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Ineos: why Jim Ratcliffe is mixing petrochemicals and sports

Amid charges of greenwashing from activists, the private company is investing in football, cycling and other ventures




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Runa Capital closes Fund III at $157M, with an added focus on quantum computing

VC fund Runa Capital was launched with $135 million in 2010, and is perhaps best known for its investment into NGINX, which powers many web sites today. In more recent years it has participated or led investments into startups such as Zipdrug ($10.8 million); Rollbar this year ($11 million); and Monedo (for €20 million). HQ’d […]




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Covid-19 to boost worker pay; Soros chips in; BRT sinners; Shell’s carbon pledge

Your guide to the investment and business revolution you can’t afford to ignore




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Covid-19 casts pall over Earth Day; Green bonds stand strong; Shake Shack does the ‘other’ right thing

Your guide to the investment and business revolution you can’t afford to ignore




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Facebook stock spikes despite ‘significant reduction’ in demand for ads

The coronavirus pandemic is significantly slowing the growth of Facebook’s ads business, but investors seem pleased with the company’s performance in Q1 after Facebook released its earnings report Wednesday. The company beat Wall Street expectations on revenues, sharing that they had made $17.74 billion while falling short on earnings per share at $1.71. The company […]




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Facebook now allows users in the US & Canada to export photos and videos to Google Photos

Facebook is today rolling out a tool that will allow users in the U.S. and Canada to export their Facebook photos and videos to Google Photos. This data portability tool was first introduced in Ireland in December, and has since been made available to other international markets. To use the feature, Facebook users will need […]




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Indian education startup Byju’s is fundraising at a $10B valuation

Byju’s, an education learning startup in India that has seen a surge in its popularity in recent weeks amid the coronavirus outbreak, is in talks to raise as much as $400 million in fresh capital at a $10 billion valuation, said three people familiar with the matter. The additional capital would be part of the […]




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Facebook to add gift cards, jobs and donation tools to its COVID-19 Community Help hub

Facebook is expanding its Community Help hub to better serve local communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The hub has already seen significant usage by those requesting food, supplies and information about local resources, as well as use by volunteers and groups willing to lend a hand. Now, Facebook is adding more features to the hub […]




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Lessons for pro-Europeans in the failed Remain cause

The anti-Brexit movement wasted energy on negative campaigning and parliamentary wrecking tactics




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Statistical comfort distorts our politics

The problem with bad data is that it lures us into believing false truths




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Europe needs a new scale of stimulus — and cash not credit

Direct payments should be made to citizens and companies




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Pinn’s illustration of the week: America First

Donald Trump pulls support from the World Health Organization




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Bird is testing Bird Pay, which lets users purchase items from local businesses using its main app

Another on-demand transport app is making a move into payments to expand the existing relationship with its customers (and subsequent margins that it makes from serving them). Bird today announced the launch of Bird Pay, a service that will let people use its app to purchase items from local participating businesses alongside renting scooters. The service […]




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Samsung’s new ‘eco’ TV packing transforms into cat houses, shelves and magazine racks

Here’s a nice thing. It’s not revolutionary or life-changing, but it’s nice. And right now we can all use a little bit of nice. Earlier this month, Samsung announced an addition to its line of “eco-packing” that will turn TV boxes in a wide variety of different “furniture.” I use furniture in quotes here because […]




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Paige adds $5M from Goldman Sachs to double down on AI-based cancer therapies

Paige, the Sloan-Kettering spinout that has been building an artificial intelligence platform to improve cancer pathology and subsequently use those insights to develop better drug therapies, has raised an additional $5 million in funding to continue its work commercialising its platform and expanding its research reach, while also getting FDA clearance to launch in hospitals […]




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Stripe adds card issuing, localized card networks and expanded approvals tool

At a time when more transactions than ever are happening online, payments behemoth Stripe is announcing three new features to continue expanding its reach. The company today announced that it will now offer card issuing services directly to businesses to let them in turn make credit cards for customers tailored to specific purposes. Alongside that, it’s going […]




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SkyCell raises $62M for smart containers and analytics to transport pharmaceuticals

While human travel has become severely restricted in recent months, the movement of goods has remained a constant priority — and in some cases, has become even more urgent. Today, a startup out of Switzerland that builds hardware and operates a logistics network designed to transport one item in particular — pharmaceuticals — is announcing […]




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Intel to buy smart urban transit startup Moovit for $1B to boost its autonomous car division

Some big M&A is afoot in Israel in the world of smart transportation. According to multiple reports and sources that have contacted TechCrunch, chip giant Intel is in the final stages of a deal to acquire Moovit, a startup that applies AI and big data analytics to track traffic and provide transit recommendations to some […]




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Liberty’s Virgin Media and Telefonica’s O2 to merge in the UK in $39B deal

The regulators said “NO” when Telefonica tried to combine its O2 operations in the UK with rival carrier, Hutchison-owned Three, back in 2015. But Telefonica didn’t let go of the idea of divestment, and five years later, in the middle of a health pandemic with related threats of a global economic depression looming over us, […]




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Carmakers hit by lack of state support in emerging markets 

Suppliers that exploited cheaper labour hit by big wage bills for shuttered plants




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Bosch warns of ‘significantly’ steep recession for auto industry

Volkswagen and Daimler report billions of dollars in lost profits due to impact of coronavirus




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Chinese electric car start-up Nio announces $989m cash injection

Investment in company’s new China entity is led by state-owned enterprises




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Equity Monday: Startups run low on cash, and why some Internet tailwinds are fading

Good morning and welcome back to TechCrunch’s Equity Monday, a jumpstart for your week. Regular Equity episodes still drop each and every Friday morning, so if you’ve listened to the show over the years, don’t worry — we’re only adding to the mix. You can catch last week’s show with Danny Crichton and Natasha Mascarenhas right here if […]




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In spite of pandemic (or maybe because of it), cloud infrastructure revenue soars

It’s fair to say that even before the impact of COVID-19, companies had begun a steady march to the cloud. Maybe it wasn’t fast enough for AWS, as Andy Jassy made clear in his 2019 Re:invent keynote, but it was happening all the same and the steady revenue increases across the cloud infrastructure market bore […]




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Knowde could make billions building the digital marketplace for the $5 trillion chemicals industry

Ali Amin-Javaheri grew up in the chemicals business. His father had worked for Iran’s state-owned chemical company and when the family fled the country in the nineteen eighties during the Iran-Iraq war, they first settled in Houston where employers welcomed the senior Amin-Jahaveri’s experience. Houston in the 80s was dominated by the petrochemicals industry and […]




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As Wunderlist shuts down, its founder announces a new productivity app called Superlist

Wunderlist is going away, but fans of the productivity app may find some consolation in founder Christian Reber’s announcement that he is launching a new startup called Superlist. “Superlist will be more than just a todo app, but never as bloated as the project management software you loathe to use,” he tweeted. “Slick, fast, and […]




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Microsoft showcases 13 new titles for the Xbox Series X

With conferences canceled indefinitely, companies are increasingly reliant on online events to hype product launches. As they prepare to release a next-gen console before the end of the year, expect plenty of live streams and blogs from both Microsoft and Sony in an attempt to flesh out all that their respective systems have to offer. […]




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Shopify’s swift ascent stirs talk of Canadian ‘curse’

Online retailer hopes to avoid fate of non-banks whose value surpassed country’s biggest lender




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Facebook now allows users in the US & Canada to export photos and videos to Google Photos

Facebook is today rolling out a tool that will allow users in the U.S. and Canada to export their Facebook photos and videos to Google Photos. This data portability tool was first introduced in Ireland in December, and has since been made available to other international markets. To use the feature, Facebook users will need […]




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Twitch launches an esports directory to cater to growing streaming audience

Twitch is doubling down on esports in this new era of social distancing as a number of traditional sporting events have been cancelled. The company this week introduced a new esports directory on its site that will make it easier for viewers to find live matches, information on players, games with active competition leagues, a […]




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Facebook to add gift cards, jobs and donation tools to its COVID-19 Community Help hub

Facebook is expanding its Community Help hub to better serve local communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The hub has already seen significant usage by those requesting food, supplies and information about local resources, as well as use by volunteers and groups willing to lend a hand. Now, Facebook is adding more features to the hub […]




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Silver can offer more bang for your buck

Metal offers protection from sledgehammer approach to quantitative easing




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Investors pour money into cash funds

Investors seek safe haven from stock market volatility




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How can I protect my children’s savings from tax liabilities?

I am concerned about inheritance tax if my husband and I were to die prematurely




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Can I force my stepson to repay money I lent him to buy his flat?

I am in the process of getting divorced from his mother




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What are the tax implications of selling half my flat to my younger sister?

I own a flat in London but I am looking to buy a house further out and commute every day




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Can we vary the terms of our family trust? 

We would like to extend it beyond its current period of 70 years




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How can I prepare for business tax changes?

I employ 10 people and also own a couple of buy-to-let properties




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How can I manage the succession of our family business? 

My mother has early onset dementia and her health is deteriorating rapidly




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How can I ensure my child gets the best education?

My ex-husband and I have recently divorced and have a school-aged son




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Can I include IHT costs in my compensation claim?

I am pursuing a claim for the exposure to asbestos while working




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Can my parents cut my brother out of their wills?

He has taken money from them and frittered it away over the years after promising he would invest it




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How can I transfer my share portfolio to my daughter?

My pension will provide for my needs so I won’t need the money




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Can I increase divorce payments from my ex-husband?

I am approaching retirement age with very little pension to live on




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Can I get a bargain on a classic car at auction?

Now that I’ve retired, I want to buy my first collector’s car




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We’re self-isolating, how can we update our wills?

We’re in our seventies and want to get our affairs in order quickly




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Can I cut our mortgage costs by negotiating a lower rate? 

Our household income has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic




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Apple and Google release sample code, UI and detailed policies for COVID-19 exposure-notification apps

Apple and Google are providing additional resources for developers working with the first version of their Exposure Notification API, the development tools the companies have created and are working on in order to provide a cross-platform way for public health agencies to notify individuals of a potential exposure to a person with a confirmed case […]




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Your iPhone will soon be able to tell 911 about your medical conditions and allergies

Got something in your medical history that first responders should know about if you call 911? Things like known drug allergies, or the medications you’re on? The iPhone and Apple Watch will soon be able to share this information with first responders automatically (if you opt to let it do so). When a user with […]




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Apple awards $10 million to rapidly scale COVID-19 sample collection kit production

Apple has awarded $10 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to COPAN Diagnostics, a company focused on producing sample collection kits for testing COVID-19 to hospitals in the U.S. The money comes from the fund that Apple established to support the development and growth of U.S.-based manufacturing, but is particularly notable because to date, the […]