General Motors’ BrightDrop continues its breakneck pace to market as the automaker takes aim at last-mile commercial and cargo delivery market segments. BrightDrop on Tuesday said it would add a second delivery vehicle to its lineup, with telecom giant Verizon as its first slated customer. In addition, GM said it had completed the first production […]
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Tens of thousands expected in Lisbon for November’s Web Summit
September 28, 2021 LISBON (Reuters) – Around 40,000 people from around the world are expected to attend Europe’s biggest technology conference, the Web Summit, in Lisbon in November, after the event was held online last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers said on Tuesday. “Earlier this year it was unclear if the Web Summit […]
Google’s browser cookies plan anti-competitive, advertisers tell EU
September 28, 2021 By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Google’s plan to block a popular web tracking tool called “cookies” is anti-competitive, a group of advertisers, publishers and tech companies said in a complaint to EU antitrust regulators. The grievance could boost the European Commission’s investigation opened in June into Alphabet unit Google’s Privacy […]
Tesla seeks COVID rules waiver to host 9,000 at Berlin ‘Giga-Fest’
September 28, 2021 BERLIN (Reuters) – Tesla, well-versed in German bureaucracy as it tries to build a huge factory near Berlin, is seeking a waiver from COVID-19 rules on mass gatherings to host up to 9,000 people at a “Giga-Fest” to showcase its plans. The electric vehicle maker, which began construction in the town of […]
Factbox-Partners or rivals? Russia and Turkey navigate awkward alliance
September 28, 2021 ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s defence purchases from Russia have alarmed Ankara’s NATO partners but the two countries remain rivals in wars from the Middle East to the Caucasus, highlighting the faultlines running through their awkward alliance. Turkey has bought Russian missile defence systems and could buy more equipment from Moscow. It imports […]
China’s power crunch dwarfs Evergrande’s troubles in investors’ eyes
September 28, 2021 By Samuel Shen and Alun John SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s power supply crunch, that has shut factories across the country, may pose a much bigger threat to the economy than the debt crisis at Evergrande Group, prompting investors to shun industries vulnerable to power shortages such as steelmaking and construction. China is […]
Angle Labs raises $5 million to build stablecoins based on derivatives
Angle Labs, the company behind the Angle Protocol, has raised a $5 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The small team has been working on a euro stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain. Other investors in the round include Fabric VC, Wintermute, Divergence Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Alven, Julien Bouteloup and Frédéric Montagnon. “I was […]
Rize raises $11.4M to scale its embedded fintech service
Rize, a fintech-as-a-service company that provides services to other firms, announced an $11.4 million Series A this morning. The funding event was led by Alpha Edison and Morpheus Ventures. A number of the startup’s prior backers also participated in the round. Rize is an interesting company in a competitive space; the market for building financial […]
RunX announces $4.1M seed to simplify cloud infrastructure deployment for developers
RunX, an early stage startup that wants to make it easier for developers to deploy cloud infrastructure, announced a $4.1 million seed investment led by Unusual Ventures and a group of individual angel investors. Company co-founder and CEO Ankur Dahiya says that as organizations deploy modern applications built on microservices and Kubernetes, the complexity in […]
Carrot, a plug-in that automatically categorizes what you’ve added to a cart, raises $5.5 million
While the recent growth of e-commerce has left us browsing online more than ever, it doesn’t mean we’re actually buying as much as you’d expect. In fact, the Baymard Institute, as cited by Shopify, says that about 70% of shopping carts are abandoned on desktop, a number that only goes up on mobile and tablet. […]
WHO says ‘heartbroken’ by Congo sex abuse probe findings
September 28, 2021 GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa said on Tuesday that the health agency was “humbled, horrified and heartbroken” by the findings of an independent commission on sex abuse claims in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “We in the WHO are indeed humbled, horrified and heartbroken by the […]
Exclusive-Fed’s Bullard: More aggressive Fed stance best to ensure longer expansion
September 28, 2021 By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve should let its roughly $8 trillion balance sheet shrink next year as soon as it winds down a bond purchase program, St. Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard said, cautioning high inflation may require more aggressive steps by the central bank including two […]
Yellen says Delta slowing recovery, urges Congress to raise U.S. debt limit-testimony
September 28, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told senators on Tuesday that the United States should return to full employment next year despite headwinds from the coronavirus Delta variant and again urged Congress to quickly lift the federal debt limit. In prepared remarks to a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Yellen said […]
U.S. goods trade deficit increases in August
September 28, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. trade deficit in goods increased in August amid a rise in imports as businesses replenished depleted inventories, suggesting trade could again be a drag on economic growth in the third quarter. The goods trade deficit rose 0.9% to $87.6 billion last month, the Commerce Department said on […]
U.S. Democratic lawmakers urge Biden not to reduce biofuel mandates
September 28, 2021 By Stephanie Kelly and Jarrett Renshaw NEW YORK (Reuters) – A group of U.S. Democratic lawmakers called on President Joe Biden to halt a plan to slash the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into their fuel, according to a letter dated Monday. The move, which the lawmakers argue threatens […]
GM’s commercial EV unit to expand vehicle lineup, add Verizon as customer
September 28, 2021 By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co said on Tuesday its BrightDrop electric commercial vehicle business will add a second delivery van to its lineup in 2023 and has agreed to supply that vehicle to Verizon Communications Inc. GM said the medium-sized EV410, aimed at a segment that includes grocery, […]
Unpaid by Evergrande, supplier sells Porsche and home to rescue his business
September 28, 2021 By David Kirton GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) – Guo Hui, whose cleaning business is owed 20 million yuan ($3.1 million) by embattled real estate giant China Evergrande, is counting on the government to fix a crisis that has left his own company on the brink of bankruptcy. In the meantime, the 50-year-old known […]
‘No Time to Die’ breathes fresh life into UK cinema chains
September 28, 2021 By Muvija M (Reuters) – Advance ticket sales for the latest James Bond movie at UK-based cinema chains Odeon and Cineworld were at levels last seen in 2019, setting it up to be the biggest opening since the pandemic gripped the industry. Odeon said on Monday it has sold more than 175,000 […]
RPA industry consolidation continues with sale of Blue Prism to Vista for £1.095B
The RPA market has been red hot over the last year, and today one of the market’s pioneers, Blue Prism was sold to Vista Equity Partners for £1.095 billion ($1.3701 billion USD), according to an official filing in Great Britain this morning. While we have seen a lot of RPA startups being acquired by larger […]
American Airlines signs code-sharing pact with India’s largest airline
September 28, 2021 (Reuters) – American Airlines announced a code-sharing agreement with India’s largest airline IndiGo on Tuesday, with the U.S. airline gearing up to launch new flights between the two countries. The agreement, which is expected to begin in October, will see American’s “code” on 29 of IndiGo’s domestic routes in India. Code-sharing allows […]