine Health's customer base was focused within the workforce, Fitbit are hoping to roll it out to all their customers.
With this acquisition, as well as their long term plans, Fitbit are aiming to help build better relationships between patients and their doctors.
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Farfetch, one of the leading online global fashion retail platforms, are currently developing a new way to customise their customers' experience in the brick-and-mortar stores operated by their partners.
The primary functions of the new technology will allow customers to use their mobile phones to share their wishlist and be able to communicate to staff that they do not want to be approached.
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TruFin, a fintech and banking group, has managed to raise £70m in capital after floating on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.
The funds will enable TruFin to expand its three businesses: Distribution Finance Capital (DFC), Satago and Oxygen Finance.
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Delivery Hero, a German food delivery marketplace, has surpassed expectations with a worldwide 48% increase in total orders for 2017 as well as a revenue of €544 million.
Although the operations have discontinued in the UK they are going strong across Europe, Asia, the Americas and MENA.
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UK investment nearly doubled from $4.2 to $7.8 billion in 2017. Mega-rounds were a major growth driver. For instance, 2017 saw 22 rounds over $50 million, compared with 9 rounds in 2016.
This was due partly to the fact that corporate investment into the UK as well as UK investment from the USA and America more than doubled in 2017.
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Dunkin' Donuts, one of the largest fast food chains in the world, has come up with a new way of increasing the speed that its customers can get hold of their daily coffee fix.
According to Dunkin' Donuts they are the first national restaurant to combine their app alongside their drive-thru. This combination allows customers access to a separate drive-thru lane providing that they order through the app.
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