Adyen charges ahead in its first earnings as a public company, with H1 revenues up 67% to $298M

After Adyen’s huge debut on the public markets in June that saw the stock go up 92 percent on its first day of trading, the company today published its first earnings as a publicly listed business. The figures underscore to how Adyen — which provides services […]

Google created a fake pizza brand to test out creative strategies for YouTube ads

Google’s Unskippable Ads team has been testing ad effectiveness in a compelling new way: It created a fake pizza brand called Doctor Fork, used stock footage to create 33 ads and then served them up on YouTube and reached 20 million impressions. Ben Jones, creative […]

Before Using Birth Control Apps, Consider Your Privacy

Score one for the quantified self-surveillance movement. Last week, the US Food and Drug Agency approved the first-ever, over-the-counter digital contraceptive—a polished and almost preternaturally upbeat mobile app called Natural Cycles. Basal body temperature readings and monthly menstruation data feed into an algorithm that tells […]

SoftBank’s Vision Fund to help Chinese online insurance giant ZhongAn go international

SoftBank’s Vision Fund is backing Chinese online insurance giant ZhongAn through its latest investment, which could take the company — which has struggled for stability following a monster IPO last year — into international markets. The Vision Fund announced today it has made an undisclosed […]