NEW YORK: Amazon on Friday announced it has agreed to acquire the vacuum cleaner maker iRobot for approximately $1.7 billion, scooping up another company to add to its collection of smart home appliances amid broader concerns from anti-monopoly and privacy advocates about Amazon’s market power and ability to gain deeper insights into consumers’ lives. iRobot sells its products worldwide and is most famous for the circular-shaped Roomba vacuum, which would join voice assistant Alexa, the Astro robot and Ring security cameras and others in the list of smart home features offered by the Seattle-based e-commerce and tech giant.
The move is part of Amazon’s bid to own part of the home space through services and accelerate its growth beyond retail, said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. A slew of home-cleaning robots adds to the company’s tech arsenal, making it more involved in consumers’ lives beyond static things like voice control. The latest line of Roombas use sensors to map — and remember — a home’s floor plan, offering a trove of data that Amazon could potentially integrate with its other products. Amazon’s Astro robot, which helps with tasks like setting an alarm, was unveiled last year at an introductory price of $1,000. But its rollout has been limited and has received a lackluster response. Amazon hasn’t had much success with household robots, but the iRobot acquisition and the company’s strong market reputation provide a “massive foothold in the consumer robot market” that could help Amazon replicate the success of its Echo line of smart speakers, said Lian Jye Su, a robotics industry analyst for ABI Research. Su said it also illustrates the shortcomings of consumer robotics vendors like iRobot, which struggled to expand beyond a niche product and was in a “race-to-the-bottom” competition with Korean and Chinese manufacturers offering cheaper versions of a robotic vacuum. On Friday, iRobot reported its quarterly results. Revenue plunged 30 percent primarily on order reductions and delays, and the company announced it was laying off 10 percent of its workforce. Amazon said it will acquire iRobot for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction that will include iRobot’s net debt. The company has total current debt of approximately $332.1 million as of July 2. The deal is subject to approval by shareholders and regulators. Upon completion, iRobot’s CEO, Colin Angle, will remain in his position. Noting that iRobot has been running its robotics platform on Amazon’s cloud service unit AWS for many years, Su said the acquisition could lead to more integration of Amazon speech recognition and other capabilities into vacuums. In afternoon trading, iRobot shares rose 19 percent. Amazon’s were down 1.7 percent. The deal comes as anti-monopoly advocates continue to raise concerns about Amazon’s increasing dominance. The purchase of iRobot is Amazon’s fourth-largest acquisition, led by its $13.7 billion deal to buy Whole Foods in 2017. Last month, the company said it would buy the primary care provider One Medical in a deal valued roughly at $3.9 billion, a move that expanded its reach further into health care. On Friday, groups advocating for stricter antitrust regulations called on regulators to block the iRobot merger, arguing it gives Amazon more access into consumers’ lives and furthers its dominance in the smart home market. “The last thing American and the world needs is Amazon vacuuming up even more of our personal information,” said Robert Weissman, president of the progressive consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen. “This is not just about Amazon selling another device in its marketplace,” Weissman said. “It’s about the company gaining still more intimate details of our lives to gain unfair market advantage and sell us more stuff.” Landmark antitrust legislation targeting Amazon and other Big Tech companies has languished for months in Congress as prospects for votes by the full Senate or House have dimmed. Last month, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, who heads the Senate Judiciary antitrust panel, urged the the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the One Medical acquisition, in the mold of other critics who’ve called on regulators to block the purchase over concerns about Amazon’s past conduct and potential implications for consumers’ health data. Regulators also have discretion to challenge Amazon’s $8.5 billion buyout of Hollywood studio MGM, which was completed earlier this year. Founded in 1990 by a trio of Massachusetts Institute of Technology roboticists, including Angle, iRobot’s early ventures led to rovers that could perform military and disaster-relief tasks in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. The profits from defense contracts allowed iRobot to experiment with a variety of other robots, producing some duds and one huge commercial success: the first Roomba, introduced in 2002, which pioneered the market for automated vacuum cleaners. The company spun off its defense robotics division in 2016 to become almost exclusively a seller of vacuums and some other home robots, such as the Braava robotic mop. It planned to launch a robotic lawn mower in 2020 but backed off, citing problems tied to the pandemic.
RIYADH: The Saudi Fund for Development signed an agreement with the Cameroonian government to finance the construction of the Mbalmayo Regional Hospital Project, by providing a $12 million soft development loan. The agreement was signed by SFD CEO Sultan Al-Marshad, and the Cameroonian Minister of Economy, Planning, and Regional Development, Alamine Ousmane Mey. The agreement will help to build and equip the hospital with 200 beds and develop specialized medical departments, centers, and buildings spanning a total area of 14,000 square meters. The project will also include an area for operational services covering up to 8,500 square meters. The development plan also comprises rehabilitating the roads that connect the hospital to the main roads to ensure easy access. The project is expected to serve thousands of people from the Cameroonian capital as well as neighboring cities and villages, providing access to quality health care services. It will help tackle chronic disease and reduce mortality rates. The hospital will also alleviate overcrowding in Yaounde and Douala hospitals. The signing ceremony was attended by Dr. Manaouda Malachie, Cameroonian minister of public health, Abdulrahman Alzebn, Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Republic of Cameroon, and several officials from both nations. Al-Marshad said that the project will be co-financed by SFD, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, with a total value of $38.8 million. He reiterated that the project is a vital undertaking that will positively contribute to the social development of the Cameroonian people and will provide the necessary support for basic infrastructure services, enabling society members to access all their daily needs to improve their social and economic living conditions. Al-Marshad expressed his appreciation for the efforts exerted by both nations to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. He said the project is of great importance to safeguarding Cameroon’s future and ensuring the development of its burgeoning and thriving sectors. Mey praised the important role played by Saudi Arabia, through SFD, in supporting development projects and improving the health sector in Cameroon. The minister further underlined that the Mbalmayo Regional Hospital project will be essential to people and communities across Cameroon, offering greater access to quality care and modern, specialized medical centers. The Kingdom realizes the importance of supporting the development sectors in Cameroon through SFD-funded development projects and programs, SPA said, Since 1977, SFD has provided — in addition to this agreement — development loans to finance nine projects in Cameroon worth $109 million to enhance the growth and prosperity of the infrastructure, water, transportation, education, and health sectors to help achieve the UN’s SDGs.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia imported some 320,000 cars during the first half of this year — equivalent to 57 percent of last year's total figure, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority told Aleqtisadiah.
The authority revealed the number of vehicles imported into the Kingdom during 2021 amounted to about 562,000, up 2.9 percent on the previous year.
Key import partners include Japan, US, and South Korea, the authority said, with Thailand, Germany, China, and India also playing a prominent role.
Saudi ports have witnessed a growth in car imports during the first quarter of 2022, amid an increase in cargo throughput tonnage, official statistics showed in April.
The first three months of the year recorded an increase in the numbers of cars by 12.85 percent with a total of 219,488 cars, data published by the Saudi Ports Authority, MAWANI showed.
WASHINGTON: US consumer spending barely rose in July, but inflation eased considerably, which could give the Federal Reserve room to scale back its aggressive interest rate increases, according to Reuters.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity, edged up 0.1 percent last month, the Commerce Department said on Friday. Data for June was revised slightly down to show outlays advancing 1.0 percent instead of 1.1 percent as previously reported.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending would gain 0.4 percent.
The national average gasoline price dropped to about $4.27 per gallon in the last week of July after hitting an all-time high just above $5 in mid-June, according to data from motorist advocacy group AAA. That likely freed money for spending elsewhere.
Prices of apparel and services like air travel, hotel and motel accommodation also declined in July, curbing inflation.
A moderate pace of consumer spending in the second quarter helped to blunt the drag on the economy from a sharp slowdown in inventory accumulation caused by supply chain bottlenecks.
Gross domestic product contracted at a 0.6 percent annualized rate last quarter after shrinking at a 1.6 percent pace in the first quarter.
The economy is, however, not in a recession. When measured from the income side, the economy grew at a 1.4 percent pace, slowing from the January-March quarter’s 1.8 percent rate, the government reported on Thursday.
Risks of a downturn remain as the Federal Reserve aggressively tightens monetary policy to control inflation. There is, however, cautious optimism that the US central bank could slow the pace of its rate hikes if inflation continues to moderate.
The personal consumption expenditures price index dipped 0.1 percent last month after surging 1.0 percent in June. In the 12 months through July, the PCE price index increased 6.3 percent. The PCE price index shot up 6.8 percent on a year-on-year basis in June.
Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the PCE price index gained 0.1 percent after racing 0.6 percent in June. The so-called core PCE price index increased 4.6 percent on a year-on-year basis in July after rising 4.8 percent in June.
Fed officials are closely watching the PCE price indexes, in addition to the consumer price index. Though oil prices have dropped significantly, rental costs have remained hot, leaving some economists hesitant to declare that inflation has peaked.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s address on Friday at the annual Jackson Hole global central banking conference in Wyoming could shed more light on how much further US borrowing costs need to rise.
NEW YORK: Stocks in the US and Europe turned lower Friday ahead of a speech by the Federal Reserve chair that could more shed light on the potential for more interest rate hikes, according to Reuters.
The DAX in Frankfurt fell 0.3 percent while the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.1 percent. The FTSE in London held onto a slight gain. Earlier, markets in Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced while Shanghai declined.
In the US, futures for all three major indexes declined, with the S&P 500 down 0.3 percent. The benchmark index gained 1.4 percent Thursday.
The focus is on Jerome Powell’s speech at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole meeting later Friday. Investors and economists will be turning over his remarks for any clues about how fast the Fed may continue to raise its key interest rate — and for how long.
Traders worry the Fed’s rate hikes this year, plus increases by central banks in Europe and Asia, might derail global growth. Some expect the Fed to reverse course and start cutting rates in 2023 due to signs the US economy might be cooling.
“The Fed could start thinking about a pause in rate hikes, potentially for the end of the year,” Thomas Costerg of Pictet said in a report. “However, it is still too early to talk about rate cuts.”
Global markets have swung between optimism about stronger corporate profits and unease about possible recession risks.
On Thursday, the US government reported the economy didn’t contract by as much as previously thought during the spring. It shrank 0.6 percent on an annualized basis, the government said, less than the previous 0.9 percent estimate.
The Fed’s Jackson Hole meeting in Wyoming, which attracts economists from around the world, has been the setting for market-defining announcements in the past.
Investors are hoping for clarity from Powell after a number of Fed officials said they still supported rate hikes despite hopes inflation might be peaking.
In energy markets, benchmark US crude gained $1.13 to $93.65 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the price basis for international trading, advanced $1.26 to $99.75 per barrel in London.
CAIRO: The Saudi Central Bank has granted permits for two fintech startups, Saudi-based Lean Technologies and Mod5r, to provide open banking solutions.
Bringing the total number of permitted companies operating under its regulatory SandBox to 38, SAMA — as the central bank is also known — is currently working on developing and implementing a high standard network to carry out open banking solutions across the Kingdom.
Founded in 2019, Lean Technologies is the first technical service provider to be approved by the SAMA SandBox and is set to support fintech companies in building the next generation of financial services.
Mod5r was founded in 2020 as it provides a mobile application for users to have all their financial transactions in one place.
UAE-based fintech Zywa raised a $3m seed funding round as it prepares to launch in Saudi Arabia in early 2023
Zywa, a UAE-based fintech that offers a gamified community banking app, has raised $3 million in a seed funding round from venture capital firms Goodwater Capital, Dubai Future District Fund, Rebel Fund, Trampoline Venture Partners, and Zemu VC.
Backed by one of the largest global venture capital firms, Y-Combinator, the company is aiming to utilize its acquired funding to support product development, accelerate its growth in UAE and Egypt, and launch in Saudi Arabia by early 2023, Wamda reported.
Founded in 2021, Zywa raised a $1 million pre-seed round in February 2022 as the company is currently valued at approximately $30 million.
UAE-based logistics startup Cargoz receives undisclosed funding from Saudi’s Nama Ventures
UAE-based logistics startup Cargoz has secured a pre-seed funding by Saudi-based venture capital firm, Nama Ventures.
The company connects small and medium enterprises looking for storage space with warehousing companies that have extra capacity.
Founded in 2022, Cargoz will use its acquired funding to launch its simply-to-use platform for SME’s and warehousing companies.
Pakistan’s Mahaana Wealth raises $2.1m in a pre-seed funding round
Pakistan-based digital wealth management company, Mahaana Wealth raised $2.1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Swedish investment company, Vostok Emerging Finance.
The company has received regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan to launch its investment management services.
Founded in 2021, the company is the first and only digital wealth manager in Pakistan, and will use its acquired funding to meet regulatory capital requirements, MAGNiTT reported.
UAE-based Property-tech startup Huspy acquires two mortgage brokers Just Mortgages and Finance Lab
UAE-based prop-tech startup, Huspy, announced the acquisition of two mortgage brokerages, Just Mortgages and Finance Lab, to improve the home buying ecosystem in the region.
“Joining Huspy is a dream come true. I can now be sure my extensive banking knowledge and experience are backed by the best technology and strong talent,” Just Mortgages Founder Ramesh Khemani, said in a statement.
CEO and founder of Finance Lab commented: “This partnership will allow us to further accelerate our business and add more value to our clients and partners.”
Huspy was established in 2020 with the aim to simplify the home financing sector as it provides buyers with market-leading financing offers, MAGNiTT reported.
Qatar-based sport-tech Sponix Tech receives undisclosed investment amount from UK’s Aser Ventures
Doha-based sports-tech startup Sponix Tech has received an undisclosed investment amount from UK-based Aser Ventures.
Founded in 2020, Sponix Tech provides solutions and services for leagues, clubs, broadcasters, and advertisers to increase viewership and enhance fan experience.
The company will use its acquired investment to boost growth and technology as Aser Ventures will leverage its global network, Wamda reported.
Egypt’s subscription management platform SubsBase raises $2.4m in a seed funding round
Egypt-based subscription management platform, SubsBase, raised $2.4 million in a seed funding round led by venture capital firm Global Ventures.
The round also saw participation from other venture capitals like HALA Ventures, P1 Ventures, Plus Venture Capital, Plug and Play, Ingressive Capital, Camel Ventures, Falak Startups, and Arzan Venture Capital.
Stating that it is the first and only subscription management platform catering to the MENA region, Mohamed M. Farag, co-founder and CEO at SubsBase, said: “We have a first-mover advantage and a strong business model which is endorsed by our esteemed investors.”
Founded in 2020, the company will utilize its funding to accelerate product development to cater customer demands as well as boost its expansion strategy across the MENA region.
SubsBase is a cloud-based subscription management and billing platform that empowers businesses that are based on recurring revenue.