TechCrunch Startup News
3,836 episodes — Page 30 of 77
Swiggy’s food delivery business reaches profitability
India’s Swiggy said on Thursday that its food delivery business has become profitable, eclipsing its publicly-listed rival Zomato on another key metric a day before the firm is set to report its quarterly earnings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wefox secures new funding at $4.5 billion valuation as it aims for profitability
Wefox, the German insurtech startup, has closed a new funding round from existing investors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Insurtech bolttech gets $196M at $1.6B valuation from investors like MetLife
Embedded insurtech is still hot, as the $196 million in funding landed by bolttech proves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This UK startup plans to radically shake-up the antiquated word of COPD measurement
In 1846, London surgeon John Hutchinson invented the spirometer, a thing you blow hard into, to measure the volume of air inspired and expired by the lungs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jenfi raises more funding for its “growth capital as a service” platform
Jenfi, a “growth-capital-as-a-service” platform, can provide online businesses with revenue-based financing in a little as a day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Everseen raises over $70M for AI tech to spot potential retail theft
In 2007, Alan O’Herlihy, who previously worked with large SAP installations as well as retail, set out to find a way to help retailers minimize “shrinkage,” or where a store has fewer items in stock than in its recorded inventory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pale Blue Dot continues investing in its climate vision, with a second, $100M fund
Sweden-based VC fund Pale Blue Dot bounced onto the scene in 2020 with a €53 million fund to help climate-focused startups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AMP Robotics attracts investment from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund
AMP Robotics, a Denver, Colorado-based startup creating robotic systems that can automatically sort recyclable material, today announced that it extended its Series C round to $99 million, thanks to an investment from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SLAIT pivots from translating sign language to AI-powered interactive lessons
Millions of people use sign language, but methods of teaching this complex and subtle skill haven’t evolved as quickly those for written and spoken languages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AudiencePlus wants to help every company run its own media platform
It used to be that having a corporate blog and some paid content was the gist of your marketing department’s content efforts, and that was enough. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cable wants to help banks cut financial crime through automated assurance
Cable enables banks and fintechs to monitor all of their accounts — not just a fraction as before — to know, in real time, if failure controls are working as expected to combat breaches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Prewave pulls in $20M as supply chain tech investments remain on VC radars
Despite the investor caution narrative permeating the startup world throughout the economic downturn, certain startup-types have been a little more impervious to market conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ascend raises $25 million for pre-seed AI startups in the Pacific Northwest
Investing in artificial intelligence (AI) startups is the latest bandwagon VCs are piling onto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Invesco cuts Indian food delivery giant Swiggy’s valuation to $5.5 billion
Invesco, which led Swiggy’s previous round, has marked down the Indian food delivery giant’s valuation in its holding to about $5.5 billion, according to a filing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
PermitFlow advances construction permitting automation with $5.5M in new capital
PermitFlow has software for developers and general contractors to streamline the construction permit application and management processes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Antimetal is putting AI to work to root out cloud cost inefficiencies
One constant theme we’ve been hearing from the big cloud infrastructure vendors this year is helping customers increase the efficiency of their cloud spend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Go1 snaps up speed reading app Blinkist to expand in enterprise learning
After raising $100 million at a valuation of over $2 billion last year, the Australian ed-tech startup Go1 is making an acquisition and getting some investment to expand its reach and technology to serve the market of corporate online learning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Slash aims to corner the Gen Z market with business-focused banking features
Around two years ago, Victor Cardenas and Kevin Bai built a fintech platform called Slash that lets users create shareable virtual cards to split recurring expenses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI-powered supply chain startup Pando lands $30M investment
Signaling that investments in the supply chain sector remain robust, Pando, a startup developing fulfillment management technologies, today announced that it raised $30 million in a Series B round, bringing its total raised to $45 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Green-Got is a neobank for climate-conscious customers
French startup Green-Got is building an alternative to your traditional bank account with a focus on climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mercu meets deskless workers where they are
Many employee engagement and retention tools were created with the assumption that workers spent most of their time at desks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fiverr Enterprise aims to streamline managing large groups of freelancers
In 2021, gig marketplace Fiverr acquired Stoke Talent, a startup developing freelance management tools for employers, for $95 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hackajob matches technical talent with companies looking to hire
Even today with all of the layoffs we have seen in the tech industry over the last year, there is still a shortage of technical talent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Citymapper lowers the paywall for premium features but keeps monthly subscription for removing ads
Citymapper is lowering the paywall around its premium features and introducing a new subscription plan purely for removing ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Simpplr raises $70M for its AI-powered intranet platform
Several years ago, entrepreneur Dhiraj Sharma’s first company, a software consultancy, was hired by an HR tech firm to develop an app to improve the employee onboarding experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI platform to analyze creative advertising raises $5.1M from investors, including a16z
In this increasingly AI-driven era, creative and media teams will probably need to employ the technology to up their game on analyzing their creative assets and A/B testing — or someone else will simply beat them to the punch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Once-hot photo-sharing social app Poparazzi is shutting down
Poparazzi, the once-hot photo-sharing app that hit the top of the App Store in 2021, is shutting down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chunk Foods close to opening factory to produce ‘millions’ of plant-based steaks
The company develops whole cuts of alternative proteins using fermentation technology and food-grade microorganisms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clubhouse needs to fix things, and today it cut more than half of staff
Clubhouse, a once skyrocketing social audio app built by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, has laid off more than half of its staff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bastion is an all-in-one cybersecurity solution for small businesses
Meet Bastion, a French startup that was created in October 2022 to help small companies tackle cybersecurity risks without too many complexities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Operant is changing the way you secure cloud native applications
Containers and micro services may not be a new concept at this point, but lots of companies are struggling with the transition to cloud native applications, and the impact of that approach on their security. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Luup raises $30M ahead of Japan’s new micromobility rules
Japanese shared micromobility startup Luup has raised $30 million in a Series D financing round, which consists of 3.8 billion yen in equity and 700 million yen in debt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UniSieve’s filters use special crystals to reduce industrial emissions
The energy-intensive process of separating and purifying chemicals and gases is a big reason why industries like plastic manufacturing cause so much pollution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ZEBOX, an incubator for supply chain startups, launches its Asia hub in Singapore
ZEBOX, an international accelerator network founded by shipping conglomerate CMA CGM to introduce more tech innovation into the supply chain industry, announced today the launch of its APAC headquarters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Greywing’s new SeaGPT solves email overwhelm for maritime crew managers
Every time a member of their crew changes, maritime crew managers need to handle immigration regulations, COVID requirements and travel plans for each person. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Constrafor, a construction procurement company, goes ‘SAFE’ route with new capital
Constrafor provides embedded financing and software to keep payments flowing between contractors and their subcontractors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Super.com targets $85M equity, debt raise into new savings super app
Super.com's super app is focused on helping “everyday Americans” find deals and savings across multiple categories, including travel and shopping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Home energy assessment startup Enter raises €19.4M Series A to expand in Germany and beyond
Largely because of their age, houses in Europe can be notoriously hard to heat. Most were built for an era when the knowledge about energy consumption just wasn’t available in the way it is today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Betterdata uses synthetic data to keep real data safe
Betterdata, a Singapore-based startup that uses programmable synthetic data to keep real data secure, announced today it has raised $1.55 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kate raises $7.6 million for its electric micro-cars
French startup Kate has raised a $7.6 million (€7 million) funding round from a bunch of business angels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Primo is the IT tool for companies that are too small for an IT manager
Primo, a French startup that recently raised a $3.4 million funding round to build a software-as-a-service product that handles the IT needs of small and medium companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cortical Labs raises $10M for its Pong-playing stem cells which eventually could power AI
While Generative AI is buzzy right now, what OpenAI, Microsoft and Google are doing may be only part of the story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rally bags $12M to build the future of e-commerce checkout
Rally provides one-click checkout and post-purchase offers that allow the merchant to inject offers after the checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Remote working means this startup can use brains in emerging markets to disrupt management consultants
The global management consulting industry is worth billions of dollars but to this day it’s been tough to disrupt with technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
B Capital leads Odeko’s $53M Series D to help small coffee shops scale
Odeko has operations software for coffee shops to manage inventory, get data insights and order equipment and supplies from over 400 vendors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LLMs come to workplace morale monitoring, as Loopin raises $1.9M for its platform
There have been several startup attempts to measure staff morale, some more halting that others. We reported on Plasticity Labs back in 2014, though their web site seems no longer functioning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Device-as-a-service startup Fleet expands beyond laptop leasing
French startup Fleet has been growing nicely over the past four years as the company has deployed nearly 10,000 devices with long-term leasing contracts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stability AI’s new model is slightly better at generating hands
Stability AI, the startup funding a range of generative AI experiments, has released a new version of Stable Diffusion, the text-to-image AI system that was among the first to rival OpenAI’s DALL-E 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zoom acquires Ireland-based employee communications platform Workvivo
Zoom today announced that it has acquired Workvivo, a six-year-old Irish startup focused on improving companies’ internal communications and culture. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Thynk wants to upgrade hotel stays with a vertical software platform
Meet Thynk, a new company that wants to build the definite enterprise software solution for the hospitality industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices