♪ this is bloomberg technology. we are showcasing the diversity and power of the tech economy. coming up, we find out how the help over 1000 businesses get off the ground. plus, one of the most procedures

universities in the world weighs in on the benefits of online curriculum. how blockchain could be the future of semtech. startups received a record of $46 million in venture capital last year. here at mass challenge, many of the areas find their footing and funding. ♪ wheelchairs is one trying mass challenge is to solve. >> it was founded here in boston in 2008. >> she is managing director that

offers grants. thee bring you all resources in terms of space, education and at on a challenge raise $1.59where we to give to some of the top startups. -- and created 18,000 jobs. >> it strengthens the ecosystem and the fact we are connected and bill thousands of so we are that network connection for getting them the right knee -- right resources they need. these companies just

partnered with mass challenge. -- >> pepsi is a great way to optimize what they're working on and how they are actually deploying their advertising which saves money and time. >> mass challenge is also growing beyond boston with programs in rhode island some of texas, switzerland, and jerusalem. addingelerator is also to boston's innovation theme, which ranks as the country's best city for entrepreneurial growth. andhen you bring innovation entrepreneurship, other things come. theor now, we are joined by mass challenge ceo.

boston, what are you finding in of accelerators in the city? >> in boston, we are good at hard check. we have outstanding universities and those universities invest a lot in laboratories and hard-faced science technology. we see a lot of health care, the really anything that has to do with science. island, but rhode also israel, rhode island, london. >> we want to see an ecosystem that is strong and an eagerness to work with us. we need to find sponsors. we are a nonprofit program that lives on foundation money, so we look for eager partners that are willing to partner with us.

arealk to me about why you nonprofit. >> the main reason is philosophical purity every startup begins with the problem. they are solving a major problem for humanity. it could be curing a disease or helping children were bringing clean water or improving the way we buy shoes. they are looking at a major problem and trying to fix it. as a byproduct, they've produced .ealth, growth and optimism they produce jobs in great numbers, so that is good for humanity. we don't want to take anything from them. make getting them funding slightly easier? a great example of

doing good helps you do well. a you have what we believe is multibillion dollar startup? -- >> we are in an era when many are posted getting -- focusing on the ethics. how are you starting to have this conversation with the startups coming in? >> at the very beginning we have all of the conversations with the start of spirit you have to get them to create as much value as possible. focus on solving a really big problem. if you solve a major issue, people pay you money for.

june is the next cohort. from receive applications at least 40 countries and over 5000 globally. anyone can enter anywhere in the world heard we are helping early-stage startups. for is startups that have significant potential to make a positive impact on society. >> how are the conversations you are having changing? see peoplenue to that are really idealistic and want to change the world in a positive way. we graduated 1500 startups and

they have raised over $3 billion. , youu talk to the startups will find that all of them are focused on solving a problem. >> of the conversations haven't changed? -- so the conversations haven't changed? >> i haven't found that>> the case. i think today we are seeing more of the ultra stick mentality of people trying to get a job and survive. ensure -- they are being supported by your lifeline. how do you ensure they make the problem there something is really there? >> we want to provide support

for startups, but not so much support that you problem or subsidize a startup that should die overtime. our goal is to take 12 months of .ctivity for four months -- we're giving them access to mentorship, training, network events, so they are not sitting pretty here. they are being very active inting a lot of work done four months. after that, market forces will take over and they will be able required to get help like anyone else. >> thank you for being here. supersonic?eeling

a new, faster way to fly. next, this is bloomberg. ♪

>> looking black to bloomberg technology. jetsupersonic passenger that would get you to new york from london and around 3.5 hours, it has been 15 years since it last took flight. now there is a new race minus the sonic boom. one of the companies working is boston-based spike aerospace.

joining me now, the ceo. mind that it still takes a seven hours to get from london to new york. mek in 2010, it used to take half that time. what happened? everybody wonders why we are not flying faster than the concorde. aviation is incredibly difficult technology. people in the air and you have to fly them safely and efficiently. you can't make the sonic boom that the concorde made. >> is that the main technological challenge you are trying to overcome?

, but they fly fast are running a lot of fuel. able to fly at a reasonable cost and without disturbing people on the ground. it is a loud sound which is critical. >> the aircraft you are working on, how much is it going to cost? , youlike iphones and cars don't buy a 747. you buy a ticket, so what is more important is how much it as a bus ticket. airlines are working

on buying it. >> you don't have a price point? $125 million. >> where is the main demand for the slightly more expensive form of travel? >> 2017, 4 billion people got on the plane. in 10 years, it will be 6 billion people. in the next reebonz, i have 10 next coming up -- in the three months, i have 10 trips coming up. the wealthiest in the world, where they based? targeting,le we are the people that are going to --

business executives and managers, senior executives. they are not necessarily the 1%. building and of mine manufacturing plant, a mid-level guy, he flies a lot. martin has been looking at this form of travel. have you ensure that you will be the first one there? >> there's a lot of companies approaching it a different ways. what they are doing is doing a test aircraft. nois a single pilot, passengers. aircraft.ctly a test eventually, they would have to have a commercial aircraft.

one that willsign fly by the end of 2023. what is going to push the timing back? is the perfectionism or technological challenges? >> there is an incredible amount of innovation going on. there's a lot of resources and partnerships. youhave goals and targets want to meet, but there are a lot of pieces that have to come together. all of that takes time to develop and mature. this is a new aircraft, so it takes time. it is tremendously exciting and it is happening. >> thank you very much. wonderful to have your time.

spike aerospace. coming up, we will hear about bringing the cost down for higher education. this is bloomberg.

>> welcome back to a special edition of bloomberg technology rum boston. we recently spoke to emily chang about how technology can help bring down the cost of higher education. >> this is such an important question and one we have all struggled with because we compete based on the experience we can offer students, the resources we can offer faculty for their research and teaching. we don't compete on cost and so

the way higher education is organized financially, there is not that sense of pressure to bring down costs. we have brought down price by running significantly so that any student who comes from a family that makes less than $65,000 of your has to have no parental family contribution so that it is very accessible in terms of what it cost the students, but in terms of the cost of what we do, that is something we need to get under control and addressed more fully. technology is going to help with that. what can we do online to supplement or replace certain parts of instruction so we can lead to people the parts that we actually need people for?

i think we will see some of that coming forward, but constraining costs is going to be a real challenge. >> there are a lot of countries trying to disrupt and some say a harvard degree won't matter by the time my kids go to college. how do you respond to that? how does harvard stated the gold standard -- they the gold standard -- stay the gold standard? >> we have to a tract the best talent -- attract the best talent. the experience of living in that community with other students from who you learn probably as much as any class you take, that a the core of what harvard education is.

that is not going to be disrupted by a simply online experience. you can earn -- learn a lot from an online experience, but what you are learning is the subject experience.e online that is such an important part of what happens both in and outside our classrooms. >> there's a sense that stanford has surpassed harvard, especially when it comes to technology. is that a fair assessment? >> of course not. we are different institutions and i think that is the great strength of american higher education. institutionsferent

and opportunities. stanfordant to have a -harvard competition here. we have a growing presence in technology and field of engineering. our students concentrating in engineering have tripled in the last 10 years. such deep-seated strength in life sciences and the humanities and the arts and such a commitment and social sciences. the endeavors that are not simply involved in technology and we compete very successfully with stanford for students and faculty, so we are pleased to be harvard and expect to remain harvard. >> orders harvard doing differently to train the worker

-- what is harvard doing differently to train the worker for tomorrow? do you think harvard needs to do anything differently? >> there have been changes in how we approach education that respond in part by what you are saying -- to what you're saying. students much more eager . interesteds are also in making in the arts the creativity and innovation that are part of making things as you learn. we also see students much more involved in wanting to solve problems and have an effect on the world.

doing and thinking are intertwined much more. a used to be that you thought in college and when you left -- now those things intersect with one another and that is to be an lettingt part of students take on the challenges they are so eager to learn. >> that was the harvard president speaking to emily chang. coming up, one firm is harnessing the power of blockchain. we look at how circle is going in on all cryptocurrencies -- going all in on cryptocurrencies. this is bloomberg.

caroline: welcome black to "bloomberg technology." i'm caroline hyde. know, is known for mobile payment solutions and is based in boston, but now thanks to a $100 million funding round, circle finds itself more world ofenmeshing the cryptocurrencies. it's the largest vc ever for a crypto making company, and it's making circle with some $3 million -- worth some $3 million. more and more, it is working to

harness the power of the blockchain. joining me now, the cofounder and president of circle. welcome here in neville: delighted to be here. million dollars. talk to us about what the vision of circle will be. it seems like a very infrastructure of blockchain within crypto. mr. neville: we're excited about reimagining what global finance can be if there is such a thing as an internet for finance. in the same way we are connected to one another directly over the internet of content, we're looking for capital formation, fundraising, payments, and selling globally if we can be connected in such a way for finance. caroline: the payment solution you already have, there's a way to invest, trade crypto and some of the products you however -- you already have, but what has everyone talking is the so-called stable crypto, a token for cryptocurrency but underpinned by the u.s. dollar. why is this so important?

is to neville: what are the things -- mr. neville: one of the things interesting to us is how we use the blockchain infrastructure to underpin money and how we leverage those things with the dollar, the euro, the sterling. at the same time, this a problem with using existing crypto assets. they are very volatile. it makes sense to have something like the u.s. dollar represented that can be exchanged anywhere in the world. caroline: one of the desires is the speed of transactions. you are all using the ethereum blockchain. thatwill we really strike sort of efficiency by putting the dollar on a blockchain? mr. neville: we're also working on other solutions. there are some fundamental address. are trying to

one is stability. the other is how we make things faster and how we scale. and then the other is governance, how we do this in a way that can further a standard with multiple members, not just one new member of the network, but multiple members that participate together in an ecosystem. caroline: talk about the stability and governance. there is another key stable coin , meant to be underlined with the u.s. dollar pegged to it, but there has not been much for each token out there, there is a dollar. how will you prove you have the stability? mr. neville: it is imperative that the entity that governs the network, that verifies that there are in fact funds sitting behind these tokens, governs membership and makes sure all isities are behaving separate from the entities issuing these tokens. there will be a separate network -- not circle specifically, but a separate network multiple current -- multiple participants

can participate in, and that will provide protections for everyone who uses it. caroline: this is call center. mr. neville: yes. the bitcoin mining company will be part of it. who else will be part of it? : banks are very interested in this. bitmain is the one we are talking to most recently. it is a very interesting company. they are one of the core interest providers of bitcoin, but specifically one of the blockchain providers at large, so a -- so they are a key participant. caroline: we have recently seen many upset members -- we've had federal reserve movers coming forward saying i don't understand why we would need a central bank issued crypto. how are they reacting to the

fact you want to put the their u.s. dollar onto two additional tokens? mr. neville: there are banks interested in helping this to happen here to perspective is this is an improvement for the infrastructure, the rails the ferry dollars into the sterling and europe around the world. there is also the opportunity to do much more and that these tokens can pay into things like smart contracts that govern the -- whichof funds in are software code enforced by a distributive computer that spans the world. i think tags as well as technology companies are particularly fascinated by this idea. this is the future of the internet of money. caroline: howr -- are you having conversations with regulators, and are they going the right direction? mr. neville: they are. when we look at existing licensure, there is a little bit of a square peg/round whole issue, and regulators are, to their credit, coming up with

these and addressing it in ways we hope ultimately will lead to innovation globally, even though right now, much of the regulation is driven by what the united states is doing. about theyou talk dollar, the euro, the pound, perhaps not asian currencies because there's a lot of competitiveness already. what is your vision in terms of what circle will provide? will it be digital tokens can live alongside currency, and you can't perform transactions face-to-face and computer to computer? perform transactions face-to-face and computer to computer? neville: there should be other issuers and also other kinds of tokens that represent different kinds of value, physical goods, real estate, baskets of goods.

everything of value we believe ultimately will be tokenized, and when you pay into or out of those smart contracts, you want those to be stable coins. caroline: the irony to me is it seems the utopia for many of those that want to see the decision was asia and is that we -- that want to see the decentralization is you ultimately have to have centralization to get there. many do not want to see currency issued by banks at all, but you are looking at tokenizing the currency issued by banks. do you see a different type of utopia? is room for there centralization of super nodes on an network, just as there is much work -- much room for decentralization, and those can interact with one another directly, just as you and i can send each other a photo directly, but we also might use instagram. it is a rough analogy, not perfect, but it will regardless

be more evenly distributed and inclusive than the global financial system we have today. caroline: you have just come back from manhattan. you said you had a good week. from what i can see, the event happening in manhattan was quite crazy, a huge gathering of all those in cryptocurrency in manhattan going from conference to conference, party to party. what was going on? it felt like there was a lot of champagne being sprayed and snoop dogg wrapping, but is there style as well as substance -- snoop dogg rapping? mr. neville: i think there is a lot of substance under the glitter. , it was a dozen people at a meet up, and those conferences have grown to include institutional investors and very serious players and regulatory, banking, tech, or

startups. caroline: wonderful having you here showing us some of the substance. thank you very much indeed for joining us right here in boston. paypalg of payment apps, is making a $2.2 billion purchase, the biggest ever for paypal as it competes with the likes of square. the small business started off with a mobile phone gadget for accepting credit card payments and is now expanding into software to support businesses. zettle expects growth run -- gross revenue of $2.2 billion in 20 18 -- 2018. coming up, could more milk the dollar -- could more milk the dollar -- could more multi-dollar fines be on the way for google? that's next. ♪

caroline: welcome back to "bloomberg technology." shares of how for that fell by as much as 1.5% friday after news that "60 minutes" will air a segment with google critics accusing the company of stifling competition -- shares of alphabet fell. emily: here now with mark foren, who covers alphabet bloomberg technology. we watched shares fall on the news of the "60 minutes" report is going to go hard at google for potential antitrust violations. what is new? mark: what is new will probably be the audience. a more mainstream consumer audience, older audience. i imagine this will be targeted to presenting what is now a years-long case the eu has been

building, reminding regular has this that google massive market share in search and is also kind of taking over more and more of our lives. emily: as you say, this has been going on for years. google has already been fined around the google shopping .ervices there are two more investigations going on with android and adds -- ads. what is the status of those investigations? mark: there's talk about potentially bringing additional cases around something like local search and the way google uses its position in search to point users to things like mappingnts and software. i think the bigger concern for google will be how much of this regulatory pressure comes over here to the u.s.

we've seen democrats and republicans scrutinizing google. there has been no clear case the is going to bring charges, but we have a public -- aunning for senator republican running for senator in missouri who has brought similar antitrust cases against google. : there has been talk about this for some time now. something seto about google more broadly last year. >> it has denied other companies the chance to compete on the to innovate, and, most importantly, it has denied european consumers the benefits and innovation. emily: google obviously has huge market share outside the united states. it is a virtual monopoly. how could this actually impact google's business?

are we looking at another fine or are we looking at google potentially having to scale back and change fundamentally the way it runs its business? mark: the happenings in europe did not seem to have much of an effect. it has been a very lucrative business for google, the shopping has. i think a bigger concern for google is going to be amazon and from the eu, that when consumers turn to online commerce, they turn to places like amazon and ebay. google is thinking a lot about the future of voice search and its potential where a lot of consumers stop typing things into the web or mobile browser. that is a greater concern for their business. emily: let's talk about the future of voice search. you have another story out today about duplex. we have heard the google assistant on the show a couple

of times this week speaking to a restaurant, sounding very much -- almost too much -- like a human, which caused a big uproar and google has come out saying they are going to identify when you are speaking with a robot when you areersus speaking with a human. what did you find out today? mark: they had their weekly all hands meeting with staff yesterday. , and theyd the demo said in states, likely states that require two-party consent "r recording, they will say, i'm the google assistant. i'm recording this call." will that turn people off? will restaurant who receives the call slammed the phone down? i think google wants to show consumers.rength for we mentioned talking about antitrust. without about the collection of data and ai has potential

antitrust issue -- they talked about the collection of data and ai's potential antitrust issue. that: there is a chance zuckerberg could be called along with other tech ceos to testify as part of the discussion on what regulators and others should be doing to protect our privacy. mark: it will be nice to get the ceo lost in, but they have not ordered them -- senators have said it would be nice to get the ceo's in, but they have not ordered them in. so far, that is where we are. much. thank you so caroline, i will send it back to you in boston. caroline: thank you very much coming up, we will hear from boston mayor marty walsh and where the city stands on

autonomous driving. that's next. this is bloomberg. ♪

caroline: welcome back to "bloomberg technology" in boston. this week, we've been talking to leaders in tech, education, and politics in the region. our bureau chief caught up with boston mayor marty walsh and 2 searchd amazon's hq after the city announced it is expanding its boston home. mayor walsh: i don't think it has any impact at all on it. i think this is a separate piece amazon did. they've been negotiating for several months with the developer and with us in the city. a lot of people saying it must be a good time for hq2. i don't beget has any impact at all. i think they are two different projects. tom: do you have any insight at all on who's going to get headquarters?

mayor walsh: we are in the mix. that's all i will say. tom: what are you looking for from amazon? ge, for instance, made a big generous donation for public schools. what would be amazon's ante up, so to speak? mayor walsh: providing jobs across the board is important. different income levels, that's key. amazon is a very generous company. they are very philanthropic, very involved in different communities. they are in seattle, they are in boston in a big way. they have been putting up matches in different organizations, so i know they are philanthropic. i would love to see some of their executives get incorporated on boards and commissions around the city if they move here. not ours, the city of boston's, but all the nonprofits. ge made a great investment of $50 million with a first came here, but more importantly, i think, in some ways, having the the executives, is

important. tom: be embedded in the community? mayor walsh: yes, and we think they would be. having a company like amazon come to boston is exciting. tom: what does boston u to do to get to where it needs to be should amazon put their second headquarters here -- what does boston do? mayor walsh: we are working on a. as not just roads and bridges. it's education and schools because people want to live here. -- we are working on it. it is not just roads and bridges. it's education in schools because people want to live here. it is housing. we launched an initiative to create 3000 low-income units by 2030. it is about housing. that is the infrastructure we have to look at. one of the things i heard about amazon, when they went to seattle in the beginning, the housing product was not there.

we are doing that in boston. our goal is to create more housing opportunities for boston, and i am partnering with our cities and towns adjacent to boston. that is important to any growth. companies are going to look to an area like boston and ask about the housing stock in the city and surrounding communities. that is important. tom: if this is a tech revolution boston is in right now, is there some chance it could backfire? could you have too much traffic or not enough housing? i know you have answered that question, but what are your concerns about the great growth the city is undergoing right now? mayor walsh: my constituents might not like the fact that -- i know it can be a burden to move around the city of boston, but it is about growth. boston is in competition with other cities in america and the world. the more we can attract startups

and investment companies and diversify our business portfolio, it is something i think is really important. we have to figure out traffic. traffic is not just a boston problem. traffic is a new york problem, and l.a. problem, a san francisco problem, and austin, problem. we should be able to, government to be able to help us with infrastructure improvement when it comes to transportation. that has not been the case across the board. -- we should be able to count on government. across the country, we need an infusion of investment made by the federal government. tom: let's talk about self driving cars. boston may be one of the capitals of self driving cars. there was some trouble in march. there were a couple of the taliban is. you put a hold on testing. that lasted a couple of days as i remember. mayor walsh: it was for a five days over a weekend, just to see what would happen with the tragic accident that happened

and we want to make sure we put some safety precautions in place, making sure what is happening in boston -- you can never prevent something tragic from happening, but making sure it is less likely to happen. tom: what are some of the things you have done? you put in new safety measures? making sure the safety plan they have and where they are driving around, if they go into areas with a little more density, making sure the safety precautions are there. those are some of the things we are doing. they are still for the most part on the south boston waterfront, doing their testing there. boston as an about incubator, and self driving cars is an important incubator for us. we are doing other important things. some are working, some will not work, but if you don't try them, you will never know. me, it was first brought to dan was telling me that in 30 years, no one is going to be

driving a car. i said if i'm still around, i will still be driving my car. i'm starting to think i won't. tom cole and that leads me to my next question -- would you get into a self driving car? mayor walsh: at some point, i would. tom: i'm not sure i would. some point, you may be forced to. weoline: the last five days, have gone inside museums, tech innovation hubs, and one of the most a miss venues in sports -- in way park -- one of the most famous venues in sports, fenway park. i know my son was soaking up all that new england has to offer. we thank you for that, boston. that is all for now. from boston, this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ david: did you always know you that you wanted to run fidelity? abigail: i never felt any pressure to. david: did your father say if you work hard, in 20 or 30 years, you will be the ceo? abigail: he was not the guy who made promises to anybody. david: what do you think investors mostly want? abigail: everything. david: was it complicated growing up with your father and family being so famous? abigail: we were not famous at all. i mean, this this was the equity market in the 1970's, david. david: as you look at what your future is going to be? abigail: i think this is the moment that i've been waiting for. >> would you fix your tie, please? david: well, people wouldn't