EMEA

Cryptocurrency
Retail Transactions Boost Crypto Adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa
October 03, 2022

A recent analysis of global cryptocurrency transactions by Chainalysis sheds light on the unique nature of Sub-Saharan Africa’s crypto market, which represented just 2% of global activity between July 2021 and June 2022. For example, although large transactions fueled by investors and financial institutions helped...

emea
EMEA Daily: PayU-BillDesk Deal Collapses at Last Minute; Italian Court Cancels $169M Fine Against Apple,...
October 03, 2022

Today in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Dutch technology firm Prosus announced that it has cancelled a planned takeover that would have seen its FinTech arm PayU merge with the Indian payment firm BillDesk. In Italy, a court has overruled a $169 million...

Acquisitions
PayU-BillDesk Deal Collapses at Last Minute
October 03, 2022

Dutch technology investment giant Prosus has canceled its subsidiary PayU’s $4.7 billion acquisition of Indian digital payments processor BillDesk, saying conditions of the deal had not been met. In a Monday (Oct. 3) announcement on its website, Prosus said that “certain conditions precedent were not...

Delivery
Deliveroo Opens First Physical Grocery Store in London
October 03, 2022

Deliveroo is opening its first brick-and-mortar grocery store as the rapid delivery service attempts to expand its offerings. “The grocery store offers customers a new way to shop, with customers able to shop in-store by ordering through digital kiosks; ordering via the Deliveroo app for...

Acquisitions
Société Générale Set to Acquire Majority Stake in PayXpert
October 03, 2022

French multinational financial services company Société Générale announced Monday (Oct. 3) that it is to acquire a majority stake in PayXpert. The final acquisition remains subject to the approval of the relevant authorities, according to a press release. Neither party has revealed the value of...

Meta
Irish Regulator Submits Draft Decision in Facebook Data Breach
October 03, 2022

Taking the next step in its inquiry into a data breach of Meta’s Facebook platform, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has submitted a draft decision to other concerned supervisory authorities across the European Union (EU).  As outlined in Article 60 of the EU’s General...

Legal
Italian Court Cancels $169M Fine Against Apple, Amazon
October 03, 2022

An Italian court has overruled a $169 million (€173 million) fine that the country’s antitrust authority levied against Apple and Amazon. That’s according to a report Monday (Oct. 3) from Reuters, which noted the figure had come down from the Italian Competition Authority’s original $225...

Artificial Intelligence
Lemonade Launches AI-Powered Contents Insurance in UK
October 03, 2022

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered insurance company Lemonade has launched in the United Kingdom and now offers contents insurance to residents across the U.K. Lemonade now operates in five countries, after previous launches in the United States, France, Germany and the Netherlands, according to a Monday (Oct....

Digital-First Banking
Banking License Puts Profitability Within Reach for UAE Neobanks
October 03, 2022

If the Middle East was late to the neobank party, the United Arab Emirates, at least, is making strides toward the future of digital banking. In an interview with Jayesh Patel, CEO at UAE-based neobank Wio Bank, he said that the new platform emerged out...

eCommerce
Amazon Says UK Seller Roster Grew 25% in 2021
October 02, 2022

The number of small- and medium-sized businesses in Britain selling over Amazon increased by more than 25 percent in 2021 — a growth rate far exceeding those posted by businesses in Germany, France or Italy. The 85,000 small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United...