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☆ This Sequoia-backed startup bringing a form of buy now, pay later to B2B payments just raised $19.3 million. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck Two used to land the funds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sequoia-backed payments startup Two just raised $19.3 million in a Series A round. The Oslo-based company plans to bring a version of buy now, pay later to B2B transactions. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck Two used to land the fresh cash below. A Sequoia-backed startup that wants to bring a version of the buy now, pay later model to B2B transactions just raised $19.3 million in fresh funds. Two's solution is to effectively offer a form of buy now, pay later for B2B payments to both small and medium-sized businesses and multinational corporations.

☆ Factbox: Four-day working week: some are seeing a win-win
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Mark John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Whether they will have the longevity of France's landmark 35-hour working week bill, enshrined into law in 2000, remains to be seen. The country's telecom giant Telefonica separately offered its employees a four-day week - but in exchange for a 12% pay cut. ITALY - Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo last year offered staff the option of a four-day working week on the same salary from this January, the first such move by a major Italian employer. Travel company Nordic Visitor, with offices in Iceland, Scotland and Sweden, reduced the working week to 35 hours from 40. Consumer goods giant Unilever has also experimented with a four-day working week for local staff.

[1/2] U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu arrive at a meeting in Ankara, Turkey February 20, 2023. REUTERS/Cagla GurdoganANKARA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday Washington strongly supports Sweden and Finland's quick NATO accession given steps they have already taken, even as his Turkish counterpart stressed the need for more concrete action. The Nordic countries' NATO bids have been stalled because Turkey has refused to ratify them, saying Stockholm in particular has harboured what it calls members of terrorist groups. "If they take steps that convince our parliament and people, there could be a development in this direction," he added. Sweden and Finland applied last year to join the trans-Atlantic defence pact after Russia invaded Ukraine, but faced unexpected objections from Turkey.

☆ Bavarian Nordic to buy travel vaccine portfolio for up to $380 mln
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 15 (Reuters) - Danish pharmaceuticals company Bavarian Nordic (BAVA.CO) has agreed to buy a portfolio of travel vaccines from Emergent BioSolutions Inc (EBS.N) for up to $380 million, it said on Wednesday after delivering an upbeat outlook for 2023. The company said it would acquire a typhoid fever vaccine, one against cholera and a Chikungunya virus treatment that is in Phase III trials. Bavarian Nordics makes the only approved mpox vaccine and started receiving massive orders last year as the virus became a global issue. The company expects 2023 revenue of about 6 billion Danish crowns ($863 million) against the 3.15 billion crowns in preliminary 2022 results, with 4.4 billion crowns coming from mpox and smallpox vaccined contracts alone. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are expected to reach 2.2 billion crowns this year, up from 329 million crowns in the preliminary results for 2022.

☆ Norwegian payment app Vipps takes on Apple, wants EU antitrust action
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Norwegian mobile payment app Vipps wants European Union (EU) antitrust regulators to force Apple (AAPL.O) to allow access to its tap and go technology without any restrictions so that other companies can be more competitive, Vipps Chief Executive Rune Garborg said. "Apple is only sharing NFC with banks, which have to pay for installing their cards in Apple Pay. Vipps said NFC access would increase the geographical reach of its mobile wallet, make it easier to innovate products and better enable cross-border transactions. The company has previously said that Apple Pay is one of many options available to European consumers and which has ensured equal access to its technology. Vipps said it tried several alternatives to NFC but found them cumbersome and not competitive.

☆ EU leaders agree targeted, temporary support for green industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Philip Blenkinsop | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Feb 10 (Reuters) - European Union leaders agreed on Friday they should allow "targeted, temporary and proportionate" support to ensure Europe's future as a manufacturing base for green tech products and counter U.S. and Chinese competition. The European Commission has proposed loosening rules on state aid for investments in renewable energy, decarbonising industry, hydrogen or zero-emission vehicles, partly in response to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). EU leaders have expressed concern that local content requirements of much of the $369 billion of subsidies in the IRA have will encourage companies to abandon Europe for the United States. The International Energy Agency estimates the global market for mass-produced clean energy technologies will triple to $650 billion a year by 2030. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said they would be presented before the next time EU leaders meet on March 22-23.

[1/2] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses lawmakers of his AK Party during a meeting in parliament in Ankara, Turkey, January 18, 2023. The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) also condemned the incidents in Sweden and said they would serve Erdogan's re-election campaign. But Erdogan said this week that Sweden could no longer expect Turkey's support for its NATO bid, and Ankara cancelled a planned trilateral meeting. Washington, Stockholm and Helsinki had hoped Ankara would ratify the NATO bids before Turkey's election. While Erdogan's government backs the Nordics' NATO bid with conditions, his political opponents had been more supportive - before the Stockholm incidents.

☆ Right-wing Quran burning in Sweden enrages Turkey and throws a new wrench in Nordics’ NATO bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Rasmus Paludan holds a burning Koran outside of the Turkish embassy on January 21, 2023 in Stockholm, Sweden. Jonas Gratzer | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesOn Saturday, far-right demonstrators burned a Quran and chanted anti-Muslim slogans in front of Turkey's embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. Several media outlets and independent journalist gather to see Rasmus Paludan stage a Koran burning outside the Turkish embassy on January 21, 2023 in Stockholm, Sweden. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson reportedly denounced the protest as an act of "sabotage" against the country's NATO membership bid. Nonetheless, he expressed confidence that Turkey would approve his country's NATO bid.

[1/3] People with their dogs enjoy the sun in front of the sea during unseasonably warm temperatures in Malaga, southern Spain, January 4, 2023. Property purchases by foreigners increased by 62% from a year earlier in the region of Andalusia, which includes Malaga, in the first half of 2022, according to the Centre for Statistical Information of Notaries. The local government last year eliminated a wealth tax that obliges residents and non-residents to pay income tax on money held abroad. Citigroup (C.N) announced in March 2022 plans to open a hub for junior investment bankers in the city, offering what it said was "a better equilibrium between work and private life to attract young talent". Additional reporting by Jesus Aguado; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ This startup is taking on Tesla with its integrated solar roof tiles. SunRoof used this 9-slide pitch deck to raise $14.6 million from investors.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Solar panel startup SunRoof just raised 13.5 million euros (around $14.6 million) in fresh funds. The Swedish company, founded in 2013, is taking on Tesla's Solar Roof energy system. We got an exclusive look at the 9-slide pitch deck SunRoof used to raise the extension round. A startup taking on Tesla's Solar Roof has just raised a 13.5 million euros (around $14.6 million) extension round to fuel its growth. Swedish company SunRoof provides integrated solar roof tiles to offer homeowners as a slick alternative to mounted solar panels, which it claims are also more efficient and environmentally friendly than those of its competitors.

☆ Crypto exchange Binance registers in Sweden
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

STOCKHOLM, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Sweden's financial watchdog said on Thursday it had registered crypto exchange Binance this week as a financial institute in the country. Binance accounts for over half the global crypto trading market. The core of the company's business, the giant Binance.com exchange, last year processed trades worth over $22 trillion. A Reuters analysis in December of Binance's corporate filings in 14 jurisdictions showed that the Binance.com exchange remains mostly hidden from public view. Binance said in a statement shared on Thursday by its CEO on Twitter that with the latest registration, Swedish residents can legally access services including crypto trading and withdrawing and depositing euros on the exchange.

☆ Germany ups reliance on Huawei for 5G despite security fears -survey
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Sarah Marsh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Many European countries have banned Chinese companies from all or part of their 5G networks on security grounds, amid intense diplomatic pressure from the United States. Germany, home to operators like Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE) and O2 (O2Dn.DE), passed an IT security law two years ago setting high hurdles for makers of telecommunications equipment for the "critical components" of 5G networks. The German network agency referred Reuters to regulation that shows differentiated treatment for core and RAN components. The information security office did not reply to a request for comment on whether the high share of Chinese components could pose a security threat. A strategy paper by Germany's Greens-run economy ministry has recommended increased scrutiny of components from authoritarian states in critical infrastructure.

☆ Arctic data cable linking Europe to Japan secures first investment
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Anne Kauranen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The subsea cable, which the developers say will be the first to be laid on the Arctic seabed, will connect Europe and Japan via North America as part of the global internet infrastructure. An earlier plan to run the cable along the Russian Arctic coastline, in a venture with Russia's second-biggest mobile phone operator Megafon (MFON.MM), was cancelled last year. This was due to Russia's increased reluctance to authorise the cable being laid in its territorial area, Finland's Cinia, the company leading the Far North Fiber consortium, said. Far North Fiber is a joint venture between Cinia, U.S.-based Far North Digital and Japan's Arteria Networks (4423.T). Far North Fiber gave no value for the investment but a source said one pair of fibres was worth around 100 million euros, with a further 100 million in maintenance costs required throughout its 30-year lifespan.

☆ Meet the brands that won on TikTok in 2022 (and have the results to prove it)
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Tiktok For Business With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Launched in May 2022, TikTok for Business Europe created an awards program to showcase the brands and agencies who were embracing the platform, and had incredible results to show for it. Together, these brands give a masterclass on what it takes to succeed on TikTok, showcasing campaign strategies and ad solutions that drive remarkable results. Videos were set up as In-Feed Ads on TikTok, geo-targeted specifically to 14 cities, inviting the TikTok community to visit them along the tour. In partnership with NewScreen, Back Market partnered with three TikTok creators who each leaned into a different environmental issue: water usage, CO2 consumption, and the use of raw materials. Unieuro perfectly showcased the power of creator-driven, native content and the impact of boosting creative as In-Feed Ads to maximize reach and engagement with the TikTok community.

☆ Paramount Global shares slide as results miss and TV revenue falls
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Paramount Global on Wednesday reported $6.92 billion in revenue for its third quarter, an increase of 5% year-over-year. Yet the company's results missed expectations as it suffered from cord cutting and a drop in advertising revenue. Advertising revenue for the segment also dropped, a sign that macroeconomic headwinds are beginning to hit. Paramount said advertising revenue for its TV networks was down 3% to about $1.9 billion. The company noted it also restructured some of its international affiliate TV agreements during the quarter, which shifted revenue from pay-TV services to streaming.

☆ Gas business helps Italy's Eni to beat expectations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Francesca Landini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Adjusted net profit in the period came in at 3.73 billion euros ($3.72 billion), soaring from 1.43 billion euros a year ago, and beating a 3.21 billion euro consensus. The state-controlled group raised its full-year expectations for the gas & LNG division and for the downstream business. "Eni has reported strong numbers this morning, with adjusted EBIT and net income coming in ahead of consensus," analysts from RBC Europe said. REPLACING RUSSIAEni will replace at least 50% of its Russian gas supply this winter, leveraging its broad and diversified reserve base, its long-standing relationships with producing countries and a growing presence in liquefied natural gas (LNG), it said. Looking at the different businesses of the group, the gas and LNG division stands out.

☆ Europe now has so much natural gas that prices just dipped below zero
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN Business —Europe has more natural gas than it knows what to do with. Now, EU gas storage facilities are close to full, tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) are lining up at ports, unable to unload their cargoes, and prices are tumbling. The price of benchmark European natural gas futures has dropped 20% since last Thursday, and by more than 70% since hitting a record high in late August. Prices turned negative because of an “oversupplied grid,” Tomas Marzec-Manser, head of gas analytics at the Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS), told CNN Business. The bloc has ramped up imports of LNG from the United States and Qatar as natural gas imports from Russia plummeted.

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