The coronavirus pandemic has bruised and battered many technology startups, but it has also boosted a small few. One such company is Zoom, which has shouldered the task of keeping us connected to one another in the midst of remote work and social distancing. So, of course, we’re absolutely thrilled to have the chance to […]
Digital marketing has left billboards in the dust, making it far easier to reach people online. But that doesn’t mean brands should ignore the principles that made billboards work in the first place.
Entrepreneurs-turned-investors are in a truly unique position in the tech world, with experience on both sides of the table and unique insights into how businesses should operate and grow. Alexa von Tobel takes that breadth of experience and those unique insights to a new level, as a founder who has pretty much exclusively started her […]
NASA is working with two other of its largest global space agency partners, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on a combined effort to collect satellite-based Earth observation data and provide it via a dashboard in order to help monitor the impacts of COVID-19. The dashboard combines data collected […]
NASA is getting ready for its Artemis program, which seeks to return Americans to the Moon and help establish a permanent presence for humans on the lunar surface, with a new crowdsourcing competition launched in partnership with HeroX, seeking designs for a better way for astronauts to pee and poo on the Moon. Specifically, the […]
Storyblocks, the subscription-based stock media service, today announced that it has been acquired by private equity firm Great Hill Partners. The firm previously backed companies like Wayfair (and then exited that specific investment in 2017) and Custom Ink. Great Hill also acquired Gizmodo Media Group in 2019. Storyblocks and Great Hill did not disclose the […]
This morning Hopin, a London-based startup building virtual events technology, announced that it has raised a $40 million Series A led by IVP. According to the company, Salesforce’s corporate venture arm Salesforce Ventures also took part in the round, as did a number of its prior investors, including Slack’s venture capital group the Slack Fund, […]
New Enterprise Associates has launched a new investment initiative with the Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency. The new partnership, called Connect Ventures, said it will identify and accelerate the growth of early-stage, consumer-focused businesses formed in the wake of the global pandemic. In a world where everything is a commodity and nothing is more […]
We last surveyed VCs about their advertising and marketing investment strategies back in January — which is to say, in a completely different world, before the coronavirus pandemic began to wreak havoc on the global economy. While there don’t appear to be any comprehensive numbers yet about the effect on digital advertising (which is, after […]
European lawmakers are eyeing binding transparency requirements for Internet platforms in a Digital Services Act (DSA) due to be drafted by the end of the year. But the question of how to create governance structures that provide regulators and researchers with meaningful access to data so platforms can be held accountable for the content they’re […]
Target today is joining the growing number of grocery retailers offering curbside and in-store pickup services for fresh and frozen items. The retailer had paused its plans to rollout grocery pickup this spring, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a factor. It said it didn’t have time to train employees on the new processes. Today, those […]
The house of cards has well and truly collapsed for Wirecard, the German payments company that has been accused of accounting fraud. Today it announced that its German operation Wirecard AG was applying for insolvency proceedings in a Munich court, the Amtsgericht München, due to “impending insolvency and over-indebtedness.” It also issued a separate statement that elaborated to […]
Since its launch in 1998 Illumina and its genetic analysis toolkits and services have become an essential component of the new biological manufacturing and therapeutic development industries which have emerged in the last twenty five years. And for the past six years the company has attempted to encourage the development of the industry through an […]
Google said on Thursday it plans to offer credit to millions of merchants in India through its Google Pay app starting later this year as the American technology group looks to help small businesses in the country steer through the pandemic and also find a business model for its mobile payments service. The company said […]
TikTok is announcing to advertisers that it’s open for business. The company is today officially introducing a new brand and platform called “TikTok For Business” that will serve as the home for all its current and future marketing solutions for brands. At launch, the site will include access to TikTok ad formats, including its marque […]
Connect Ventures, the London-based seed-stage VC that was an early investor in Citymapper and Typeform — and more recently backed scaling startups such as Curve and TrueLayer — is announcing a new $80 million fund to continue investing in “product-led” founders. Backing the new fund is a combination of existing and new LPs including Top […]
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son said on Thursday he is leaving the board of Jack Ma’s Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group today, a month after Ma left the board of Son’s technology group. Son said he sees the move as “graduating” from Alibaba Group’s board, his most successful investment to date, as he swiftly moved […]
Api.video, a “developer-first” video platform that makes it easier for websites and apps to video features, has raised $5.5 million, in a seed round led by London venture capital firm Blossom Capital. Also participating is Kima Ventures and a number of angel investors. Previous backers include Octave Klaba (founder of OVH), Eduardo Ronzano (founder of […]
The streets of Koramangala, one of the largest neighborhoods in Bangalore, are plastered with hoardings and banners of digital payment services. Every few steps, you find a bank, and offices of fintech startups. But when Mohammed Nayeem wanted to get a credit card, he realized his options were limited. He applied for a credit card […]
One of China’s most valuable artificial intelligence chipmakers Cambricon is one step closer to its initial public offering, and its prospectus reveals a rare snapshot of where Chinese companies stand in relation to their international counterparts in this critical field. Cambricon got the nod in early June to list on the Star Market, China’s new […]
