Over £75m in UK tech investment, Google’s $1.1bn stake in HTC and more in the Week in Tech
Welcome to The Week in Tech, your roundup of the latest top tech news.
This week, we have almost £80m in UK tech investment, Google’s $1.1bn acquisition of HTC’s smartphone business, the latest on the Equifax hack and much more.
Investments
10x Future Technologies scores £34m
10x Future Technologies, a FinTech startup founded by Barclays’ former CEO Anthony Jenkins, has raised a £34m Series A.
The round drew participation from several investors led by China’s financial services firm Ping An and global management consulting company Oliver Wyman.
Launched in October last year, 10x Future Technologies provides clients with an AI-powered platform that seeks to unify complex data systems in order to help customers engage with users.
Digital Shadows’ $26m round
Cybersecurity firm Digital Shadows raised a $26m (£19.2m) Series C to boost its global expansion.
Octopus Ventures led the round, which also drew support from World Innovation Lab, Industry Ventures and the firm’s existing backers.
Digital Shadows previously closed a $8m Series A in February 2015, followed by a $14m Series B last year.
GoCardless raises additional $22.5m
Hot FinTech scaleup GoCardless received an additional $22.5m (£16.6m) from existing backers Accel, Balderton, Notion and Passion Capital.
The news comes after the company raised $13m (£9.6m) in a Series C round led by Notion Capital last year.
GoCardless has built a proprietary tech platform with the sole purpose of facilitating the way in which recurring payments are collected.
Synthace lands £7.3m Series A
BioTech firm Synthace has raised £7.3m in Series A funding from investors including White Cloud Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners and Eleven Two Capital.
Existing shareholders Sofinnova Partners, SOSV and Bioeconony Capital also participated.
The company, which has created proprietary language and software platform, says it will use the cash to gain further traction and expand in the market.
Volo Commerce gets £6.2m
Multi-channel e-commerce provider Volo Commerce has raised £6.2m in a round led by NVM Private Equity.
The company will use the cash to expand into the US and other international sales channels.
AppyParking lands £2.25m
AppyParking has raised £2.25m in funding from Aviva Ventures and Breed Reply.
Founded in 2013 by CEO Dan Hubert, AppyParking created an app that helps drivers find the nearest and cheapest on-and off-street parking. The app, which informs drivers of any restrictions and tariffs that apply, started off just covering London, but it can now be used in 20 of the UK’s biggest cities including Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester.
Dwell raises $1.2m, rebrands to Burrow
Online mortgage broker Dwell, which has now rebranded to Burrow, closed a $1.2m (£900,000) Seed led by Passion Capital.
The FinTech company says it has helped more than 25,000 people to date and claims its in-house mortgage advisers have provided financial advice on mortgages worth over £100m.
VenueScanner lands £800,000
London-based VenueScanner, an online venue booking platform, has raised £800,000 in Seed funding.
VenueScanner drew support from Tim Mills (Angel CoFund), Tom Singh (founder of New Look) and Phil Burks (founder of Big Yellow Storage).
Launched last year, the company will use the money to support its nationwide expansion as it seeks to expand into one new major UK city a month.
University Cribs’ £450,000
University Cribs has received £450,000 in Seed funding, reaching a £2m valuation.
The online platform for student property rentals received the funds from a range of angel investors including Raffaelle Russo, director of Loc8Me; Dave Harvey and Tom Paine, co-founders of TeamLove; and the co-founders of Thor Companies.
The Cardiff-based company will use the funds to expand its geographic reach, while continuing to invest in its proprietary platform.
Google’s buys stake in HTC
Technology giant Google has said it acquiring a $1.1bn stake in HTC.
Just to be clear, Google is not intending to purchase the whole of HTC, just a large part of the firm’s smartphone business.
As a result of the deal, Google will gain a significant part of HTC’s R&D team (about 2,000 people).
Equifax investigation
Various federal agencies, including the US Department of Justice, are said to be investigating the Equifax data breach that exposed the personal information of more than 140 million Americans.
Ever since Equifax acknowledged the hack, some 44 attorney generals in the have requested information about its hack response. A civil lawsuit, which seeks monetary penalties and disgorgement of profits, has also been filed.
Download of the Week
Our ‘Download of the Week’ is Missive, an app that adds collaboration to email threads by making it possible for users to write emails with coworkers or hold group chats within one – particularly useful for getting rid of seemingly endless internal email chains.
And finally
And finally, Ilhan Unal, a Belgian engineering student, has entered the Guiness World Record books for producing the biggest, fully functional version of the GameBoy.
Unal designed the huge console on his computer and then spent a month building the model, which is 101 cm in height, 62 cm wide, and 20 cm deep.
That’s all for today … See you next Friday!