Just a few months old, Wandera has attracted a sizable Series A round with Bessemer Venture Partners as the sole investor. Wandera’s technology, mobile data optimization, is nothing new, but its enterprise focus is. Read more »
The operator, which is still the only one in the U.K. to offer LTE, has launched a three-month promotion where passengers of some black cabs will get to surf through a 4G connection for free. Read more »
Truphone just got a £75M boost led by Abramovich’s investment arm Minden. The VoIP provider-turned-MVNO said it will use those funds to staff up and expand to continental Europe and Asia. Read more »
A string of offensive hashtag memes in France has spurred the government to announce a consultation on hate speech with Twitter. It could mark a watershed for the country’s approach to social media — but it’s not just Paris that has a problem. We all do. Read more »
Five years after its $280 million acquisition, the music service is still struggling to turn a profit for CBS, if latest efforts to tactically abandon and charge for royalty-incurring personalised radio are anything to go by. Read more at paidContent »
Four years ago developer Matt Biddulph jokingly coined ‘Silicon Roundabout’ as a description of East London’s small but growing startup scene — now it’s become the de facto term for the area around Old Street. Here he recounts how a moment of mirth turned into a meme. Read more »
The British government’s constant adulation of the London startup scene reached its culmination this week with the news of a huge new redevelopment project. But the reality is that many of Britain’s smartest innovators are locked inside government and the rest look increasingly like poseurs. Read more »
The app, which is similar to WillCall but focused on a wider variety of events, intends to take its curated approach to last-minute event booking international next year. Read more »
London has relied heavily on the financial sector over the last few decades, but that industry’s importance is waning. An influential think tank says it’s tech startups that will need to pick up the slack. Read more »
SpringboardIoT, a new accelerator program focused on startups working on hardware and the Internet of Things, has launched in the UK. The scheme’s founder joins forces with an experienced insider to explain why it’s a necessary and useful development. Read more »
You can’t beat Silicon Valley by trying to be Silicon Valley — so why does Europe spend so much time trying? If the continent’s entrepreneurs want to become true leaders, they need to shake off the past and stop playing a game that’s stacked against them. Read more »
Music service Rara has spent the last 10 months quietly tweaking its offering following a quiet launch. Now it will start going live properly. The catch? Every user is going to have to pay to play. Read more at paidContent »
Facebook Vice President Joanna Shields, who in the past has worked for Google, Bebo, AOL and most recently with Facebook is now taking over as the chief executive of Tech City Investment Organization, a group that wants to make London a center of tech innovation. Read more »
European vacation rentals site HouseTrip has everything going for it right now: not least fast growth and a fresh new round of funding. Co-founder Arnaud Bertrand lays out why he thinks his site can carry on winning — and reveals the scale of his ambition. Read more »
Following a successful first two years for the original FinTech Innovation Lab in New York, Accenture and its banking pals are trying to replicate the scheme in the world’s top financial center. Read more »
Business card printer and east London tech darling Moo.com acquires web personal landing page Flavors.me to bolster its digital profile. Read more »
Two of the biggest taxi service startups are preparing to go head-to-head as San Francisco’s Uber and London’s Hailo gear up for launch in New York. Who will win? Evidence so far suggests it’s a tough game, but the British company may just have the edge. Read more »
European technology companies looking to go public usually desert their home turf and head to the U.S. — creating an echo chamber that has made some local investors angry. Now reports suggest that the British government may be trying to reverse that trend. Can it work? Read more »
After longstanding grumbling from the German capital’s tech community over its lack of recognition, the Berlin senate has launched a campaign to push the city as a startup center of note. Read more »
More data suggests these were the “mobile games”. London 2012′s organising committee says most digital engagement was via mobile devices, as it closes the lid on the Olympics with an end-of-games stats dump. Read more at paidContent »
The BBC’s celebrated ‘four-screen’ London 2012 output has revealed a late-night iPad fetish and new high water marks for live video and mobile content consumption. ‘This has really been the multi-platform Games,’ the corporation says. Read more at paidContent »
Half of searches and video streams are coming from mobiles and tablets during the Olympic games. Has the mobile internet reached a tipping point? New Google data would seem to suggest as much. Read more at paidContent »
UK TV viewers are gobbling up 24 simultaneous live Olympics streams the BBC is taking from web to TV. First-week data shows a big appetite for viewing of all kinds. Read more at paidContent »
London startup Mendeley is already beloved by researchers around the planet for helping them manage their work. Now it’s unveiled a new product that it hopes can help universities get a better handle on what’s happening right now. Goodbye slow, stuffy academia. Read more »
As it takes a hammering at home, Netflix is pinning its hopes on getting traction in Europe. But Adam Valkin, the founding CEO of rival video service Lovefilm, says that the US company could have owned the market if it hadn’t pulled out of a European launch in 2004. Read more »
Almost half of the internet video NBC is serving this Olympics is going to mobiles and tablets. That’s a watershed for portable TV. But what happens when at-home internet TV becomes commonplace? Read more at paidContent »
Stung by online criticism of its “#NBCFail” Olympics, the broadcaster comes out fighting with a range of record cross-platform viewing stats it says show critics are just a ‘vocal minority’. But can it make the most of digital when the laser focus is on prime time TV? Read more at paidContent »
Many publishers are introducing digital fees but, in print, shrinking economics are moving others to abandon cover prices. Their hope is to drive up free circulation and advertiser interest. Read more at paidContent »
Irony of ironies – after encouraging fans to tweet copiously, the International Olympic Committee requests London 2012 attendees limit their output only to “urgent” status updates. The problem – mobile updates from some attendees have clogged a mobile network used by official TV data suppliers. Read more at paidContent »
As Britain prepares to host the Olympics, London’s startup entrepreneurs are the focus of a string of major announcements that all promise to transform the city from a fading Victorian giant into a gleaming technopolis. It’s a revolution that can’t come soon enough. Read more »
Who owns the airspace in London’s Olympics venues? Organisers want to stop spectators from creating personal WiFi hotspots, while BT charges up to £9.99 per day for on-site access. Read more »
Traditional TV will dominate, viewing on other devices is growing, and researchers can’t agree on how many people will watch the Olympics on mobile and tablet – that’s the conclusion from sifting research forecasts on the matter. Read more at paidContent »
Amazon is amalgamating development teams from two acquired companies in to a London “centre of excellence” for streaming movies, TV and music on devices around the world. Read more at paidContent »
Speaking with paidContent at the Olympic Park, International Olympic Committee social media head Alex Huot explains social media rules must safeguard TV rightsholders, and says big media can find a new role for themselves… Read more at paidContent »
The money will go into two funds, one of which also aims to raise angel cash. But will it be enough to shore up a promising but funding-starved startup scene? Read more »
The London Olympics’ host team will launch two digital products next week, joining broadcasters, other media, the IOC and the games’ organising committee in seeking fans’ electronic mindshare. Read more at paidContent »
A new competition is trying to tempt more startups to London with a £1m booty. But it turns out the “prize” is actually a cash-for-equity investment on terms that are yet to be decided — and from an individual whose identity is being kept secret. Read more »
New mobile data service Samba has launched in the U.K. with a novel idea — agree to watch a few ads, and it will give you free data. But while the company hopes it’s on track for glory, the path it’s taking is littered with bodies. Read more »
London currency exchange startup Transferwise has teamed up with a neighbor, The Currency Cloud, to let people transfer money between a range of European currencies. But is the next stop for the disruptive finance company going to be the US dollar? Read more »
Since taking the job heading up the UK government’s project to champion East London as a global technology hub, Eric van der Kleij has taken plenty of brickbats. Now he’s stepping down, who will be there to take on the challenge? Read more »
