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AccorHotels acquires Onefinestay for $170m, Whatsapp encryption & more in your Week in Tech

This week we’re bringing your Week in Tech from TechHub London.

Investments

Origami Energy has closed a £13.7m Series A round. The Cambridge-based tech company aims to create a real-time marketplace for a distributed energy world.

London-based on-demand delivery service Jinn has picked up $7.5m. Jinn is a same-hour delivery app that promises to ‘shop on your behalf’ it will use the funding to expand to more UK cities and Southern Europe.

Travel tech startup Edge Retreats has raised $1m in seed funding.

Accor Hotels has acquired Onefinestay for $170m. AccorHotels has also committed to making a £50m investment into the startup over the next few years in order to help it scale internationally.

Barclays and Apple Pay

Barclays has joined Apple Pay and its customers can start using it just nine months after the launch of the service in the UK.

It has no intention of following up with Samsung pay and Android pay when they come to the UK later this year.

Whatsapp Encryption

Whatsapp has implemented end to end encryption for its one billion users.

Encryption prevents anyone else from being able to intercept messages and only the group or person receiving the message can access it.

Hackers, cyber criminals and even law enforcers will be prevented from accessing your private messages.

Its a big step for privacy and Amnesty International called the move a “huge victory” for free speech.

Download of the Week

Our Download of the Week is Circle, Circle is a social payments app that lets people send and receive money for free using existing bank accounts and cards.

Its the first time that blockchain technology will be available in the UK to transfer value in pounds anywhere in the world – without having to exchange or hold bitcoin.

Circle has received an e-money licence from the Financial Conduct Authority and is being backed by Barclays.

And Finally

And finally, can a robot make you aroused?

Californian researchers have found that an intimate caress of a humanoid robot can produce a physiological response in a human.

Forget Tinder, a date with a robot could be next.

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