Sticking tiny robots into your body sounds fun but what happens when those robots run out of battery and start to explode? While this may not always be the case, it could happen. Luckily researchers at Hokkaido University’s Department of Chemistry have created a crystalline assembly that moves autonomously when exposed to blue light. This means you can simply flash lights at these… Read More
Didi Chuxing, the taxi booking app that is beating Uber in China, has added a number of safety features to its service including an SOS button for its 300 million registered users. Read More
Encrypted comms company Silent Circle is being sued by its former joint venture hardware partner, Geeksphone, for not paying part of a previous agreed sale price for buying out the latter’s share in the joint venture — and lurking at the heart of the dispute are flopped sales of the Blackphone smartphone the pair developed. Read More
This morning, visual learning platform Lifeliqe announced a strategic partnership with HTC to become their provider of educational virtual reality (VR) content for the Vive.
Lifeliqe already has many other interesting, non-VR learning content products in market with over 15,000 schools worldwide. I recently had a chance to try out some of their VR demos and I have to say the content was… Read More
BevSpot has found a problem worth solving: preventing your local bar from running out of your favorite tipple. Raising an $11 million Series B round from Bain Capital Ventures and other select drinking buddies, the company will be upping its product development and global market expansion in the web-based beverage management space. Read More
Security giant Avast has announced it intends to acquire fellow Czech-based antivirus software maker AVG for a purchase price of $25.00 per share in cash — resulting in a transaction that will total around $1.3 billion. Read More
Facebook has denied censoring a viral video taken after a police officer fatally shot a man in his car in Minnesota. Lavish Reynolds pulled out her phone and began a Facebook Live stream after her boyfriend, Philando Castile, was shot by a police officer who, Reynolds said, had pulled their car over for a broken taillight in Minnesota’s Falcon Heights district. Media reported that… Read More
Being first to market with complex technology doesn’t usually make for a simple sales proposition. Nor does trying to pioneer an alternative approach as a small security startup vs established industry practices. Read More
Data science and tech startup Black Swan Data, which has built a platform to let companies improve their business/marketing intelligence by mining and crunching both public and internal consumer data, has closed £6.2 million in Series B funding. Read More
Brillen.de, a bootstrapped, family-run company in Germany that has built an online business selling its own eyewear by tapping into a network of independent and local opticians, has raised €45 million ($49 million) in its first-ever VC funding. The money comes from a single, notable, investor, Technology Crossover Ventures (which has backed the likes of Facebook, Spotify, LinkedIn,… Read More
Tesla has reiterated that drivers using Autopilot mode remain safer than those who don’t use it. The disclose came as the automaker continued to deny reports from Fortune that it misled investors and the public by taking too long to disclose details of a fatal accident involving one of its customers who was in Autopilot. Read More
Forerunner Ventures, an early-stage, San Francisco-based venture firm that focuses almost exclusively on e-commerce businesses, has raised a $122 million fund, shows an SEC filing that was filed earlier this morning.
The firm was founded by Kirsten Green, who is listed on the filing along with Eurie Kim, a partner who joined the firm in 2012.
The all-female firm also features an operating… Read More
Snapchat has a big update and introduces memories, another Tesla car accident, Alibaba’s first smart car is unveiled, Etsy has payment processor problems, light camera raises 30 million dollars and has delays. All this on Crunch Report! Read More
Here’s the dirty little secret about the Internet of Things: The things might not work, and you might not use them. As a consumer, many of your gadgets will collect dust tucked away in a drawer. As a business, many of your devices will not perform as well as expected, turning into maintenance-heavy money pits. Read More
In the U.S., it’s as if laws and regulations only apply to people of color — and when people of color bend them, they lose their lives. When white tech CEOs bend the laws at massive scale, they’re rewarded with billions of dollars and prestige. “You know how Silicon Valley advocates an Uber-esque model where everybody is an entrepreneur, disrupting markets while the… Read More
It was only a matter of time before Tinder for balance-sheet lenders and debt investors became a thing.
Financial matchmaking platform Blackmoon launched this week in the United States. The platform is designed to help institutional investors access non-bank balance-sheet loans. The Russian marketplace Lending-as-a-Service platform is also adding a New York office to its international… Read More
It’s been less than a year since the consumer Gear VR was first shown off and it already seems as though Samsung and Oculus are regrouping to push out a new version of the pre-eminent mobile VR headset. A Dutch Samsung rumors site inexplicably found a listing from an Indian imports database that highlights a new model number (SM-R323) for the Gear VR device being shipped.… Read More
