This week Georgie Barrat brings you the week in tech from Bett, the world’s leading edtech show.
It has been a huge week for british investments with Bristol multichannel retail management platform Brightpearl has closed an $11m Series C funding round. Cambridge-based smart city solutions provider Telensa has closed an $18m external funding round. AppyParking has just closed a $1.5m seed round, featuring investment from Aviva Ventures. E-commerce platform Moltin, founded by three Newcastle developers, has secured $2m in seed funding. And London co-working space Second Home has landed $10.7m in funding, ahead of their Lisbon expansion.
Its not only investments hitting the headlines this week, good news for a number of funds. University College London’s newly launched technology fund has scored fifty million pounds in funding from the Imperial Innovations Group and the European Investment Fund. The fund will support new ideas from academics working in the life and physical sciences fields over the next five years.
Chinese technology and investment group Cocoon Networks will be launching a £500m London-based venture capital fund. The large sum will be used to invest in UK and European tech startups later this year. And in the smart cities arena, London is joining a twenty five million euro project by partnering with European cities to trial the use of technology which can enhance the lives of residents.
Microsoft has pledged to contribute one billion dollars worth of cloud computing resources to organisations working for the public good such as non-profits and universities. The company has promised access to servers and services that normal businesses would need to pay considerable fees for. Microsoft has also promised to improve last-mile connectivity, bringing broadband connectivity at a low cost to more communities around the world.
And finally,fed up of drone stories and the fear of these flying robots taking over our skies and endangering flight paths? The drone catcher is here to save us. Scientists from the Michigan Technological University have shown off a device that releaces a web- like net that they hope will be used to capture rogue drones.