'European Uber' Raises $109M · The UK Has No Chill · Libya is Waging a Proxy War

The top 3 headlines from across the pond for Tuesday, May 26, 2020.

Bolt Raises $109M

The Estonia-based on-demand transport company (and competitor to Uber), Bolt, has picked up an additional €100 million ($109 million) in a convertible note. According to Tech Crunch, Bolt also confirmed that is now valued at €1.7 billion (or nearly $1.9 billion at today’s rates).

"Bolt, a rival to Uber and others providing on-demand ridesharing, scooters and other transportation services across some 150 cities in Europe and Africa, is today announcing another capital raise as it weathers a difficult market climate where, because of COVID-19, many are staying in place and avoiding modes of transport that put them into contact with others."

source

RELATED: The latest episode of vox.com's Recode Decode with Kara Swisher features none other than Uber's CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. Worth tuning in to hear his insider perspective on a transport industry under lockdown, and also to hear the legendary Swisher lay down those labour relations questions like it ain't no thang, as she does.

Senior Adviser to Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, Refuses To Resign After Driving Far Distance After Lockdown

No citation required, because this story is literally all I've heard around these parts for the last three days straight.

TS;DC (Too Stupid; Don't Care): somebody British and important drove his kids to their grandparents during Stay Home orders because he and his wife were sick and/or very busy and important, as aforementioned. The nation is, to put it mildly, outraged.

SURPRISE! Non-Corona News Is Still A Thing, And Libya Appears to be Hosting an Important Proxy War, With Increasingly Less Deniable Support From Turkey

source: The Monocle Daily Briefing for May 26, 2020*

"Libya has been in the midst of civil war for almost a decade. However, in the last year, the conflict has escalated and become a regional proxy war. This matters because Libya is a gateway for migrants coming to Europe and because whoever wins in Libya will emerge a powerful figure in the Middle East. Eastern Libya is run by Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army. He is principally backed by the UAE, Egypt and Russia; and he appears to receive support from France, Saudi Arabia and Greece. The government in Tripoli is backed by Turkey and Qatar. Haftar seemed poised to take Tripoli in recent months but his allies in Abu Dhabi, Cairo and Moscow have suffered setbacks. They have not been able to get Haftar over the line.

Libya is the Middle East’s most important proxy conflict today." 

(source)

*Also in this podcast: a fascinating discussion around what's viewed as a 'natural' collapse of social distancing measures in Europe, with Monocle's Zurich-based Switzerland correspondent affirming the trend I'm seeing here in Amsterdam.