Telefonica and NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) announced today that they have entered an agreement to conduct Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) pre-commercial trials in Telefonica's four core global markets: Spain, Germany, the UK and Brazil.

Arken.legal, the UK’s leading provider of expert digital solutions for the private client and estate planning industry, has today announced its partnership with Comentis, a new technology provider that helps legal professionals identify reduced mental capacity.

PassFort, the SaaS RegTech provider whose platform automates financial crime and compliance processes, today announced the close of its Series A funding, which gives the firm access to 16.2 million USD. The money will be used to realise PassFort’s global growth plans and its ambition to be the category leader in compliance automation for regulated businesses.

         New investment will enable ad-tech firm to ‘scale up’ and meet demand for cookieless solutions post-GDPR

·         Illuma set to expand its team, products, and base of blue-chip company clients

·         Blackfinch Ventures reinforces its commitment to investing in innovative tech companies

London-based llluma Technology, a contextual advertising company which uses AI to expand online campaigns by reacting to live browsing behaviour, has secured a £1.1m Series A investment from Blackfinch Ventures.

·         More than three quarters of cashless transactions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are now contactless

·         Bakeries and supermarkets record highest contactless payment rates

·         High contactless adoption now puts DACH on a level field with the Nordics

·         Smartphones and SoftPOS solutions making magnetic strips obsolete

• New research from digital bank Zopa finds that a large swathe of UK consumers would use Open Banking to get better, easier, or faster access to credit despite its low awareness
• The introduction of Open Banking to previously untapped verticals such as access to credit could spearhead wider adoption amongst UK consumers and reach 40 million active users by 2025
• Zopa’s Open Banking partnership with ClearScore resulted in a 37% increase in the number of users eligible to apply for a Zopa credit card

Organisations are struggling with network breaches, ransomware attacks, remote work, and more, says new report from Barracuda

More than two-thirds (70 per cent) of UK businesses have been the victim of a successful network security attack in the last year, and 65 per cent have been the victim of at least one ransomware attack in the last 12 months, according to new research from Barracuda Networks, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions.

 Noble Innovate, the company focused on innovation through making better decisions, launches Axios3, a unique decision making programme specialising in developing people’s innovatory skills, enabling them to generate insight, understanding, and apply them to improve outcomes in their business and personal lives.

Crowdfunding campaign for ekko’s debit card and app turning the tide on climate change

ekko’s crowdfunding campaign for its climate-friendly debit card and app is now open. Fuelled by its successful pre-registration campaign, ekko’s funding round on Seedrs will close in up to four weeks’ time.