Funding startups that help manufacturers and sellers distribute products and merchants access them on a single platform keeps soaring across Africa. Today, Cairo-based B2B e-commerce startup Capiter continues that trend by raising a $33 million Series A round. The investment was co-led by Quona Capital and MSA Capital. Other participating investors include Savola, Shorooq Partners, […]
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The Station: Apple car shakeup, how Sept. 11 changed travel, and a pledge from airlines
The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive it every weekend in your inbox. Hi readers: Welcome to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B. Twenty […]
Commercetools raises $140M at a $1.9B valuation as ‘headless’ commerce continues to boom
E-commerce these days is now a major part of every retailer’s strategy, so technology builders and platforms that are helping them compete better on digital screens are seeing a huge boost in business. In the latest turn, Commercetools — a provider of e-commerce APIs that larger retailers can use to build customized payment, check-out, social […]
Soccer – Serie A weekend talking points
September 13, 2021 By Peter Hall (Reuters) – Talking points from the weekend’s Serie A matches. ALLEGRI AND JUVE A MESS OF THEIR OWN MAKING Massimiliano Allegri’s second coming at Juventus just gets worse by the week. Having lost last season’s top goalscorer in Serie A Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United three weeks ago, Juve […]
Exclusive-Volkswagen’s China partners bristle as carmaker lavishes love on new venture
September 13, 2021 By Yilei Sun and Brenda Goh BEIJING (Reuters) – Volkswagen is in talks to tighten its grip on a majority-owned joint venture in China, sparking tensions with the German automaker’s other Chinese partners who fear they could be sidelined, sources familiar with the matter said. The world’s second-biggest carmaker secured a controlling […]
Britain’s Tesco joins refillable revolution with in-store trial
September 13, 2021 LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s biggest supermarket group Tesco launched a trial on Monday that allows customers to buy food, drink, household and beauty products in reusable packaging, part of its strategy to cut plastic waste. Britons have become increasingly aware of the amount of plastic they use in recent years, with television […]
New Zealand PM Ardern extends lockdown in Auckland to Sept 21
September 13, 2021 WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s largest city Auckland will remain in lockdown to beat the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday. Auckland will remain in the strict Alert level 4 lockdown until midnight on Sept. 21, after which it will move to alert […]
UN rights chief rebukes Taliban over treatment of women
September 13, 2021 GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations’ human rights chief criticised on Monday the Taliban’s human rights record since seizing power in Afghanistan, noting that stated commitments did not match realities on the ground such as the status of women. “Importantly, and in contradiction to assurances that the Taliban would uphold women’s rights, […]
Chinese crackdown on tech giants threatens its cloud market growth
As Chinese tech companies come under regulatory scrutiny at home, concerns and pressures are escalating among investors and domestic tech companies including China’s four big cloud companies, BATH (Baidu AI, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud and Huawei Cloud), according to an analyst report. Despite a series of antitrust and internet-related regulation crackdowns, the four leading cloud […]
Greece to spend 4 billion euros on pandemic support in second half of 2021
September 13, 2021 ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece will pump an additional 4.4 billion euros into its economy in the second half of the year to prop up businesses and households battered by the coronavirus pandemic, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said on Monday. Staikouras said Greece will spend a total of 42.7 billion euros in state […]
Marketmind: September setback
September 13, 2021 A look at the day ahead from Sujata Rao. After seven straight months of gains, world stocks are enduring a dismal September, touching a 2-1/2-week low on Monday. Wall Street futures are higher but the S&P 500 witnessed its first five-day decline since February last week and Treasury yields posted their third […]
China plans to break up Ant’s Alipay and force creation of separate loans app – FT
September 13, 2021 (Reuters) -Beijing wants to break up Alipay, the hugely popular payments app owned by Jack Ma’s Ant Group, and create a separate app for the company’s highly profitable loans business, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The plan will also see Ant turn over the user data that underpins its lending decisions […]
U.N. rights chief regrets lack of access to Xinjiang
September 13, 2021 GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations’ rights chief lamented on Monday that efforts to gain access to China’s Xinjiang region to probe reports of serious violations against Muslim Uyghurs have not succeeded, adding that she was finalising a report on the situation. “I regret that I am not able to report progress […]
Australia’s NSW state says coronavirus vaccination pace slows
September 13, 2021 By Renju Jose SYDNEY (Reuters) – The government of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) said on Monday the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations had slowed as first-dose coverage neared 80% and urged the unvaccinated to get shots soon or risk missing out on freedoms when curbs ease. Premier Gladys Berejiklian […]
Uber drivers are employees, says Dutch court
September 13, 2021 AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Uber drivers are employees rather than independent contractors and are entitled to greater workers’ rights, a Dutch court ruled on Monday. It was the latest court victory for unions fighting for the rights of workers in the gig economy after a similar decision in Britain in March. The Amsterdam District […]
Uber will appeal Dutch ruling that drivers are employees
September 13, 2021 AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Uber will appeal a Dutch court ruling that drivers are employees of the company and not independent contractors that make use of its platform, the company said on Monday. “We are disappointed with this decision because we know that the overwhelming majority of drivers wish to remain independent,” the […]
Marketmind: September setback
September 13, 2021 A look at the day ahead from Sujata Rao. After seven straight months of gains, world stocks are enduring a dismal September, touching a 2-1/2-week low on Monday. Wall Street futures are higher but the S&P 500 witnessed its first five-day decline since February last week and Treasury yields posted their third […]
Billogram, provider of a payments platform specifically for recurring billing, raises $45M
Payments made a huge shift to digital platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic — purchasing moved online for many consumers and businesses; and a large proportion of those continuing to buy and sell in-person went cash-free. Today a startup that has been focusing on one specific aspect of payments — recurring billing — is announcing a […]
Motor racing-Ricciardo earns drive in Earnhardt’s car, thinks of Senna
September 13, 2021 By Alan Baldwin (Reuters) – Daniel Ricciardo will get to drive the 1984 NASCAR Chevrolet Monte Carlo of his late idol Dale Earnhardt Sr after winning Sunday’s Italian Formula One Grand Prix but the smiling Australian can sense a better deal. McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown, who has the original number three […]
China’s elite snowboarders herald new wave of Olympians
September 13, 2021 SHANGHAI (Reuters) – As elite snowboarder Liu Jiayu trains for the 2022 Winter Olympics, it’s not just her platinum blond-streaked ponytail that stands out – she also has a colourful, personal and public social media presence, a relative rarity for Chinese athletes. Instagram pictures show her performing tricks in midair, or even […]