The Rundown: Edition 36 – IWD, social media jitters, and quantum computing

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Businesses urged to drop masculine job descriptions

New guidelines for British businesses urge employers to avoid featuring “stereotypically masculine” phrases in job descriptions. Guidance from the Office for Equality and Opportunity advises that terms such as “competitive” and “ambitious” can subconsciously deter women from applying for roles. Times

US to tie AI chip exports to investment pledges

Draft legislation by the US Commerce Department would require international companies to commit to investing in the US to purchase powerful AI chips used in data centres made by Nvidia and AMD. FT

Tech funds see surge in withdrawals on AI fears

Tech funds suffered a notable hit from fears of an AI bubble, according to recent data released by Calastone, which looked at the outflows from equity funds. Technology funds saw net outflows of £162 million last month, making up around a sixth of the total withdrawals. Times

Government announces £40m AI research lab

In a bid to promote and safeguard the country’s position as an AI leader, the government is launching a new £40 million AI research lab with the aim of applying the technology across numerous sectors and challenges. UKTN

Oxa raises $103m from Nvidia and UK Government

Oxford-based Oxa,  which has developed software for self-driving industrial vehicles, has raised $103 million from investors including the state-owned National Wealth Fund and Nvidia’s venture capital arm, NVentures. Guardian

French quantum startup Pasqal valued at $2bn

Pasqal, a quantum computing startup co-founded by Nobel prize winner Alain Aspect, is going public via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), with a valuation of $2 billion. The company will list on the Nasdaq stock market. Tech.EU

Biomaterials firm Shellworks secures $15m Series A

Shellworks, which has developed a plastic alternative called Vivomer, has raised $15 million in a round led by Alter Equity, with further investment from NFDG, JamJar Investments, Founder Collective, LocalGlobe, and Third Sphere. Tech Funding News

Cardiff’s Antiverse raises £7m Series A

Antiverse, a biotech set up to target diseases with supposedly ‘undruggable’ molecular targets, has raised £7 million from Soulmates Ventures, Innovation Investment Capital, DOMiNO Ventures, DBW, Kadmos Capital and i&i Biotech Fund. UKTN

Make haste, Chancellor

Business leaders have urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to act more swiftly to boost economic growth and to be prepared with a support package for small businesses if the war in the Middle East triggers another surge in energy prices. Meanwhile, Stephen Kelly, CEO of Cirata, believes there are “huge opportunities” to reinvigorate the private sector. Times

A whisper of a Spring Statement

Was a ‘quiet’ growth forecast necessary for businesses? Luke Francis, Partner at Pagefield and former Labour Party Adviser, doesn’t think so, but Steve Rigby, CEO of Rigby Group, does. According to Rigby, the current geopolitical climate “hardly encourages risk-taking”. As we can’t plan too far ahead, “stability is a virtue”. City AM

Ignoring female-founded businesses costs the UK billions

The newly published ‘Rise Report of Female Entrepreneurship‘ surveyed over 2,000 female founders and entrepreneurs, who represent £1 billion of turnover. Nearly half cite insecurity of funding as their biggest challenge. This failure to invest in women is costing the UK an estimated £310 billion in unrealised economic growth. Times

European dynamism on the up

Europe’s tech dynamism is growing, but many startups still scale abroad due to limited late-stage capital and smaller domestic markets. However, industries such as intelligent enterprise, digital health, energy, space, biology, and robotics are where the continent can lead and create global tech champions. Sifted

Supporting staff during conflict

Sebastian Reiche, Professor at IESE Business School, emphasises that employers have a duty of care for staff during periods of conflict, including assessing travel risks, monitoring security conditions and ensuring contingency planning for employees abroad. HR Magazine

25 women shaping tech and investment

Ann Fisher, CEO and Founder of Women4Technology; Anu Adebajo, CEO of Newton Venture Program; Joanne Hosker, Leader of NG Innovation Services at Northern Gritstone; Lisa Haycox, CEO of Explore Learning; and Tanya Suárez, CEO and Founder of IoT Tribe are ones to watch this upcoming International Women’s Day (IWD) and beyond. Tech Funding News

Data centres are crucial to hosting and supporting the digital infrastructure that underpins modern life – so much so that they are designated ‘essential services’. A big question is: where do we put them? The moon is apparently an option – and potentially a cheaper one than Earth. Slightly closer to home, there are plans for 60 out of 100 UK data centres to be built in the capital. London would host the majority of the infrastructure, and it is estimated that every 10 data centres could result in 2.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions, not to mention exorbitant amounts of water use. Needless to say, the data centre surge will exponentially increase the UK’s energy usage and emissions, putting climate targets at great risk.

“Will they/won’t they” – a common storytelling trope in movies, TV, and books, but also one that applies to the UK’s proposed social media ban for under-16s. There are murmurings that the Government might instead block children from “specified internet services” rather than impose a strict age limit, despite previously being backed by the House of Lords. As a result, everyone, yes everyone, may need to verify their age, in a move that security and privacy academics from across the world deem ‘dangerous and socially unacceptable‘. Do we (adults included) even want to use platforms that utilise end-to-end encryption (E2EE), a controversial privacy feature used by the majority of social media apps and sites, with the major exception of TikTok? E2EE means only the sender and recipient of a direct message can view its contents, blocking tech firms and the police from viewing potentially harmful and incriminating content.

Another “will they/won’t they” in the tech world is OpenAI and the US military. Sam Altman, CEO and Co-Founder of OpenAI, recently told employees that the Big Tech firm has “no say” over the Pentagon’s decisions and use of its technology. According to Altman, the Defense Department can choose to employ OpenAI’s innovations in any manner that it sees fit, meaning OpenAI employees “don’t get to weigh in” on military acts such as strikes and invasions. This may have something to do with the fact that Dario Amodei, CEO and Co-founder of Anthropic, is back in conversation with the Pentagon. As OpenAI’s biggest rival, Anthropic is trying to secure an AI contract that would enable the US military to continue using Anthropic’s technology and greatly reduce the risk of the company being designated as a supply chain risk. Or maybe this has nothing to do with that at all…