Hello and welcome to The Week in Tech, your weekly roundup of the top technology news from across the UK.
This week, we bring you the latest on Apple’s acquisition of Shazam, Uber’s latest license loss and more.
Investments
Senseye closes £3.5m Series A
Southampton-based Senseye Limited, a predictive maintenance software firm, raised £3.5m in a Series A led by MMC Ventures.
Senseye also drew support from Breed Reply, IQ Capital and Momenta Partners.
“We’re delighted to have secured the right capital and strategic partners to help us to accelerate our success,” said Senseye CEO Dr Simon Kampa, who co-founded the company in 2014.
“We’re confidently on the way to making unplanned machine downtime a thing of the past and leading an emerging $5bn market.”
Senseye will use the cash to continue rolling out its automated diagnostics and prognostics product, which enables users to predict machine failure before it happens.
Intechnica Limited nabs £5m
Manchester-based software firm Intechnica Limited raised £5m.
The company, which offers scalable software solutions to help customers manage surges in website traffic and helps remove unwanted traffic from bots, crawlers and spiders, received £3.5m from Mercia Technologies.
The round includes a £1.3m convertible loan facility provided by Mercia, which now owns a 24.3% stake in the business.
Intechnica will use the cash to scale its TrafficDefender product range, bolster its sales and marketing resources and expand overseas.
The firm is already working with Ted Baker, ao.com, Pets at Home and Abis.
Amicable’s raise
Amicable, a platform which seeks to make it easier and cheaper for couples to divorce, raised £473,260.
The startup, co-founded by investor and entrepreneur Pip Wilson, received the support of various business angels including Richard Stone and Tom Welch from Stone Welch Capital.
Wilson, who set up the venture alongside Kate Daly, said the investment will be used to continue developing the platform and to expand customer reach.
Pace’s Seed
Pace, a London startup which leverages machine learning in a bid to maximise hotels’ revenues and occupancy, closed a £2.5m Seed led by InterGlobe.
Seedcamp, Speedinvest and Amadeus Capital Partners also invested in the round.
Set up last year, Pace automates pricing so it responds to demand and price sensitivity.
The startup is currently working in closed beta with 20 properties across five markets, including Prague’s Emblem Hotel and the Teleport Hotels in Amsterdam and Hague.
Pace was co-founded by Jens Munch, John-Paul Clarke and Jason Pinto.
Paddle gets $12.5m Series B
Software startup Paddle closed a $12.5m Series B led by Notion Capital.
Existing investors BGF Ventures and Kindred Capital also participated in the round.
The startup also drew investment from MacPaw, a software development company and creator of DevMate, a development and distribution kit, which merged with Paddle earlier this year.
As a result of the investment, Chrys Chrysanthou, a partner at Notion, has joined Paddle’s board.
Apple buys Shazam
Apple has confirmed its rumoured acquisition of London-based tech company Shazam.
The tech giant hasn’t disclosed the terms of the acquisition, but reports have previously pegged the price at £300m ($395m).
Shazam, set up 18 years ago, was once valued at $1bn. The firm raised $143.5m to date and backers include Kleiner Perkins and DN Capital.
Apple said in a statement: “We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple. Since the launch of the App Store, Shazam has consistently ranked as one of the most popular apps for iOS. Today, it’s used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, across multiple platforms.
“Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement,” it added.
Uber’s license loss
Uber has lost its license to operate in York after members of the city Council’s Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee decided the firm was not fit and proper.
The firm’s current 12-month license to operate in the city is due to expire on 24th December.
A spokesperson for the Council told The Yorkshire Post: “The application by Uber Britannia Ltd to renew its private hire operator’s licence in York has been considered by City of York Council’s Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee tonight.
“Applying the legislation, the committee has decided to refuse the application having concerns about a data breach currently under investigation and the number of complaints received.”
Russia’s Facebook ads
US tech giant Facebook has said its investigation into Russia’s meddling in the UK’s Brexit referendum only amounted to three adverts.
Micro-blogging site Twitter has said its own investigation revealed that six adverts promoting referendum-related content on its platform were linked to Russian sources.
The Electoral Commission has asked to see the data and an MP has said he is not happy with Facebook’s response.