Early crowdfunding backers of Freetrade, a British stock trading app, have seen the value of their investments in the company rise to be worth millions of pounds.
At least six people who participated in the company’s 2016 crowdfunding campaign to raise £100,000 now have stakes worth at least £1m, Sifted reports.
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Rising demand for services like Freetrade, driven in part due to the frenzy over Gamestop shares, has seen the London start-up’s valuation rise to more than £265m.
Elsewhere, Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank has invested $2.8bn (£2bn) into Norwegian robotics start-up AutoStore in return for 40pc of the company.
Coming up later today, Intel will hold a press event this afternoon where it’s expected to unveil new chips under the leadership of new chief executive Pat Gelsinger.
05:11 PM
That's it from us
Have a lovely evening and catch you tomorrow for some more technology news.
04:21 PM
YouTube battling videos that violate its policies
About 1.6 million views on YouTube out of every 1 billion are of a video that violates its content policies, the video sharing company has revealed.
It says that less people are viewing these videos (a 70pc decrease in the most recent quarter compared to 2017, when it first began tracking).
YouTube said this demonstrated progress in blocking hate speech and other offensive videos before they go viral.
YouTube, along with Facebook and Twitter, have been condemned by critics for allowing misinformation and hate speech to spread unfettered for years.
02:30 PM
Innovate Finance head Charlotte Crosswell steps down
Charlotte Crosswell, the head of financial technology industry body Innovate Finance, has announced that she has stepped down as chief executive.
Janine Hirt, the organisation's current chief operating officer, will become the new interim chief executive on May 1.
"After nearly four years as CEO of Innovate Finance, the time has come for me to step aside. It has been a privilege to lead the UK’s FinTech industry body through a period of tremendous growth, which has seen our members scale globally and the sector cement its position as a world leader," Ms Crosswell said.
CEO @ccrosswell to step down at the end of the month
🗣️"I have thoroughly enjoyed working with all our members, the government, regulators and the wider global ecosystem, to champion the innovation taking place in our financial services sector"
Ex-Cambridge Analytica boss' fintech firm makes £12.4m market debut
Former Cambridge Analytica chief executive Julian Wheatland - Julian Simmonds
A fintech business headed up by the former chief of Cambridge Analytica has made a £12.4m market debut in London, months after he helped overhaul the business away from shaving supplies, Hannah Boland writes.
Cornerstone FS was admitted to London's Aim market today, raising £2.7m in the float - cash which the business said would be used to expand its operations.
Private phone numbers were caught up in Facebook data breach
Private phone numbers that were only used for logging into Facebook securely were included in a leak of data from 2019 that emerged over the weekend.
Researchers who have dug through the leaked data found that private phone numbers that weren’t publicly listed on profiles were included in the leak.
“This is a big deal if it wasn't just the public profile phone number but the account recovery [phone number],” Jason Kint, the head of the Digital Content Next trade association wrote online, “these two are not always the same and when they're not it's also frequently for sensitive/security reasons.”
Facebook data breach lookup guide
“This is old data that was previously reported on in 2019,” a Facebook spokesperson has said. “We found and fixed this issue in August 2019.”
12:38 PM
Irish Data Protection Commission received 'no proactive communication from Facebook' over leak
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has said it received “no proactive communication from Facebook” over the leak of information on 533 million Facebook users which emerged online over the weekend.
The organisation is now investigating the cause of the leak of information, with Facebook saying that the data originates from 2019 and is not from a new leak from the social media site.
“Facebook assures the DPC it is giving highest priority to providing firm answers to the DPC,” it said in a blog post, “a percentage of the records released on the hacker website contain phone numbers and email address of users.”
“Risks arise for users who may be spammed for marketing purposes but equally users need to be vigilant in relation to any services they use that require authentication using a person’s phone number or email address in case third parties are attempting to gain access.”
12:07 PM
Revenues rise 44pc at Apple supplier Foxconn
Apple chief executive Tim Cook visiting a Foxconn factory - Apple
Revenues at Foxconn, the Taiwanese iPhone assembly business closely linked to Apple, rose 44pc in the first quarter.
Hon Hai Precision Industry, Foxconn’s parent company, said the rise was due to high demand for Apple’s latest 5G iPhones as well as increased demand for other electronics during the coronavirus pandemic.
The semiconductor shortage remains a source of concern for the industry, however. Foxconn warned last month that it expects disruption to last until 2022.
11:26 AM
Deliveroo riders confirm April 7 strike plans
Hundreds of Deliveroo riders across the UK will go on strike tomorrow, their union has confirmed.
The strike is timed to coincide with Deliveroo’s full market float tomorrow, following a limited stock market debut on Wednesday that saw the company’s share price sink by 26pc to wipe more than £2bn off its value.
Deliveroo riders are calling on the business to pay riders the living wage and to offer sick pay, holiday pay and collective bargaining.
Alex Marshall, the president of the IWGB union, said that “Deliveroo presents a false choice between flexibility and basic rights but the Uber ruling showed that here as well as abroad, workers can have both.”
“It’s time for Deliveroo to do the right thing, recognise its riders as workers and treat them like human beings,” he continued.
10:51 AM
Clubhouse lets people pay each other through the app
Clubhouse, the buzzy invite-only app which has signed up high-profile users including Rishi Sunak and Paris Hilton, has added payments to its app.
The company, which has raised $110m in funding, has struck a deal with Stripe to allow a group of Clubhouse users to receive real-money tips through the app.
There are still no signs of Clubhouse generating any revenues. 100pc of tips sent through the app are sent to the recipient, but this may change in the future.
🔊Check this out!
Today, we’re thrilled to roll out Payments—our first monetization feature for creators. Now you can send payments directly to a *beta* group of creators directly on Clubhouse 🥳#ClubhouseNewshttps://t.co/IahdWz24CA
“All users will be able to send payments today, and we’ll be rolling out the ability to receive payments in waves, starting with a small test group today,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Our hope is to collect feedback, fine-tune the feature, and roll it out to everyone soon.”
This 'terrifying' video by Chinese firm Unitree Robotics has caused a stir on Twitter.
It shows dog-like robots named Aliengo moving in unison in a scene likened by some to something out of Black Mirror.
The robot was first shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last year. Unitree has suggested the robots could be used to carry payloads in factories.
10:03 AM
Pandemic gets the elderly online
More people than ever were regular internet users in 2020, new figures show.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that 92pc of all UK adults have recently been online, up from 91pc in 2019.
The figures show that almost all adults aged 16 to 44 (99pc) were online and 54pc of those aged 75 and over had recently used the internet, with the number of elderly people going online having nearly doubled since 2013.
The ONS suggested that the sharp rise in use among older people could be partly related to the effects of the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic as millions of people began to take to the internet to stay in touch with friends and family.
However, the stats should not be used as an overall indicator of the impact of the pandemic, the ONS said, as the data was gathered between January and March 2020, just as the outbreak began in the UK.
09:49 AM
Seedrs co-founder claims CMA risks damaging UK tech sector
Jeff Lynn, co-founder of Seedrs has warned that Britain’s competition watchdog risks damaging the UK’s tech sector by stifling innovation.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Lynn said the regulator had taken an “old fashioned and academic view of competition law that fails to recognise the realities of how innovative sectors work”
It follows plans by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to block a merger between the country’s two largest equity crowdfunding companies.
Seedrs and Crowdcube had announced their intention to merge in October in a deal they said would help them create a “more robust” business.
The CMA has found that any such deal would give the enlarged company a 90pc stake in the crowdfunding industry.
The watchdog said the deal could lead to “higher fees and less innovation” for small and medium businesses looking to raise funds from members of the public.
The CMA’s findings come as the regulator takes a hardened stance against tech in general. Earlier in the month, the watchdog opened a probe into Apple’s App Store in what was its third sizable action against Big Tech companies since the turn of the year.
09:20 AM
Tim Cook drops hints about the Apple Car
Apple chief Tim Cook portrayed self-driving cars as an ideal match for the technology giant during an interview released by the New York Times.
Talk of an autonomous vehicle bearing the Apple brand has long been among rumors swirling around the iPhone maker, which has remained tight-lipped about its plans for the market.
"An autonomous car is a robot and so there are a lots of things you can do with autonomy; we will see what Apple does," Cook said during a Sway podcast with Kara Swisher.
"We love to integrate hardware, software and services, and find the intersection points of those because we think that's where the magic occurs."
Cook hinted that an option could be for Apple to build an autonomous-driving technology platform used by auto makers.
He expressed admiration for electric car maker Tesla, which is among companies developing autonomous driving capabilities in vehicles.
"Tesla has done an unbelievable job of not only establishing the lead but keeping the lead for such a long period of time in the electric vehicle space," Cook said.
Japanese auto maker Nissan and South Korea-based Hyundai in February denied reports of potential alliances with Apple on self-driving cars.
Tim Cook Cook hinted that an option could be for Apple to build an autonomous-driving technology platform used by auto makers
Apple's Project Titan is devoted to electric autonomous vehicles and has been in the works for several years - but details of the venture have been kept under wraps.
Apple first revealed its self-driving tech aspirations in 2016 and Cook has since then said he saw autonomous driving systems as a "core technology" for the future.
The interview with Cook touched on an array of hot topics, including clashes Apple is having with Facebook and Fortnite video game maker Epic about its tight control of the App Store.
US regulators are looking into whether Apple's control of the App Store, where it gets a commission on transactions, is an abuse of power since the shop is the sole venue for digital content for its mobile devices.
Apple has staunchly defended its control of the App Store as integral to protecting users from hackers, snooping, and other dangers.
"I think it's hard to argue that the App Store is not an economic miracle," Cook said.
"Apple has helped build an economy that's over a half a trillion dollars a year, and takes a very small sliver of that for the innovation that it unleashed and the expense of running the store."
08:54 AM
ICYMI The inner workings of Big Tech cartels
Incendiary accusations of collusion between Silicon Valley giants have been at heart of US business culture. Andrew Orlowski takes a look at whether Big Tech firms have become free market champions or a cosy cartel. Read his feature here
The most damaging of the accusations to land on the tech giants is incendiary. It’s the accusation that they do rather more than peacefully co-exist – that today, they step aside to assure each other’s interests. They have been caught once before, being fined $325m in 2011 for conducting a wage-fixing cartel that kept Valley engineers' salaries low. But these new allegations involve entire markets.
08:04 AM
Freetrade crowdfunding backers become millionaires
At least six early backers of British stock trading app Freetrade have seen their stakes in the company rise to be worth at least £1m after its valuation rose to more than £265m.
The London financial technology business launched a £100,000 crowdfunding campaign in 2016 months after it was founded.
Investors who backed the business with at least £18,000 at the time are now sitting on stakes worth more than £1m, Sifted reports.
One early crowdfunding investor in Freetrade who continued to put more money into the business as it grew now has a stake worth £8.4m.
Freetrade has been one of the main British beneficiaries of the recent surge in demand from retail investors who pushed the share prices of Gamestop and other “meme stocks” up earlier this year.
Adam Dodds’, Freetrade’s chief executive, told The Telegraph in January that the business saw the number of new customers multiply 10 times in a single day.
However, retail investors eager to purchase Gamestop shares later turned their back on Freetrade after the business was forced by its currency exchange provider Barclays to block purchases of US shares at the end of January.
“We received no warning of what we consider an extremely poor decision,” Mr Dodds said at the time.
Many fledgling start-ups including Freetrade turn to crowdfunding services as a way to top up institutional funding rounds. Other financial technology businesses including Monzo and Revolut have carried out similar campaigns.
However, the risky nature of start-ups means that crowdfunding backers can stand to lose their entire investments.
Backers of London start-up Sugru, a moldable glue product beloved by technology investors, lost up to 90pc of their investments when the company was sold in 2018.
06:32 AM
SoftBank backs Norway’s AutoStore with $2.8bn
SoftBank recently sold a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics, another robotics business - AFP
SoftBank’s latest technology investment is in Norwegian robotics business AutoStore, which uses robots to transform warehouses into ultra-efficient storage facilities that don’t require costly humans to operate.
The Japanese technology conglomerate spent $2.8bn (£2bn) to acquire a 40pc stake in the company, which uses powered robots and a network of cubes that store items in so-called “bins” for easy retrieval.
The deal values the business at $7.7bn, it has been reported.
The start-up had been owned by private equity business Thomas H. Lee Partners while investment fund EQT also retained a stake.
SoftBank has for years been interested in robotics as a key field for its investments. In 2017, it acquired robotics business Boston Dynamics from Google’s parent company but has since sold a controlling stake in the company to Hyundai.
Three cheers for Bethany Hutchison, Lisa Lockey, Annice Grundy, Tracey Hooper and Joanne Bradbury. Their names are unknown as yet, but these brave nurses could easily become as significant in the annals of feminist history as the Ford Dagenham women and the Suffragettes. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, the five nurses who work at Darlington Memorial Hospital, which comes under the control of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, have filed a legal action against the Trust c
A mum was baffled when she looked outside and found a stranger had pitched a tent in her front garden overnight. Erika White, 38, said her son initially spotted the makeshift home on the lawn of her end-of-terrace urban home at 6.35am. The baffled finance analyst confronted the brazen trespasser - and said initially he ignored her polite request to move on from her front garden in Dartford, Kent. She "couldn't believe the audacity" of the sleepy camper and it was only when she told him she'd call the police he upped and went.
Prince Harry is reportedly planning to 'fly over' to the UK to face the Royal Family and repair his relationships with his relatives after being 'snubbed' by them
Elizabeth Hurley never fails to impress with an unbelievable bikini photo and she didn't disappoint on Sunday when she donned a strapless number. See photo.
Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have launched another attack on Gareth Southgate’s team selection and tactics after England were booed off in their final European Championship group game against Slovenia.
Jamie Oliver shared an image of himself and his wife Jools Oliver getting married in Vegas and the chef's wife donned skinny jeans and heels, as well as a laced top for the nuptials.
Top royal author Tina Brown claimed Prince Harry "couldn’t understand Prince William's obsession with his Middleton in-laws" and their lives in the countryside "bored Harry to tears"
Fans of ITV's hit show This Morning were left fuming at their television sets after it was revealed that a famous reality star would be appearing on the show this week
Officials at the Foreign Office have highlighted symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia after 14 cases of the lethal meningococcal disease have been detected in people returning from Saudi Arabia - including some in the UK
Emmerdale is facing a sex crisis after a major star quit the soap after five years, it has been reported. The hunky actor will bow out of the soap in a major storyline later this year
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