TechCrunch Startup News
3,836 episodes — Page 24 of 77
Nonprofit Code.org sues Byju’s unit WhiteHat Jr over payment dues
Code.org, the US educational non-profit, has filed a lawsuit in a California district court alleging that Byju’s subsidiary WhiteHat Jr breached a licensing contract by failing to pay fees while continuing to use Code.org’s platform. WhiteHat Jr, which sold to Byju’s for $300 million in 2020, partnered with Code.org last year and agreed to pay […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ShareChat faces large valuation cut in new funding
"ShareChat is in final stages of deliberations to secure about $50 million in new funding that trims the startup’s valuation to below $1.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Existing backers including Temasek and Tencent are among the investors in advanced stages of talks to invest in the new round, the sources […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Y Combinator-backed Intrinsic is building infrastructure for trust and safety teams
"A few years ago, Karine Mellata and Michael Lin met while working at Apple’s fraud engineering and algorithmic risk team. Both engineers, Mellata and Lin were involved with helping to address online abuse problems including spam, botting, account security and developer fraud for Apple’s growing customer base. Despite their efforts to develop new models to […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vestwell raises $125M to help businesses power workplace savings programs
Vestwell, which provides the infrastructure for employers to power workplace savings programs, has raised $125 million in what the company describes as a “preempted” round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Medallion, a platform for artists to connect directly with fans, raises $13.7M
Medallion is a platform for artists to have a dedicated digital hub for promoting album releases, tour dates and merch drops, as well as selling digital collectibles and sharing exclusive content to foster deeper connections with fans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Claim, a social network that lets users earn and trade rewards with friends, raises $4M
Claim, a platform that is both a rewards app and a social network, has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SimSpace raises $45M to simulate tech stacks for cyber training
SimSpace, a startup that creates digital replicas of organizations’ tech and networking stacks for cybersecurity training, has raised $45 million in a funding round led by L2 Point Management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Salesforce acquires automated commission management platform Spiff
Salesforce has announced plans to acquire Spiff, a platform that automates commission management for sales teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
IBM to acquire StreamSets and WebMethods from Software AG for $2.3B
IBM is doling out €2.13 billion ($2.3 billion) to acquire a duo of data integration assets from Germany-based enterprise software company Software AG. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the fight against methane, a key GHG, Valley investors have hit upon an unusual target: Cow burps
What do iconic Valley investors Zachary Bogue and Chris Sacca have in common? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India’s Udaan scores $340 million in new funding
The investment arm of the UK retail bank M&G has led a funding of $340 million into Udaan, a business-to-business e-commerce startup, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Linktree acquires link-in-bio platform Koji in its second investment of the year
Australia-based link-in-bio platform Linktree announced today that it has acquired competitor Koji from its parent company GoMeta for an undisclosed amount. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Distributional wants to develop software to reduce AI risk
Companies are increasingly curious about AI and the ways in which it can be used to (potentially) boost productivity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Startup studio Hexa wants to partner with startups growing too slowly
Just a couple of weeks after announcing $22 million in fundraising, Paris-based startup studio Hexa is expanding beyond its studio model to partner with later stage companies that have already found product-market fit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Metafuels lands $8 million bet on greener skies ahead
Metafuels sets out to change the landscape of sustainable jet fuel, and has just picked up an $8 million suitcase from baggage carousel 3 at its local ZRH. Ahh, Zurich. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Procurement software startup Pivot raises $21.6 million just a few months after its creation
French startup Pivot is an interesting startup story as it is scaling at a rapid pace even though startup investments are down in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tribe Capital eyes leading $75M-plus funding in India’s Shiprocket
Tribe Capital is in talks to lead a $75 million to $100 million funding into the logistics aggregator Shiprocket, according to a person familiar with the matter, a notable financing deliberation at a time when Indian startups are struggling to raise capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Docker acquires AtomicJar, a testing startup that raised $25M in January
AtomicJar was seemingly a high flying early stage startup with a hefty (by today’s standards) $25 million Series A last January. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mistral AI, a Paris-based OpenAI rival, closed its $415 million funding round
French startup Mistral AI has officially closed its much anticipated Series A funding round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Is the Texas boom town of Austin losing its luster?
Texas has been historically known for its oil booms. Today the state is perhaps better known as a magnet for tech companies and tech talent, especially in its capital city of Austin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Simply Homes nabs $22M, leverages AI to tackle affordable housing crisis
The United States has long had an affordable housing crisis, but it’s been exacerbated as of late by a surge in mortgage interest rates and low inventory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mammoth, an X and Threads competitor, embraces news, curation, and more in latest release
Mammoth, an app from the Mozilla-backed startup focused on building a more consumer-friendly entry point to the world of decentralized social media, is out today with its next big upgrade: Mammoth 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pimento turns creative briefs into visual mood boards using generative AI
Pimento is a new French startup that is using generative AI in an interesting way as the company focuses on the first step of creative processes — ideation, brainstorming and moodboarding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OurSky lands $9.5M seed to build out developer platform for space data
A developer platform for the…sky? That’s the vision of OurSky, a startup founded last year that’s aiming to make space observational data more accessible via a software platform and global telescope network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Discord reimagines its mobile app to showcase its best social features
Discord launched a major refresh of its mobile app on Tuesday, putting messaging front-and-center while making a host of small improvements that users have been asking for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitch to shut down in Korea over ‘prohibitively expensive’ network fees
Twitch plans to shut down its business in South Korea on February 27, it said, after finding that operating in one of the world’s largest esports markets is “prohibitively expensive.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EnCharge raises $22.6M to commercialize its AI-accerating chips
Around a year ago, TechCrunch wrote about a little-known company developing AI-accelerating chips to face off against hardware from titans of industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Carbon Maps, a carbon accounting startup for the food industry, gets new backers
Carbon Maps is a relatively new entrant in the carbon accounting space as it is less than one year old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India’s MoveinSync eyes $50–60M in fresh funding
MoveinSync, an Indian startup offering mobility solutions to blue-chip companies for workplace commute, is engaging with investors to raise a growth round, according to people familiar with the deliberations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gravel gets funding from NEA to support Indonesia’s booming construction industry
Indonesia’s construction industry is growing quickly, driven by residential and industrial building, alongside infrastructure development plans by the government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clayful, a startup that helps students connect to mental health experts within 60 seconds, raises $7M
Clayful is a platform that enables students aged eight to 18 to connect with a mental health expert within 60 seconds when they need it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Yieldstreet to acquire real estate investment platform Cadre
Alternative investment platform Yieldstreet announced today that it has agreed to acquire Cadre, an online real-estate-focused investment platform aimed at institutional and high net worth investors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DuploCloud lands $32M infusion to make provisioning cloud apps easier
It’s only appropriate that, during AWS’ biggest week of the year, a cloud-based software-as-a-service startup closed a sizeable funding round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kognitos raises $35M to help businesses automate back-office processes
Businesses will never not (forgive the double negative) push to improve efficiency. It’s their commercial imperative. Sometimes, that takes the form of budget cuts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Layla taps into AI and creator content to build a travel recommendation app
Many companies are trying to use AI chatbots (beyond ChatGPT) in different industries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Inflow connects small fashion brands with manufacturers in Vietnam
Textiles and garments contribute 16% of Vietnam’s total GPD, but it’s challenging for small garment brands to take advantage of the country’s manufacturing prowess. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cradle’s AI-powered protein programming platform levels up with $24M in new funding
Biotech and AI startup Cradle is finding success with its generative approach to protein design, landing big customers and a hefty $24 million of new investment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stability AI gets into the video generating game
AI startups that aren’t OpenAI are plugging away this week, it’d seem — sticking to their product roadmaps even as coverage of the chaos at OpenAI dominates the airwaves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US chip export ban is hurting China’s AI startups, not so much the giants yet
Well before Washington banned Nvidia’s exports of high-performance graphic processing units to China, the country’s tech giants had been hoarding them in anticipation of an escalating tech war between the two nations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Birdseye’s AI-powered chief marketing officer drives personalized email campaigns for retailers
The company offers hyper-personalization email and SMS campaigns and retail transaction data insights from one dashboard. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lightspeed finalizing leading $80M-plus funding in Pocket FM
Audio series platform Pocket FM has topped $160 million in annual recurring revenue and is inching closer to raising over $80 million in a new funding round, three sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Lightspeed, an existing investor in Pocket FM, is in advanced stages of talks to lead the funding round into the […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vendelux grabs new capital for B2B event marketing amid in-person resurgence
Vendelux offers 65 million data points on over 160,000 global events, tradeshows and conferences so event marketers can make better decisions about what to attend or sponsor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Generative AI startup AI21 Labs raises cash in the midst of OpenAI chaos
One AI startup’s undoing is another’s opportunity. Case in point: today, AI21 Labs, a company developing generative AI products along the lines of OpenAI’s GPT-4 and ChatGPT, closed a $53 million extension to its previously-announced Series C funding round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SEVA, a new growth equity fund, secures $85M for debut fund in four months
SEVA intends to invest in New York-based customer-centric founders of fast-growing, bootstrapped companies to scale via profitable growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LucidLink lands $75M for its on-demand file streaming tech
LucidLink, a startup offering a platform that enables teams to work on files without having to download or sync them, today announced that it raised $75 million in a Series C round led by Brighton Park Capital Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Toku’s AI platform predicts heart conditions by scanning inside your eye
Ehsan Vaghefi, CEO and co-founder of Toku, grew up with a blind father who lost eyesight at the age of four due to congenital glaucoma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Candela’s electric hydrofoiling ferry takes flight
The future is going to be electric, but in the air and on the water that transition is proving more difficult than on land. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ida uses AI to prevent grocery food waste
Ida is a relatively new French startup that wants to work with supermarkets and grocery stores to optimize new orders of fresh products, such as fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry and fish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Refilled wants to save 100 million plastic bottles from the landfill
The Australian government recently set new packaging regulations after an official review found just 18% of plastic packaging is recycled, falling far short of a 70% target by 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Remote connects talent and employers with a new job board
Remote, the HR tech company that allows companies to hire, manage and pay remote workers, is launching a remote job marketplace called Remote Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices