San Francisco-based Blend is simplifying the process of mortgage applications for both borrowers and lenders, but is looking to expand into other lending products. To do that the company has raised $100 million in new funding led by Greylock, with participation from a bunch of existing investors. Read More
SpaceX has succeeded with a launch of one of its Falcon 9 rockets today, for client Taiwan National Space Organization (NSPO). The rocket took off from SpaceX’s launch facility 4E at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base as planned, carrying the NSPO’s FORMOSAT-5 satellite to orbit, where it was deployed successfully. This marks an even dozen launches for SpaceX for the… Read More
Adding real-world diversity to emoji is a work in progress, but with platforms spanning the entire globe, it’s clearly important to big companies like Facebook. The social network just rolled out a set of new “family” emoji that, while they don’t yet capture the full spectrum, at least let your partner and kids have something other than yellow skin. Read More
SpaceX has a launch scheduled for today, with a 42-minute launch window opening at 11:51 AM PDT (2:51 PM EDT). The launch is for Taiwan’s National Space Organization (NSPO), which is aiming to put satellite FORMOSAT-5 into low-Earth sun synchronous orbit, where it will be used to beam back high-resolution global imagery, and probe Earth’s ionosphere for research purposes. For the… Read More
The UK government has warned of the risks of the Internet being ‘Balkanzied’ by the application of different rules in different geographies, suggesting that data localization efforts could throttle competition and innovation and weaken security. Read More
HTC, whose mobile handsets ruled the smartphone world of yesteryear, is working with an adviser to examine some pretty significant “strategic options” as it aims to find a path forward, Bloomberg reports. These steps include the possibilities of selling its Vive virtual reality arm or simply spinning it off into a separate venture. We’ve reached out to HTC for comment.… Read More
It’s official…Amazon says its purchase of Whole Foods will close on Monday. According to the release, “the two companies will together pursue the vision of making Whole Foods Market’s high-quality, natural and organic food affordable for everyone. As a down payment on that vision, Whole Foods Market will offer lower prices starting Monday on a selection of… Read More
All right, startup guys and gals. Time is almost up. Disrupt SF 2017 is literally right around the corner. Soon, thousands of tech enthusiasts, investors and entrepreneurs will descend on San Francisco’s Pier 48 for the best startup show in the Bay Area. Will you be among them? Read More
WeWork just announced that it’s receiving a massive $4.4 billion investment from SoftBank Group and SoftBank Vision Fund.
It’s been less than a month since WeWork announced $500 million in funding for a standalone WeWork China business, which SoftBank participated in. It’s also launching in Japan through a joint venture with SoftBank — so this funding deepens an… Read More
Descartes Labs is announcing a $30 million Series B this morning in a large round led by March Capital. This comes just three months after one of Descartes’ largest competitors, Orbital Insight, closed its own $50 million Series C with Sequoia. Both Descartes and Orbital are playing in the emerging market of geospatial analytics. These companies use machine learning to produce insights… Read More
Google.org has given a $1 million grant to the Latino Community Foundation in order to launch an accelerator program for Latinx-led non-profit organizations focused on Latinx communities. The idea with the one-year accelerator, called the Latino Nonprofit Accelerator, is to help organizations address needs and inequities in the Latinx community. As part of the accelerator, the LCF will work… Read More
Essential’s Toronto launch party was your standard tech industry launch gathering – with one key exception: Lining one wall was a series of three booths, demonstrating the Essential Phone’s camera tech, design process and hardware engineering respectively, and each was staffed by people who actually did the work. Read More
There were quite a few trends this time around for Y Combinator’s popular Demo Day, including a mountain of B2B startups, AI, self-driving technology and of course an industry that continues to surge — health care.
Come take a gander at some of the most promising health care startups to emerge from the Summer 2017 class of YC companies. Read More
Responding to privacy concerns, AccuWeather is out with a new version of its iOS app that removes a controversial data sharing behavior. Earlier this week, security researcher Will Strafach called attention to the practice in a Medium post and users took to Twitter to announce their intention to dump the app in droves. “AccuWeather’s app employed a Software Development Kit (SDK) from… Read More
If you’re looking to participate in the hackathon at Disrupt SF 2017, but missed the first round of tickets, you’re in luck! Today, we’re releasing a new batch of hackathon tickets, so everyone who has their heart set on spending a demanding, but fun-filled weekend building something great should head over to the ticketing page and grab free hackathon tickets before… Read More
The “Game of Thrones” effect is in full force for HBO NOW, the premium network’s streaming service for cord cutters. According to new data from app intelligence firm App Annie, the iOS and Android versions of the HBO NOW mobile app have together generated $19 million in U.S. revenue for the two months containing the airing of “Game of Thrones” Season 7, as of… Read More
Uber is giving a $1.2 million grant to Girls Who Code, a non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in tech, as part of a multi-year partnership. As part of the collaboration, Uber’s recently hired Chief Brand Officer Bozoma Saint John is joining the Girls Who Code board of directors to push for gender diversity in tech. “If I’m going to go for it, I’m… Read More
Enigma, the investment platform that is preparing for an ICO next month, confirmed today that it will refund members of its community who lost money after a scammer compromised its social accounts.
Around $500,000 in crypto coins were stolen on Monday after a hacker fooled prospective investors in Enigma’s ICO into sending Ethereum to their wallet. The attacker gained access to… Read More
Google got a much-needed win today when Marketo, the marketing automation platform, chose Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to migrate its entire on-prem operation. The partnership will extend beyond hosting with Google also providing deeper integration with GSuite. Google says that should enable Marketo customers to generate content and communicate with customers directly from the Marketo… Read More
The trailer for Bojack Horseman‘s fourth season is here, and it shows a lot of what we can expect from the new episodes, which land on Netflix on September 8. What it doesn’t show, however is much of Bojack himself, who turns up only briefly at the end pulling up to a dilapidated cabin in a convertible.
If you’re not already a Bojack Horseman fan, you should be: This has… Read More
