London Brief #24: Zinc Transformer open for applications, Babylon’s $60m for AI, the Web as seen in 1995 and the blue Ikea bag for £1,705.
Babylon, a digital healthcare company, has raised $60m to expand its AI based diagnostic software. Investors in this round include Egyptian Sawiris family. Read more in this issue.
People
Saul Klein, Paul Kirby and Ella Goldner are behind Zinc Transformer, a new six-month programme set to begin in October. Forty social innovators will gather in London to tackle one of the developed world’s biggest social problems and launch new businesses. If you want to become one of those forty people, apply here.
Jim Boulton (Aesop Agency, Digital Archeology) has exhibited the 64 Bits, a lost past of the web at Here East. The exhibition included works of Susan Kare (Macintosh Icons Set, Windows Solitaire), eBoy team, Ascii artworks, and allowed visitors to enjoy the web as it was in 1995.
In the news
Dealroom has compiled a 14-page European investment review for Q1 2017. It lists the most active investors in the UK, of who the top three are as follows: Scottish Investment Bank, Localglobe, Seedcamp. The number four is a bit of a surprise (?): Crowdcube. Noticeably, Q1 was the second quarter in a row when French startups got more money than those based in the UK.
As many as 100,000 scientists and their supporters marched from the Science Museum to Parliament Square on Saturday to support rationalism and evidence-based science and voice their concerns about isolationism and anti-intellectualism.
Google responds to the recent criticisms by organising workshops for UK teens to teach them how to recognise and react to fake news and hate speech.
Eye Candies
We love IKEA Frakta bags. Durable, capable, blue and very well worth its price tag of 40p. Now you can have an exclusive rip-off of this beautiful design, signed by Balenciaga for £1,705.
Business as usual
- Cera, a startup that reinvents home care for the elderly, has raised additional seed funding of £1.4m from Credo Ventures and Kima Ventures.
- HowNow, a live video-based e-learning platform, has raised £1.2m seed funding from Fuel Ventures.
- JustEat has announced its Spring 2017 cohort with an investment of £20k in each of the following companies: Buzzer, Nourish’d, MyBaker, Qincho, Sure.
- GuardSquare, a startup offering security solutions for mobile apps, has won £10k in cash at the Innovate Finance Global Summit
Number of the day
100,000: the number of people that marched in London in the name of science and reason.
Idea
London Brief is a weekly selection of essential information about startups, technology and the business scene in London. Got news? Give us a shout at londonbrief@netguru.co.
Radek Zaleski
On behalf of the London Brief Team
