- Nextory subsumes e-book JV; Group joins handset sustainability drive; Wayra plants capital in transcription and shopper-tracking startups.
- Telefónica was reported to have been among potential buyers sounded out by France’s Altice Europe as it prepares a sale of Portuguese business MEO. Competitors Grupo MásMóvil and Orange were also said by Reuters to have been “alerted” by Altice, ahead of an auction process expected to start from July 2021.
- Telefónica flagged that its e-book platform Nubico, a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between Telefónica España and publishing group Grupo Planeta, had been acquired by Nextory, a Swedish-based audio and e-book subscription service provider for an undisclosed sum. Once the transaction is complete, Nubico will re-launch under the “Nextory” brand “before the end of 2021”. An announcement said both the Group’s Spanish operating business (OB) and Planeta will remain involved in the business via “strategic agreements” without disclosing more detail. Nubico, a cloud-based platform, was launched in 2013 (Telefónicawatch, #78, #81, and #92).
- Telefónica and four other European telcos — Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telia Company, and Vodafone — flagged the launch of a pan-industry “Eco Rating” scheme for handsets. The scheme will provide customers in 24 European countries with information on the environmental impact of different smartphones “across their entire lifecycle”, based on data supplied by twelve manufacturers (including Motorola, Samsung Electronics, Xiaomi, and ZTE, but notably not Apple). The Eco Rating system will award each handset a score out of 100, based on longevity and energy efficiency, the ease of reuse or repair, and recyclability.
- Wayra participated in a £1m (€1.2m) Seed funding round in Subly, an automated video transcription and subtitling platform provider. Wayra joined lead investor Loyal VC, investment vehicle AI Startup Incubator, and “several high-profile” private lenders in the round. The fresh influx of capital is expected to support technology development. Telefónica is aiming to help Subly “reach even more digital communities globally”. Subly, founded in 2019, is said to have seen “exponential growth” during the pandemic, and claims to serve more than 7,000 businesses and 65,000 users in 150 countries.
- Wayra UK invested an undisclosed sum into Aura Vision, a provider of bricks-and-mortar store traffic monitoring and sales support solutions. Aura is also set to sign a “multi-million-pound deal” with Virgin Media O2, Wayra announced via LinkedIn. The deal will see the startup install its footfall analytics-enabling Aura Processing Units in O2 shops.
