Author Archives: Natasha Lomas

Box is now letting all staff work from home to reduce coronavirus risk

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Box has joined a number of tech companies supporting employees to work remotely from home in response  the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19. It’s applying the policy to all staff, regardless of location. Late yesterday Box co-founder Aaron Levie tweeted a statement detailing the cloud computing company’s response to COVID-19 — to, as […] Continue reading Box is now letting all staff work from home to reduce coronavirus risk→

Odoo grabs $90M to sell more SMEs on its business app suite

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Belgium-based all-in-one business software maker Odoo, which offers an open source version as well as subscription-based enterprise software and SaaS, has taken in $90 million led by a new investor: Global growth equity investor Summit Partners. The funds have been raised via a secondary share sale. Odoo’s executive management team and existing investor SRIW and […] Continue reading Odoo grabs $90M to sell more SMEs on its business app suite→

Google picks up Microsoft veteran, Javier Soltero, to head G Suite

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Google has hired Microsoft’s former Cortana and Outlook VP, Javier Soltero, to head up its productivity and collaboration bundle, G Suite — which includes consumer and business tools such as Gmail, Hangouts, Drive, Google Docs and Sheets. He tweeted the news yesterday, writing: “The opportunity to work with this team on products that have such […] Continue reading Google picks up Microsoft veteran, Javier Soltero, to head G Suite→

83North closes $300M fifth fund focused on Europe, Israel

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83North has closed its fifth fund, completing an oversubscribed $300 million raise and bringing its total capital under management to $1.1BN+. The VC firm, which spun out from Silicon Valley giant Greylock Partners in 2015 — and invests in startups in Europe and Israel, out of offices in London and Tel Aviv — last closed […] Continue reading 83North closes $300M fifth fund focused on Europe, Israel→

Dasha AI is calling so you don’t have to

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While you’d be hard pressed to find any startup not brimming with confidence over the disruptive idea they’re chasing, it’s not often you come across a young company as calmly convinced it’s engineering the future as Dasha AI. The team is building a platform for designing human-like voice interactions to automate business processes. Put simply, […] Continue reading Dasha AI is calling so you don’t have to→

Liberty’s challenge to UK state surveillance powers reveals shocking failures

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A legal challenge to the UK’s controversial mass surveillance regime has revealed shocking failures by the main state intelligence agency, which has broad powers to hack computers and phones and intercept digital communications, in handling people’s information. The challenge, by rights group Liberty, led last month to an initial finding that MI5 had systematically breached …

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DoJ charges Autonomy founder with fraud over $11BN sale to HP

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UK entrepreneur turned billionaire investor, Mike Lynch, has been charged with fraud in US over the 2011 sale of his enterprise software company. Lynch sold Autonomy, the big data company he founded back in 1996, to computer giant HP for around $11BN some seven years ago. But within a year around three-quarters of the value […] Continue reading DoJ charges Autonomy founder with fraud over $11BN sale to HP→

Enterprise AR is an opportunity to ‘do well by doing good,’ says General Catalyst

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A founder-investor panel on augmented reality (AR) technology here at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin suggests growth hopes for the space have regrouped around enterprise use-cases, after the VR consumer hype cycle landed with yet another flop in the proverbial ‘trough of disillusionment’. Matt Miesnieks, CEO of mobile AR startup 6d.ai, conceded the space has generally been on another […] Continue reading Enterprise AR is an opportunity to ‘do well by doing good,’ says General Catalyst→

IBM launches cloud tool to detect AI bias and explain automated decisions

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IBM has launched a software service that scans AI systems as they work in order to detect bias and provide explanations for the automated decisions being made — a degree of transparency that may be necessary for compliance purposes not just a company’s own due diligence. The new trust and transparency system runs on the […] Continue reading IBM launches cloud tool to detect AI bias and explain automated decisions→

Beamery closes $28M Series B to stoke support for its ‘talent CRM’

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Beamery, a London-based startup that offers self-styled “talent CRM”– aka ‘candidate relationship management’ — and recruitment marketing software targeted at fast-growing companies, has closed a $28M Series B funding round, led by EQT Ventures. Also participating in the round are M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, and existing investors Index Ventures, Edenred Capital Partners and Angelpad Fund. Beamery last […] Continue reading Beamery closes $28M Series B to stoke support for its ‘talent CRM’→