SocialChorus, a startup that helps distribute communications internally in a similar way marketers reach customers externally, announced a $100 million investment today led by Sumeru Equity Partners. With this investment, the firm has bought a majority stake in the company. As part of today’s deal, Sumeru will be adding three members to the SocialChorus board. […]
The founders of the alternative dairy protein manufacturer, Perfect Day, have joined with a longtime product developer in the dairy industry to create a new sustainably focused consumer food company called the Urgent Company. Focused on creating sustainable food brands manufactured, packaged and sold in a more environmentally friendly way, Urgent Company is unveiling its […]
Franky Bernstein, the Venice, California-based serial entrepreneur, knows marketing. At his last startup, Markett, Bernstein turned college students into brand ambassadors who were paid by the companies they repped for proselytizing about them on campuses. Now he’s using that knowledge to launch Kickback on iOS and Android. It’s invite-only at this point, but the idea […]
Zoom has become the de facto standard for online communications during the pandemic, but the company has found that it’s still a struggle for many employees to set up the equipment and the software to run a meeting effectively. The company’s answer is an all-in-one communications appliance with Zoom software ready to roll in a […]
Seattle-based space ride share service provider Spaceflight Inc. revealed its next-generation orbital transfer vehicle today, the Sherpa-FX. The new spacecraft acts as a deployment spacecraft for combined payloads on rideshare rocket launches – essentially providing last-mile transportation from the point at which the launch vehicle deploys the combined payload, to the actual desired target deployment […]
Scooters, a common sight on the streets of Taiwan, give commuters an alternative to cars in the country’s densely-populated cities. But they also contribute to pollution and jam-packed parking spaces. Over the past few year, several companies haven taken on the challenge of creating more environmentally-friendly alternatives to traditional gas scooters. Gogoro is probably best-known […]
Virtual card payment startup Privacy.com has raised $10.2 million in a Series A fundraise, the company announced Wednesday. The round was led by Teamworthy Ventures, with participation from Tusk Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Quiet Capital, Exor Seeds, and Rainfall Ventures. The startup, if you’re unfamiliar, lets anyone generate virtual and disposable payment card numbers for […]
Lemonade today launched pet insurance, marking its entry into a new vertical of insurance for the first time since it launched its renters/home owners insurance in 2016. Lemonade CEO Daniel Schreiber told TechCrunch back in February that some 70 percent of Lemonade customers with a home owners or renters policy are also pet owners, and […]
The General Court of the European Court of Justice has annulled an EU decision that involved Apple’s subsidiaries in Ireland. Four years ago, the European Commission said that Ireland had failed to collect €13 billion in taxes from Apple — roughly $15 billion. According to the press statement, “the Commission did not succeed in showing […]
Neobank Revolut launched in the U.S. a couple of months ago. The startup is slowly catching up with features that are available in the U.K. and Europe. This time, Revolut is adding cryptocurrency trading through a partnership with Paxos. Users in the U.S. can now buy, hold and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum from the Revolut […]
Google has become the latest high-profile firm to back India’s Reliance Jio Platforms. The search giant is investing $4.5 billion for a 7.73% stake in the top Indian telecom network, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Wednesday. The investment today from Google is one of the rare instances where the Android-maker has joined its […]
There is a lot riding on the use of artificial intelligence technology to help us take giant leaps ahead in solving complex challenges — whether it’s medical breakthroughs, building better cybersecurity, or better navigation systems for cars and other moving objects. But the more advanced the application, the bigger the need for hardware that can […]
Ravelin, the London-based company using machine learning to help companies fight fraud when accepting online payments, has raised $20 million in new funding. The Series C round is led by Draper Esprit, with participation from existing investors Amadeus Capital Partners, BlackFin Tech, and Passion Capital. Ravelin disclosed $10 million in Series B funding in September […]
Nissan unveiled today the Ariya, an all-electric SUV with an estimated 300 miles of range and a starting price tag of $40,000 that marks the beginning of a four-year plan aiming for growth and profitability. The Nissan Ariya will first be sold in Japan in mid-2021, before heading to dealerships in the U.S. and Canada […]
Layer is not trying to replace Excel or Google Sheets. Instead the Berlin-based productivity startup wants to make life easier for those whose job entails wrangling massive spreadsheets and managing data inputs from across an organization — such as for budgeting, financial reporting or HR functions — by adding a granular control access layer on […]
The speculation that Alibaba’s fintech affiliate Ant Group will go public has been swirling around for years. New details came to light recently. Reuters reported last week that the fintech giant could float as soon as this year in an initial public offering that values it at $200 billion. As a private firm, details of […]
The e-reader category was exciting once — or at least as exciting as one could hope from such a space. It was a vibrant category, with plenty of key players, each looking to outdo one another. But as is the case with a depressing number of verticals, Amazon has largely wiped the floor with the […]
Adam Neumann, the controversial co-founder and former CEO of WeWork, has taken a 33% equity stake in GoTo Global, a shared mobility company that operates in Israel and Malta and aims to expand into Europe later this year. Neumann’s family office, 166 2nd Financial Services, invested $10 million into GoTo Global, as part of a […]
Lawmakers in Texas just gave Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk another incentive to locate its next factory there. Commissioners in Travis County, home to Austin and the possible next Tesla factory, approved Tuesday property tax breaks worth at least $14.7 million — and potentially more — over 10 years. The incentives are on top […]
