Welcome to NEO’s weekly tech monitoring. Here are this week’s key developments from the food and mobility tech industries:
- Uber’s new electric vehicle service launches in London today, in a move the ridesharing company hopes will help reduce emissions and drive a green recovery to the Covid-19 crisis. (Intelligent Transport)
- Uber is one of the best reopening trades available as the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines sparks a rebound in bookings of 24 percent this year, according to Jefferies. (CNBC)
- Glovo, the Spanish delivery app, has raised 450 million euros ($528 million) in a fundraising round that will help it expand its quick-delivery service and grocery operations in Europe. (Bloomberg)
- Deliveroo shares plunged around 30% after the London Stock Exchange opened Wednesday. The food delivery app — founded and led by American entrepreneur and former Morgan Stanley analyst Will Shu — has become one of the best-known start-ups in the U.K. But Deliveroo has been plagued by worries over the risks to its business model if regulators crack down on the gig economy. (CNBC)
- Just Eat said on Tuesday it would hire some 4,000 riders in Italy in order to comply with a decision by an Italian prosecutor aimed at improving conditions for workers of the gig economy. (Reuters)
- Australia may take another small step in the switch to electric cars if an ambitious $40 million plan by the ride-hailing rental startup Splend to transition its fleet takes off. The company has said it will swap its petrol-driven cars in the UK for 1,000 electric vehicles by the end of the year, with half the 1,500 vehicles in Australia to follow by the end of 2022. (The Guardian)
- Biden’s push for electric cars: $174 billion, 10 years and a bit of luck. The U.S. president is hoping to make electric vehicles more affordable to turn a niche product into one with mass appeal. (NYT)
- Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is joining the electric vehicle gold rush, pledging to pour $10 billion into building a smart car over the next decade. The Beijing-based company said on Tuesday that it would put in Rmb10bn ($1.5bn) to its initial phase of investment, without specifying a time period. (Financial Times)
- Iron-powered electric vehicles (EVs) are surging in China, but concerns remain about their range and cold-weather performance. A low-cost battery touted by Elon Musk is disrupting the electric-vehicle business in China, grabbing nearly half of the market and spurring the rise of more affordable EVs. (Wall Street Journal)
- Alexander Vysotsky, Director of Public Policy at Yandex.Taxi, explains why governments should be harnessing the experience and know-how of private tech companies in their bid to implement efficient Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions across the world. (Intelligent Transport)