Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Tech”
Jason Goldberg is founder and CEO of Pepo, a social platform that connects people with similar interests, with a focus on travel. It officially launched in November last year and, like Goldberg’s previous businesses, it’s been released at rapid speed. In the past decade, he’s also founded Social Median (a social news aggregator), Fab.com (third party e-commerce) and Hem (own-brand …
The two dominant equity crowdfunding platforms, Seedrs and Crowdcube, are under pressure to iron out their wrinkles and generate more wins for investors. Allowing startups to raise money over the internet in exchange for shares in their company was always likely to bring thrills and spills. Hailed as a way of breaking open investment in companies from the narrow and cliquey …
‘Airbnb for office space’ is the easiest way to describe Vrumi, a daytime-only property rental platform. Unexpectedly, the startup has found itself a hit with corporate middle managers. Riffing on the success of Airbnb, Vrumi has added its own twist to the model: renting homes left empty while owners are at work. By adapting a now-well-known concept – short-term lets – Vrumi …
The Upstarts is an illuminating new book documenting the culture, practices and impact of Airbnb and Uber. Author and Bloomberg journalist Brad Stone speaks to Courier. You wrote about about Amazon in your last book. To what extent did that experience influence Upstarts? Oh, significantly. I’ve been circling tech for about 20 years, and been building this mosaic of Silicon …
Cheaper and cleverer machines have inspired a new generation of ambitious founders to make and sell their own glasses. In a warehouse in Hackney Wick, Brian McGinn shapes a pair of spectacles from a sheet of Italian acetate using tools he says anyone could buy from B&Q. The self-taught maker has come to understand the inner workings of the eyewear industry …
Stung by her previous company but not stopped, Whitney Wolfe is deploying her trademark marketing tactics to sign up students to her dating app, Bumble. In 2014, when the buzz around Tinder was at its peak, one of the dating app’s earliest team members left and promptly sued the company $1m for sexual harassment. For some, the case confirmed their …
‘Chatbots’ have popped up all over the internet this year. Applications have varied from customer service to a chatbot lawyer that offers to resolve parking disputes. Victor Trokoudes, co-founder of Plum, spoke to Courier about his savings platform that deploys its particular mascot, the Plumbot. How did Plum get started? Alex [Plum’s co-founder] was downloading his bank statements and …
A weirdly familiar look seems to characterise the logos of digital companies. It’s almost impossible not to notice that internet companies appear to be following a fixed manual on their visual style: the play school primary colours and inoffensive sans serif type style have become ubiquitous. That’s before the chirpy tone of voice which is similarly universally employed. Google, Airbnb, …
Uber began its foray into London food delivery in June this year. Uber Eats is currently present in 24 cities in six countries, with plenty more added every month. Will Uber be able to dislodge Deliveroo as the market leader? Its UK general manager, Toussaint Wattinne, answers Courier’s questions. Why has Uber got into delivering food? We’ve been operating a …
New schemes and funding opportunities are removing risk for hospitals and paving the way for startups to elbow their way into the NHS. A combination of money for startups and incentives for hospitals to buy from them is hoped to be the push needed to unleash a torrent of new ideas into the UK health service. Generating the most enthusiasm is …
