TechCrunch Startup News
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Zomato’s quick commerce unit Blinkit eclipses core food business in value, says Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs said in a report late Thursday that Indian food delivery giant Zomato’s quick commerce arm Blinkit is now more valuable than its core food delivery business, as per the bank’s sum-of-the-parts analysis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The FTC’s ban on noncompete clauses could be good for startups. But it also might be struck down.
The Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 to ban the use of most noncompete agreements on Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Playruo lets you try game demos from your web browser
It’s still unclear whether cloud gaming will ever become the next big thing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Edonia grabs €2M to turn microalgae into less bitter-tasting ground meat alternative
The company produces plant-based ingredients from raw microalgae biomass, generated from spirulina or chlorella, that it claims is more nutritious than meat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Madica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa
Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial three deals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Parloa, a conversational AI platform for customer service, raises $66M
Conversational AI platform Parloa has nabbed $66 million in a Series B round of funding, a year after the German startup raised $21 million from a swathe of European investors to propel its international growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Campus, a community college startup, receives $23M Series A extension led by Founders Fund
Although many students in the United States enter community colleges intending to transfer to four-year universities, only 16% of those students receive bachelor’s degrees within six years Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Two widow founders launch DayNew, a social platform for people dealing with grief and trauma
After losing their husbands in devastating and unexpected ways, Karine Nissim and Eloise Bune D’Agostino discovered there were no suitable places where people could go to face all the challenges that surface during the grieving process Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Webflow acquires Intellimize to add AI-powered webpage personalization
Webflow, a web design and hosting platform that’s raised over $330 million at a $4 billion valuation, is expanding into a new sector: marketing optimization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ecosia launches a cross-platform browser, starts an affiliate link program
Tree planting search engine Ecosia launched a new cross-platform browser today to increase its online footprint. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Langdock raises $3M with General Catalyst to help companies avoid vendor lock-in with LLMs
Plenty of large corporations want to join the AI revolution, but many feel it’s too early to be locked into one foundational model. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Magnus Metal wants to revamp the 4,000-year-old way metal parts are made
The startup is developing a technology it claims is as fast and energy efficient as 3D printing at a cost that can compete with sand casting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fintech startup Mercury, which is under regulatory scrutiny, expands into consumer banking
Business banking startup Mercury, founded in 2020, is now launching a consumer banking product. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dark Space is building a rocket-powered boxing glove to push debris out of orbit
Paris-based Dark Space is taking on the dual problems of debris and conflict in orbit with their mobile platform designed to launch, attach to, and ultimately deorbit uncooperative objects in space. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vorlon is trying to stop the next big API breach
Application programming interfaces, or APIs as they’re commonly known, are the bedrock of everything we do online. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GovDash aims to help businesses use AI to land government contracts
Tim Goltser and Curtis Mason have been building things together since high school, when the two were the co-captains of their school’s robotics team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Finmid raises $24.7M to help SMBs access loans through platforms like Wolt
finmid is building an embedded finance product that targets that relationship between marketplaces and sellers, and raised a Series A round to further build out its product and enter new markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Quilt rides heat pump heat wave with hefty $33M Series A
Quilt promises its heat pump will be a sleeker design that can be installed in more places around a room than competitors’ offerings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lawhive raises $12M to expand its legaltech AI platform for small firms
UK-based legaltech company Lawhive, which offers an AI-based in-house ‘lawyer’ through a software-as-a-service platform targeted at small law firms, has raised £9.5 million ($11.9M) in a seed round to expand the reach of AI-driven services for ‘main street’ law firms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Paraform raises $3.6M seed round to connect startups with recruiter networks
Layoffs usually drive attention and sympathy towards affected employees, but rarely does anyone talk about what happens to the recruiters who are sometimes also asked to leave when companies decide to cut headcount. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India’s Exponent Energy brings 15-minute charging to passenger three-wheelers
India is getting an electric three-wheeler passenger vehicle that charges from 0 to 100% in 15 minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CleanFiber wants to turn millions of tons of cardboard boxes into insulation
The startup has raised $28 million to help fund a nationwide expansion of its cardboard-based cellulose building insulation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Simbian brings AI to existing security tools
Simbian is a cybersecurity platform that effectively controls other cybersecurity platforms as well as security apps and tooling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Voltpost wants to bring curbside charging to a lamppost near you
The New York City-based startup has been working on a product that retrofits existing street lampposts to enable EV charging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cambium is building a recycled wood supply chain
The global demand for wood could grow by 54% between 2010 and 2050, according to a study by the World Resources Institute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Guesty snaps up $130M at $900M valuation to help property managers list on Airbnb and beyond
Travel and tourism are very much back on the map for consumers and the business world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Multiverse, the apprenticeship unicorn, acquires Searchlight to put a focus on AI
Multiverse, the U.K. unicorn that builds apprenticeship programs for people to learn technology skills while on the job, has made an acquisition as it aims to skill up itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sprinto raises $20M to bring automation to security compliance management
Sprinto, a startup offering a security compliance and risk platform, has raised $20 million in new investment led by Accel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Coalesce raises more cash to transform data for Snowflake customers
Coalesce offers a platform that standardizes data while automating the more repetitive, mundane data transformation processes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DataStax acquires the startup behind low-code AI builder Langflow
DataStax made a name for itself by commercializing the open source Apache Cassandra NoSQL database, but these days, the company’s focus is squarely on using its database chops to build a “one-stop GenAI stack.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Belgian computer vision startup Robovision eyes U.S. expansion to address labor shortages
Robovision has raised $42M to industrialize deep learning tools and make them more accessible to businesses that are not tech companies at their core. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Varda Space’s orbital drug factory success fuels $90M in new funding
Varda Space Industries has closed a massive tranche of funding just weeks after its first drug manufacturing capsule returned from orbit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Retro, an actually good photo-sharing app for BFFs, launches collaborative journals
As big social apps are optimizing for maximum engagement using algorithmic feeds and personalized content recommendations, Retro wants to go in the opposite direction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jobs for the Future’s new $50M fund looks to invest in underrepresented founders
Two years ago, Jobs for the Future, a non-profit dedicated to helping low-wage workers attain upward mobility, established a venture arm, JFFVentures, to back innovative employment tech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hailo lands $120 million to keep battling Nvidia as most AI chip startups struggle
The funding climate for AI chip startups, once as sunny as a mid-July day, is beginning to cloud over as Nvidia asserts its dominance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Glass Wine raises $14M to continue acquiring DTC wine marketplaces, buys Bright Cellars
Full Glass Wine, a brand acquisition management startup that specializes in acquiring wine marketplaces, has raised $14 million in a Series A round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Modal raises $25M to train corporate workers on data and AI
A few years ago, Darren Shimkus, ex-president of Udemy, had a conversation with Dennis Yang about skills building. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Quadratic is reimagining the spreadsheet with a focus on data
Using Quadratic, users can bring in hundreds of thousands of rows of data, write analyses in their preferred programming language and share the results with outside stakeholders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Skyflow raises $30M more as AI spikes demand for its privacy business
This morning Skyflow announced that it has raised a $30 million Series B extension led by Khosla Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This startup believes mobile apps for businesses should work more like consumer apps
Have you noticed the massive gap between consumer and business apps on your phone? While consumer apps are both beautifully designed and easy to use, business apps are simply painful to use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kids’ clothing and gear is more expensive than ever. Kidsy has a sustainable solution for discounts
All parents know that raising kids is expensive. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Skyflow raises $30M more as AI spikes demand for its privacy business
This morning Skyflow announced that it has raised a $30 million Series B extension led by Khosla Ventures. The deal is interesting on a number of fronts including the round’s structure and how Skyflow has been impacted by growth of AI. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Climate tech VC Satgana closes first fund that targets early-stage startups in Africa, Europe
Climate-tech VC Satgana has reached a final close of its first fund, which targets to back up to 30 early-stage startups in Africa and Europe. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
StealthMole raises $7M Series A for its AI-powered dark web intelligence platform
StealthMole, an AI-powered dark web intelligence startup that specializes in monitoring cyber threats and detecting cybercrime, announced Thursday that it has raised a $7 million Series A funding round. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Marissa Mayer’s startup just rolled out apps for group photo sharing and event planning, and the internet isn’t sure what to think
When Marissa Mayer co-founded a startup six years ago in Palo Alto, Ca., expectations were sky high for the former Yahoo CEO and early Google employee. When that startup, Sunshine, revealed that its first app centered around subscription software for contact management, people wondered if something more ambitious might be around the corner. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wase zaps microbes to squeeze more biogas from wastewater sludge
Harvesting methane from organic waste and using it to produce electricity or heat is nothing new, but the startup isn't building another anaerobic digester. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
900.care sells waterless personal care products and lets you add tap water at home
Here’s the harsh truth behind personal care products: you’re mostly buying water and plastics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Liquid Death is just one of many VC-backed beverage startups ready to disrupt Coke and Pepsi
Some of the new venture-backed beverage startups are hoping to upend the industry by creating new drink categories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meet Uzbekistan’s first unicorn: e-commerce startup Uzum
Uzum, an e-commerce startup offering online shopping, fintech and food deliveries to millions of customers in Uzbekistan, has raised $114 million in funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Farm to Feed is cutting food loss and creating data platform to better farm outcomes
Globally, a third of the food produced is lost or wasted, and in Kenya, that figure stands at between 20% to 40%. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices