Katie Smith-Wong

CEO Chat: Q&A with David Williams of Arqit

The CEO of Arqit explains why there's a rush to update your security despite the quantum revolution potentially being…

Tech investors remain bullish despite market slump

VCs are putting on a brave face as the crumbling market makes life more perilous for tech startups

Revolut’s embedded finance partner Modulr bags $108m in Series C

Modulr taps General Atlantic for Series C as competition in embedded finance heats up and fintech funding dries up

Filings buzz in the tech sector: 22% increase in industrial automation mentions in Q4 of 2021

We've analysed companies' annual reports and other filings to see which key issues are receiving the most attention.

Singles use dating apps to protest Roe Vs Wade reversal

Dating apps users are lashing out against the US supreme court's leaked decision to overturn Roe Vs Wade, choking…

What are cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and CBDCs, and how do they differ?

Digital dosh is always in the news, but what is the difference between bitcoin cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and CBDC?

Revolut continues trend of older users adopting fintech

Silver swipers continues to flock to fintech providers, with Revolut being the latest industry stakeholder to enjoy a surge…

CEO Chat: Q&A with Andy Byrne of Clari

The CEO of Clari is bullish about the fintech startup's ability to beat its RevOps rivals at their own…

Top trends impacting cybersecurity in 2022

The Ukraine war and the growing threat of ransomware are among the biggest trends affecting cybersecurity in 2022

“Google for law” startup LawAdvisor scores $5m investment

Google Maps founder among angel investors backing LawAdvisor's seed round

Why does cybersecurity matter for businesses?

Boosting corporates’ digital defences has become paramount, but why is cybersecurity so important?

UK proposes law to protect access to cash and help scam victims

The UK government is stepping up efforts to ensure that people have access to cash and scam victims are better protected. …

CTO Talk: Eric Landau of Encord

What do people get wrong about AI and what are the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to…

What is a cyberattack?

A cyberattack can seriously damage companies’ infrastructure and reputation, but what exactly is it?

Bitstamp CEO is out after short term in charge

Bitstamp has a new CEO, barely 18 months after Julian Sawyer took on the role

CEO Chat: Q&A with Andrew Bud of iProov

How financial fraud inspired the iProov CEO to create a biometric identity startup

Fintech experts unsurprised that Klarna will report users to credit scoring agencies

Klarna won't be the only buy-now-pay-later business reporting your shopping to credit agencies, experts say

The Ukraine cyberwar that never was: Cybersecurity experts warn it’s too early to relax

Russia's cyberwar in Ukraine hasn't been as intense as feared, but cybersecurity experts warn it's too early to relax.

CTO Talk: Simon Michie of Pulsant

People think edge computing is more complicated than what it is, Pulsant CTO says

The UK risks falling behind the EU by not strengthening tech watchdog – experts warn

The "hammer blow" to UK efforts to reel in Big Tech could see it fall behind regulators in the…

CEO Chat: Q&A with Leslie Kanthan of TurinTech

The TurinTech CEO counters claims that AI will steal jobs and reveals the background story to the startup

CTO Talk: Q&A with Adam Clarke of Fnality

The Fnality CTO reveals why blockchain is not just about bitcoin and NFTs, but so much more

What will Elon Musk buying Twitter mean?

No one knows what Elon Musk buying Twitter will mean, but that doesn't stop people from having an opinion…

How bad is bitcoin really for the environment?

Bitcoin uses as much electricity as Thailand, but does that really mean it's bad for the environment?

CEO Chat: Q&A with Nikolas Kairinos of Soffos.ai

The CEO and founder of Soffos reveals how the pandemic created an edtech boom.

CTO Talk: Q&A with Aviad Mor of Lumigo

The Lumigo CTO shares his thoughts on why Israel has become a tech hotbed and what people get wrong…

SEON nets $94m Series B on the back of rising fraud threats

Fraud prevention startup SEON has bagged a new funding round, but don't expect it to be the last regtech…

Remio bags $4.5m: Will industry pivot to boardrooms lead to a new VR boom?

Covid-19 forced businesses to embrace remote working. Now, VR ventures bet this can be the opportunity for the industry…

Meta tests tools and bonus programme for metaverse creators

It's not quite the Zuck Bucks everyone was expecting, but it's getting there

What is embedded finance and why should you care?

Embedded finance is all the rage in the fintech world, but why are people so excited about it?

Meta’s at it again: Zuck Bucks is the successor to Diem no one asked for

Despite Diem's implosion earlier this year, Meta is rumoured to be launching new payment tokens called Zuck Bucks

ANALYSIS: Will Primark’s new website drive future growth?

UK value fashion retailer Primark has unveiled its long-awaited new website which allows shoppers to see what's in stock…

Ukraine tech sector remains optimistic despite war

Tech workers in Ukraine continue to work in effort to protect the nation as Russian aggression continues.

“Hype is not enough”: Fintech community weighs in on Fast collapse

Fintech leaders remain unconvinced as Fast CEO claims collapsed startup was a trailblazer.

CTO Talk: Q&A with Vadim Solovey of DoiT International

Vadim Solovey reveals why he dislikes social media, why he believes virtual reality is overrated and the life he…

JustAnswer CEO on Ukraine crisis: “Don’t trust Putin”

The CEO of JustAnswer is going to Ukraine to help his employees. He pleads with Western bosses to not…

The competition will pay for this later: Klarna completes PriceRunner deal

Klarna muscles in on Google and Amazon's territory with completion of PriceRunner acquisition.

Brite CEO: “Tech definitely has a diversity issue”

Lena Hackelöer is the only female member of the Klarna Mafia and believes that's a huge problem

Revolut can breathe out: FCA extends cryptocurrency extension deadline

The FCA has given 12 cryptocurrency companies a stay of execution, despite registration deadline passing on March 31

CTO Talk: Q&A with Ryan Carr of Enveil

The Enveil CTO thinks big data is exciting and blockchain is overrated.

Why Rockaway Blockchain Fund’s crypto exchanges still welcome Russian customers

Rockaway Blockchain Fund won't ban all Russians from using portfolio cryptocurrency exchanges' services, despite the risk of Kremlin gremlins…

FUEL bags €1.5m in funding as NFT bubble threatens to pop

Despite signs that the NFT bubble is about to bust, FUEL just bagged €1.5m to keep minting digital tokens

Ondo goes public with room for growth in home insurance incorporating water leak detection

Insurers have been slow to incorporate smart home devices into home insurance policies despite their ability to reduce the…

CTO Talk: Q&A with Daniella Lorenzo of Toqio

The Toqio CTO reveals what people get wrong about embedded finance, her penchant for scaring people and why she…

Covid-19 created a cybersecurity boom: The Ukraine crisis will see it grow

First it was Covid-19 and remote working, now the war in Ukraine is driving the cybersecurity boom.

Verdict Magazine Issue 13: Ukraine’s impact on the tech community

Verdict Magazine Issue 13 is out now. Check out our Ukraine coverage and learn more about the future of…

How the Great Resignation made tech recruitment even more challenging

The Great Resignation has left tech workers wanting more out of work than big pay cheques and ping pong…

CTO Talk: Q&A with Kari Dempsey of Vaarst

Kari Dempsey, CTO at subsea company Vaarst, talks to Verdict about AI, climate change, mansplaining and more.

Does it matter that Visa and Mastercard have pulled out of Russia?

Visa and Mastercard have joined the wave of companies pulling out of Russia in support of the people in…

in3 bags $11.1m Series A to provide BNPL with a difference: “We don’t want to put people in debt”

The buy-now-pay-later sector is getting crowded, but Dutch in3 believes it can compete thanks to its social responsibility-focused product.

How Covid-19 created a massive fintech boom

Despite fears at the start of the pandemic, Covid-19 has proven to be a boon for fintech companies looking…

“Bitcoin is the biggest problem for blockchain” – Rockaway Blockchain Fund chief

Rockaway's managing partner believes bitcoin is holding back blockchain adoption, but not because ransomware gangs love it.

FinCEN warns cryptocurrencies could circumvent sanctions: Experts say it’s unlikely

FinCEN has warned that Russian individuals and entities may use cryptocurrencies to dodge sanctions, but experts believe that's unlikely.

Terrible SWIFT sword: War reactions and recent deals in fintech

Fintech community continues to raise investment despite war in Ukraine.

Elon Musk offers Starlink to Ukraine: The facts

Elon Musk has pledged to use his Starlink satellite network to support Ukraine. Gesture, or real help?

You heard it here first: Shares bags $40m in Series A round

Confirming Verdict's scoop from last week, shares-trading app Shares has secured $40m in a new funding round

“I’m not planning to die”: Ukraine’s besieged tech workers and the response from their colleagues around the world

The tech industry in Ukraine has grown despite the threat of Russian aggression. Now it's working hard to save…

CTO Talk: Q&A with Lars Knoll of The Qt Company

From tinkering with a Commodore 64 to leading one of Finland's biggest tech ventures, The Qt Company's Lars Knoll…

North America is seeing a hiring boom in tech industry machine learning roles

North America extended its dominance for machine learning hiring among tech industry companies in the three months ending December,…

Ukraine conflict: Anonymous declares cyberwar on Russia

Anonymous joining the worsening cyber conflict in Ukraine raises the risk of businesses being caught in the digital crossfire.

“Shields up:” How Putin’s war in Ukraine will hurt firms’ cybersecurity

Companies in nations opposing Russia's invasion of Ukraine must prepare for a cybersecurity backlash.

My Shares share-trading app won’t cause another meme stock frenzy, insists CEO

Shares combines Robinhood's trading with Reddit's social interactions. What could possibly go wrong?

Scalapay inks $497m Series B in beleaguered BNPL market

Scalapay plans to go big amidst regulatory crackdowns and plummeting BNPL stocks, but recruitment issues could hold it back.

Virgin Galactic began a long time ago and remains far, far away from profit

Richard Branson's "space" joyride operation Virgin Galactic has posted Q4 results not as bad as expected. But it's still…

CTO Talk: Q&A with Flavian Hautbois of Apricity

Virtual fertility clinic Apricity is part of the growing telemedicine market.

Weavr bags $40m to stake its claim in the $138bn embedded finance market

Weavr is the latest embedded finance startup to secure funding. Now it's eyeing the US market.

Russian finance ministry and central bank clash over how to police cryptocurrencies

Top Kremlin gremlins are arguing about whether Russia should ban cryptocurrencies. The nation's cyber thugs are surely watching closely.

Fintech community smells blood in water over Amazon’s “unsurprising” Visa deal

The new global deal between Amazon and Visa won't stop fintech startups from coming for incumbent players' lunch money.

We’re in the “death rattles” of cryptocurrencies, and the Ukraine crisis can’t save it

The Ukraine conflict will test bitcoin's standing as a safe haven asset, but analysts warn cryptocurrency wonks will be…

Supply chain investment boom continues: RELEX Solutions bags €500m round

RELEX Solutions securing €500m and a €5bn valuation highlights supply chain tech boom.

Indian central bank deputy chief says cryptocurrency is “worse than Ponzi schemes”

Shri T Rabi Sankar, deputy governor of India's Reserve Bank, has said that Ponzi schemes are actually superior to…

CTO Talk: Q&A with Grigory Bakunov of Parimatch Tech

In the latest Q&A in our weekly CTO Talk series, Grigory Bakunov reveals why he's excited about Web3.

Semiconductor supply chain data: Record production but demand keeps rising

The latest semiconductor supply chain figures show production surging, but demand continues to climb and some see problems persisting.

Where the metaverse is already reality: Will gaming finally go Cloud in 2022?

The metaverse is here - in gaming. But will that reality finally kickstart cloud gaming in 2022?

Supply chain tech startups have raised $7bn since 2018: Big winners from the crisis

Tech startups thrived during the coronavirus-induced supply chain crisis. So what happens when the pandemic ends?

Will South Korea’s $200bn finally make the immersive metaverse take off?

South Korea is raising the stakes in the metaverse, but will it be enough to save Meta's vision?

Turf war brewing? CFTC and SEC both want to be top cryptocurrency watchdog

The CFTC has proposed that it should play a central role in regulating cryptocurrencies amidst turf war rumours

Google sues South Korea regulators in Android anti-trust wrangle

Google is suing South Korea’s regulator to reverse a fine received for forcing phone manufacturers to use its Android…

Ocado shares fall as robot uprising fails in ROI terms

Ocado saw its shares fall steeply after financial results revealed pre-tax losses stemming from its robotics investments.

Amazon Care rolls out stateside as data reveals waning investor appetite for telemedicine

One year on from the Haven collapse, Amazon Care to roll out across the States just as investor backing…

CTO Talk: Madalina Tanasie of Collibra talks data

Big data unicorn Collibra is riding high on the governance boom. Get the data.

India has been pursuing 5G for almost a decade. So why isn’t it here yet?

India has been planning its 5G rollout for years, but it keeps being delayed. The latest news is that…

SoftBank to take Arm public as Nvidia deal finally collapses

SoftBank will bring chip design subsidiary Arm public following the collapse of its troubled acquisition deal with Nvidia.

Digital currencies: How to be more China, less El Salvador

Verdict presents a roundtable of views on how digital currencies can be implemented and the likely future for cryptocurrencies…

Tough break, Son: SoftBank looks to sell Alibaba shares as Arm deal bogs down

Alibaba registered one billion American depositary shares (ADS) on Friday, in a sign that a troubled SoftBank may be…

Snap recovers after ad-business hit from Apple privacy: Meta fails to

Social media companies Meta (formerly known as Facebook) and Snap both recorded quarterly results this week, but the privacy…

Cryptocurrency winter is coming: “Meme coins will die”

Is another cryptocurrency winter coming? Investors and analysts increasingly warn about the possibility that this is the case. They…

Data map shows world’s nations embracing digital currencies, as India announces e-rupee

India’s finance minister has announced plans to launch a central bank-run blockchain version of the rupee in the next…

CTO Talk: Q&A with Victor Palau of Ebury

Victor Palau is the CTO of Ebury, a fintech startup enabling people to send instant cross-border payments. The foreign…

Bitstamp CEO and Starling old COO: “Cryptocurrencies are the new neobanks”

Bitstamp CEO on why cryptocurrencies are the new neobanks, how Starling was like after Tom Blomfield was fired and…

The 10 big fintech funding rounds in January you need to note

January was a strange month for fintech deals. As with other tech stocks, the financial sector has taken a…

Vodafone teams up with Intel to boost OpenRAN plans: Where does that leave Nokia?

Is Vodafone’s relationship with network suppliers Nokia and Ericsson set to change? Telecoms watchers may ask themselves that question…

Semiconductor supply chain pain: Tim Cook, SK Hynix, analysts see an end in 2022, others beg to differ

Tech titans are still feeling the pain of ongoing semiconductor supply chain shortages in their quarterly results, but some…

Semiconductor landscape shifts as China approves AMD-Xilinx mega deal

Chinese regulators have given approval for chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to acquire US chip company Xilinx for $35bn,…

The soaraway BNPL industry must win the public’s trust to keep growing

Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) players aim to disrupt the business of traditional credit cards, but to do this the BNPL industry…

How to predict the unpredictable: Doing business in China in 2022

To say that 2021 has been an eventful year for businesses in China would be an understatement. Apart from…

Binance conduct branded “unacceptable” by Ontario securities regulator

Prominent cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been reprimanded by authorities in Canada’s Ontario province for telling users that it was…

Happy new year! Celebrate by checking out Verdict’s Top 10 stories from 2021

The Verdict team has been hard at work throughout 2021, bringing you the tech business news and always trying…

The AI dragon soars in winter: SenseTime in 23% Hong Kong IPO share surge

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company SenseTime has seen its share price jump more than 20% on its first day…

More chip supply troubles: Samsung forced to “adjust operations” in Xi’an due to Covid lockdown

South Korean tech giant Samsung says it has been forced to reduce chip production in the Chinese city of…

CTO Talk: Q&A with Juniper Networks’ Raj Yavatkar

Raj Yavatkar is CTO of Juniper Networks, the networking solutions developer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Yavatkar is responsible for…

China continues taming its ecommerce market with new app rules as Spring Festival nears

The Chinese government continues its crackdown on the ecommerce and social media industries. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC)…

‘Tis the fight before Christmas: Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk pour scorn on “Web3” dreams

If you thought 2021 had seen enough technology hype and froth from NFTs and the metaverse, you’d probably forgotten…

Fast Fail: McDonald’s sells off AI operation

McDonalds’ loss is Mastercard’s gain, as it’s been announced that the fast food stalwart will sell off its AI…

Sorry not good enough for China as Intel scrubs Xinjiang references

Chip colossus Intel has deleted references to Xinjiang from a controversial annual letter it had sent to suppliers. The…

New Luxshare plant in China: Upsetting the Apple supply chain applecart

Luxshare Precision Industry, a new key player in the Apple supply chain, has recently broken ground on an 11bn…

“Prepare for lack of electricity” in 2022 says Foxconn founder

The founder and director of Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, Terry Gou, has said that “there…

C-suite executives reveal how a CTO can avoid disaster over the holidays

The festive holidays are upon us, when staff leave can easily become a nightmare at Christmas for a CTO…

Sidewalk Labs folds back into Google. Have “smart cities” had their day?

Sidewalk Labs, the embattled urban planning subsidiary of Alphabet, is officially folding back into Google as its CEO steps…

Get set, GoTo: Alibaba announces $100bn plan to dominate SE Asian ecommerce

Chinese tech giant Alibaba said it wants to expand its Southeast Asian ecommerce platform Lazada to reach a gross…

Not for the faint of heart: Expert cryptocurrency predictions for 2022

Making predictions about where the cryptocurrency industry is heading in 2022 is not for the faint of heart. The…

Reddit files for confidential IPO: What you need to know

Social media platform Reddit has announced that it has filed for a confidential initial public offering (IPO), but has…

Analysis: CIOs should be worried by Grindr’s Norwegian dating data fine

The Norwegian data regulator has slammed Grindr with a $7.14m fine for violating privacy rules: and such fines are…

Caught between banks and online shopping: Fintech predictions for 2022

The fintech industry has grown tremendously over the past few years at a breakneck pace that has only been…

CTO Talk: Q&A with HealthHero’s Richard Haigh

Richard Haigh is the CTO at digital health platform HealthHero. Founder and CEO Ranjan Singh founded the startup in…

New data underlines Southeast Asian fintech boom

South and Southeast Asian consumers have definitely caught the fintech bug, with new research revealing that downloads of banking…

Google to allow for third-party payments in South Korea: Apple is slowly following suit

40 Buy-Now-Pay-Later companies you need to know about

The buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) industry is booming, but keeping abreast of all the players in the industry is far from…

New crypto index will attract circumspect investors

FTSE Russell, the London Stock Exchange subsidiary that produces the FTSE 100, announced on December 6 that it will…

We the Animals review: An unrestrained, evocative journey

In 2018, the film adaptation of Justin Torres’ semi-autobiographical novel We the Animals premiered at the Sundance Film Festival,…

The Wandering Earth: Making 2019 “year zero for Chinese science-fiction blockbusters”

When moviegoers think of Asian science-fiction cinema, most will relate to Japanese animes such as Akira and Ghost in…

Monsters and Men review: An evocative yet honest take on police brutality

Marking the debut directorial feature of Reinaldo Marcus Green, Monsters and Men revolves around how three different men in…