Startups that take time to scale before going public or getting acquired can represent big, if long-term, returns for employees that hold equity in them. Big, because tech companies have proven to be some of the most valuable in the world when it comes to exits; long-term, because it might take years for a startup […]
Since launching four years ago, hitting level 40 in Pokémon GO meant hitting the top. You could still keep catching Pokémon and gathering XP, of course — but that shiny level badge wasn’t going up any higher. That’ll change later this month with an update that bumps the cap to 50, introduces new Pokémon, and […]
Former Yahoo CEO and early Google employee Marissa Mayer’s startup Lumi Labs is today rebranding to Sunshine and releasing its first official product. Its new app, Sunshine Contacts, aims to be a better tool for organizing, updating and sharing contact information with others. In time, the company envisions a portfolio of consumer-facing applications that simplify […]
On the heels of Hopin’s $125 million funding round, a newcomer in the virtual events space is gaining steam. Welcome, led by co-founder and CEO Roberto Ortiz, is positioning itself as the “Ritz Carlton for virtual events,” Ortiz told me. Today, it’s announcing a $12 million Series A round led by Kleiner Perkins with participation […]
Bay Area-based Rapid Robotics today announced it has raised $5.5 million in seed funding in a round led by Greycroft and Bee Partners. The announcement comes during what has been a solid several months for robotics funding, and more and more companies are looking to automate workforces as the COVID-19 pandemic has ground a lot […]
Build.security, a Tel Aviv and Sunnyvale-based startup that aims to make it easier for developers to bake authorization policy management right into their applications, today announced a $6 million seed funding round led by cybersecurity-centric firm YL Ventures. CrowdStrike CEO and co-founder George Kurtz also participated in this round, in addition to former Zscaler CISO […]
The term ‘DevOps’ has been rendered meaningless and developers still don’t have access to the right tools to put the overall idea into practice, the team behind DevOps startup OpsLevel argues. The company, which was co-founded by John Laban and Kenneth Rose, two of PagerDuty’s earliest employees, today announced that it has raised a $5 […]
Cloudbolt, a Bethesda, MD startup that helps companies manage hybrid cloud environments, announced a $35 million Series B investment today. It was split between $15 million in equity investment and $20 Million in debt. Insight Partners provided the equity side of the equation, while Hercules Capital and Bridge Bank supplied the venture debt. The company […]
Just in case you hadn’t heard, or are annoyed that folks aren’t writing about it: Bitcoin is rallying, up around 16% in the last week to a value of a little more than $18,000 as of this morning. Here’s a chart of its recent gains, via YCharts (note, it’s a tiny bit behind, so use […]
Japanese startup Astroscale is aiming for March 2021 for a launch of its first-ever active orbital debris removal mission. This demonstration of its technology, which it hopes to use to help ensure that low-Earth orbit becomes a sustainable environment for commercial activity as it becomes increasingly crowded thanks to the rapid pace of new spacecraft […]
Arrival has gone from stealthy electric vehicle startup to prospective public company in a span of a year. The UK-based company, which operated in relative secrecy for several years until January when it announced a $110 million investment from Hyundai and Kia, said Wednesday it has agreed to merge with special purpose acquisition company CIIG […]
This excerpt follows a high-growth period for Douyin, detailing how it gained around 200 million daily active users within a year via a loyal creator community, viral memes, algorithmic recommendation and aggressive ad spending.
We already knew there was a big trend towards remote working, and this has only been drastically accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the distractions of daily life can easily impinge on the ‘deep work’ many need to get done when working on something important, like writing a book, or launching a […]
Drugmaker Pfizer has provided updated analysis around its COVID-19 vaccine Phase 3 clinical trial data, saying that in the final result of its analysis of the 44,000-participant trial, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate proved 95% percent effective. This is a better efficacy rate than Pfizer reported previously, when it announced a 90% effectiveness metric based on […]
Mental health has taken a nosedive for many people this year — spurred by economic and political uncertainty, a Covid-19-fueled public health crisis, and being cooped up, among other things. In the U.S., a startup is today announcing some funding to make it easier for those who need it to find help. Headway, which helps […]
Epic acquired Houseparty way back in June of last year, following an absolutely massive $1.25 billion raise. It was clear why the Fortnite publisher would be interested in the social video app. After all, Fortnite is one of the most social games around. Now, after several months of global quarantining, the deal is finally bearing […]
Amid increased regulatory scrutiny over how it runs its App Store, Apple today announced it will reduce the App Store commissions for smaller businesses. Under the new guidelines of the “App Store Small Business Program,” as it’s called, developers earning up to $1 million per year will only have to pay a 15% commission on […]
The tourism and travel industry has been one of the hardest hit by the global Covid-19 health pandemic, and today a promising startup in the space announced some funding to help it weather the storm. Berlin-based Tourlane, which has built a platform that mimics the role of an in-person travel agent to plan and book […]
Many restaurants still rely on spreadsheets to track their inventory of produce, meat and other ingredients. But using manual methods often results in food wastage and higher costs. Malaysia-based Food Market Hub is a cloud-based platform that connects food and beverage (F&B) outlets directly to suppliers, making it easier to communicate and manage orders. The […]
True Balance, a South Korean startup which runs an eponymous financial services app aimed at tens of millions of users in small cities and towns in India, said on Wednesday it has raised $28 million in a new financing round and expects to turn a profit next year. SoftBank Ventures Asia, Naver, BonAngels, Daesung Private […]
