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  • 💰 Thomson Reuters Acquires Safe Sign

💰 Thomson Reuters Acquires Safe Sign

Thomson Reuters is on a legal-tech shopping spree

August 22, 2024

This is Cliff Equity, the UK’s business newsletter that keeps you informed on what’s important in tech, business and finance in less than 5 minutes

In today’s stories:

  • Legaltech Revolution: Thomson Reuters Snaps Up Cambridge-Backed AI Wizards

  • CMA Takes a Closer Look at Amazon’s £3bn AI Bet – Is Big Tech Playing Fair?

  • Flying High with Health: Drones Deliver Blood Without a Hitch—And No Road Rage!

The summary: Thomson Reuters is on a legal-tech shopping spree, snagging top-notch AI talent like Safe Sign to stay ahead, while smaller startups brace for a corporate feeding frenzy as funding dries up!

The details:

  • Thomson Reuters, eager to keep ahead in the AI legaltech race, snapped up UK startup Safe Sign Technologies, bolstering its arsenal with yet another acquisition from its $8bn buyout fund.

  • Safe Sign, founded by academic wizards from Cambridge, DeepMind, Harvard, and MIT, brings cutting-edge AI models to the table, but unlike its rivals, it hasn’t yet courted VC suitors.

  • The legal sector, which hasn't evolved much since Microsoft Word, is now AI’s latest playground, with Reuters and other big players jostling for dominance.

  • As venture capital funds dry up, AI startups may soon find themselves on the menu of cash-rich corporates eyeing a bargain spree.

Why it matters: Thomson Reuters is playing Monopoly with AI startups, snapping up tech that could revolutionise the rather dusty legal world. Safe Sign’s brains from Cambridge and MIT signal a serious intellectual power move, giving Reuters a cutting edge. As venture capital tightens, smaller AI firms might soon find themselves like biscuits at tea—snatched up before they even cool down.

The summary: The CMA is scrutinising Amazon’s £3bn AI deal with Anthropic, raising the stakes in the tech giants' race for AI supremacy, while keeping competition concerns firmly in check.

The details:

  • The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided to poke around Amazon’s £3bn investment in AI startup Anthropic, suspecting it might be up to no good in stifling competition.

  • The deal, which ties Anthropic to Amazon Web Services as its cloud overlord, raised eyebrows at the CMA, sparking concerns that Amazon may be quietly muscling out rivals in the UK’s AI playground.

  • This investigation follows a broader tech tumble and similar inquiries into AI partnerships involving other titans like Google and Microsoft, who all seem to be in on the AI arms race.

  • Amazon, not one for keeping quiet, retorted with a shrug, insisting the partnership simply keeps AI innovation afloat rather than torpedoing competition.

Why it matters: Amazon's hefty investment in Anthropic could give it a sneaky advantage in the AI game, potentially leaving smaller players gasping for air. With regulators eyeing big tech like hawks, it signals that the race for AI dominance won’t be without its hurdles—or watchdogs with magnifying glasses. If the CMA sniffs out foul play, it might spell a bumpy ride for Amazon and its AI ambitions in the UK.

The summary: Drones are proving they can deliver blood packs as effectively as road transport, setting the stage for a future where saving lives might involve a bit of high-flying innovation and a lot less traffic jam!

The details:

  • In a UK first, drones have successfully flown out of sight to deliver blood packs – no accidents, and no spilt blood either.

  • The trial, a partnership between the NHS and startup Apian, compared 68km drone flights with traditional road transport, finding no difference in the quality of the blood packs upon arrival.

  • The NHS plans more drone trials to assess the tech's potential for delivering medical supplies swiftly and with fewer emissions. A greener option than the usual traffic jams.

  • Apian, a plucky startup founded by two NHS doctors and a former Googler, is building a drone delivery network that might one day be the NHS' answer to air mail.

Why it matters: Well, it turns out drones are proving themselves to be the new unsung heroes of medical transport, dodging traffic and flying under the radar (literally) to deliver blood with no fuss. If they can keep our blood in tip-top condition while buzzing about, we might soon be swapping the ambulance queues for a more airborne approach. And with Apian’s lofty ambitions, we could be looking at a future where saving lives is just a drone flight away, minus the smog and road rage.