TechCrunch Startup News
3,836 episodes — Page 29 of 77
Plastic upcycling startup Kubik closes $3.34M seed to scale production in Ethiopia
The amount of plastic waste produced globally is on track to triple to over 1,000 million tonnes by 2060. The OECD report predicts that developed countries will continue to produce the most plastic waste per person, although emerging regions like Africa and Asia are expected to experience the fastest growth owing to rapid population growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Supercritical, a carbon removal marketplace aimed at tech firms, raises $13M Series A led by Lightspeed
Supercritical, the carbon removal marketplace aimed (at the moment) mainly at tech companies that want to hit ‘net zero’, has raised a $13 million Series A funding round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The round includes funding from RTP Global, Greencode Ventures, MMC Ventures and others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Notarize launches Proof to ensure safe online transactions
Notarize, the world’s largest online notary network, is launching Proof, a new company and platform for digital identity verifications. Beginning in August, Notarize’s business tools will be rebranded to Proof, and it is also changing its company name to Proof. Notarize will continue serving its online notary network, which is used by companies like Adobe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BetterBrand’s new dough raises company’s valuation to over $170M
In late 2022, BetterBrand found success on Whole Foods Market shelves, driving over $1 million in gross sales in the first five months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Seedstars, Fondation Botnar launch new fund to back African startups focused on youth wellbeing
Seedstars Capital and Swiss philanthropic foundation Fondation Botnar have launched Seedstars Youth Wellbeing Ventures, a $20 million investment mandate targeting early-stage startups in Africa that are focused on improving the wellbeing of people below 30 years in low-and-middle-income countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gladia turns any audio into text in near real time
Meet Gladia, a French AI startup that wants to change how companies interact with audio data. The company develops an audio transcription application programming interface (API) that you can integrate with other products and is supposed to work much better than what’s available out there. And this tech foundation unlocks new use cases around audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Luminoah’s quest to reinvent tube feeding attracts new funding
Luminoah has reinvented a tube feeding device that’s more portable, discreet, and easy to use, and it has raised $6 million dollars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Glystn enables creators to mass reply to multiple followers across social media platforms
Glystn is a tool for content creators that allows them to engage with followers and read/answer comments from multiple social media platforms all in one place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wargraphs, a gaming startup with only one employee and no outside funding, sells for $54M
Competition appears to be alive and well in another (smaller) area of gaming: modding and analytics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
European startups still have a long way to go to achieve gender parity
According to a new study from Sista and the Boston Consulting Group, women are still underrepresented in the European tech ecosystem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ChrysCapital invests $100 million in India’s Lenskart
ChrysCapital has invested $100 million in Lenskart, the two said Thursday, pushing the Asian eyewear startup’s raise to $850 million in the past year. The Indian venture firm is buying shares worth $100 million into the Bengaluru-headquartered startup through both primary and secondary transactions, the two said. The new investment follows Abu Dhabi Investment AuthoritY. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Deepchecks snags $14M seed to continuously validate ML models
As companies increasingly rely on machine learning models, it’s imperative that they continuously check the models to make sure they are working as intended and that the data is valid, unbiased and not corrupted in any way. Deepchecks, an Israeli startup has come up with a solution to continuously test models from development through production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Finfra lets Indonesian businesses add embedded finance to their platforms
Finfra, an Indonesian startup that provides the tech infrastructure for online businesses that want to offer embedded finance products, has raised $1 million in new funding. The round included participation from DSX Ventures, Seedstars International Ventures, Cento Ventures, Fintech Nation, FirstPick, BADideas Fund and Hustle Fund. The startup’s new funding will be used on product. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kaya Founders backs Philippines startups from “Day 0”
The Philippines’ startup ecosystem is poised for strong growth, thanks to the country’s rising GDP, fast adoption of online services and a new generation of founders. Launched by tech and investment veterans, Kaya Founders wants to back the most promising startups from the very beginning. The venture firm announced today that it has closed $12. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oova grabs another $10.3M, unveils membership model for at-home fertility testing
Oova's new membership offering is priced at $99 and includes The Oova Kit, personalized support from healthcare professionals and access to a community of peers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nordic VC Voima Ventures launches €90M fund for deep tech startups
Nordic VC firm Voima Ventures today announced its third fund with an initial closing of €90 million fund and a final target of €120 million, focusing on early-stage “deep tech” startups from across the science realm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Navan takes a swipe at expense management startups with new Mastercard and Visa partnerships
Want more fintech news in your inbox? Sign up here. In recent years, a number of startups have made a business out of providing corporate credit cards to companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
HSBC rebrands, expands its SVB UK buy as HSBC Innovation Banking
Acquired by HSBC in an emergency sale for just £1 in March as SVB was melting down, SVB UK is now getting a rebrand and expansion under its new owner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cultured meat startup Higher Steaks nabs $30M and rebrands as Uncommon
U.K.-based cultivated meat startup Higher Steaks has raised $30 million in a Series A round of funding and revealed that it’s changing its name to Uncommon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Green Coffee Co. percolates on $25M to expand in Colombia, launch alcoholic beverages
Green Coffee is a consolidated arabica coffee farming company, headquartered in the U.S., with operations in Colombia that span 9,000 acres across 14 farms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Insify raises another $10.7 million for its business insurance startup
Amsterdam-based insurtech startup Insify has completed its Series A funding round with another €10 million ($10.7 million at today’s exchange rate). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Contextual AI launches from stealth to build enterprise-focused language models
Large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT-4 are powerful, paradigm-shifting tools that promise to upend industries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Positive Ventures’ new impact fund will be triple its flagship fund
With the new fund, Positive Ventures intends to invest in between 20 and 25 companies at the pre-seed and seed levels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BOND brings inspirational-driven approach to livestream shopping, raises $2M
BOND's founders say their approach to livestream shopping is creator and content first so that the “creator in the driver's seat and at the forefront of the experience.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OurX adds tech spin to Black hair care regimen
OurX has seven products currently for tightly textured hair, and the average regimen of products offered is between $115 and $130. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Escape dynamically scans APIs to find security flaws
French startup Escape has raised a $3.9 million (€3.6 million) funding round shortly after ending Y Combinator’s winter 2023 cohort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ariga is helping developers define database schema as code
As companies look to update their databases, especially in a cloud native context, with so many different databases out there, it’s a huge challenge for developers when migrating from one environment to another. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NestAway, once valued at over $225 million, sells for $11 million
PropTech firm Aurum is acquiring NestAway, a once high-flying Indian startup operating in the same space, for up to $10.9 million, in a deal that marks a near complete erosion in value for the startup’s investors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fintech giant Stripe is getting into the credit game
Stripe wants to make it easier for businesses to access credit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
8Flow.ai raises $6.6M to automate customer support workflows
Working in customer support often means navigating disjointed tools to find data and solve issues. However, many of these actions are routine and repeatable, making them ideal candidates for automation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Measurabl, an ESG platform for real estate, raises $93M
Measurabl, a startup developing a platform for environmental, social and governance (ESG) data in the real estate space, today announced that it raised $93 million in a Series D funding tranche co-led by Energy Impact Partners and Sway Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Olé Life wants to make buying life insurance for Latin Americans easier
The full-stack insurance carrier is targeting Latin America’s growing middle class that may have previously been unable to obtain financial protection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Taxfix, the $1B German accounting startup, slashes 120 jobs amid funding crunch
Taxfix leaped to a $1 billion valuation in 2022 on the back of a popular mobile app used by consumers help with tax returns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Strive Health grabs $166M to provide end-to-end kidney care
Strive Health works with local providers to form an integrated care delivery system that follows a patient from chronic kidney disease to end-stage kidney disease. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wellplaece wants to put a smile on dentists’ face with new supply procurement marketplace
Wellplaece’s takes in a client’s ordering data and then enables the customer to make those specific purchasing behaviors across a large network of suppliers via one shopping cart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OMERS Growth Equity leads Carrum Health’s $45M Series C to expand cancer care
Carrum Health CEO Sach Jain noted that 2022 “was a big year for us” that included nearly doubling its book of business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WireMock lands $6.5M to help developers build and test on mock APIs
As developers work with an increasing number of third-party APIs, they need a tool that mocks those APIs for testing purposes without actually firing the API gateway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Celebrity investors pile into consumer savings startup Checkmate
We’ve all been there. Shopping online and desperately searching for a promo code so that you can save some money on a purchase. Well, at least I’ve been there. Enter Checkmate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nymbus lands $70M to help banks digitally transform
Nymbus, a startup that partners with banks to migrate their legacy stack and launch neobanks to attract new customers, today announced that it raised $70 million in a Series D round led by Insight Partners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kapital gets more of its own capital to help LatAm businesses monitor cash flow
Kapital's platform gives small and medium-sized businesses across Latin America a way to see their finances in one place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Arc launches HireAI to make finding software developers easier
Arc, the jobs platform created especially for software developers looking for remote positions, wants to make recruitment easier with the launch of HireAI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Generation Prime launches to make fertility services more accessible in Asia
Generation Prime, a startup that wants to make IVF and other fertility services more accessible to patients in Asia, is launching its first two clinics in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Daylight, the LGBTQ+ neobank, calls it quits
Daylight, an LGBTQ+ banking platform, is shutting down. Its operations will cease on June 30, according to embattled co-founder and CEO Rob Curtis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Episode Six raises $48M to streamline payment processes
Episode Six, a global payments and banking infrastructure provider, today announced that it raised $48 million in a Series C funding round led by Avenir with participation from Anthos Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Modular app-building platform Buildier.ai raises $250 million Series D funding
It was only recently that we reported Buildier.ai had signed a strategic collaboration with and undisclosed investment from Microsoft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Restaurant365 gobbles up $135M to supersize its software for the food service industry
The price of food continues to go up and up, but surprisingly that hasn’t (yet?) played out as pressure on the wider restaurant industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With government backing, Ireland’s Elkstone closes first VC fund at $108M for early-stage startups
Yet another early-stage VC fund has closed in Europe this week, as Elkstone finalized a €100 million ($108 million) pot aimed at Irish startups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoftBank rebrands Opportunity Fund, will invest $150 million in Black and Latino-led startups
The new fund hopes to deploy the $150 million within three years, and has appointed Paul Judge as its managing partner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stability AI open sources its AI-powered design studio
Stability AI, the AI startup behind the text-to-image model Stable Diffusion, this week announced the release of StableStudio, an open source version of DreamStudio, Stability AI’s commercial AI-powered design suite. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Union AI raises $19.1M Series A to simplify AI and data workflows with Flyte
Union AI, a Bellevue, Washington–based open source startup that helps businesses build and orchestrate their AI and data workflows with the help of a cloud-native automation platform, today announced that it has raised a $19.1 million Series A round from NEA and Nava Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices