Danish fintech platform Pleo raises $150M in latest funding round, valued at $1.7 billion

On Tuesday, Pleo, a Danish fintech platform which offers expense management tool and smart company cards, said it had raised $150 million from U.S. investment firms Bain Capital Ventures and Thrive Capital in its latest funding round which valued it around $1.7 billion. The company has more than 17,000 customers across Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the…

German IT company, Fiducia & GAD IT AG, under Distributed Denial of Service attack

On Friday, a German IT company that serves many cooperative banks said, it was experiencing continued distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks throughout the night. In a statement, “Fiducia & GAD IT AG said, the DDoS attacks started on Thursday morning, shutting down or hindering the websites of some cooperative banks in parts of the country”. While…

Micromobility provider Bolt undercuts peers with e-scooter rollout in nine-inner German cities

On Tuesday, Estonian start-up Bolt launched electric scooter services in nine German cities saying it was its biggest and most challenging rollout to date. Bolt will offer rides for as little as $0.06 (0.05 euros) per minute with no unlocking fees, in a market that sees peers charging typically 1 euro per trip plus 15-25…

Germany gathers speed in green financing norms

In a significant development, a strategic plan by the German government sees offshoots in new green financing norms aimed at steering capital towards environmental projects and developing Germany into a leading hub for sustainable finance. The Sustainable Finance Strategy which plans on listing 26 individual measures is scheduled to be adopted by the cabinet on…

TSMC will prioritize auto chips if possible

On Monday, in a statement Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) stated, it will prioritize production of auto chips if it is able to further boost production, said Taiwan’s Economics Ministry after Minister Wang Mei-hua spoke to senior company executives. On Sunday, TSMC had told the ministry that they will “optimise” the production process of…

German agrees 100% depreciation of digital assets as part of economic stimulus measure

According to a statement from German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, Germany will provide an annual tax relief of around 2.3 billion euros as part of part of a new measure to support purchases of digital assets, including computer software hardware. German state government and the federal government agreed on Tuesday, that digital assets could be…

Autonomous cars to hit the market after 2025: VW CEO Herbert Diess

In an interview, to Germany’s Wirtschaftswoche weekly magazine, Herbert Diess, Volkswagen’s CEO stated the carmaker expects autonomous vehicles to be ready for sale between 2025 and 2030. Improvements in artificial intelligence, as well as improvements in the performance of computer chips are speeding up the development of autonomous vehicles. “It is foreseeable that the systems…

Amazon.com’s trade union Verdi’s 3 day strike does not cover Cyber Monday

In a significant development, trade union Verdi has called on workers at seven German Amazon warehouses to go on a three-day strike which coincides with the discount shopping event “Black Friday” on November 27. The strike is scheduled to begin with Wednesday’s night shift, said Verdi, which is demanding better working conditions and pay. Since…