Traders Trim ECB Easing Bets, Favor No More Rate Cuts This Year
Traders cut bets on a final quarter-point rate cut this year on Thursday, with swaps implying a less than 50% chance of a move. A decrease was fully-priced as recently as the start of last week.
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Entrepreneur
31 minutes ago
- Entrepreneur
Navigating the Raise
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Closing a £5m funding round in a down market is no small feat. For Charlotte Lucy Hall, co-founder of background checking platform Zinc, the process was defined not just by the financial climate, but by a set of overlapping personal and professional pressures that made the experience unique. "Deciding when to disclose my pregnancy during our first funding round was one of the toughest decisions of my life," she says. "My co-founder and I were also silently navigating a long, painful fertility journey. Balancing the intense emotional and physical exhaustion with the immense pressure to secure investment felt overwhelming at times." The backdrop was unforgiving. The economy had dipped, the tech bubble had burst, and high-profile bank collapses were unfolding mid-due diligence. "Very few firms were writing cheques, especially for first-time founders," Hall recalls. But investors ultimately bought into Zinc's mission to transform a frustrating process into something faster, more transparent, and more empowering. "Our candidate-centric solution is redefining how background checks are done across many industries with particular success in finance, healthcare and education sectors," Hall explains. "In today's competitive landscape, hiring delays can cost businesses both valuable time and top talent. We showed them that our technology gives HR and talent professionals back what matters most: their time." Zinc's traction played a key role in convincing investors to sign on. From early-stage start-ups like Marshmallow to fintech giants like Revolut and established names like Trainline, the company's client list reflected both adaptability and demand. "The Zinc solution isn't one-size-fits-all; it's tailored to each customer's unique structure and goals. But the consistent benefit for every client is easing the workload for HR teams and reducing stress for new hires during the background check process." The difficult market was only part of the challenge for Hall. She also had to navigate the delicate decision of when to tell investors she was pregnant. At the same time, she and her co-founder were dealing with a long and painful fertility journey. Balancing these personal struggles with the pressure to secure investment created a constant sense of overwhelm. Hall waited until her second trimester before sharing the news. "By then, we felt a bit more secure in the pregnancy. Thankfully, our investors were incredibly supportive - it was actually very reassuring and truly reconfirmed that we had chosen the right partner in AVP." Yet for all the concerns about external perceptions, she found the hardest part came from within. "Honestly, my own expectations were far harder to navigate than any investor scepticism," she reflects. "As founders, and especially as women, there's often this intense pressure to prove ourselves by carrying every burden simultaneously." The lesson, she says, is about pace - and permission. "Giving yourself permission to slow down when you need to, and trusting that progress doesn't always look like constant motion, is incredibly powerful. It's okay to take a breath and slow down." Hall is open about the additional challenges that came from not having a typical founder background. "No elite university affiliations or Big Tech names," she notes. "The absence of those credentials meant we faced an uphill battle for credibility, resulting in more rigorous vetting and outright rejections than we might have otherwise." Rather than attempting to compensate, Hall leaned in. "It pushed us to articulate our true differentiators: our unparalleled understanding of the problem we're solving, the clarity of our long-term vision, and our unwavering, mission-first ethos." That approach not only resonated - it helped redefine the conversation. "This wasn't about trying to fit a mould; it was about amplifying what made Zinc genuinely unique and compelling." Now, having made it through both the fundraise and early motherhood, Hall wants the ecosystem to evolve. "We need open, honest conversations - between founders, investors, and teams - about the reality of pregnancy and needing time to care for a new baby. These are natural life events that should be celebrated, not treated as taboo." Too often, she says, female founders are forced into an impossible choice. "Currently, women often can't win: judged for returning 'too soon' or for taking 'too long.' This shouldn't be a forced choice." Zinc's funding round may have concluded, but its broader significance has only just begun. It suggests that the next iteration of start-up culture - if it's going to be more inclusive - must reckon with the whole human behind the founder. And that itself could be a marker of progress. True flexibility, Hall says, must be more than a slogan. "We need a cultural shift that respects these decisions, encourages true flexibility, and provides concrete support, not just platitudes."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Microsoft Highlights Gieni AI as Vertical AI Reference at Build 2025
Photo Courtesy of: Orderfox ZURICH, Aug. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orderfox Schweiz AG announced that its market intelligence platform, Gieni AI, was featured as a reference case for vertical AI integration at Microsoft Build 2025. The platform was selected to demonstrate Microsoft's new Model Context Protocol (MCP), which allows AI agents to access and interact with other agents and software tools in real time. Gieni AI is among the first vertical AI agents that offer a MCP Connector on the Microsoft Marketplace for Copilot Studio. It delivers market, competition, and risk intelligence that will be directly in Microsoft 365 tools such as Teams, Outlook, Excel, and Word. The integration allows users to generate contextual, real-time insights without switching between applications. 'By integrating Gieni AI with Microsoft Copilot, we're empowering businesses to make smarter, faster decisions directly within their daily workflows, turning data into a competitive advantage like never before,' said Timur Göreci, Chief Revenue Officer at Orderfox. The MCP Connector enables Gieni AI to provide industry-specific answers to complex questions using a hybrid intelligence model, combining proprietary structured and unstructured company data, zero-shot reasoning, and a vector-based database architecture. Users can access dashboards, generate market reports and enrich CRM tools with verified data from within their existing Microsoft environment. During the Microsoft Build conference, Gieni AI was featured by Microsoft as a reference point for vertical AI integration, highlighting its role within the new Model Context Protocol (MCP) framework. This includes generating real-time responses to business queries such as identifying ESG-compliant suppliers, tracking regional competitors, and analyzing trends across industries. Orderfox CEO Derek Tanner commented: 'Partnering with Microsoft enables Gieni AI to function within the existing software systems that businesses depend on, simplifying operations and enhancing access to market data for strategic teams.' Gieni AI Marketresearch agent will soon be available to Microsoft Copilot users and can be billed through Microsoft's enterprise platforms. About Gieni AI Gieni AI is a market intelligence platform developed by Orderfox Schweiz AG. It will enable companies to generate on-demand market insights, interactive dashboards, and CRM-enhancing reports directly within Microsoft 365 tools. Gieni AI processes data from over 380 million web pages and 5 million company profiles using proprietary semantic search and classification systems. For companies, this translates into smarter decision-making, faster go-to-market strategies, and staying ahead of competitors without the guesswork. Whether identifying new opportunities, qualifying leads, or benchmarking market players, Gieni AI turns data overload into actionable intelligence, embedded directly into the tools teams already use. About Orderfox Orderfox Schweiz AG, based in Zurich, develops AI-based platforms for the industrial and B2B sectors. Its products include Gieni AI, a vertical AI agent for real-time market intelligence, and Partfox, the world's largest CNC network for automated buyer-supplier matching. Orderfox's technologies support automation, procurement, and data-driven decision-making for businesses around the world. Contact Information:Alisa HeseBerkeley Communications Phone: +49 89 7472 62-46 Email: orderfox_de@ Website: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'This is a Model T moment for us': Ford teases new family of affordable EVs, here's what to expect
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Rumors suggest a small electric pick-up truck is in the making 'Skunkworks' project was set up to bring more affordable EVs to the masses Ford will unveil more on August 11 Ford's CEO, Jim Farley, announced on a recent earnings call that the company was due to unveil plans for a family of affordable EVs, referring to the scheduled event as a "Model T moment for us at Ford". Farley, who has gone on record to explain just how good the competition from China is (he was famously impressed by a Xiaomi SU7), explained that the company needed to double-down on its EV plans if it is to remain competitive in the future. As a result, Farley oversaw the foundation of a 'skunkworks' team last year that was brought in to develop a low-cost electric vehicle platform that could underpin a series of new electrified models at speed and at scale. At the time, Ford was losing as much as $5.5 billion per year on EVs, which includes the Ford F-150 Lightning pick-up, the Mustang Mach-E, the Explorer and the slow-selling Capri and Puma Gen-E in European markets. Alan Clarke, an ex-Tesla employee who was previously in charge of overseeing the development of Model Y, was reportedly part of the 100-strong team that was tasked with introducing lithium iron phosphate battery-powered EVs that could compete on price with rivals coming out of China. Now, Farley has said that the company plans to reveal the culmination of that work at an event in Kentucky on August 11, comparing the moment to Ford's earliest mass-produced motor vehicle that opened up motoring to the general public in the early 1900s. What we can expect from Ford's announcement Industry insiders have been suggesting online that the new platform is likely to underpin a smaller, more compact pick-up truck that would offer a respectable range and impressive hauling abilities, but cost less than today's $54,780 F-150 Lightning. Farley has previously hinted that pricing will be under $30,000 (around £23,000 / AU$46,000) for the cheapest products on the upcoming platform, according to Inside EVs, but didn't go as far to state exactly what those products would be. We can also expect to see an SUV make that list, as Ford doesn't currently sell the Explorer or the Capri outside of Europe, seeing as both of those cars were a platform-sharing exercise with Volkswagen. Dig under the skin, and you'll see that they share most of their parts with the ID.4 with disappointing results, but this all new skunkworks platform would allow the company to have greater control over an SUV that would appeal more to the US market and could rival a slew of excellent models from Kia, Hyundai, Chevrolet and Tesla. Finally, this new all-electric platform could also underpin a second attempt at a full-sized electric pick-up truck that could not only undercut the current F-150 Lightning, but also cost a lot less than a Rivian R1T, Chevy Silverado EV and Tesla's failing Cybertruck. You might also like I've driven the new Ford Capri – and it proves that nailing the retro-inspired EV brief isn't easy "AI will leave a lot of white-collar people behind" - Ford CEO latest to claim AI will wipe out millions of jobs I've driven the new Mercedes-Benz CLA and it convinced me that EV efficiency can actually be exciting
