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Uber’s plan to acquire Autocab, a maker of SaaS for booking and dispatch software for the taxi and private hire vehicle industry which also operates a global trip marketplace for taxis and PHVs (iGo), is being looked at by the UK’s competition watchdog — which announced the launch of an inquiry today.
The deadline for a decision by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on whether to refer the merger for an in-depth investigation is March 26.
Uber announced its intention to acquire UK-based Autocab last August.
Competition considerations could arise if Uber, a provider of ride-hailing services that competes with traditional taxis and private hire vehicle firms for customers, were to shutter Autocab’s alternative trip booking marketplace or close it in selective markets where its own ride-hailing service operates, for example.
Although, at the time it announced the acquisition, Uber said it planned to support Autocab’s expansion of SaaS and iGo internationally. The move also looks intended to create more opportunities for Uber drivers to pick up jobs from outside its own platform, including delivery work, as ride-hailing has faced a demand squeeze during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nonetheless, the overlap between Autocab’s iGo marketplace and Uber’s core rides service certainly merits questions being asked about risks to competition.
The CMA has opened an invitation for comment on the merger — with a February 12 deadline for submissions.
“The CMA is considering whether it is or may be the case that this transaction, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services,” it writes, adding: “To assist it with this assessment, the CMA invites comments on the transaction from any interested party.”
Commenting on the inquiry in a statement, an Uber spokeswoman said: “We are cooperating fully with the UK Competition and Market Authority’s inquiry to ensure it can conclude its review as quickly as possible. We are confident that this acquisition is positive for consumers, will help local operators grow and provide drivers with genuine earning opportunities.”
This report was updated with Uber’s statement
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/29/ubers-autocab-acquisition-gets-eyed-by-uk-competition-watchdog/
Sirenum, a platform for remotely managing a shift-based workforce across industries such as railway, aviation, construction, and the gig economy, has raised a $2.7 million Series A funding round from new investors including former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy, Intrinsic Capital founding partner Mark Horrocks and investment manager Bill Currie.
Sirenum says its subscription model platform simplifies the process of managing shift workers, including rostering and managing schedules, monitoring and engaging staff, and processing key financial processes including payroll. Its clients include Randstad, Impellam, Manpower and GI Group as well as specialist agencies like TES.
The issue with shift workers is that they need to be in the right place at the right time and paid the right amount. Obviously. Sirenum says it allows staff to manage their own time by accepting or rejecting shifts and check their payroll at any time through a mobile app. The platform handles shift management, payroll, compliance, and scheduling. The app also tracks the fatigue of workers based on the UK’s Health and Safety guidelines, meaning employers can track the wellness of employees and adhere to compliance.
The product came about when Sirenum founder Benjamin Rubin ran a staffing agency in London. He was on honeymoon with his wife when he received a call that one of his employees had been hit by a train.
Thankfully, the employee was fine, but Rubin realized that to avoid being in that same situation again, he needed a tool to be able to manage his staff safely at multiple locations. He developed the Sirenum product as a solution for his agency and in 2012 won the contract to staff the Olympic Stadium. In 2014 Sirenum became a standalone product. It now claims to have nearly 400,000 workers on the platform.
Its competitors include TempBuddy (owned by Bullhorn), Shiftboard, and WorkN. Shiftboard has raised $16.9 million to date.
French startup Chefclub announced earlier this week that it has raised a $17 million funding round led by First Bridge Ventures. SEB Alliance, the venture arm of kitchen appliance maker Groupe SEB, Korelya Capital and Algaé Ventures are also participating.
Chefclub has been building a major media brand on social media platforms. It has attracted a huge audience that doesn’t look bad next to well-funded media brands Tastemade and Tasty.
I already covered the company at length, so I encourage you to read my previous profile of the company:
Chefclub is an interesting lesson in sales funnel. It has a huge top of the funnel with 100 million followers YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok. Overall, they generate over 1 billion views per month.
The company leverages that audience to create new products. It starts with cooking books, obviously. Chefclub has sold 700,000 books so far. As those books are self-published, the company gets to keep a good chunk of the revenue.
More recently, the startup has launched cooking kits for kids with colorful measuring cups, cooking accessories and easy-to-understand recipes. 150,000 people have bought a product for children.
Chefclub now wants to display its brands in stores thanks to partnerships. That’s why having Groupe SEB as an investor makes sense. You can imagine co-branded items boosted by promotion on Chefclub’s accounts.
Finally, the startup plans to enter a new market — consumer-packaged goods. That’s the same thinking behind it, except that we’re talking about food. It’s interesting to see that Chefclub doesn’t think online ads represent the future of the company. And it seems like a smart decision during the current economic crisis.
Xiaomi, the world’s third largest smartphone maker, today unveiled “Mi Air Charge Technology” that it says can deliver 5W power to multiple devices “within a radius of several metres” as the Chinese giant invited customers to a “true wireless charging era.”
The company said it has self-developed an isolated charging pile that has five phase interference antennas built-in, which can “accurately detect the location of the smartphone.”
A phase control array composed of 144 antennas transmits millimeter-wide waves directly to the phone through beamforming, the company said, adding that “in the near future” the system will also be able to work with smart watches, bracelets, and other wearable devices.
A company spokesperson said Xiaomi won’t be rolling out this system to consumer products this year.
Here’s how the company has described the mechanics of its new tech:
On the smartphone side, Xiaomi has also developed a miniaturized antenna array with built-in “beacon antenna” and “receiving antenna array”. Beacon antenna broadcasts position information with low power consumption. The receiving antenna array composed of 14 antennas converts the millimeter wave signal emitted by the charging pile into electric energy through the rectifier circuit, to turn the sci-fi charging experience into reality.
Currently, Xiaomi remote charging technology is capable of 5-watt remote charging for a single device within a radius of several meters. Apart from that, multiple devices can also be charged at the same time (each device supports 5 watts), and even physical obstacles do not reduce the charging efficiency.
German startup Trade Republic is rolling out its app and service in France this week. This is a significant expansion move as Trade Republic has only been available in Germany and Austria so far.
Trade Republic lets you buy and sell shares or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from your phone with low, transparent fees. The company charges €1 ($1.21) in fees per order, whether you’re buying a single share worth €100 or allocating €10,000 of your savings on an ETF. The company promises that it doesn’t add any commission on top of that €1.
The startup lets you buy European shares as well as stock in Asian or American companies. Overall, there are 7,500 shares and ETFs available in the app. While the service is relatively new, Trade Republic has been working on its infrastructure for several years.
Behind the scenes, the company has partnered with Solarisbank, a German banking-as-a-service platform regulated by German authorities. It means that your deposits are covered up to €100,000 ($121,000) in case of bankruptcy. When you’re submitting an order, Trade Republic works with LS Exchange and HSBC Transaction Services to handle those shares.
Trade Republic wants to position itself differently from Robinhood. The company thinks there are currently two options when it comes to trading.
You can open a trading account with your bank or a legacy broker, but they’ll charge a lot of money. Or you can use a mobile-first broker, but they’ll push you toward risky assets and day-trading. And we’ve seen this week with the GameStop saga that the second option can lead to some backlash.
Trade Republic is promoting a third way — low fees and low risk. The company wants to promote savings plans for instance. Those plans let you buy shares progressively, which should protect users against volatility.
The company raised a €62 million funding round ($75.22 million at today’s rate) last year. The Series B round was co-led by Accel and Founders Fund.
As for French users, don’t forget that you have to declare that you have a foreign bank account when you file your taxes. Foreign brokers also don’t necessarily send information to tax authorities to pre-fill your tax reports. But if you’re fine with that, Trade Republic is most likely cheaper than your bank.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/29/stock-trading-app-trade-republic-expands-to-france/
