Connected newsletter: Cubic Telecom’s massive Softbank deal shows need to back Irish
Connected at the Business Post is your source for the news that matters in technology and innovation, all told from an Irish perspective
Well what a week for Irish tech it has been. News that Softbank had taken a majority stake in Cubic Telecom in a deal that values the company at €927 million, brought much cheer to the sector on Tuesday.
Having gone through a tough year, it was exactly the sort of thing we all needed to hear. As I suggest in my analysis, it also shows the importance of backing companies for the long term.
The deal also indicates just how many good Irish tech firms are in operation at the moment. One of the best ones is undoubtedly Swoop, which was recently named the fastest-growing company at Deloitte’s ‘Fast 50’ awards. We’ve an exclusive interview with co-founder and CEO Andrea Reynolds this weekend so don’t miss it!
On the same morning that Cubic’s news was announced, Ekco revealed it has surpassed €150 million in revenues on the back of its fourth deal in 12 months. Corten Capital acquired a majority stake in the cloud and cyber security provider last year in a deal reported to be worth over €300 million.
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Google this week officially released Gemini, the “largest and most capable AI model” the company has ever built. The news came shortly before it was revealed the European Union is nearing a deal on what is poised to become the most comprehensive regulation of artificial intelligence in the western world.
Talking of AI, my colleague Donal MacNamee revealed details of a leaked post from a leading Intel executive said the company’s attempts to develop artificial intelligence (AI) have “suffered from fragmentation, crippling execution delays and a lack of singular focus and perseverance.” Ouch!
In yet more AI-related news, Meta and IBM have joined with more than 40 companies and organisations to create the AI Alliance, an industry group dedicated to open source artificial intelligence work, aiming to share technology and reduce risks.
In very worrying news, it was revealed that 6.9 million 23andMe customers had their data compromised after an anonymous hacker accessed user profiles and posted them for sale on the internet earlier this year.
Meta attached warning labels to 1.1 million pieces of Facebook content originating from Ireland in the first six months of the year because they had been rated as “false”, politicians were told at an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday. At that same meeting, TikTok said it was “absolutely confident” in its handling of disinformation and hateful content during the Dublin riots
Google also attended the committee, but representatives from X declined the offer to appear. The company formerly known as Twitter also hit out at Helen McEntee for ‘inaccurate’ claim about Garda contact over Dublin riots
Lastly, proof that we’re not out of the woods yet in terms of tech redundancies was evident as Spotify announced plans to cut 1,600 roles.
All the best,
Charlie
Make no mistake—AI is owned by Big Tech (MIT Technology Review
23andMe Hack Is a Wake-Up Call for Your Password Habits (Wall Street Journal)
