Despite a string of measures intended to cut numbers, more than 27,000 crossed the Channel in small boats this yearThe home secretary, Priti Patel, has repeatedly promised to curb the number of people arriving on UK shores in small boats by making this…
Ukraine: Russian consulate in Lviv hit by molotov cocktail
Incident described by Moscow as terrorism and Ukrainian officials as hooliganism comes as tensions soarThe Russian foreign ministry said on Friday that a molotov cocktail had been thrown at the the country’s consulate in the Ukrainian city of Lviv and …
Polish deputy PM says Germany wants to turn EU into ‘fourth reich’
Jarosław Kaczyński’s remarks in far-right newspaper are latest episode in Poland’s lengthy standoff with EUThe head of Poland’s ruling party, Jarosław Kaczyński, has said Germany is trying to turn the EU into a federal “German fourth reich”.Speaking to…
Purple Dot, a waitlist and pre-order platform for the fashion industry, raises $4M
Because of the unpredictable nature of the fashion industry, fashion brands often have to ‘guestimate’ demand for their products, and if they get that demand wrong, they have to deal with the wasted inventory. All too often clothes end up being incinerated unnecessarily, adding to their environmental impact. UK startup Purple Dot has an ecommerce […]
New European deep tech-focused fund Outsized Ventures hits first €60M close of inaugural fund
So-called ‘Deep Tech’ venture capital has been experiencing a wave of interest in the couple last years with several new funds launching. Many are focused on the European market, which has a deep bench (no pun intended) of talent and innovation, thanks in part to its many excellent universities. The latest is Outsized Ventures, a […]
Nord Stream 2: how Putin’s pipeline paralysed the west
Gazprom’s $11bn project to deliver gas from Russia to Germany seems impossible to abandon and impossible to carry forwardThe saga of Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline between Russia and Germany running along the Baltic seabed, has been stuck so long it h…
Covid news live: Omicron carries lower hospitalisation risk, studies suggest; South Korea marks deadliest day of pandemic
Two British studies report Omicron patients were hospitalised less than those with Delta; South Korea reports a record 109 deaths from Covid in one day as pressure on medical services mountsChina locks down 13 million people in northern city of Xi’anRi…
Sage acquires remaining stake in retail management platform Brightpearl for $340M
Enterprise software giant Sage has acquired the remaining stake in Brightpearl, originally a U.K.-based startup in cloud retail management, for $340 million. Brightpearl provides a SaaS-based retail operating system, enabling real-time business insights. Sage previously owned 17% of the Bristol, U.K.-based startup, which MMC Ventures, a U.K. Series A investor, backed in 2014. The startup […]
Delivery Hero calls last orders on Foodpanda in Germany, Japan as it tightens focus on Q-commerce and logistics-as-a-service
German on-demand delivery giant Delivery Hero is pulling its food delivery service out of Germany again. At the same time it has announced it will exit the Japanese market, by divesting Foodpanda Japan, starting in Q1 next year. In a statement accompanying the pre-Christmas exit news, the company’s CEO and co-founder, Niklas Östberg, said: “Scaling […]
EU clears Microsoft-Nuance without conditions
The European Union’s competition regulator has given the all-clear to Microsoft’s $19.7 billion purchase of transcription tech firm Nuance, which was announced earlier this year. The EU said today it has concluded there are no competition concerns for the region if the acquisition goes ahead, clearing it without conditions. The deal was notified to the […]