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Over $20m UK Investment, Uber expands to the Middle East, global EdTech report & more in your Week in Tech

Welcome to your Week in Tech.

Investments

Game streaming firm Polystream has raised $1.5m in seed funding from London Venture Partners and Initial Capital.

Elevator pitch winners Hackajob, an online recruitment platform, has raised £400,000 in seed funding in a round led by Downing Ventures. The startup uses a unique matchmaking algorithm to match candidates with jobs tailored to their skills and expectations, has raised £500,000 to date.

Featurespace, a fraud detection firm based in Cambridge, has raised $9m in a round led by TTV Capital, a US-based early stage FinTech venture capital firm.

Home repair service DAD has raised £2m in seed funding from HomeServe. The money will be used to launch its video visiting app which will provide consumers with expert advice from DIY professionals.

Personalised children’s storytelling startup Lost My Name has raised an additional €4m in Series A funding from Berlin-based VC Project A. The news comes after the London-based company announced a $9m Series A round led by Google Ventures last year.

Thread, the UK personal styling service for men that uses a mixture of algorithms and humans to help solve the online clothes shopping problem, has raised $5.7m and brings its total funding to around $16m.

Global EdTech report

The global education technology market will grow 17% per annum to $252bn by 2020, according to a report from EdTechXGlobal and IBIS Capital.

So far, the US has made the biggest waves in the EdTech space and Asia is now experiencing the world’s fastest growth.

We’ve already seen the success of Blippar, RefMe and Mendeley in the UK, but its slow progress for edtech compared to other sectors.

Uber expands to the Middle East

The car hire service Uber has attracted a $3.5bn investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The money will help it to expand in the Middle East, where the company says 80% of its users in Saudi Arabia are women.

Women are banned from driving themselves in the country. The new funding values the company at $62.5bn.

Download of the week

Our Download of the Week is Headspace.

Modern life is filled with stress and anxiety, Headspace is here to help. With guided meditation the app provides a workout for your mind.

China’s Transit Elevated Bus

And finally, if there’s one place in the world you don’t want to be stuck in traffic, it’s China.

So much so, they’ve designed the Transit Elevated Bus.

The vehicle glides over traffic lanes while transporting 1,200 passengers in elevated compartments.

…. Until next week!

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