Uber is now listed as one of the companies licensed to test autonomous vehicle technology in California. The ride-hailing provider originally launched a pilot of its self-driving Volvo XC90 SUVs in San Francisco last year, but picked up and moved the test to Arizona after California’s Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registration on its cars since it had not secured a testing… Read More
Anyone who has watched “The Big Bang Theory”, or known John Biggs, knows that some people care a lot about collectibles. But does that passion translate over to digital? Quidd, a Brooklyn-based startup that has just closed a $6.75 million seed round, would argue that it does. Quidd lets users collect virtual stickers, cards, and toys from their favorite shows, such as… Read More
Ride-hailing company Lyft is celebrating a milestone – it just launched in 10 new U.S. markets, making for 100 new cities added to the list of place where its available in 2017. That was the target Lyft had originally set for itself as its year-end target, but it’s only been three months and the company has already crossed that marker. Thursday’s launch in 10 new cities… Read More
Gboard, Google’s attempt to further infiltrate your phone by way of a keyboard application, is rolling out an update this morning that will introduce a handful of new features, including GIF and emoji suggestions as you type, easier voice typing, Google Translate, and more keyboard themes. The latter option will allow you to personalize the keyboard by selecting from an expanded selection… Read More
Facebook is globally launching Messenger Day to put a utilitarian spin on the slideshow format. While Snapchat Stories is for retelling what you’ve done, Messenger Day’s “Who’s up for?” filters and Active Now indicators help you find friends to chat and meet up with. Read More
Blumberg Capital is announcing the close of its fourth fund. The team will be managing $200 million dollars, an increase from the $150 million in the prior fund.
Blumberg plans to use the money to invest in early stage startups, particularly in the enterprise, security and fintech categories. Known as the first investor in Nutanix, the Blumberg crew also remains enthusiastic about I.T. Read More
Chairish, the marketplace for vintage and used furniture, is raising $8 million in funding. Altos Ventures, OATV and Azure Capital Partners participated in the round.
Founded in 2013, Chairish has become a platform for consignment stores, antique galleries, interior designers and others to buy and sell everything from art to bed frames. Chairish does not buy up any of the inventory, they… Read More
San Francisco-based electric scooter sharing network Scoot tells TechCrunch it plans to share its backend software with third-party scooter operators in congested cities around the world. The idea, as Scoot’s founder Michael Keating explained it, is to allow those in other cities who have vehicles to hook into Scoot’s backend operation system, allowing them to also run a… Read More
Robots have begun to play an increasing role in life and death scenarios, from rescue missions to complex surgical procedures. But the question of trust has largely been a one-way street. Should we trust robots with our lives?
A Tufts University lab is working to turn the notion on its head, asking the perhaps equally important inverse. Should robots trust us?
The Human Robot Interaction… Read More
San Francisco-based LendingHome has spent the last several years building technology that would help real estate investors get mortgages in what has been an otherwise constrained lending market. Now the company is looking to expand its addressable base, by offering more traditional mortgages to consumers — specifically first-time homebuyers. Read More
The 2017 Cadillac CTS is getting vehicle-to-vehicle technology this year. The sedans will be outfitted with DSRC short-range radio communication devices to transmit and receive simple messages including vehicles’ GPS location, speed, and heading. Those messages are sent 1000 times a second across up to about 1000 feet. “It’s sending out basic information that allows other… Read More
In a world where having internet connectivity is the lifeblood of just about every business, Cradlepoint helps customers deliver consistent networking services, even when there is a lousy cell signal. Today the company announced it had secured an $89 million Series C investment from TCV. TCV is the only investor this round, and as part of the deal TCV’s general partner Ted Coons and… Read More
Hedge fund Dymon Asia is getting into the venture capital game after it announced its maiden fund.
Dymon Asia Ventures is focused on fintech deals and it is targeting a $50 million raise. Today, its founding partners disclosed a first close of $20 million from a range of LPs that include Thai bank Siam Commercial (SCB), which invested an undisclosed sum via its Digital Ventures arm. Dymon… Read More
Another fintech startup has raised a growth round to tap into the estimated $25 trillion dollar market for money transfers. London-based Currencycloud, which builds tools for payment companies to use by way of an API to enable remittances and money exchanges across borders, has raised £20 million ($25 million) in a Series D round of funding led by Google’s GV, its first fintech… Read More
China’s Uber rival Didi Chuxing has officially opened its U.S.-based research lab. The new center is part of a move to suck up talent beyond Didi’s current catchment pool in China, particularly in the areas of AI and self-driving vehicles, but it doesn’t signal an expansion of its service into North America. The existence of the research center itself isn’t new.… Read More
Goldbely, the speciality food delivery service, has closed $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by Global Founders Capital and Intel Capital (who also led the company’s seed round). As part of the investment Goldbely is joining the Intel Capital Diversity Fund. Goldbely’s goal is to send you the best food from cities around the U.S, no matter where you are based. So you could… Read More
The iRobot museum is located in the main building of its Bedford, Massachusetts headquarters. It’s more of a hallway, really, tucked behind a security door just off the building’s lobby, sporting the words “Cool Stuff.” It’s the first stop for tour groups and field trips, laying out the company’s 27-year history along conveniently stocked shelves. Read More
Uber’s chief security officer Joe Sullivan posted an update Wednesday about the company’s use of “Greyball,” providing some details about use of the software tool, which was revealed in a New York Times report last week. Greyball was part of a program Uber designed to help it identify users who violate the terms of service of its app, preventing them from securing… Read More
Wikileaks dumped thousands of alleged CIA documents online yesterday that contained lists of vulnerabilities in popular tech products, sending companies scrambling to make sure their security patches were up-to-date. But as companies reviewed the documents, it became clear that most of the vulnerabilities they contained were outdated.
Apple first dismissed the majority of the listed iPhone… Read More
