Category:

Technology

German ‘insurtech’ Wefox raises $650 mln at valuation of $3 bln

Wefox founder and CEO Julian Teicke told Reuters the Series C round had drawn strong investor demand because Wefox was growing both rapidly and more profitably than rival online insurers that are losing money.

He put that down to Wefox’s strategy of offering digital tools that enable insurance agents to streamline and automate labor intensive processes. Agents sell nine out of every 10 policies in Europe, leaving direct-to-consumer competitors like Lemonade fighting for a smaller piece of the market.

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Biden budget sets aside $750 mln for SolarWinds response

The money comes on top of a $500 million fund for federal cybersecurity as the U.S. government recovers from the cyber attack that hit nine agencies including the State Department and Treasury.
The hack of information technology company SolarWinds, which was identified in December, gave access to thousands of companies and government offices that used its products. Microsoft President Brad Smith described the attack as “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen”.

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Paytm board grants in-principle approval for around Rs 22,000 crore IPO

It is likely to be one of the largest IPOs in India if the company is able to achieve the target as per its plan. Paytm shareholders include Alibaba’s Ant Group (29.71 per cent), Softbank Vision Fund (19.63 per cent), Saif Partners (18.56 per cent), Vijay Shekhar Sharma (14.67 per cent). AGH Holding, T Rowe Price and Discovery Capital, Berkshire Hathaway hold less than 10 per cent stake in the company.

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