Good afternoon, here’s the tech news you need to know this Wednesday.
1. Uber is raising up to $2 billion in the form of a leveraged loan, according to The Wall Street Journal. The move comes just two weeks after the ride-hailing service raised $3.5 billion from a Saudi Arabian investment fund.
2. Google Ventures CEO Bill Maris described the relationship between Google Ventures and portfolio company Uber as “very healthy.” Both Google and Uber have ramped up their self-driving car efforts lately, making them look more like rivals than ever before.
3. Twitter invested “around $70 million” in music-streaming service SoundCloud, according to Recode. The investment was part of a new $100 million round that will reportedly value the streaming service somewhere in the region of $700 million.
4. Mark Zuckerberg is working with a broken arm. He broke it after falling off a bike.
5. Twitter is beefing up its block button to crack down on trolls. The change means that blocked users will become totally invisible.
6. Scottish tech ‘unicorn’ FanDuel is branching out beyond US sports. The company is bringing its one-day fantasy sports leagues for the English Premier League this August.
7. Billionaire investor Yuri Milner likened his $100 million space venture to spending 200 years building a cathedral. His plan is to send a probe to travel to the next star system, Alpha Centauri, but it’s unlikely he’ll live to see it play out.
8. Apple’s new iPhone software will automatically show you where you parked. Your car’s location appears on Apple Maps.
9. Facebook investor Marc Andreessen explained why he’s supporting Clinton over Trump. When asked why he’s voting for Clinton, his response was: “Is that a serious question?”
10. The CEO of Onefinestay explained how his £117 million acquisition came to be. Greg Marsh sold the company to French hotel chain Accor in April.
Source: http://www.