
The Station: CES trends and Uber plots another spinoff
The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive it every weekend in your inbox. Hi friends and new readers, welcome back to The Station, a newsletter dedicated to all the present and future ways people and packages move from Point A to […]
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Tencent-backed Hike, once India's answer to WhatsApp, has given up on messaging
India's answer to WhatsApp has completely moved on from messaging. Hike Messenger, backed by Tencent, Tiger Global and SoftBank and valued at $1.4 billion in 2016, earlier this month announced that it was shutting down StickerChat, its messaging app. (StickerChat users saw notifications about it late last week.) The startup, founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, […]
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Personio raises $125M on a $1.7B valuation for an HR platform targeting SMEs
With the last year changing how (and where) many of us work, organizations have started to rethink how well they manage their employees, and what tools they use to do that. Today, one of the startups that is building technology to address this challenge is announcing a major round of funding that underscores its traction […]
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Samsung vice chairman Jay Y. Lee sent back to prison in bribery case
Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee is back in prison following a retrial of his 2017 conviction in a bribery case that helped lead to the downfall of former South Korean president Park Guen-hye. The Seoul High Court sentenced Lee to 30 months on Monday. Lee was originally convicted of bribery in 2017 and […]
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Goama lets developers integrate a social gaming platform into their apps
Goama (also known as Go Games) lets developers quickly integrate social games into their apps. Some of Goama's clients have used it for promotional campaigns, while others rely on the platform, which introduces new games every week, to add a full-fledged gaming function to their app. The startup, which recently took part in SOSV's accelerator […]
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Startups at CES showed how tech can help elderly people and their caregivers
The COVID-19 pandemic shined a harsh spotlight on the challenges many elderly people face. Older adults are among the highest-risk groups for developing cases that need hospitalization and nursing homes were especially vulnerable to outbreaks. While dealing with COVID-19, the elderly have also faced many other problems, including the difficulty of accessing medical care for […]
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Calling Bucharest VCs: Be featured in The Great TechCrunch Survey of European VC
TechCrunch is embarking on a major project to survey the venture capital investors of Europe, and their cities. Our <a href=”of VCs in Bucharest and Romania will capture how the country is faring, and what changes are being wrought amongst investors by the coronavirus pandemic. We'd like to know how Romania’s startup scene is […]
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Twitter is bringing Moments to Indian social app Dailyhunt
Five years after its launch, Twitter Moments is growing beyond the American social networking platform. On Monday, Twitter said it had partnered with Dailyhunt to bring Moments to the Indian social app. Dailyhunt app now has a dedicated tab called ‘Twitter Moments India’ to showcase curated tweets pertaining to news and other events in the […]
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proSapient raises $10M Series A led by Smedvig Capital to expand expert network platform
For several years there has been talk about how to leverage 'experts' online. How do you 'suck their brains' for information in an efficient manner, whether it be for research into companies or sectors, often for investment purposes. Major players in this arena include GLG, Third Bridge, Guidepoint and Alphasights. With the pandemic destroying many […]
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Signal and Telegram are also growing in China – for now
As fears over WhatsApp’s privacy policies send millions of users in the West to Signal and Telegram, the two encrypted apps are also seeing a slight user uptick in China, where WeChat has long dominated and the government has a tight grip on online communication. Following WhatsApp’s pop-up notification reminding users that it shares their […]
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Flipkart doubles down on rewards program, partners with 5,000 retail outlets in India
Flipkart on Monday launched SuperCoin Pay that its customers will be able to use across thousands of retail stores across the country as Walmart-owned e-commerce giant bets on its loyalty program to win and sustain its user base in the world's second largest internet market. The Bangalore-headquartered e-commerce giant said it had partnered with over […]
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UK's Bloom & Wild raises $102M to seed its flower delivery service across Europe
Bloom & Wild, a London-based startup that takes an updated and online approach to the very traditional business of ordering and delivering flowers, has seen business blossom in the last year. And today, it is announcing a big round of funding to help it double down on the opportunity ahead. The company has raised £75 […]
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Virgin Orbit reaches orbit for the first time
Virgin Orbit launched its LauncherOne rocket to orbit for the first time today, with a successful demonstration mission that carried a handful of satellites and delivered them successfully to low Earth orbit on behalf of NASA. It’s a crucial milestone for the small satellite launch company, and the first time the company has shown that […]
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GitHub's head of HR resigns in light of termination of Jewish employee
A GitHub internal investigation has revealed the company made “significant errors of judgment and procedure” in the firing of the Jewish employee who cautioned his coworkers about the presence of Nazis in the DC area on the day of insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In a blog post today, GitHub COO Erica Brescia said the […]
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Threat of inauguration violence casts a long shadow over social media
As the U.S. heads into one of the most perilous phases of American democracy since the Civil War, social media companies are scrambling to shore up their patchwork defenses for a moment they appear to have believed would never come. Most major platforms pulled the emergency break last week, deplatforming the president of the United […]
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Startups look beyond lidar for autonomous vehicle perception
Last CES was a time of reckoning for lidar companies, many of which were cratering due to a lack of demand from a (still) non-existent autonomous vehicle industry. The few that excelled did so by specializing, and this year the trend has pushed beyond lidar, with new sensing and imaging methods pushing to both compete […]
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This Week in Apps: Parler deplatformed, alt apps rise, looking back at 2020 trends
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using […]
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Checkout wants to be Rapyd and Fast
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch's venture-capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. We're back on this lovely Saturday with a bonus episode! Again! There is enough going on that to avoid failing to bring you stuff that we think matters, we are back yet again for more. This time around we […]
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No one knows what anything is worth
Welcome back to The TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It's broadly based on the daily column that appears on Extra Crunch, but free, and made for your weekend reading. Click here if you want it in your inbox every Saturday morning. Ready? Let's talk money, startups and spicy IPO rumors. It was yet another week of startups […]
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After a record year for Israeli startups, 16 investors tell us what's next
Israel's startup ecosystem raised record amounts of funding and produced 19 IPOs in 2020, despite the pandemic. Now tech companies across industries are poised for an even better year, according to more than a dozen investors we talked to in the country. Mainstay sectors like cybersecurity continue to matter, they said, but are maturing (more […]
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Stay gold, 'Plaid for X' startups
A failed acquisition usually triggers the same series of questions: What does this mean for early-stage startups in the sector? Will a chilling effect occur and hurt valuations? Will VCs stop funding this category? How will the exit environment look going forward? This week gave that narrative a bullish twist. Visa and Plaid announced that […]
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The pandemic was top of mind in the tech of CES 2021
Of course COVID-19 was bound to be an unavoidable topic during the first-ever all-virtual CES. After all, the topic is at front of mind regardless of the topic these days. Close to a year into the pandemic, presenters still understandably feel obligated to address the always-present elephant in the room. Sometimes it was as simple […]
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DOT evaluated 11 GPS replacements and found only one that worked across use cases
The United States' GPS system, which is operated by the Defense Department, offers every one of us critical infrastructure around what is known as positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). Positioning and navigation is obvious every time we open up a maps app, but timing is also a critical function of GPS — offering our smartphones […]
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Facebook blocks new events around DC and state capitols
As a precaution against coordinated violence as the U.S. approaches President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, Facebook announced a few new measures it’s putting in place. In a blog post and tweets from Facebook Policy Communications Director Andy Stone, the company explained that it would block any events slated to happen near the White House, the U.S. […]
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Daily Crunch: WhatsApp responds to privacy backlash
WhatsApp delays enforcement of a controversial privacy change, Apple may get rid of the Touch Bar in future MacBooks and Bumble files to go public. This is your Daily Crunch for January 15, 2021. The big story: WhatsApp responds to privacy backlash Earlier this month, WhatsApp sent users a notification asking them to consent to […]
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WhatsApp delays enforcement of privacy terms by 3 months, following backlash
WhatsApp said on Friday that it won’t enforce the planned update to its data-sharing policy until May 15, weeks after news about the new terms created confusion among its users, exposed the Facebook app to a potential lawsuit, triggered a nationwide investigation and drove tens of millions of its loyal fans to explore alternative messaging […]
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Group Nine's SPAC goes public
Group Nine Media revealed last month that it was forming a SPAC (short for special purpose acquisition corporation) in order to raise money for acquisitions. The company has now moved forward with those plans, announcing last night that it had priced the SPAC’s IPO at $10 per unit, to raise a total of $200 million. […]
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How Twitter is handling the 2021 US presidential transition
Twitter has set out its plans for US Inauguration Day 2021, next Wednesday, January 20, when president-elect Joe Biden will be sworn into office as the 46th US president and vice president-elect Kamala Harris will become VP. “This year, multiple challenging circumstances will require that most people experience this historic ceremony virtually,” the social media […]
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As home sales skyrocket and IPO looms, Diane Yu joins fintech Better.com as CTO
The pandemic might have wiped out whole swaths of the economy, but one area that is pulsating with activity is home sales. Driven by remote work and changing commute patterns, home sales skyrocketed last year, with the National Association of Realtors predicting that the total volume when fully calculated will be the highest in 14 […]
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EMA warns over doctored COVID-19 vaccine data hacked and leaked online
The European Medical Agency (EMA) has warned that information on COVID-19-related medicines and vaccines, which was stolen in a cyber attack last December and leaked online earlier this week, includes correspondence that’s been manipulated prior to publication “in a way which could undermine trust in vaccines”. It’s not clear exactly how the information — which […]
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Tracy Chou launches Block Party to combat online harassment and abuse
Block Party, an anti-harassment startup that aims to help folks feel safer on social media founded by Tracy Chou, launched today. Currently only available for Twitter, Block Party helps people filter out the content they don’t want to see and into what Block Party calls the Lockout Folder. That’s where all of the filtered-out content […]
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GitLab oversaw a $195 million secondary sale that values the company at $6 billion
GitLab has confirmed with TechCrunch that it oversaw a $195 million secondary sale that values the company at $6 billion. CNBC broke the story earlier today. The company’s impressive valuation comes after its most recent 2019 Series E in which it raised $268 million on a 2.75 billion valuation, an increase of $3.25 billion in […]
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Samsung's Galaxy Buds Pro are a solid AirPods alternative
I suspect it will be a while before I get excited over wireless earbuds. It's not for a lack of trying on the part of manufacturers. In fact, quite the contrary. The category actually matured quite quickly, compared to various other verticals in the consumer electronics space. The truth is, most major hardware makers have […]
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Bumble files to go public
The dating and networking service Bumble has filed to go public. The company, launched by a former co-founder of the IAC-owned Tinder, plans to list its share on the Nasdaq stock exchange, using the ticker symbol “BMBL.” Bumble’s planned IPO was first reported in December. Whitney Wolfe Herd doesn't care what she's supposed to do Bumble […]
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Apple is extending Apple TV+ trials again
If you’ve got an Apple TV+ trial that’s set to expire sometime between now and June, good news: you’re getting some free bonus time. Apple TV+ first launched in November of 2019, alongside a one-year free trial for anyone buying a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV or Mac. As those initial trials approached […]
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Twitter's decentralized future
This week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey finally responded publicly to the company's decision to ban President Trump from its platform, writing that Twitter had “faced an extraordinary and untenable circumstance” and that he did not “feel pride” about the decision. In the same thread, he took time to call out a nascent Twitter-sponsored initiative called […]
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Coinbase commits to a 'better customer experience' following complaints
Coinbase has a problem. As interest in bitcoin has soared along with its price, the popular cryptocurrency exchange has found itself the target of a growing spate of angry customers who haven’t been able to access customer service. A quick look at Twitter tells the story. As one upset user of the service ranted earlier […]
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Marc Lore leaves Walmart a little over four years after selling Jet.com for $3B
Marc Lore, the executive vice president, president and CEO of U.S. e-commerce for Walmart, is stepping down a little over four years after selling his e-commerce company Jet.com to the country’s largest retailer for $3 billion. Lore’s tenure at the company was a mixed bag. Walmart instituted several new technology initiatives under Lore’s tenure, but […]
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Trump Administration adds Xiaomi to military blacklist
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is the latest to be added to the Trump Administration’s military blacklist. On Thursday, the Department of Defense added nine more companies to its list of alleged Chinese military companies, including Xiaomi. Xiaomi was the world’s third-largest smartphone maker as of Q3 last year, coming ahead of Apple and trailing behind […]
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Uber planning to spin out Postmates' delivery robot arm
Another Uber spinout is in the works. Postmates X, the robotics division of the on-demand delivery startup that Uber acquired last year for $2.65 billion, is seeking investors in its bid to become a separate company, according to several people familiar with the plans. The startup is being referred to as Serve Robotics, a nod […]
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Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson says wisdom lies with your developers
Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson knows a thing or two about unleashing developers. His company has garnered a market cap of almost $60 billion by creating a set of tools to make it easy for programmers to insert a whole host of communications functionality into an application with a couple of lines of code. Given that […]
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Lessons from Top Hat's acquisition spree
Top Hat, a startup that digitizes textbooks and turns them into an interactive experience for college students, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired yet another business: Fountainhead Press. The acquisition marks Top Hat's third scoop of a publishing company in the past 12 months. Top Hat's whole business proposition is a subtweet to Zoom […]
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Crossbeam raises $25M to back startups built on 'platform economies'
While many venture capitalists might hope to fund the next Amazon or Shopify, Crossbeam is a new firm focused on backing the startups built on top of these platforms. And it recently closed its $25 million first fund. We’ve written about well-funded startups like SellerX, Perch and Heroes that acquire and grow Amazon businesses, and […]
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Desktop Metal buys fellow 3D printing company EnvisionTEC for $300M
Desktop Metal this morning announced its intention to purchase fellow 3D printing company EnvisionTEC. Founded in Germany in 2002, EnvisionTEC specializes in photopolymer additive manufacturing, putting its technology in more direct competition with the likes of 3D printing darling Carbon than Desktop Metal's own existing portfolio. The deal follows Desktop Metal's push to go public […]
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Corporate credit card platform Moss raises $25.5 million
German startup Moss has raised a $25.5 million (€21 million) funding round led by Valar Ventures. Existing investors Cherry Ventures and Global Founders Capital are also participating. Moss provides credit cards and a spending platform to small and medium businesses in Germany. The company has developed its own risk engine to come up with a […]
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Video game spending increased 27% in 2020
If you've been following the gaming space — or just the state of the world, generally — over the past 12 months, this shouldn't come as a major surprise. Spending saw big increases pretty much across the board in 2020 as a homebound populace sought comfort and distraction in gaming. This comes in stark contrast […]
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Swimm raises $5.7M to help teams document their code
Most developers don’t enjoy writing documentation for their code and that makes life quite a bit harder when a new team member tries to get started on working on a company’s codebase. And even when there are documentation or in-line comments in the source code, that’s often not updated, and, over time, that information becomes […]
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Daily Crunch: Samsung unveils Galaxy S21 line
Samsung lowers prices with its latest Galaxy S phones, Google completes its Fitbit acquisition and Beyond Meat is coming to Taco Bell. This is your Daily Crunch for January 14, 2021. The big story: Samsung unveils Galaxy S21 line Samsung’s new line of phones includes the S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra, priced at $799, $999 […]
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iSpot expands its ad measurement platform by acquiring Ace Metrix
ISpot.tv announced today that it has acquired Ace Metrix, a deal that brings two TV and video ad measurement companies together. ISpot founder and CEO Sean Muller said that the companies have complementary solutions. After all, he said, “In simple terms, there are only two reasons why brands buy advertising — one is to deliver business […]
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Medium acquires social book reading app Glose
Medium is acquiring Paris-based startup Glose for an undisclosed amount. Glose has been building iOS, Android and web apps that let you buy, download and read books on your devices. The company has turned reading into a multiplayer experience, as you can build a bookshelf, share notes with your followers and start conversations in the […]
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Harness snags $85M Series C on $1.7B valuation as revenue grows 3x
Harness, the startup that wants to create a suite of engineering tools to give every company the kind of technological reach that the biggest companies have, announced an $85 million Series C today on a $1.7 billion valuation. Today’s round comes after 2019’s $60 million Series B, which had a $500 million valuation, showing a […]
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Confusion over WhatsApp's new T&Cs triggers privacy warning from Italy
Confusion over an update to Facebook-owned chat platform WhatsApp’s terms and conditions has triggered an intervention by Italy’s data protection agency. The Italian GPDP said today it has contacted the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) to raise concerns about a lack of clear information over what’s changing under the incoming T&Cs. In recent weeks WhatsApp […]
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WhatsApp faces legal challenge over privacy in its biggest market
WhatsApp is facing a legal challenge in India, its biggest market, after a petition was filed Thursday before Delhi High Court over the upcoming change in the Facebook-owned app's data sharing policy. The petition alleges the new terms that WhatsApp requires its roughly 450 million users in the country to accept is a violation of […]
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Gemini is launching a credit card with bitcoin rewards
Cryptocurrency exchange company Gemini is acquiring Blockrize and announcing a new product today based on Blockrize's work. Later this year, the company is launching a credit card that works like a regular credit card — but you earn bitcoin rewards based on your purchases. The credit card will work like any other credit card and […]
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Mosaic raises $18.5M Series A from GC to rebuild the CFO software stack
CFOs are the supposed omniscient owners of a company. While the CEO sets strategy, messages, and builds culture, the CFO needs to know everything that it is going on in an organization. Where is revenue coming from, and when will it arrive? How much will new headcount cost, and when do those expenses need to […]
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Google's Fitbit acquisition is official
Following regulatory scrutiny on both sides of the pond, Google this morning announced that it has completed its acquisition of wearables pioneer, Fitbit. Google's use of the vast amount of user health data has long been the key sticking point of regulatory concern of the deal. After all, targeted advertising continues to be at the […]
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Amazon's Ring Neighbors app exposed users' precise locations and home addresses
A security flaw in Ring’s Neighbors app was exposing the precise locations and home addresses of users who had posted to the app. Ring, the video doorbell and home security startup acquired by Amazon for $1 billion, launched Neighbors in 2018 as a breakaway feature in its own standalone app. Neighbors is one of several […]
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Watch Blue Origin launch a rocket with an upgraded crew capsule live
Blue Origin is launching its New Shepard suborbital rocket for the first time in 2021, with a liftoff planned for 9:45 AM CST (10:45 AM EST/7:45 AM PST) [Update: Now targeting 10:57 AM CST (11:57 AM EST/8:57 AM PST)] from its launch facility in West Texas. This is the 14th flight of New Shepard, and […]
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X1 Card raises $12 million for its credit card with limits based on your income
X1 Card is raising a $12 million funding round. The company is building a credit card that sets limits based on your current and future income, not your credit score. Spark Capital is leading the round with Jared Leto, Aaron Levie, Jeremy Stoppelman, Max Levchin and Ali Rowghani also participating. American Express veteran Ash Gupta […]
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The end of Plaid-Visa, and Palantir's growing startup mafia
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch's venture-capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week we — Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace — had a lot to get through, as the news volume in early 2021 has been rapid and serious. Sadly this means that some early-stage rounds missed the […]
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Lumiata raises $14 million for its service to predict healthcare outcomes
Healthcare systems are always looking out for ways to save money and a startup called Lumiata has just raised $14 million to continue building out its service that aims to help them do it. The company, already backed by Khosla Ventures and Blue Venture Fund raised its latest round from Defy.vc and AllegisNL Capital. The company’s […]
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Samsung unveils its newest Tile competitor, the Galaxy SmartTag
Alongside its other announcements at Samsung’s event today, the company introduced its new Galaxy SmartTag Bluetooth locator, a lost item beacon for Samsung owners and a competitor with Tile. Like Tile and Apple’s forthcoming AirTags, the beacon can be attached to keys, a bag, a pet’s collar or anything else you want to track. Initially, […]
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3Drens helps fleet operators use their vehicles more efficiently
3Drens' IoT mobility management platform not only lets fleet operators track where their vehicles are, but also produces data that helps them make business decisions. The company began operating in Taiwan, where it is based, before expanding into Southeast Asia. Currently presenting at CES' Taiwan Tech Arena, 3Drens is focused on the increased demand for […]
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Origami Labs' OFLO is a smart walkie talkie for frontline workers
OFLO is a voice communication system designed to replace traditional walkie talkies. Its hardware is more compact and lightweight, with a bone conduction headset, and capable of covering unlimited distances and multiple channels. Created by Origami Labs, OFLO is also connected to software that features auto logging and productivity tools for teams who don't have […]
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Minna Technologies, a subscription management tool for banking customers, raises $18.8M
With the proliferation of subscription services, combined with our lives becoming almost 100% digital, there's a rising need to be able to manage these services. But most banks don't have much of an answer. Step in Minna Technologies, which sells in its subscription management services into banking apps. It's now raised $18.8 million (€15.5m / […]
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Home services platform Porch acquires four companies
Only a few weeks after its SPAC IPO, Porch today announced that it has made four acquisitions, worth a total of $122 million. The most important here is probably the acquisition of Homeowners of America for $100 million, which gets Porch deeper into the home insurance space. In addition, Porch is also acquiring mover marketing […]
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YC-backed Blabla raises $1.5M to teach English through short videos
Short, snappy, entertaining videos have become an increasingly common way for young people to receive information. Why not learn English through TikTok-like videos too? That was what prompted Angelo Huang to launch Blabla. Originally from Taiwan, Huang relocated to Shanghai in 2019 to start Blabla after working in Silicon Valley for over a decade. A […]
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Beyond Meat shares soar after inking deal with Taco Bell on new menu items
Shares of Beyond Meat are soaring on news that the company will be working with Taco Bell on new menu items. The company’s stock was up $17.13, or 13.67%, to $142.48 and climbing in midday trading after Taco Bell announced that it would embrace Beyond Meat to come up with new menu items due to […]
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Madrona promotes Anu Sharma and Daniel Li as Partners
Fresh off the announcement of more than $500 million in new capital across two new funds, Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group has announced that they’re adding Anu Sharma and Daniel Li to the team’s list of Partners. The firm, which in recent years has paid particularly close attention to enterprise software bets, invests heavily in the […]
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Grab Financial Group raises $300 million Series A led by Hanhwa Asset Management
Grab Financial Group said today it has raised more than $300 million in Series A funding, led by South Korean firm Hanhwa Asset Management, with participation from K3 Ventures, GGV Capital, Arbor Ventures and Flourish Ventures. The Financial Times reports that the funding values Grab Financial, a subsidiary of ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab, at […]
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Samsung answers Apple with the $199 Galaxy Buds Pro
Even before the leaks, we all saw the Galaxy Buds Pro coming. It was a given that the company was planning to deliver its own take on Apple's AirPods Pro, with improved sound quality and active noise canceling. The real secret weapon here, however, may be the price. This morning's S21 announcement found Samsung dropping […]
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