December 31, 2025

Why Young Entrepreneurs Are Flocking to Franchising — and What It Means for Your Brand

Younger entrepreneurs are reshaping the franchising landscape, bringing technology fluency, a desire for purpose-driven work and a fresh approach to business ownership.

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The Download: shipping China’s EVs, and new greener magnets

January 31, 2024
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Why the world’s biggest EV maker is getting into shipping Earlier this month, a massive ship picked up over 5,000 electric cars from two ports in northern and southern China. Five days later,…

Despite glimmers of profit, most African neobanks remain in the red

January 31, 2024

It was only just over a year ago that McKinsey described Africa’s financial technology landscape as a “hotbed for investment.” Fast forward to today, and startups on the continent are facing many of the same problems plaguing fintechs in more mature markets like the U.K. and the U.S.: valuations are tanking, growth is flagging, revenue targets […]

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Speedinvest closes fourth fund at $380 million to back early-stage startups in Europe

January 31, 2024

Vienna-based early-stage VC Speedinvest has closed its fourth early-stage fund, Speedinvest 4, at €350 million (around $380 million at today’s exchange rate), surpassing the initial goal of €300 million ($325 million). This follows the final €50 million close supported by several new institutional investors including, Aviva, PwC Germany, Bitburger, ODDO BHF, and Abeille Assurances Ventures. […]

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5,000 or Bust! is New Stock Market Slogan

January 31, 2024
The S&P 500 (SPY) is adding to the gains from 2023 early in the new year. However, not every group is participating. In fact, small and mid caps are in…

India’s central bank orders Paytm’s Payments Bank to stop accepting customer deposits

January 31, 2024

The Reserve Bank of India has directed Paytm’s Payments Bank to cease deposits, credit transactions and top-ups in customer accounts, prepaid instruments and wallets after February 29 in new strict penalties after the central bank found the firm to be in non-compliance with an earlier embargo. Wednesday’s move follows the Indian central bank ordering Paytm […]

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Why BYD is breaking into shipping

January 31, 2024
This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. For people who have been watching BYD for a long time, it won’t be surprising that the company has just ventured into a new field.  The Chinese electric-vehicle maker has been particularly…

How new magnets could accelerate climate action

January 31, 2024
The motor in your vacuum cleaner and the one in your electric vehicle likely have at least one thing in common: they both rely on powerful permanent magnets to function. And the materials for those magnets could soon be in short supply.  Permanent magnets can maintain a magnetic field on their own without an electric…