New York headquartered Kaia Health, which offers AI-assisted digital therapies via a mobile app for chronic pain related to musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders and for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), has raised a $75 million Series C. The round was led by an unnamed leading growth equity fund with support from existing investors, including Optum Ventures, […]
As the world takes its first steps back to relative normalcy, there remains a major question mark around how profoundly our day-to-day is going to be changed for good. Nowhere does that question loom larger than fitness. Connected home machines have undergone a seismic shift over the past year, but once gyms safely reopen, how […]
The Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, an incubator based in New York, is introducing 12 new companies at its 20th demo day tomorrow. ERA has thus far had more than 226 companies go through the program that have raised more than $1 billion in capital and collectively share a market cap over $5 billion. So without any […]
When it comes to building a successful startup, biotech and hardware happen to be two of the most difficult verticals in the tech industry. But Oura is doing it anyway. The health and fitness tracking ring has been used in a number of studies around COVID-19 and been worn by NBA and WNBA players to […]
French startup OpenClassrooms has raised an $80 million Series C funding round led by Lumos Capital Group. The company operates an online education platform in French and English. Users can choose among 54 training programs and get a diploma at the end of the program — some of those program lead to French-state-recognized bachelor and […]
It was, I admit, slightly strange not feeling the extreme anxiety over the holidays at having to return to Las Vegas this past year. But nature is healing. Vaccinations have begun rolling out in much of the world, and CES is ready to return. The massive consumer electronic show’s governing board, the CTA, announced this […]
We may still be a long way off from Level 5, fully self-driving cars on the open road, but companies building autonomous vehicles and shuttles for specific uses within closed-campus deployments say they are on their way to commercial operations and are raising money to get there. In the latest development, a startup out of […]
Every day in the United States, hundreds of thousands of people will dial 911 to seek help. Some of those calls are serious and require immediate emergency attention, but the reality is that most 911 calls are of a far simpler variety: concerns about a prescription, fear over a newly-developed symptom, or a general medical […]
Data intelligence company Near is announcing the acquisition of another company in the data business — UM. In some ways, this echoes Near’s acquisition of Teemo last fall. Just as that deal helped Singapore-headquartered Near expand into Europe (with Teemo founder and CEO Benoit Grouchko becoming Near’s chief privacy officer), CEO Anil Mathews said that this new […]
Over the last few months, PayPal has been quietly gearing up for its expansion in China. At the recent Boao Forum for Asia, China’s answer to Davos, the American payments giant said its strategy for China is not to challenge the duopoly of Alipay and WeChat Pay. Instead, it wants to focus on cross-border business […]
SOS Accessoire, a French startup that helps people diagnose and repair their home appliances, has raised €10M/$12M in a funding round led by ETF Partners. The round was joined by Quadia, Starquest, and Seed for Good. There is now a growing home repair market, powered by startups like this, which allow people to save money, […]
In 2016, Ivorian e-commerce startup Afrikrea started as a marketplace for African-based and inspired clothing, accessories, arts, and crafts. Over the past five years, Afrikrea has served more than 7,000 sellers from 47 African countries and buyers from 170 countries. Per the company’s data, it records more than 500,000 visits monthly, with the majority of […]
Challenger banks continue to make significant waves in the world of finance, with smaller outfits luring customers away from incumbents by providing an easier way for them to not only engage with basic banking services, but to tap into a wave of technology that brings more personalization and often better deals into the equation. In […]
Barkyn, a European subscription service for pets that combines food with tele-vet services, has raised a further €3 milion ($3.6M) from FoodTech investor Five Seasons Ventures, extending its previous Series A to €8M, and total funds raised to date to €10M. Five Seasons Ventures joins previous investors Indico Capital Partners, All Iron Ventures, Portugal Ventures […]
Kenyan consumer experience platform for businesses in Africa, Ajua today announced that it has acquired WayaWaya, a Kenya-based AI and ML messaging and payments company. WayaWaya’s customers and partners include the likes of I&M Bank, Interswitch and MTN. The company offers a range of services, from digital banking and payment services to financial services APIs […]
The COVID-19 pandemic threw remote work into the spotlight, but tech companies have hired in other locations for years to deal with talent shortages. Arc announced today it is opening its remote hiring platform to all software developers. Previously, Arc was open only to developers who passed its verification process. Developers can still get verified […]
Look out Amazon Go. A Lisbon startup plans to offer the same autonomous store technology to other retailers. Lisbon-based Sensei, a computer vision startup that allows convenience stores to offer check-out-free purchasing has secured a seed round of $6.5 million (€5.4M). The funding was led by Seaya Ventures and Iberis Capital, with participation from 200M […]
Dutch-German growth capital firm Endeit Capital has raised a 250 million euro fund to invest in B+ stage European startups. This is its third and largest investment fund, Endeit Capital III. The firm says it plans to support European scale-up companies that “lead to an accelerated digital transformation of the European society and economy and […]
Indian food delivery startup Zomato on Wednesday filed for an initial public offering, ushering a new era for tech unicorn startups in the world’s second largest internet market after years of promising growth. The 12-year-old Gurgaon-headquartered Indian startup, which counts Info Edge and Ant Group among its largest investors, plans to raise $1.1 billion from […]
