A Digital Investor

  QUANTUM LEAP FOR QATAR Kris Naudts and Zeynep Koruturk, the co-founders of Firgun Ventures, have secured $70 million A new British venture capital firm has won backing from Qatar to pump tens of millions of pounds into quantum computing start-ups, writes William Turvill. Firgun Ventures closed its first investment round at $70 million (£53 million) this weekend, with the biggest stake taken by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). It is targeting $250 million but will be investing in quantum firms from its London office from this week. “There is a very good set of investment opportunities here,” said co-founder Kris Naudts. While Firgun plans to invest across the globe, he said the UK is a good base due to its strength in this area of technology. The Tony Blair Institute estimates that the UK accounts for 64 of 513 tech firms across the world that focus solely on quantum, second only to the US. Quantum computing is heralded as one of the next big developments in tech. Using extre...

  Cloud’s a silver lining for big spender Buy, sell or hold: today’s best share tips Emma Powell -Tempus Next image  › AMAZON Market cap  $2.5 trillion  Q3 revenue  $180 billion Like its Magnificent Seven peers, Amazon has been testing the faith of investors, swept along by the artificial intelligence boom.Thirdquarter results last month brought small vindication for optimistic shareholders. Revenue for its cloud computing arm rose at its fastest pace in about three years, gaining 20 per cent over the September quarter to $33 billion. Operating profit for Amazon Web Services was 10 per cent higher at $11.4 billion, or about two thirds of the group total. Amazon’s high-margin cloud computing arm has long been considered the jewel in the crown. Wall Street remains bullish on the company’s prospects. The consensus earnings forecast for next year has been steadily revised upwards, almost a fifth higher than it was two years ago. Like other tech companies it has incr...

  Big Tech helps Polar pocket a cool 25% asset increase Helen Cahill A major listed Silicon Valley investor has recorded a sharp rise in assets as a result of the surge in stock prices linked to artificial intelligence. Polar Capital Holdings, which counts the companies Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta among its largest investments, reported a 25 per cent increase in assets under management to £26.7 billion over the six months to September 30. It delivered a 21 per cent increase in profit before tax to £27.9 million over its half-year. However, there were net outflows of £690 million compared with inflows of £472 million over the same period in 2024. The outflows were partly driven by a one-off return of £280 million to investors in the Polar Capital Global Financials Trust, which underwent a tender offer. Shares in Polar Capital fell by 20p, or 3.7 per cent, to close at 528p.In a statement to investors, Polar Capital said the first half of its financial year “ended on a positive note fo...