London Brief #35: A hero or a villain?
How to commute in London? And of course, business as usual! Read more in this issue.
People
Marcus Hutchins, the famous NHS Defender against WannaCry malware, has been charged in a US cyber-crime case, after attending the Black Hat and Def Con cyber-security conferences. Allegedly, Mr. Hutchins has created and distributed Kronos, a Trojan stealing bank logins from infected computers.
Amber Rudd, Home Secretary, has again visited the Silicon Valley. At the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism in San Francisco, she met with representatives of YouTube, Alphabet’s video sharing platform and Facebook, which owns the messaging platform WhatsApp. The stated goal of the Government is to counter extremism online, but the industry is wary of endangering the rights of users while doing that.
In the news
The Chancellor has proposed a new National Investment Fund to help bridge the gap in the financing of UK technology companies after Brexit when EIF is set to freeze its activities.
Bored with Uber and Addison Lee? The new players are willing to drive you soon! Estonian Taxify and American Via are both planning expansion to London. Of course, if TfL allows. In the meantime, you can buy a Beeline and use your bike instead. Or use Carwow and Carspring to buy a car. Both are on our list of startups to watch and raised new funding this week!
Business as usual
- Carwow, a platform that allows asking dealers for the best offer for a new car, raised $39m (£29.7m) in a Series C round led by Vitruvian Partners.
- Neyber, a “digital credit union” has closed a £21m Series C led by Wadhawan Global Capital.
- Wonderbly a personalised children book publisher, has announced the closure of a $8.5m (£6.4m) Series B round from investors including Ravensburger, Google Ventures, Project A Ventures, Greycroft, The Cherning Group, Allen & Co and Silicon Valley Bank.
- Hinge Health, a startup that heals musculoskeletal diseases has closed a $8m Series A led by Atomico.
- Carspring, a marketplace which enables consumers to purchase used cars online, raised £5m in Series B funding from Rocket Internet and Channel 4.
- Limejump, which uses big data and machine learning to disrupt the energy utility market, has received £3m in Series A funding led by Statkraft Ventures.
- Cleo, an AI-powered assistant which seeks to help consumers manage their finances, has closed a £2m round led by Robin Klein at LocalGlobe.
Number of the day
£40m — this is how much Debbie Wosskow received for Love Home Swap from RCI, a division of the Wyndham Hotel Group. Congratulations Debbie!
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.
Aleksandra Prejs
On behalf of the London Brief Team
