Snapchat bought Bitstrips, the startup behind Bitmoji, back in March. The acquisition was worth a reported $100 million, but at the time, how the product would be integrated wasn’t clear. Today, Snapchat finally acknowledged the acquisition and revealed how it would integrate Bitstrips’ product: Users can now send their Bitmoji to each other either in chat or in snaps. We saw… Read More
Service is an app we’ve covered before – the startup acts as an intermediary between you and businesses where you’ve had bad experiences. So this means whenever your bags are lost by an airline or a restaurant ruins your meal, Service will interface with the business on your behalf to help make things right in the form of a refund, credit, etc. After being in business a year… Read More
Mobile advertising can be really intrusive. But, if done right, you might not even notice you’re being advertised to. That’s what mobile rewards startup Kiip is all about. It allows advertisers to seamlessly integrate relevant content and rewards into mobile apps. Today, Kiip has announced the close of its $12 million Series C round led by North Atlantic Capital with new… Read More
If you’ve used free wi-fi in San Francisco, there’s a good chance you’ve used Zenreach and just don’t know it yet. The company, until now, has flown largely under the radar, because they wanted to amp up their business quietly for competitive reasons. And they’re finally ready to announce themselves and their new $30 million Series B funding. (Their previous… Read More
Google saw a record number of data requests from law enforcement agencies worldwide during the second half of 2015 as the request total passed the 40,000 mark for the first time. That’s up from 35,365 in the first half of the year and 30,140 one year previous, according to the tech giant’s latest transparency report. Read More
San Francisco-based Volata Cycles looked around at the bicycle market and found it lacking, especially when it came to included options. Bikes are still largely sold as basic packages, with a rider expected to add-on key items like lights, and if you’re even thinking about on-board computers or advanced anti-theft, you’re wading into a complex and expensive third-party market.… Read More
There are lots of things you could say about Marc Benioff. Like, that he cofounded and runs Salesforce, one of the world’s biggest cloud computing companies. Or that he’s also a book author. Or that, last Halloween, he dressed like a pirate and spent hours handing out candy to kids in his San Francisco neighborhood. (True story.) Yet Benioff may eventually be… Read More
Some online loan platforms have taken a hit of late, but not all of them are struggling: today, CommonBond, a platform that specialises in loans and refinancing for students, is announcing that it has raised $300 million in debt to loan out to prospective borrowers; and a further $30 million in a Series C equity round to continue building out its platform. On top of this, the company has… Read More
Dating app Coffee Meets Bagel is making some big changes, rolling out a “ladies choice” update in the coming days. San Francisco-based Coffee Meets Bagel says it has generated 2.5 billion introductions and created more than 50,000 happy couples. But the team thinks it’s time to switch it up from the one-a-day match suggestion and give its members more options. Going forward,… Read More
If you look at the investment dollars for the last quarter, you might be surprised to see an uptick in deal volume. For all the gripes about sky-high valuations and bubble fears, it seems strange to see more money thrown at startups. It turns out that it’s mainly the businesses that have already raised a lot of capital that continued to attract even more. While there was an increase… Read More
Zoosk, the online dating company with 38 million members, is today launching a new application called Lively, aimed at a younger demographic. The app is meant to be Zoosk’s answer to Tinder’s success, but it moves beyond the “hot or not” swiping mechanism Tinder popularized in favor of something more original: stitched together photo and video collages that tell… Read More
The European Court of Justice has issued a preliminary ruling on a data retention case brought by UK MPs and privacy rights groups seeking to challenge the government’s data retention regime under DRIPA. Read More
Netflix has an overseas problem. The company’s share price plunged 15 percent week after it reported poorer than expected user growth numbers. Read More
Following a successful trial that took place earlier this Spring, restaurant delivery startup Deliveroo is expanding into alcohol delivery. The London-headquartered company has launched a wine and beer delivery service in the UK in partnership with Majestic Wines, and BrewDog, and a host of independent and other wine merchants across the country. Read More
Lookup, an India-based chat service that connects consumers to local business and is backed by some notable U.S. investors, has been acquired by business discovery service NowFloats, which is also based in India. The deal priced is undisclosed, and Lookup said it will continue to operate independently. Read More
A tequila brand and car company joining forces isn’t exactly a marriage made in marketing heaven. So what brought Ford and Jose Cuervo together? On Tuesday, the two companies announced a partnership to explore how the tequila distributor’s leftover agave plant fibers can be used to produce more sustainable bioplastic parts in the automaker’s vehicles. Currently, Ford and… Read More
TechShop CEO steps down from running company, Thrive Capital’s $700 million new fund, Microsoft Xbox One S gets a release date of August 2nd, Softbank Group buys Arm Holdings for $32 billion, Uber completes its 2 billionth ride. All this on Crunch Report! Read More
Line, the popular Japanese messaging service that went public last week on both the NYSE and in Japan, partnered on a fund a couple of years ago with the New York-based venture firm Collaborative Fund in order to gain more of a foothold in the U.S.
According to a Dealbook story that announced the pairing, the fund planned to invest less than $10 million and to focus on very early-stage startups. Read More
