Amazon's latest health acquisition and on-demand grandkids

There are some Friday I wonder what to write. Others where so much has happened in the past fortnight I don’t know where to begin.

Today is the latter.

WeWork is too obvious a start but boy oh boy what reading that makes. And what impact it has for the wider market – from deflated/delayed IPOs to mainstream awareness of investor-led market manipulation.

At the other end of the spectrum is the stepping down of Metro Bank’s Chairman, Vernon Hill. Interesting fact, he once likened himself to Steve Jobs. Now if there was ever someone who was less like Steve Jobs and who completely misread market trends and changing customer wants, it was Mr Vernon Hill.

My favourite example of Metro Bank’s innovation: dog bowls in branches.

Other investments include a $50m raise by Viz.ai, an Israeli/US AI software company which has developed software to identify large vessel occlusion – a disabling type of stroke – from a CT scan. And keeping with the AI theme, Healx in the UK, announced a $56m Series B to leverage the power of AI to discover new treatments for rare diseases and to launch their Rare Treatment Accelerator programme. Sometimes I wonder if I should be doing more with my life.

Are we nearly there yet?
In the same week BMW and Audi complain about lack of regulations for self-driving cars, self-driving trials have kicked-off across a couple of London boroughs. In a bid to prove the technology can operate safely on the UK’s cramped roads, the cars, designed by UK company FiveAI, will be carrying one of 130 volunteers everyday for two months on a circuit through our very own London town.

And if that wasn’t enough, check the below for a glimpse into the future. The Swedish self-driving truck startup, Einride, has just raised $25m to aid expansion into the US.

A couple of other interesting stories this week.

In the cyber world, QBE has partnered with Corax to underwrite and manage cyber exposure. And our friends at Manchester Story have led a $3.3m investment into Cowbell Cyber, AI-driven cyber insurance for small to mid-sized enterprises.

On the finance side TrueLayer, the open banking API startup announced its expansion into Australia, making it the first European open banking specialist to establish a presence in the APAC region. If you don’t know these guys, definitely check them out. We’ve been tracking them for a while and love what they’re up to.

One was Barclays and venture-capital firm Anthemis Group looking for female entrepreneurs to build businesses that can eventually sell the London-based bank new software or other products. Brilliant.

This week, in stark contrast, was a leak from EY employees on a training course the company was giving at the height of the 2018 ‘Me Too’ movement.

Guys, guys, guys.

The other news that got me this week was Papa, a digital health acquisition company that provides “grandkids on demand” to older adults to help cure the loneliness epidemic, announcing a $10 million Series A. Over the past few years, I’ve been involved in a couple of businesses focussed on digital inclusion for the elderly and I genuinely love this one.

Founded in 2016, Papa taps into the gig economy to reduce social isolation in older adults in America. The company connects older adults with college students, who are looking for part-time/gig economy work. The students offer companionship but also rides, help around the house and so on.

And the best bit – major health plans pick up the bill because the company has demonstrated the service can significantly improve health outcomes for older people. Love, love, love.

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Before I shoot, next week we’ll be putting a call out for a new cohort of Sønr Insiders, a 2-month programme kicking off 1st Jan 2020 (albeit sooner for APAC).

We ran the 2019 programme with the likes of Bupa, Aon, Hiscox, Aviva and Ageas to name a few.

This time we’re focusing on new organisations who are willing to roll out and evaluate our new Sønr Enterprise, and in turn, help feed us our 2020 roadmap.

Right, I’m away to talk to investor folk before signing off for the weekend. That said if you’re a SaaS focussed VC who reads this (or you know one who should) and we haven’t met, get in touch. Plenty to chat through.

Have good weekends all. For those that care, enjoy the rugby 🙂

Matt

Our vision is to accelerate corporate innovation and entrepreneurship by providing intelligence on the trends, competitor playbooks and global disruptive tech, and to create new opportunities with ambitious organisations around the world.

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