Raphael Stevens

The Routing Company is bringing on-demand rides to public transportation. The service is already working in Houston and Seattle.
The startup raised $15 million in new venture funding in a round led by Galvanize Climate Solutions.
CEO James Cox was previously the head of global product at Uber.

The Routing Company powers on-demand bus and shuttle service for public transit agencies.
Courtesy: The Routing Company

The Routing Company is rolling out apps that bring the convenience of on-demand ride-hailing to public transit.
Led by CEO James Cox, formerly the global head of product operations at Uber, the 40-person Boston startup has developed rider, driver and fleet management software to rapidly assess where riders want to be picked up, and how to gather them into a shared bus or shuttle efficiently.

Unlike carpool-style services such as Lyft Line and Uber Pool, which only place two to several riders into a driver’s vehicle, The Routing Company can group 18 people into a bus or shuttle with the vehicles arriving to pick up a passenger between 2 and 12 minutes from the time they hail their ride.
Riders can be picked up where they are, rather than walking to a stop on a fixed route.
Cox told CNBC that, because about half of buses and shuttle services are run by public transit agencies and half by private sector companies in the US, the startup works with both. But The Routing Company hopes its apps will make bus- or shuttle-hailing a standard offering by public transit agencies around the world.
Cox says he helped start the company, in part, to solve environmental problems that can’t be addressed by replacing gas and diesel vehicles with electric models. Besides his work with Uber, he also served as a product leader at EV startup Canoo.
“Battery electric buses are good for the world – they’re a net benefit,” the CEO said. “But buying them doesn’t solve the problem of twenty to forty percent of buses driving around with low utilization or even empty. You need multiple solutions to get to lower or zero carbon emissions.”

There are also a huge number of internal combustion engine vehicles in the world’s fleets that will drive around on gas for years to come. The Routing Company aims to make the use of these more efficient before transit agencies and transportation companies move to electric vehicles powered by renewable energy.

The Routing Company CEO James Cox
Courtesy: The Routing Company

As NBC News previously reported, public transportation ridership plummeted during the pandemic as a significant portion of workers arranged to work remotely, or opted to drive when they could — and as public health requirements limited business operations.
Adding the convenience of on-demand service may attract new riders and bring lapsed riders back, Cox said.
The company has helped deliver more than 75,000 rides to date in pilot and commercial programs around the world, including in Houston and Seattle in the U.S., multiple smaller towns on the West coast of Scotland and in Andorra, a principality between Spain and France.
To grow beyond these locations, The Routing Company raised $15 million in a Series A round of venture funding led by Galvanize Climate Solutions, a new environment-focused investment firm led by Tom Steyer and Katie Hall.  
Earlier investors also joined the round including The Engine, Systemiq.Earth, Animal Capital and angel investors including Coupang CTO and former Uber CTO Thuan Q. Pham who is also an advisor to The Routing Company.
Pham said in an e-mail to CNBC that he backed the company because he sees it bringing significant benefits to cities and transit riders around the world.
With The Routing Company’s technology, he said, “Cities can augment and supplement their transit services that deliver more convenience to riders with point-to-point, on-demand high-capacity (18-seats) vehicles.”
“Why run a mostly empty massive bus line during late evenings and weekends while you can deploy just the right number of mini-buses to meet the ridership demands during those times?”
Pham noted that his former colleague James Cox and The Routing Company are bringing transit agencies advanced technology that they aren’t able to develop themselves.
Pham expects the company to use its funding to hire more engineers and to partner with more transit agencies and private sector companies. CEO James Cox says the startup is already in talks with large tech companies and universities to help run their campus shuttle services. 

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In a speech broadcast Monday, the U.N. Secretary General says “addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction.”
Antonio Guterres’ comments come at a time when several major economies, including the European Union, are trying to find ways to reduce their reliance on Russian hydrocarbons.
He says that “the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine risks upending global food and energy markets, with major implications for the global climate agenda.”

UN Secretary General António Guterres photographed at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland on Nov. 11, 2021.
Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The U.N. Secretary General issued a stark warning Monday, saying the planet had emerged from last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow with “a certain naïve optimism” and was “sleepwalking to climate catastrophe.”
In remarks delivered to The Economist’s Sustainability Week via video link, Antonio Guterres sketched out a picture of where he felt the world stood when it came to tackling global warming.

He noted that while COP26 had seen positive developments related to issues such as cutting methane emissions, tackling deforestation and mobilizing private finance, significant challenges remained.
“Keeping 1.5 alive requires a 45% reduction in global emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by mid-century,” he said. “That problem was not solved in Glasgow. In fact, the problem is getting worse.”
Guterres’ reference to 1.5 relates to the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global warming “to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.”

The Paris Agreement was reached at the COP21 climate change summit in December 2015. More than six years on, it would appear that, for Guterres, a huge amount of work still needs to be done.
“According to present national commitments, global emissions are set to increase by almost 14% in the 2020s,” he said. “Last year alone, global energy-related CO2 emissions grew by 6% to their highest levels in history. Coal emissions have surged to record highs. We are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe.”

On Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the wide-ranging effects this could have, Guterres offered up an equally stark assessment. He said that “the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine risks upending global food and energy markets, with major implications for the global climate agenda.”
“As major economies pursue an ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy to replace Russian fossil fuels, short-term measures might create long-term fossil fuel dependence and close the window to 1.5 degrees.”
“Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use. And this is madness: addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction.”
Guterres’ comments come at a time when several major economies, including the European Union, are trying to find ways to reduce their reliance on Russian hydrocarbons.
Last week, the International Energy Agency said speed limits on highways should be cut by at least 10 kilometers per hour (6.2 mph) to help lower oil demand. The recommendation was part of a wider 10-point plan published by the Paris-based organization.

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In his speech Monday, Guterres also said that “those in the private sector still financing coal must … be held to account.”
“Their support for coal not only could cost the world its climate goals,” he said. “It’s a stupid investment — leading to billions in stranded assets.” It was also, he argued, “time to end fossil fuel subsidies and stop the expansion of oil and gas exploration.”
“But even the most ambitious action will not erase the fact that the situation is already bad. In many cases, and many places, it is irreversibly bad.”
Coal has a substantial effect on the environment and the U.S. Energy Information Administration lists a range of emissions from coal combustion. These include carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides. Elsewhere, Greenpeace has described coal as “the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy.”
Guterres speech points to the huge task facing governments around the world who say they want to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and prevent the worst effects of climate change.

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Despite the existence of such goals, fossil fuels still play a huge role in the world’s energy mix and companies continue to discover and develop new oil and gas fields.
On the aim of keeping 1.5 alive, Guterres laid out a broad vision for how this could be achieved.
Alongside a “rapid, just and sustainable energy transition,” the phase out of coal and all other fossil fuels needed to be sped-up, he said.
Other tools included focusing on adaptation, strengthening national climate plans annually and accelerating the decarbonization of sectors like cement, steel, aviation and shipping.
In addition, the most vulnerable required protection and climate finance needed to be increased. “That’s how we will move the 1.5 degree goal from life support to the recovery room,” Guterres said. More

Actors Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have raised more than $34 million for humanitarian aid to Ukraine and temporary housing for Ukrainian refugees.
More than 65,000 donors have contributed, including several Silicon Valley billionaires.
Kunis was born in Ukraine in 1983 and moved to the United States as a child.

Actors Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis attend the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics at Dodger Stadium on April 11, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.
Jayne Kamin-oncea | Getty Images

Actors Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have raised more than $34 million in donations for humanitarian aid to Ukraine and temporary housing for Ukrainian refugees, according to the couple’s GoFundMe page.
Kunis was born in Ukraine in 1983 and moved to the United States when she was 8 years old. “Ukrainians are proud and brave people who deserve our help in their time of need,” she writes on the page.

The funds raised by Kutcher and Kunis, who are married, will be donated to the philanthropic arms of two Silicon Valley darlings: logistics start-up Flexport and housing rental giant Airbnb.
“Flexport.org is organizing shipments of relief supplies to refugee sites in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova,” write Kutcher and Kunis. “Airbnb.org is providing free, short-term housing to refugees fleeing Ukraine.”

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Kutcher and Kunis created the fundraising page March 3 and made a personal donation of $3 million. Since then, more than 65,000 donors have contributed to the campaign.
The list of top contributors includes some of the world’s wealthiest individuals. Billionaire Larry Ellison, the chairman of Oracle, has donated $5 million. Silicon Valley private equity firm DST Global contributed $3 million, and the family foundation of DST partner Yuri Milner gave $2.5 million.
Another $2.5 million donation came from the family of renowned Silicon Valley angel investor Ron Conway. Fashion model Karlie Kloss and her husband, Josh Kushner, donated $250,000 through their foundation. Kushner is a venture capital investor and the brother of former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
“We are overwhelmed with gratitude for this support,” Kutcher said in an Instagram post March 17. “Our collective effort will provide a softer landing for so many people as they forge ahead into their future of uncertainty.”

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Femtech companies, like breast cancer imaging start-up Clairity, are taking aim at women’s health issues
Venture Capital funding for Femtech tripled over the last five years to $1.9 billion in 2021
Firms focused on gynecology, fertility and maternity have garnered the largest funding
Large employers have look to women’s health tech to help reduce the health spending gap between male and female workers

To Dr. Connie Lehman, a breast cancer scan is like a fingerprint that provides clues for developing personalized medical care.   
 “There is so much information in every digital image of a woman’s breast tissue, and the deep learning technology can extract that and predict the future and in ways we haven’t been able to before” explained Dr. Lehman, the chief diagnostic radiologist and director of breast imaging at Boston’s Mass General Hospital.

Using artificial intelligence along with a breast scan, Dr. Lehman has developed a program to provide a more accurate assessment of a woman’s personal risk of developing breast cancer, beyond traditional biomarkers and risk assessment models which she says leave a lot of women out.  
“All of our patients who identify as patients of color have really been left behind in this domain. The risk models that are being used in health care were built on European Caucasian women,” she said.
Her research quickly attracted investors, who approached her about launching her own company. Last year, she chose Texas-based Santé Ventures to help her launch Clairity and help find a CEO who shares her commitment to health equity. 
“Women are a huge portion of the population and control a lot of (health care) spend,” said Clairity CEO Carrie Ivers, adding she was excited to sign on with a company devoted to women’s health. “It’s an underserved area that has a lot of room for expansion.”

Femtech investment growth

Early-stage investors have been among the biggest backers of health tech companies focused on women’s health conditions.  Venture capital funding for so-called Femtech has tripled since 2015 from just over $600 million to nearly $1.9 billion last year, according to Pitchbook data. 

Yet, analysts say overall investment in women’s health remains underfunded. Beyond breast cancer, female health conditions garnered just 1% of pharmaceutical research funding in 2020, according to a McKinsey report. Just 2% of medical tech funding was devoted to non-cancer related women’s conditions. 
Last year saw two of the largest Femtech deals in maternity-oriented start-ups. In May, Modern Fertility was acquired Ro, which began as a male-focused digital health platform, in a deal reportedly valued at $225 million.  In August, Maven Clinic, a virtual maternity and women’s health service firm, raised more than $100 million from investors including Oprah Winfrey in a deal that valued the company at more than $1 billion.

Femtech for driving health equity

Deena Shakir, a Maven investor who serves on the company’s board, says part of the expansion in Femtech funding is being driven by the growth in large employers adopting services focused on maternal and family health.
 “This is not just a nice to have; it’s a necessity to retain women in the workforce. And so, there are increasingly large employer budgets for prenatal care, for maternal care, for pediatric care, ” said Shakir, who is a partner at Lux Capital.  
Women of child-bearing age incur health expenses that are more than 80% higher than their male counterparts, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Employers have a vested interest in reducing the health gap for their female employees, because they foot much of the bill.
“We’re seeing a large uptake in the last five years … of really providing benefits that are family friendly and, not only just related to fertility services,” said Mercer senior associate Samantha Purciello, “and I think part of it is really leaning into diversity, equity and inclusion efforts of organizations.”
The vast majority of Femtech firms taking on these issues are led by women. Clairity’s Lehmann notes, “the data shows that they’re more likely to have equitable approaches to health care, they’re more likely to invest in domains that help women as well as men.”
As for Clairity, the next big challenge is gaining FDA approval for its breast cancer screening program.  The company has submitted its application and is hoping to be approved later this year.

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When choosing an advisor, it’s important to weigh many factors, ranging from investing acumen and availability of products and services to personal chemistry.
Another huge consideration overlooked by many is who actually owns the advisor’s firm.
When businesses focus solely on hitting numbers, service can suffer — which is why every investor should be mindful of who owns their advisor’s firm.

Poba | E+ | Getty Images

Getting financial advice online is easier than ever before. Even so, many investors are likely to discover that there is no substitute for a human financial advisor.
The problem, however, is selecting the right one.

One thing an investor should consider is the advisor’s investing acumen. Low-cost funds that track various indexes are widely available. So, if part of an advisors’ value proposition is managing individual portfolios, how does their performance stack up?
Another is the availability of services and products. Most investors even if they don’t realize it — have needs that transcend investment management, including help with saving for a child’s college education, picking the proper insurance, creating an estate plan and navigating taxes efficiently.
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Whether an advisor is a fiduciary and puts their clients’ interests ahead of their own is also important. Incredibly, some advisors — subject only to a suitability standard, which offers investors far fewer protections — are not legally required to do that.
Moreover, no one should discount the importance of personal chemistry. Few people want to have a long-term business relationship with someone they do not like, regardless of how competent they may be.

Another huge consideration is who owns the advisor’s firm. Though this isn’t a concern that immediately comes to mind for a lot of investors, it’s just as important as the others listed above.
In the rare event that investors do raise this point during the vetting process, some advisors will respond by touting their “independence.” The implication is that this makes them more objective since they don’t have sales quotas, sell proprietary products or have to confront other types of conflicts that are often associated with large, publicly traded firms.

To be clear, good advisors come in all shapes and sizes. That includes those in business for themselves, employees of the biggest firms on Wall Street and everyone in between. Still, it’s important to note that just because someone is independent doesn’t mean they work in a conflict-free environment.
At issue is not only the amount of money that has flooded the wealth management industry in recent years, but where it has come from. According to a report by Echelon Partners, there were a record number of merger and acquisition deals last year involving registered investment advisory (RIA) firms. Of the 307 total transactions — which encompassed more than $575 billion in assets — private equity played a role in more than 66% of them.
While private equity firms are often led by sophisticated investors, the mandate is simple: acquire assets, hold them for a short period (usually between two and seven years) and then sell for a considerable profit to reward themselves and their shareholders. More so than any other business, therefore, the emphasis is on expanding margins — and if an acquired firm must slash costs and charge higher fees to achieve that, then so be it.

Detlef Schrempf #11 of the Indiana Pacers drives up court against the Boston Celtics during a game played in 1989 at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dick Raphael | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

Naturally, it’s easy to see why this approach could lead to a decline in client service. After all, no one likes to pay more for less. Yet almost every time a private equity-backed deal gets announced, all the participants paint a rosy picture, claiming that the extra capital will create “scale” and greater efficiencies. The result, they invariably say, is better client service.
Whether things play out like that is a fair question. Some firms may be able to pull it off. But for most, it doesn’t seem possible when their service model is, in part, rooted in how much money the business can bleed out of clients.
In the meantime, a recent academic paper suggests that issues related to private equity may run deeper still. In December 2021, researchers at the University of Oregon released a report examining whether the model impacts the way advisors interact with their clients, given the dynamics described above. Their conclusion? Private equity creates a conflict between “advisory firms’ profit motive and ethical business practices.”
Specifically, the report’s authors found, based on a sample of 275 RIA firms, that once a private equity takeover gets completed, the number of advisors within an acquired firm who commit misconduct jumps by 147%. And while it’s important to point out that the misconduct rate of those advisors remained below the overall industry average, the trend is undeniable: When private equity invests in a wealth management firm, its advisors are more likely to act out.

And while it’s important to point out that the misconduct rate of those advisors remained below the overall industry average, the trend is undeniable: When private equity invests in a wealth management firm, its advisors are more likely to act out.
None of this is to say that private equity firms are inherently evil. Like any other business, they have every right to make money. But when customers feel valued and supported, they tend to have higher levels of satisfaction. When that happens, profitability usually follows.
Conversely, when businesses focus solely on hitting numbers, day after day, quarter after quarter and year after year, service can suffer — which is why every investor should be mindful of who owns their advisor’s firm.
— By Detlef Schrempf, director of business development at Coldstream Wealth Management. Schrempf played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association. More

Contact was lost with the flight over Wuzhou, in the Guangxi region, the authority said. It was scheduled to fly from Kunming to Guangzhou in the southeast of the country.
The number of deaths is currently unknown.
China’s Civil Aviation Administration said it had “activated the emergency mechanism and dispatched a working group to the scene,” according to a translation.

GUANGZHOU, GUANGDONG, CHINA – 2019/10/03: Logo of China Eastern Airlines seen on a Boeing 737-800 in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed with 132 people on board, including 123 passengers and nine crew members, China’s aviation authority said Monday.
Contact was lost with the flight over Wuzhou, in the mountainous Guangxi region, the authority said.

Flight MU5735 left Kunming at 1:11 p.m. local time (1:11 a.m. ET) and was due to arrive at Guangzhou in the southeast of the country in less than two hours, according to information on FlightRadar24.
The flight-tracking website shows that the Boeing 737-800 plane plunged after 2:20 p.m. local time from 29,100 feet over the next two minutes.
“This kind of tragedy is extremely unusual,” Richard Aboulafia, a managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, said of the plane’s sudden drop.
The number of deaths is currently unknown.
China’s Civil Aviation Administration said it had “activated the emergency mechanism and dispatched a working group to the scene,” according to a translation. Chinese state media said the crash had caused a mountain fire. Unconfirmed video circulating on social media showed fire and smoke in the mountains.

China Eastern Airlines confirmed the crash and the number of people on board via a statement on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. The airline said it is sending workers to the site of the crash and has opened a hotline for family members.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is “aware of reports that a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane crashed this morning in China.”
“The agency is ready to assist in investigation efforts if asked,” the FAA said in a statement.
Boeing said it was “aware of the initial media reports” and is gathering more information.
Typically when a crash takes place, the country where the crash occurs leads the investigation, but Boeing as the manufacturer and its regulator, the FAA, will also likely be involved.
China Eastern changed the colors of its website to black and white — something airlines do following a crash out of respect for any casualties.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was “shocked” to learn of the incident, according to state media CCTV. He instructed China Eastern to organize search and rescue efforts and begin an investigation into the cause of the crash.
The last serious passenger plane crash in China was in 2010, when 42 people died on a Henan Airlines Embraer E-190 flight.
Boeing shares were down roughly 5% in premarket trading Monday.
The 737-800 is one of the world’s most common jetliners, with more than 4,200 in service worldwide and 1,177 in Chinese airlines’ fleets — the most of any country — according to aviation data and consulting firm Cirium.
Boeing has been trying to recover its reputation after two fatal crashes of its latest model of the 737, the Max. The Boeing 737 Max was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after the second of the two crashes, occurring within five months of one another.
Indonesia’s Lion Air Flight 610 crashed on Oct. 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 came down on March 10, 2019, killing a combined 346 people.
China was the first country to ground the Max after the second crash. The U.S. and most other countries cleared the planes to return to service more than a year ago. Chinese regulators allowed the Max to resume flying in December, with changes, but the planes have not yet returned to service.
Monday’s crash was a 737NG, or next generation, not the more recent 737 Max.
Boeing reported its third annual loss in a row in January, disclosing $5.5 billion in costs tied to manufacturing flaws, which have hindered deliveries of the company’s 787 Dreamliner program.

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Kohl’s on Monday confirmed it has received multiple preliminary offers from parties interested in acquiring the department store chain.
Kohl’s said in a press release the proposals are non-binding and without committed financing.
The company’s board of directors has hired bankers at Goldman Sachs to coordinate with bidders.

The Kohl’s logo is displayed on the exterior of a Kohl’s store on January 24, 2022 in San Rafael, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Kohl’s on Monday confirmed it has received multiple preliminary offers from parties interested in acquiring the department store chain.
Kohl’s said in a press release the proposals are non-binding and without committed financing. The company’s board of directors has hired bankers at Goldman Sachs to coordinate with bidders.

Hudson’s Bay Company, the Canadian department store operator owned by HBC, is one of the bidders, a person familiar with the talks told CNBC. Reports last week also said private equity firm Sycamore is mulling a bid.
Spokespeople for HBC and Sycamore declined to comment. Kohl’s also declined to comment on interested parties.
The recent heightened interest comes after Kohl’s said an offer from Starboard-backed Acacia Research, at $64 per share, was too low.
Pressure mounted earlier this year from activists including Macellum for Kohl’s to consider selling itself as its share price lagged that of other big-box retailers. The firms argued Kohl’s could unlock more value from its real estate.
Its stock is up about 26% year to date, closing Friday at $62.43.

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