Investment in the UK financial technology world plummeted by more than 20% last year to the lowest levels since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as backers hesitated on macroeconomic risks and flocked to US opportunities. UK fintech investment totaled almost $11 billion last year, down from about $13.4 billion in 2024, according to a KPMG report on Wednesday, which cited Pitchbook data on globa...
Investment in the UK financial technology world plummeted by more than 20% last year to the lowest levels since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as backers hesitated on macroeconomic risks and flocked to US opportunities. UK fintech investment totaled almost $11 billion last year, down from about $13.4 billion in 2024, according to a KPMG report on Wednesday, which cited Pitchbook data on global mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital. A total of 418 deals dedicated to fintechs in the UK closed last year, down from 527 in 2024. Revolut Ltd. ’s blockbuster fundraising at a valuation of $75 billion last year made up a significant chunk of all fintech investment in the UK last year, with the London-headquartered firm raising around $4 billion in total, according to the report. Revolut has been looking to hire more staff to run secondary share sales and raise capital after successfully handling multiple complex transactions on its own. Read More: Revolut Boosting Team That Runs Share Sales Without Wall Street UK firms still attracted more funding than those in France, Germany, Belgium, the Nordics, Ireland, China and Brazil combined. But the market trailed behind the US, which accounted for $56.6 billion across almost 2,000 deals. Total global fintech funding hit $116 billion, up from $95.5 billion in 2024, according to the report. There was a particular surge in mergers and acquisitions across the fintech sector globally last year, with $55.4 billion worth of deals announced, up from $44.6 billion in 2024. Looking ahead, “while macroeconomic and geopolitical risks remain, the combination of stronger exit markets, greater regulatory clarity, and accelerating innovation provides a constructive foundation for sustained investment and long-term value creation,” said Karim Haji , global and UK head of financial services at accountancy firm KPMG . Investors are still most drawn to companies developing artificial intelligence solutions, despite concern...
On nights such as these it can feel as though football is choosing to remind you of its true nature. Which is, it turns out, the most gloriously perverse, slow-burn, 400‑miles‑from‑home, 10.15pm on a Tuesday, waving your arms in the air, gripped‑with‑final‑plot‑twist-ecstasy pursuit ever devised. For Manchester United’s travelling support this game must have felt like a slow-motion strangulation. ...
On nights such as these it can feel as though football is choosing to remind you of its true nature. Which is, it turns out, the most gloriously perverse, slow-burn, 400‑miles‑from‑home, 10.15pm on a Tuesday, waving your arms in the air, gripped‑with‑final‑plot‑twist-ecstasy pursuit ever devised. For Manchester United’s travelling support this game must have felt like a slow-motion strangulation. Your team have had two shots on target all night. They’re 1-0 down against relegation-haunted West Ham – 95 minutes have passed. Narratives are being muddled. Arcs of hope reined in. The ghosts of the Amorim era have begun to clank their chains at the edge of things. Maybe nothing is ever really solved. Maybe the sun does only set. Two minutes later, as the players trooped off the pitch, that same away end was still tumbling over itself, arms in the air, gripped with the familiar sense of outraged glee. Michael Carrick was free to stride back down the tunnel still looking like the taciturn ambassador of some minor Transylvanian city state, but with his reputation if anything enhanced by a show of late resilience. In between Benjamin Sesko had scored a goal that really was a thing of beauty. It was a brilliant finish, scored with a single decisive touch, his fourth in 27 minutes on the pitch. Mainly, it was great because it involved use of the sidle. Bryan Mbeumo crossed low from the right into a crowded penalty area. At which point Sesko, who is 6ft 5in, sidled past Axel Disasi. He sashayed. He snuck. A single long willowy leg shuffled in front of his man, the toe of his right boot snaking out and making perfect contact with the ball on the volley, flicking it in a perfect clean arc into the top corner, and even then doing it with a kind of nonchalance. Don’t mind me, I’m just going to sidle, yep, sidling now. Disasi reacted like he had been shot between the shoulder blades with a potato gun, collapsing to his knees in an attitude of disbelief, the victim of a sidling. Sesk...
Getty Images This article was co-produced by Jeff Hopkins. Introduction In our initial coverage of Nintendo ( NTDOY ) from October 2024, we detailed our investment thesis on the company's success, not just in the video gaming industry but also in leveraging their IP for significant revenue growth through other media and experiences. The purchase of a Nintendo gaming console has historically been t...
Getty Images This article was co-produced by Jeff Hopkins. Introduction In our initial coverage of Nintendo ( NTDOY ) from October 2024, we detailed our investment thesis on the company's success, not just in the video gaming industry but also in leveraging their IP for significant revenue growth through other media and experiences. The purchase of a Nintendo gaming console has historically been the golden ticket to access experiences with these iconic characters. Nintendo's franchises have always remained exclusive to their own hardware, outside of a select few titles on smartphones. Nintendo has fundamentally changed its cautious philosophy concerning its IP and decided that it would be leveraging its franchises in the form of movies, interactive theme parks, official retail stores and more. Market forces then pushed the stock price quicker than we anticipated as the Switch 2 became the fastest-selling video game console to ever hit the market. The momentum then shifted significantly after our latest coverage as the entire video game industry struggled through a historically tough month in November 2025. Data by YCharts We see several factors dampening the demand for Nintendo shares across global markets. While these risk factors have a short-term effect on the share price, we do not see them as fundamental existential risks to our Nintendo thesis in any way. Fear of the DRAM Cost Surge The impact of huge capital expenditures by the largest companies in the world as they compete for dominance in artificial intelligence cannot be understated. While Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said Tuesday that memory price rises were not significantly impacting results for the financial year, he said it could impact profitability if the component costs remain high over the long term. Nintendo primarily uses dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, in its consoles. This type of memory is suffering from shortages due to growing AI and data center demands. We have no reason to ...
ayo888/iStock via Getty Images 'Takaichi Effect' Pushed Nikkei to Record Levels The Nikkei 225 index has been moving sideways for almost 2 years around 40,000, as you can see from the following chart. Thanks to the economic agenda that Sanae Takaichi and her party pushed in 2025, the index finally broke out of this resistance level and pushed to 50,000 in early 2026. Now, with her victory in the c...
ayo888/iStock via Getty Images 'Takaichi Effect' Pushed Nikkei to Record Levels The Nikkei 225 index has been moving sideways for almost 2 years around 40,000, as you can see from the following chart. Thanks to the economic agenda that Sanae Takaichi and her party pushed in 2025, the index finally broke out of this resistance level and pushed to 50,000 in early 2026. Now, with her victory in the country’s snap election earlier this month, the index also shattered the 50,000 psychological level and kept creating new record highs. It now hovers around 58,000 as of this writing. Together with the rise of its equity index, Japanese government bond (JGB) rates have simultaneously climbed to multi-decade peaks too, as will be detailed in the next section. With these changes, the thesis of this article will be threefold. First, I want to explain the structural forces that could further the movements of the Nikkei 225 index and JGB bond rates. Second, I want to identify the top factors that such movements could impact the US equity market in today’s interconnected global financial markets. And finally, I want to recommend a few actionable investment ideas based on my analysis. Seeking Alpha Japanese Bond Rates Rose to Multi-Decade Highs Too I believe the above rise of the Nikkei index signals a fundamental re-rating of Japanese equities by investors. With the aggressive governance reforms ahead, I expect the index to be no longer viewed as a cyclical play by investors but as a bet on long-term and sustainable economic growth. I expect the Takaichi administration to keep introducing pro-growth fiscal policies and stimulus packages to invest in the country’s long-term growth. This leads me to the changes in the JGB rates. I expect the above growth packages to further increase Japan’s debt level. As a background, the chart below shows National Debts ranked by different countries’ government debt relative to their gross domestic product (GDP) as of 2025 and each country’s share...
In an intensifying giveaway war among artificial intelligence apps in China, TikTok parent ByteDance’s Doubao chatbot has joined the fray to offer robots and drones, following multibillion-yuan campaigns from Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings to hand out cash and bubble tea. ByteDance said on Tuesday that it planned to give more than 100,000 tech products as gifts, as well as red packets ...
In an intensifying giveaway war among artificial intelligence apps in China, TikTok parent ByteDance’s Doubao chatbot has joined the fray to offer robots and drones, following multibillion-yuan campaigns from Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings to hand out cash and bubble tea. ByteDance said on Tuesday that it planned to give more than 100,000 tech products as gifts, as well as red packets of up to 8,888 yuan (US$1,284), through lucky draws on the Doubao app on the eve of Lunar New Year. These gifts, ranging from Unitree robots and DJI drones to electric vehicles from Audi and Mercedes-Benz, would be linked to Doubao’s large language model, according to ByteDance. Advertisement The Beijing-based firm said the winners of the Unitree robots and the EVs would get the rights to use them instead of owning them outright. Qwen downloads surged past Tencent’s Yuanbao to the top of China’s Apple App Store on Friday. Photo: Shutterstock ByteDance’s move has ramped up a high-stakes battle among Chinese Big Tech companies, including Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, to acquire users for their AI apps during the Spring Festival, pouring billions of yuan in cash prizes and gifts. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi have pledged to deepen bilateral cooperation after Japan’s ruling coalition secured a landslide victory in the lower house election, even as analysts warn that sharpening China-Japan rivalry and unresolved historical disputes could complicate Seoul’s regional diplomacy. The result, which consolidates the Liberal Democr...
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi have pledged to deepen bilateral cooperation after Japan’s ruling coalition secured a landslide victory in the lower house election, even as analysts warn that sharpening China-Japan rivalry and unresolved historical disputes could complicate Seoul’s regional diplomacy. The result, which consolidates the Liberal Democratic Party ’s grip on power, has strengthened Takaichi’s political position – but also revived concerns in South Korea that the stronger conservative mandate could embolden more nationalist policies, reopening sensitive historical and security fault lines between the two neighbours. In a social media post on Sunday, Lee said he “sincerely congratulates” Takaishi on her election victory and wished Japan continued development under her leadership. Advertisement Referring to the South Korea–Japan summit held in Nara in January, Lee said the two countries had “taken a confident step forward towards a new 60 years of relations”, adding that he hoped both would continue to expand cooperation based on mutual trust and solidarity. He also said he looked forward to welcoming Takaichi to South Korea soon. Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sees off South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung at the Horyu-ji Temple on January 14. Photo: Jiji Press/AFP In response, Takaichi thanked Lee for his “warm, congratulatory words”, emphasising the need for bilateral cooperation between the two nations.
Astera Labs reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat on top and bottom lines, but shares plunged as much as 10% as revenue came short of some analysts' expectations. Here's how the artificial intelligence infrastructure and semiconductor company did compared to LSEG consensus estimates: Earnings per share: 58 cents vs. 51 cents expected 58 cents vs. 51 cents expected Revenue: $271 million vs. $2...
Astera Labs reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat on top and bottom lines, but shares plunged as much as 10% as revenue came short of some analysts' expectations. Here's how the artificial intelligence infrastructure and semiconductor company did compared to LSEG consensus estimates: Earnings per share: 58 cents vs. 51 cents expected 58 cents vs. 51 cents expected Revenue: $271 million vs. $250 million expected Revenue in the fourth quarter rose 92% year over year. However, some analysts were expecting the company to report revenue in excess of $280 million for the period. Astera Labs reported $45 million in net income for the quarter, an 82% increase from $24.7 million the year before. The company said it expects first-quarter revenue to come between $286 million and $297 million, higher than Wall Street expectations of $259 million. "We started the company eight years ago to really service the cloud and AI infrastructure space," Astera Labs CEO Jitendra Mohan told CNBC on Tuesday. "And fortunately for us, the space is on fire." Mohan attributed the earnings beat to growth in its Scorpio fabric switch and its Taurus ethernet cables, which accounted for 30% of total revenue collectively. "Increasingly, the bottleneck is shifting from compute to connectivity, and connectivity is where we play," Mohan said. "So it gives us a lot of opportunity to continue to grow and beat the overall market growth rate in the AI space." In addition to reporting earnings, the company also announced that finance chief Mike Tate will be stepping down. Desmond Lynch, currently the finance chief at semiconductor company Rambus , will replace Tate, effective March 2. Tate will remain at Astera Labs as a strategic advisor to the CEO. Additionally, Astera Labs on Tuesday said it had issued a new warrant for Amazon to buy about $466 million in the chip company's stock. Amazon owned $43 million in Astera Labs shares as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing. Astera Labs also announce...
Could Zometry be the next big player in the AI marketplace for manufacturers? Join us as we dissect its potential and pitfalls in this insightful episode of Motley Fool Scoreboard. Explore the exciting world of Xometry (XMTR 4.87%) with our contributing expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential inves...
Could Zometry be the next big player in the AI marketplace for manufacturers? Join us as we dissect its potential and pitfalls in this insightful episode of Motley Fool Scoreboard. Explore the exciting world of Xometry (XMTR 4.87%) with our contributing expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential investment opportunities! *Stock prices used were the prices of Dec. 17, 2025. The video was published on Feb. 10, 2026.
(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 15 points or 0.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,315-point plateau although it's likely to run out of steam on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with continued profit taking among technology stocks likely to cap any upside. The Eu...
(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 15 points or 0.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,315-point plateau although it's likely to run out of steam on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with continued profit taking among technology stocks likely to cap any upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead. The STI finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the property stocks and industrial issues. For the day, the index rose 8.12 points or 0.25 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,314.14 after trading as low as 3,295.80. Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rose 0.62 percent, while CapitaLand Investment fell 0.37 percent, City Developments gained 0.75 percent, Comfort DelGro slumped 0.73 percent, DBS Group collected 0.25 percent, Emperador spiked 1.16 percent, Genting Singapore tanked 1.14 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 1.53 percent, Keppel DC REIT increased 0.56 percent, Keppel Ltd perked 0.31 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust advanced 0.82 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust and UOL Group both added 0.77 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 1.06 percent, SATS climbed 1.05 percent, Seatrium Limited plummeted 2.63 percent, SembCorp Industries tumbled 0.99 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering surged 1.49 percent, SingTel gathered 0.38 percent, Wilmar International improved 0.64 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.40 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust and Thai Beverage were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street continues to be a dichotomy as the major averages opened mixed and finished the same way, with only the Dow finishing in the green. The Dow ...