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He is an experienced entrepreneur, previously co-founding and managing globally successful technology companies including Skype, Kazaa, Joost and Joltid.
In 2006 Niklas created Atomico to help entrepreneurs primarily outside Silicon Valley to scale their businesses domestically and globally. | Europe |
It has so far invested in more than 50 companies on four continents, and Niklas works closely with a number of leaders of portfolio companies so that they benefit from his own experience as an entrepreneur.
Before starting Atomico, Niklas co-founded Skype, where he held the position of CEO from its inception until September 2007. | Europe |
In 2005, Skype was sold to eBay Inc for $3.1bn, the largest European venture capital exit to date. | Europe |
Subsequent to this, Skype was bought back by a consortium that included Niklas, and was sold to Microsoft for $8.5 billion cash in 2011.
In 2006, Niklas was recognised by Time Magazine as one of its 100 Most Influential People, and he has received numerous awards for entrepreneurship including being voted Entrepreneur of the Year in the European Business Leaders Awards (2006), the KTH Great Prize from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden (2009), the Oxford Internet Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2011), H.M. | Europe |
The King’s Medal (2013), and the Gold Medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (2013).
In 2007, he co-founded Zennström Philanthropies, where he is actively involved in combating climate change, improving the state of the Baltic Sea and encouraging social entrepreneurship. | Europe |
Niklas is also a keen yachtsman, and has won three Mini Maxi World Championships and one TP52 World Championship with his yacht racing team Rán.
TechCrunch Disrupt is a big event, and, of course, we’ll have parties. Lots of ’em!
Extra early bird tickets are now available to purchase for the discounted price of just £800 a piece. | Europe |
Or sign up with a co-worker and you can save an additional £100 off each ticket with our multi-ticket (2+) discount. You can get your tickets at this price until September 16.
For all you students out there, the deal is about to get even sweeter. | Europe |
We have a limited selection of student tickets to Disrupt London 2016 for just £100 plus VAT, provided you have both a valid university ID and current transcripts.
To reserve your £100 student tickets to Disrupt, simply send a copy of your transcripts showing your current enrollment status, as well as a copy of your university identification card to [email protected]. | Europe |
Once you’re approved, we’ll send you instructions for how to complete your registration.
Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team at [email protected].. | Europe |
This weekend Lebara — the mobile network business which has become a universally recognised brand for the world’s migrant community — is to enter the international money transfer market, potentially putting the squeeze on tech newcomers like Transferwise and Azimo. Given that migrants are the primary market for international money transfers, this could hinder the growth of startups in the space. | Europe |
But it may also help by switching on a new audience to other players.
Lebara Money will be leveraging its association with Lebara Mobile which was built specifically to help migrants get cheaper phone calls to back home around the globe.
As well as Transferwise, the competition for “Lebara Money” will be incumbents Western Union, MoneyGram and normal banks. | Europe |
Lebara Money is entering the market with a twist however, offering both competitive FX rates, but also a ‘rate lock’ feature for even small sums. | Europe |
Rate locks are normally offered on large international transfers and therefore tend to be the preserve of wealthier clients.
Rate locks deal with fluctuations in exchange rates, something which the UK knows all too much about right now.
The service will lock in a rate for up to 30 days for amounts as low as £100. | Europe |
Lebara Money is also hoping its low, upfront fee for the lock (0.5% – 1% depending on the destination) will attract a new customer base.
Here’s an example: Over the recent Brexit referendum someone planning in June to send £1,000 home to India in July could have locked in a pre-Brexit rate on June 22nd and been £147 better off when the transfer was made on July 6th.
Ratheesan Yoganathan, founder and chairman of the Lebara Group says: “Migrants have distinct financial needs that are often poorly served currently, if even recognised by the mainstream industry.”
Initially the Saturday launch will be aimed at migrants in the UK and Europe.
Azimo has raised $46.59M to date and Transferwise has raised $116.37M.
Lebara was founded by Yoganathan, Rasiah Ranjith Leon and Baskaran Kandiah in in 2001 after the founders had the idea at an airport cafe. | Europe |
The company’s first product was international telephone calling cards, but in 2004 it launched the first low-cost international service, selling SIM cards using mobile carrier partners.. | Europe |
Back in the days when I did a startup I almost de-railed our VC funding after discovering my passport had expired. Without it I couldn’t pass the anti-money laundering checks imposed on the fancy and overpriced London law firm we’d hired. | Europe |
Then we almost failed to open a bank account so we could actually receive the money because we were unable to fly over all of our investors from Eastern and Central Europe to pass ID checks in person. | Europe |
The takeaway: compliance is a pain in the ass.
Enter ComplyAdvantage, a London-based startup that claims to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to help firms manage compliance obligations and at reduced cost. | Europe |
The young company is announcing $8.2 million in Series A funding led by Balderton Capital, money it plans to plough into growth across Europe and the U.S., including opening a New York office this week.
Founded by Charles Delingpole, who previously founded Market Invoice, ComplyAdvantage originally launched to help a small number of businesses meet complex anti-money laundering (AML) and counter financing of terrorism (CFT) requirements. | Europe |
It has since developed its product to also cover things like Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) lists and other risk and compliance areas that are hard to scale.
“The way organisations screen and monitor their customer relationships to comply with sanctions regulations and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing risk is fundamentally broken,” ComplyAdvantage VP of Sales & Marketing Stephen Ball tells me over email. | Europe |
“ComplyAdvantage is here to help compliance and risk professionals fix it”.
“Legacy technologies are outdated, expensive and inefficient, typically generating large amounts of manual work in the form of unnecessary risk alerts for the team to review,” he adds, citing as an example a customer having the same name as a completely different Politically Exposed Person. | Europe |
“Furthermore, the criminals are winning, with existing solutions having limited impact on actually reducing financial crime”.
That, argues Ball, has left compliance officers jaded. | Europe |
Originally attracted to the role of fighting crime, they find themselves often doing a box-ticking exercise that is ineffective but designed to keep the companies they work for on the right side of the regulators, even if that often fails too. | Europe |
Meanwhile, regulator fines are kind of expected and baked into the pricing models of financial services.
To fix this, ComplyAdvantage is betting that AI and machine learning can help compliance scale properly and says the startup is part of a “regtech revolution” that is coming to financial services. | Europe |
“ComplyAdvantage are at the forefront unleashing the power of AI and ML to change the way compliance is done,” says the VP of Sales & Marketing.
Adds Tim Bunting, General Partner at Balderton Capital, in a statement: “We believe that this is one of the few remaining large industries that is still ripe for digital disruption. | Europe |
We are thrilled to be backing Charles and his team, they are well on their way to changing the way companies can understand and monitor risk around their clients. Their mission is truly exciting, and relevant to all businesses.”. | Europe |
Back in August there were clear signs that Hyperloop One (HO) might be building its super fast transportation system at the Jebel Ali port in Dubai. | Europe |
The Royalty-led government of the United Arab Emirates and the CEO of DP World, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, appeared to be entertaining the idea of a submerged, floating Hyperloop to shift cargo at lightning speed from the port, having spent billions on the new port terminals.
Then in September, at TechCrunch Disrupt, HO investor Shervin Pishevar: The first Hyperloop will likely be built overseas. | Europe |
Then last month the UAE hosted the “Build Earth Live” contest next month focusing on the development of the Hyperloop system between Dubai and Fujairah.
But now we know more about how HO is going to implement its project in the country, and it’s going to be in close cooperation with a brand new government-backed accelerator. | Europe |
As a result we can expect to see the first Hyperloop on the planet carrying cargo, not people.
Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA) has been created by the UAE, alongside seven government entities which have committed to pilot cutting edge technologies in the country. | Europe |
The DFA is an initiative of the Dubai Future Foundation and part of the Future Endowment Fund, worth $275 Million, and designed to invest in innovation which will shape the future of the UAE’s most important industrial sectors, including, of course, transportation.
What will happen now is a 12-week program which has taken over 2,000 applications from 73 countries. | Europe |
Less than 1% of the applicants were selected, says DFA, but over 30 companies have been selected to take part in the program.
As well as Hyperloop One, other companies are joining. | Europe |
These include Next (a modular mass transportation solution); ConsenSys (the Ethereum / blockchain software company that builds developer tools, decentralized applications, and enterprise solutions); Construction Robotics, (literally a robot for automated construction) and Honeywell, the Fortune 100 company, with plans to build a new way of delivering healthcare at home.
H.E. | Europe |
Mohammed Al Gergawi, Vice Chairman of the Dubai Future Foundation says the aim is to “co-create solutions to global challenges and then share them with the world.”
The companies will share a new purpose-built facility alongside the seven government departments.
Here’s Hyperloop One on their road-trip to the country:
. | Europe |
Headed up by Kaidi Ruusalepp, who was previously CEO of the Nasdaq Tallinn stock exchange, Estonia’s Funderbeam is on a mission to build what she calls a “funding and trading engine for growth companies”.
Providing tools to research, fund and trade in private companies, the bigger vision is to build something akin to a “stock exchange” for startups based on blockchain technology. | Europe |
To make that vision a reality, Funderbeam has raised $2.6 million in further funding.
Leaning the round is Draper Associates, Thomson Reuters, and IQ Capital, with participation from an array of previous Funderbeam backers, such as 3TS Capital Partners. | Europe |
Notable other investors include Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, and David Braben, the CEO and Founder of Frontier Developments.
“There’s too much complexity in the pre-IPO/private market. | Europe |
Companies used to go to exchanges for growth financing, but looking at the startup funding trends, like Uber raising €3.5 billion in just one round, plus the cost structure of getting listed and being listed, it does not make sense anymore,” Ruusalepp tells me.
“Today growth companies look to the stock markets only as a serious option for exits. | Europe |
On top, early-stage and growth funding has grown to unimagined heights, but it is one of the most illiquid assets classes. Once you’re in, you hardly get out”.
This of course is where Funderbeam comes in. | Europe |
The platform is part research tool — the first part of the problem the startup set out to solve when it launched in 2013 — and part investment platform, providing a way for startups to raise funding and for investors to invest in burgeoning and potentially high growth companies.
But to truly solve the liquidity problem, there needs to be a transparent and trustworthy platform for secondary trading, and one that can work across borders. | Europe |
And this is where Funderbeam’s nascent trading feature comes into play. It lets shareholders sell their stake in a startup, either one that was originally funded via the platform or potentially any that they have permission to trade.
“Using blockchain technology we aim to show the stock markets how technology can turn the sector around. | Europe |
For the first time ever, early stage investors can choose both how much to invest, and how long to keep the investment,” explains Ruusalepp. | Europe |
“Or to put it in a fruitier way,” she says, “imagine if Bloomberg, Angellist and Nasdaq had a baby”.
Blockchain technology, argues Ruusalepp, provides the transparency needed to help address trust issues inherent with any trading system and that digital technology trumps paper records that still hamper stock exchanges and databases of company ownership.
“There is a coming shift in trust [that is seeing] customers start trusting technology instead of people and institutions,” she says. | Europe |
“As the internet is for exchanging data and information, blockchain is being placed one level higher – it is used to exchange values. It’s like a global public notary registering and keeping an eye on all global transactions on assets”.
That “fundamental vision and usage opportunity” for blockchain is something Funderbeam and its investors are embracing. | Europe |
“We decided to test it, to be the first one who has built a securities trading platform on the blockchain,” adds Ruusalepp.. | Europe |
HoloLens, Microsoft’s $3,000 mixed-reality goggles (or “the world’s first self-contained holographic computer” in Microsoft’s parlance), was only available in the U.S. and Canada so far. Today, however, the company announced that it will also start selling the devices in Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. | Europe |
Preorders start today and the devices will ship in late November.
We hear that Microsoft’s yield for producing HoloLenses is higher than it expected, so the company is now also able to bring it to new regions faster than it expected. | Europe |
What’s gating an even wider rollout, though, is that Microsoft still needs to get its certifications from the international equivalents of the U.S.’s FCC as it enters new markets. It’s worth noting that even though it’s officially only rolling out in a few European countries, the single European market pretty much means anybody in Europe will be able to get a HoloLens now.
Like in the U.S. | Europe |
and Canada, potential buyers will be able to choose between the standard $3,000 Development Edition or the $5,000 Commercial Suite that includes better support, as well as added security and device management features for enterprise users.
“When we set out to pioneer the mixed reality category we knew that many of the best innovations would be discovered when others got their hands on the technology,” wrote Alex Kipman, Technical Fellow, Microsoft Windows and Devices Group, in today’s announcement. | Europe |
“It has been quite inspiring to see what our partners have built and what individual developers have created. Together, we have only scratched the surface for what mixed reality can do. | Europe |
I can’t wait to see what happens next as we welcome these new countries to our holographic landscape.”
It’s worth remembering that HoloLens is only one aspect of what Microsoft calls “Windows Holographic.” The overall idea here is to also enable third-party manufacturers to use Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system to build their own mixed reality — or even virtual reality — headsets and peripherals over time.. | Europe |
The U.K. | Europe |
government has agreed on an amendment to draft surveillance legislation aimed at strengthening the public perception of privacy safeguards by adding a statement of priority to the face of the legislation.
The Investigatory Powers bill, which continues to attract controversy on account of the scope of the powers it sets out, is the government’s attempt to cement an overarching operational framework for state security agency and law enforcement surveillance powers, replacing a patchwork of antiquated legislation that is currently being used to authorize intercepts and other intrusive investigatory measures.
Lord Janvrin, a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), introduced the amendment in a report-stage session on the IP bill in the House of Lords today. He noted this was one of the ISC’s recommendations when it delivered a critical report on the draft bill earlier this year.
The ISC surprised commentators with its critical report on the IP bill, given how much emphasis the security-cleared committee placed on the importance of enshrining privacy protections in a piece of legislation aimed at expanding security agency powers.
“We recommended that privacy should form the backbone of the legislation, around which the exceptional, intrusive powers are then built,” Lord Janvrin said today.
“This recommendation was then to underline at the very outset of the bill that there is a delicate balance to be struck between an individual’s right to privacy and the exceptional powers needed by the intelligence agencies to ensure our safety and security.”
And while he added that, in his view, the bill has seen “substantial changes” and “significant improvements in the protection afforded to privacy” — flagging up the government agreeing to add a “clause in general duties in regard to privacy” into the legislation — he said the aim of the amendment is “simply to reinforce the government’s approach” by including a more visible pro-privacy statement.
Speaking for the government today, Lord Howe said it was willing to agree to the amendment.
“The ISC still feels there is merit in placing a simple statement right at the very forefront of the legislation to provide additional clarity that there should be no doubt that privacy protection remains a fundamental priority. On that basis I am happy to support it,” said Lord Howe.
However another amendment also aimed at bolstering privacy and civil liberties protections — by proposing the creation of a U.S.-style Privacy and Civil Liberties Board — was shot down in flames on the floor of the House of Lords.
The amendment, introduced by Lib Dem Peers Lord Paddick and Lord Strasburger, was attacked from all sides of the house, including by other Lib Dem peers.
Criticisms included that the U.S. | Europe |
equivalent body is ineffective; that such a board would merely duplicate other oversight roles — such as the bill’s Investigatory Powers Commissioner and the existing role of independent reviewer of terrorism legislation; that it would be costly; and even that it would be dangerous to allow security-cleared material to be seen by an external body.
One peer dubbed the idea “an expensive and ill-conceived quango” and “a risk to national security.” Another described it as “one of the worst proposals I’ve seen in the area of National Security.”
While the Lib Dem’s Lord Campbell of Pittenweem also condemned the proposal, arguing it is “simply rehearsing the existing law,” and dismissing Paddick’s argument in favor of it — that the government, under former Home Secretary (now PM) Theresa May, had previously said it would create such a body — by claiming the proposed legislative framework at that point was entirely different.
“The original proposal, which is now contained in this amendment, was made against a wholly different statuary framework and therefore when one’s considering its necessity one must look at its necessity against the background of the statutory framework which this bill now encompasses,” he argued, adding: “[Paragraphs in the proposed amendment] add nothing to the obligations already incumbent on the security services.”
Under attack from all sides, Paddick and Strasburger withdrew the amendment.
An attempt by Green peer, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, to pass amendments seeking to bolster the bill’s “double lock” authorization mechanism and further improve safeguards for when surveillance powers can be utilized by state actors also did not succeed.
“One of the biggest problems in every single power the Bill gives and sometimes creates is the lack of a reasonable suspicion — lack of a threshold that is absolutely clear for surveillance powers to be authorised for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime. | Europe |
Intrusive powers can be authorised to prevent and detect serious crime, but this general purpose is left wide open to broad interpretation and abuse without requiring the authorising authority to verify the existence of that reasonable suspicion of criminality,” argued Baroness Jones.
“A requirement of reasonable suspicion, when the purpose of preventing and detecting serious crime is invoked, would protect people and prevent the abusive surveillance of law-abiding citizens that we have seen in the past, without unduly limiting legitimate use of surveillance powers.”
Lacking support for her amendment, she withdrew it.
One Labour-backed intervention did inflict a defeat on the government by passing an amendment it does not support. | Europe |
But not on the issue of general privacy concerns; rather relating specifically to costs for victims of phone hacking (a recommendation from the Leveson enquiry into media practices). | Europe |
Peers were angry the government had not yet enacted the relevant section of the Leveson report — and pushed to inject in into the IP bill via an amendment.
Lord Howe also detailed government amendments that he said aim to put “beyond doubt” the importance of taking “particular care” in relation to sensitive communications, such as confidential journalistic material, by making it clear public authorities “should have regard to the human rights implications — in the widest sense — of interfering with communications that attract particular sensitivity”.
The bill has been criticized as a threat to journalists’ sources.
Concerns also continue to be raised about the risks the bill poses to legal professional privilege.
Scrutiny of the IP bill continues in the House of Lords, with the government aiming to have it pass into law this year.
This post was updated with additional comment, and to correct Baroness Jones’ party affiliation. | Europe |
Netatmo’s first device was a sophisticated weather station. But it’s not for everyone. Chances are you don’t need to know the historical trend when it comes to the humidity in your house. | Europe |
That’s why the company is releasing the Healthy Home Coach, an indoor device that lets you see stats about your home at a glance.
In many ways, the Healthy Home Coach looks similar to the indoor module of the weather station. But it comes with a new mobile app that focuses on quick glanceable information — and it doesn’t have an outdoor weather module. | Europe |
You won’t get inundated with numbers, you’ll just see if your home is doing fine right now.
The device tracks four things — indoor air quality, humidity, temperature and noise. Air quality in particular is something that many weather stations don’t offer yet. Being able to see whether you should open your windows for a few minutes could be useful.
Finally, you can set up different profiles. | Europe |
For instance, you can make your device more sensitive by saying that a baby or a child with asthma sleeps in this room.
The Healthy Home Coach will cost $99. If you want, you can buy multiple devices for multiple rooms. It is available today. It’s pretty cool to see that Netatmo is launching many new devices, solidifying its reputation as a solid French hardware startup.. | Europe |
TechCrunch Disrupt in London is on 5-6 December. Think 3,000 crazy startup founders and investors talking for two solid days. And not to mention the hackathon on the weekend before! We’ve already announced many great speakers and we’re glad to say Steve Hilton is joining. | Europe |
He’s not just the co-founder and CEO of Silicon Valley political crowdfunding and data start-up Crowdpac — he’s a former advisor to the previous British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and was a vociferous advocate of the UK leaving the European Union. | Europe |
We’re sure he’ll have a lot to say about that, as the UK and the EU try to define their future relationship.
He also teaches at Stanford University’s Institute of Design (d.school), and is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller More Human – Designing a World Where People Come First.
Steve was previously Senior Advisor to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, where he helped lead the implementation of the British government’s domestic reform program. | Europe |
Prior to the 2010 General Election, as David Cameron’s head of strategy, Steve is credited with helping to develop the ideas associated with the modernization of the British Conservative Party.
Before working in politics, Steve was co-founder of Good Business, a corporate responsibility consulting firm, and The Good Cook, an award-wining London restaurant. | Europe |
He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and young family. And 12 chickens!
The two-day Disrupt conference runs 5-6 December in the Olympic Village’s Copper Box Arena and features Startup Alley and Startup Battlefield where one startup will take home £30,000. You can buy early-bird tickets for Disrupt London here.
Apply with your new startup for Battlefield for free here. | Europe |
There’s also the Startup Battlefield Scholarship Fund for startups who have not raised funding. The Startup Battlefield application deadline has been extended. If Battlefield isn’t for you and you want to display your company then go for a booth in the Startup Alley. For startups there is also the brand new CrunchMatch program where we match startups to investors. | Europe |
Check it all out here.
Early bird tickets are now available for the discounted price of just £950 a piece. You can get your tickets at this price until 4 November when they rise to £1200.
For all you students out there, the deal is about to get even sweeter. | Europe |
We have a limited selection of student tickets to Disrupt London 2016 for just £100 plus VAT, provided you have both a valid university ID and current transcripts.
To reserve your £100 student tickets to Disrupt, simply send a copy of your transcripts showing your current enrollment status, as well as a copy of your university identification card to [email protected]. | Europe |
Once you’re approved, we’ll send you instructions for how to complete your registration.
Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team at [email protected].. | Europe |
French startup Payfit wants to modernize the good old paychecks in France. After just a few months, the company just raised $5.6 million (€5 million) from Otium Venture and Xavier Niel.
Payfit officially started in April 2016. And it looks like many companies were waiting for a product like this one given today’s funding round. | Europe |
Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, Jean-Daniel Guyot, Oleg Tscheltzoff and TheFamily also invested in this round.
“Right now in France, you need to have dedicated people working exclusively on payroll functions. And if you outsource them, you lose control,” co-founder and CEO Firmin Zocchetto told me.
Payroll departments use outdated software with expensive licenses. | Europe |
Payfit is a software-as-a-service, meaning that everything happens in your browser, it always gets updated and you pay every month depending on the size of your company.
This alone is a big change in France as there aren’t many solutions to manage paychecks. | Europe |
That’s why it can get really expensive, even for a tiny company, to pay your employees.
Zocchetto walked me through the product and I was quite impressed with the interface and general philosophy. | Europe |
Even though I’m no HR manager, I could see myself using something like Payfit to manage contracts, salaries, vacations, tickets restaurant meals and more.
On the other end of the equation, employees can log into Payfit to download paychecks and request a vacation. | Europe |
And if there’s an issue, you know that you can directly talk to someone in your company about it as your company doesn’t rely on an outsourced payroll service bureau.
So far, 250 companies have signed up to Payfit, such as Heetch, Sellsy, Nestor or Aircall. | Europe |
They pay €39 per month and €11 per month per employee — traditional competitors tend to be more expensive than that.
The product is only available in France as this type of product tends to be very specific to one market. | Europe |
But Firmin told me that the startup could eventually expand to other European countries.
Payfit looks like a simple idea on paper, but it’s such an unsexy industry that there hasn’t been a lot of competition. | Europe |
Moreover, every company needs to manage their payroll — Payfit isn’t just something that is “nice to have.” And you don’t have to keep up with the ever-changing French law because Payfit handles it for you — this is also a good selling point.. | Europe |
Apple is on a research & development spree! The company has announced a bunch of new R&D centers over the past few months, and R&D spendings have skyrocketed. This time, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company plans to open a new center in Japan during a visit in Tokyo, according to Xinhua.
This isn’t the first time we’re hearing about a new R&D center in Japan. | Asia |
Previous reports have indicated that Apple was building a new R&D center for 2016 or 2017.
Cook met with Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe to discuss all things Apple and Japan. | Asia |
Later at a press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga reported that Apple would complete its R&D center in December.
So what is this R&D center anyway? Located in Yokohama, the building used to be a Panasonic factory. Apple has taken over the building and transformed it into an R&D center.
This way, Apple can more easily hire talented Japanese engineers. | Asia |
It’s unclear what the Japanese team is going to work on.
Overall, in addition to existing R&D centers, Apple will soon have R&D centers in Shenzhen, Israel, the U.K., France, Japan and Sweden. Maybe it’s time to rethink Apple’s tagline on all of its products — “designed by Apple in Cupertino and many other countries.”
Via Apple Insider. | Asia |
null | Artificial Intelligence |
null | Asia |
Samsung is permanently discontinuing production and sales of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, owing to safety fears over defective batteries — including in replacement handsets the company had subsequently sent to customers following a recall of original devices.
The news was reported earlier by the WSJ, and a spokeswomen for Samsung confirmed it is ending production of the device, telling TechCrunch: “We can confirm the report that Samsung has permanently discontinued the production of Galaxy Note7.”
The company did not provide any additional statement explaining its decision but in a filing about ending production with South Korean regulators it cites ‘customer safety’ as the reason.
Yesterday Samsung had asked carriers and resellers to halt sales and exchanges of Note 7 devices, as reports of problems with replacement handsets mounted. Note 7 owners were offered a full refund or a refund for a different Samsung smartphone, along with a $25 gift certificate or other add-on to sweeten the hassle of dealing with two rounds of recalls.
The initial recall of the circa 2.5 million Note 7s in circulation was announced in early September.
The company had also previously said it was adjusting production of the Note 7 to, in its words, “take further steps to ensure quality and safety matters”.
However, in the event, and given the mounting PR nightmare of even replacement Note 7s having a demonstrable risk of an exploding battery — coupled with the model being namechecked as a safety hazard at airports and on flights all over the world — it’s hardly a surprise Samsung has decided to pull the plug and put the Note 7 out of its misery.
Aside from the damage to Samsung’s Galaxy brand of being associated with exploding batteries, the cost of withdrawing the Note 7 will not come cheap. | Asia |
Reuters cites analysts estimating that a permanent end to Note 7 sales could cost the company up to $17 billion.
Meanwhile, the company’s stock price has also taken a substantial hit on the news of the Note 7’s nixing: falling by 8 per cent today, its biggest percentage decline since October 2008, as investors wiped some $19 billion off the value of the company.
Update: Samsung has now provided the following statement to TechCrunch:. | Asia |
Oh you thought location-based food deal services were done and dusted! Eatigo, a discount restaurant booking service that bills itself as the anti-Groupon, would have you believe otherwise. | Asia |
The startup has closed new funding to the tune of over $10 million from travel giant TripAdvisor to expand its service across Southeast Asia.
Eatigo was founded in 2013 and it is currently present in Bangkok and Pattaya in Thailand and also in Singapore. | Asia |
It believes it is different to Groupon because it grants restaurant owners full control of when they wish to make offers available to prospective customers. | Asia |
In other words, if I know my restaurant is busy during lunch but quiet from 3pm, Eatigo can arrange offers of up to 50 percent that are valid from 3pm to help make my off-peak times busier.
Not only does that mean additional revenue by utilizing otherwise unused inventory, but it avoids the stampede of people rushing in with discount codes and coupons and flooding an eatery to the point that the staff can’t keep up, which doesn’t give a diner a good experience. | Asia |
That was the case at times when Groupon and LivingSocial were booming a couple of years ago. Discounts can also be varied across time periods, to help manage the number of customers incoming.
Bangkok-headquartered Eatigo said it is seeing 20 percent month-on-month growth for reservations and revenue, but it declined to provide further details of its profit/loss. | Asia |
It claims 700 restaurant partners and one diner seated every three seconds of the day on average.
What’s particularly interesting about this news is that the round — which is Eatigo’s Series B — comes from TripAdvisor. | Asia |
The exact size of the deal has not been disclosed, however Eatigo said that it takes its total funding to date to $15.5 million. TechCrunch understands from sources close to the deal that Eatigo had previously raised less than $5 million from its undisclosed Series A last year and other prior fundraising. | Asia |
That makes this round over $10 million in size.
That Series A was led by corporate investors rather than VC firms. Eatigo CEO Michael Cluzel told TechCrunch that is particularly keen on leveraging such partners because they bring more to the table than simply cash.
One of its Series A investors has links to media — which enabled Eatigo to get affordable billboard advertising across Bangkok, surprising for an early-stage company — and this time around Cluzel said TripAdvisor has much advice to impart from The Fork, its restaurant booking platform in Europe
“We prefer “slow” over “fast” money and having partners on our board who really understand the business and share our vision. | Asia |
The TripAdvisor team from The Fork have gone through the same scaling exercise we are about to embark on,” he said.
“We also have traditionally been seeking out investors who can bring more to the table than money and the opportunities with TripAdvisor are massive in this respect,” the Eatigo CEO added. | Asia |
“From sharing of best practices, over content, creating new revenue streams, technology support and many more we believe that such synergies can improve both user experience as well business performance.”
From TripAdvisor’s side, Bertrand Jelensperger — co-founder and CEO of The Fork — said: “We share with Eatigo a common vision [and] have also been impressed by this fast moving innovative business and by their ambition to quickly grow and scale the brand into other markets across Southeast Asia.”
Cluzel said that Eatigo plans to invest the money on regional growth. | Asia |
He declined to state an exact timeframe for that expansion plan but it is likely to be done in 2017.
“Our focus is clearly on Southeast Asia only for this round. | Asia |
We want to become a truly regional player [and] expect that full rollout across all new markets will take less than one year,” he said.
That regional expansion is aimed at taking the company to breakeven within the next two years, Cluzel added.. | Asia |
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