Arden Partners

Facebook on Tuesday announced its acquisition of Beat Games, the studio behind hit virtual-reality game "Beat Saber." Beat Games will join the Oculus Studio division of Facebook, but it will operate independently out of Prague, the company said. "Beat Saber" is one of the most popular VR games. In the game, players swing virtual sabers at incoming blocks in sync with music, akin to that of the popular "Guitar Hero" series of the 2000s. The game is available on the Oculus Store for $29.99.

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• 27 Nov 19
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Uber was stripped of its license to operate in London on Monday by the city’s transport regulator, which cited a “pattern of failures” that “placed passenger safety and security at risk.” TfL had first suspended Uber's license back in 2017, flagging concerns with the company's approach to safety. In its announcement, London's transport authority said it held issue with a change made to Uber's identification systems that allowed unauthorized drivers to upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts. This was a big event in mobility. We expect more pushback as themes of sustainability and consumer protection overtake convenience.

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• 26 Nov 19
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CRH (CRH LN, £23.0bn) | Hill & Smith (HILS LN, £1.1bn) | Somero (SOM LN, £110m) | James Halstead* (JHD LN, £1.0bn) | Headlam (HEAD LN, £377m) | Coats Group (COA LN, £985m) | Victoria (VCP LN, £527m) | IG Design Group (IGR LN, £510m) | Severfield (SFR LN, £233m)

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• 26 Nov 19
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Essentra (ESNT LN, £1.1bn) | AB Dynamics (ABDP LN, £624m) | Versarien (VRS LN, £155m) | Filtronic (FTC LN, £18m) | Pressure Technologies (PRES LN, £17m)

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• 25 Nov 19
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Brickability (BRCK LN, £142m)

Brickability Group PLC

• 25 Nov 19
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Plaid, the U.S. start-up, whose software helps link fintech apps with people's bank accounts, said on Thursday it was now rolling out its services in Ireland, France and Spain. According to consultancy firm EY's global fintech adoption index, Ireland's level of adoption stands at 71%, Spain's at 56% and France's at 35%. "Ireland is going to continue to grow and generate really fantastic companies," Plaid's chief said. Plaid is one of our top two Fintechs to watch. PayPal is making the biggest acquisition in its two-decade history, announcing on Wednesday that it's buying Honey Science for about $4 billion. Honey, which is best known for providing a service that helps consumers find deals while they shop online, works with 30,000 online retailers and claims to have 17 million monthly users. PayPal said Honey's technology will help it reach consumers as they begin their "Shopping journeys" with personalized offers. In our view, PayPal’s deal may demonstrate a step toward the new normal of leveraging consumer data. Commission-free stock trading app Robinhood has announced plans to officially launch in the UK next year, marking its first market outside the US. The fintech 'unicorn' opened a waiting list for UK customers following yesterday’s announcement, with Rander Rutgers, head of Robinhood UK, telling Yahoo Finance UK that the app would be tailored to the UK market. We believe that the solvency of a number of UK-based legacy brokers will be tested as aggressive subsidisation and lower overheads of FinTechs drives down pricing.

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• 21 Nov 19
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