Earlier this year, Amazon jump-started its business in the Middle East by paying $580 million to acquire Souq.com, an Amazon-style marketplace based out of Dubai. Today, Amazon and Souq are making another acquisition to build out the logistics that will underpin that operation’s growth: Souq has acquired Wing.ae, a startup that is building out a network for Prime-style same-day and… Read More
TechCrunch Disrupt, the premier startup and technology conference, first took the European startup community by storm way back in 2013. Since then, the continent’s startup scene has matured rapidly, and we’re thrilled to be back in Berlin this December. We’re even happier to announce that Disrupt Berlin 2017 registration is now officially open. Read More
Dataiku, a French startup that helps data analysts communicate with data scientists to build more meaningful data applications, announced a significant funding round today. The company scored a $28 million Series B investment led by Battery Ventures with help from FirstMark, Serena Capital and Alven. Today’s money brings the total raised to almost $45 million. Its most recent prior round… Read More
Facebook has set the pace for how social networks can grow their advertising revenues by leveraging advances and ad tech and the information that they collect about users and their interests through the social graph. Now LinkedIn — the career-focused social network owned by Microsoft with some 500 million registered users — is hoping to step up its game in ads and ad tech, too.… Read More
Good news for Pokémon Go fans in Europe: Niantic has announced new dates for the events in Europe that were postponed following the disastrous outcome of the first-ever Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago in July. The events — dubbed ‘Pokémon GO Safari Zone’ — will be held as follows: October 7, 2017 Fisketorvet—Copenhagen, Denmark Centrum Černý Most—Prague,… Read More
Peugeot automaker PSA Group will work with AImotive, a startup focused on developing autonomous vehicle tech, for a test of Level 4 AI-based autonomy on highways in France, the companies announced on Wednesday. The pilot projects will involve self-driving at speeds ranging up to 80 mph, and will use AImotive sensor and compute hardware, and autonomous software, installed on a Citroen C4… Read More
Turo has a new strategic partner in automaker Daimler, with ties solidified through both an investment by Daimler in the car sharing startup, and through the acquisition by Turo of Croove, Daimler’s own Turo-like subsidiary. The funding is part of a new $92 million Series D round raised by Turo, which was also led by South Korean giant SK Holdings, in addition to Daimler, and which… Read More
U.S. carrier Verizon has launched a new rewards program as it pushes for more lucrative ways to eke money out of a subscriber base that’s not growing as easily as it once was. Read More
Chatbots may have underwhelmed thus far, but the impact of the technology still has bags of potential in international markets where mobile messaging has been mainstream for years. That’s the view of one startup that’s working to bring the benefit of bots to the mainstream in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country and the largest economy in the growing region… Read More
Chew.tv, a video streaming service for DJs to show off their mixing skills, has been acquired by BandLab Technologies, the Singapore-based ‘social’ music-making platform. Terms of the deal are undisclosed, though it was widely known that Chew.tv, which has been described as ‘Twitch for DJs,’ had been struggling financially over the last six months. Read More
Atomico, the European VC fund founded by Skype’s Niklas Zennström, has made another promotion. Tom Wehmeier, the firm’s Head of Research and already an existing member of the investment team, is making the step up to Partner. He joins a spew of recent internal promotions by Atomico, including Carolina Brochado and Teddie Wardi, who both became Partners in January. Read More
WhatsApp is preparing to make money by facilitating conversations between business and consumers. It’s a great move. Messaging is huge, and there is vast scope for bringing brands and businesses on board. It’s a process that’s been happening for years, predominantly with Asia-based chat apps that let users follow official accounts, but enterprising business people in… Read More
China’s central bank puts a ban on ICOs, the next generation of the Lily drone is here, WhatsApp for Business is launching and Alphabet creates a new holding company to complete 2015 corporate reorganization. All this on Crunch Report! Read More
Ready to give your Startup the global recognition it deserves? Founders, there are 6 more days to apply for the inaugural Startup Battlefield Australia. The deadline for submission is September 11th at midnight AEST. When you apply, you’re giving your startup the opportunity to join the ranks of almost 700 early-stage founders who’ve come before you to hone their pitch with… Read More
Nissan unveiled its new 2018 all-electric Leaf at a special event on Tuesday, and the much-anticipated successor to one of the earliest production EVs had some interesting tricks up its sleeve. Most of these focused on intelligent driver assistance features, including ProPILOT semi-autonomous driving and parking capabilities. The Leaf also had an updated body design, with a more aerodynamic… Read More
The way Iron Man flies may be cool, but it’s also impractical. Even if your core strength is off the chart, as I assume Tony Stark’s is (you’re basically planking the whole time), putting jets on your hands and feet is just asking for broken bones. But the seeming foolishness of this method hasn’t stopped a handful of Italian researchers from suggesting we give it a… Read More
23andMe, the Mountain View-based genetic testing and analysis company, is raising close to $200 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital, multiple sources tell us. Sources say that Fidelity is also looking to participate. We’d first heard in spring that the 11-year-old company was looking for more money to expand its genetics research arm and develop new products. The fresh… Read More
The race is on for autonomous vehicle technology, and now a startup out of the U.K. is the latest to throw its hat into the ring to help build it. Cambridge-based FiveAI — a partner in the U.K.’s StreetWise self-driving project — has raised £14M ($18M) and £12.8M ($17M) in two tranches to fill out its plans for a two-part business in the world of self-driving services. Read More
For someone getting major dental work or reconstructive surgery, it can be hard to visualize what they’ll look like afterwards. You can do casts and make wax molds, but that’s a bit… 19th century, isn’t it? A Swiss startup brings the, in retrospect, obvious solution of augmented reality to the problem, giving patients a virtual view of the smile they could soon have. Read More
Betterview, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose software can analyze detailed aerial footage captured by drones to help insurers better understand a property’s condition, has raised $2 million in funding from a long list of investors. Read More
