TechCrunch Startup News
3,873 episodes — Page 32 of 78
AirTree backs generative AI content creation and management platform Narrato
Generative AI is hot among venture capital firms now, with $4.5 billion invested in 2022. Narrato, a AI content creation and collaboration platform, announced today it has joined the ranks of other generative AI startups with VC funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon wants to boost ten generative AI startups around the globe
Amazon’s first foray into the world of accelerator programs, designed to help early-stage startups build and launch, was focused on conversational AI back in 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tencent backs Singapore’s Horizon Quantum Computing in $18M round
Quantum computers have the potential to carry out highly complicated calculations in minutes that would have taken classical computers thousands of years to work out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Artie sidesteps the app stores by putting high-quality games in your browser
When you play a game, how do you play it? Monopoly or Settlers of Catan around the dining table? Mario Kart on your Nintendo Switch? Assassin’s Creed on your Xbox? Among Us on your phone? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DataDome, which uses AI to protect against bot-based attacks, raises $42M
Online businesses are at risk of bad bot activity, certainly more now than they used to be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Qualcomm-backed Aravita wants to help Brazilian supermarkets control food waste
Aravita's AI-powered solution for supermarkets looks at variables, including climate, seasonality and consumer behavior, to manage the purchasing of fresh food. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Crypto wallet company Ledger raises another $108 million
French startup Ledger has added more money to its Series C funding round. The company designs and manufactures so-called hardware wallets to secure crypto assets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Green Labs secures $38.4M in debt financing
Green Labs, a Seoul-based agritech startup, has secured $38.4 million (50 billion won) in debt financing from existing investors BRV Capital Management and Skylake Incuvest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Krisp expands from noise canceling to on-device transcription
Krisp got its start as an AI-powered noise cancellation service, but now the startup is moving beyond that with instant on-device transcription of all your calls and meetings — and of course it integrates ChatGPT now for quick summaries as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon-backed Acko nears $120 million in new funding
Indian insurtech Acko is in late-stage discussions to secure $120 million in a funding round at a time when weak global market conditions have subdued large financing deliberations in the South Asian market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Isar Aerospace raises $165 million to bring more sovereign launch to Europe
German launch startup Isar Aerospace has scored $165 million (€155 million) in new funding as it races toward the inaugural flight of its Spectrum small rocket later this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Neubility plans to roll out 400 lidar-free delivery and security robots by year-end
Last-mile robotics startup Neubility — which makes autonomous delivery robots that work without lidar — says that it plans bump its fleet up to 400 by the end of this year, up from the 50 it currently has in circulation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI connects ChatGPT to the internet
OpenAI’s viral AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, can now browse the internet — in certain cases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Snap quietly acquired 3D scanning startup Th3rd last year
Snap quietly acquired Amsterdam-based 3D scanning studio Th3rd in the second quarter of last year, at a time when the company was looking to bolster its AR-powered commerce ambitions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Workera double downs on AI for upskilling with $23.5M infusion
Workera, an upskilling platform geared toward enterprise customers, today announced that it raised $23.5 million in a Series B round led by Jump Capital with participation from existing investors NEA, Owl Ventures, the AI Fund and Sozo Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former Stripe engineer raises $4M for Beam, a fintech startup out to help contractors get paid faster
Beam, a five-month-old startup out to more easily help general contractors pay subcontractors and get paid themselves, has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Accel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Britive, which helps secure public clouds, lands $20.5M investment
Proving that there’s still plenty of venture money in cybersecurity, cloud identity security platform Britive today announced that it raised $20.5 million in a Series B funding round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reselling marketplace Kream’s valuation rises to $742M with $168M Series C
The startup funding environment is more challenging right now, but some companies and industries still draw investors’ attention and money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clerk is simplifying identity for front-end web developers
Developers building front-end Jamstack web applications often struggle to build identity with traditional API tools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cultivated meat is closer to our plate now that Good Meat also gets FDA blessing
This means that Good Meat’s cultivated chicken was accepted as a product safe for humans to eat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Duolingo is working on a music app
Duolingo, a language learning app with over 500 million users, is working on a music app, TechCrunch has learned. The Pittsburgh-based tech company currently has a small team working on a music product and is hiring a learning scientist who is an “expert in music education who combines both theoretical knowledge of relevant learning science […]Duolingo is working on a music app by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pickle launches its truck unloading robot arm
Somewhere along the way, ProMat turned into a robotics show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Consumer electronics reseller Reebelo adds to Series A as it lays down roots in US
Reebelo has added embedded financial services, including a buyback program and device upgrade options, while its warranty program, ReebeloCare, grew 330% year over year.Consumer electronics reseller Reebelo adds to Series A as it lays down roots in US by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pull Systems launches out of Up.Labs-Porsche partnership to tackle EV performance
When Porsche partnered with venture studio Up.Labs, the mission was to create six startups over three years all designed to solve the German automaker’s biggest problems and be compelling enough as a standalone business it that can attract other customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cast AI raises $20M to help companies reduce cloud spend
Cloud costs remain a top concern for organizations. According to a recent Anodot survey, 50% of businesses are struggling to control them, in part because they lack visibility into their cloud usage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anonymous app Sidechat picks up rival Yik Yak…and users aren’t happy
Sidechat, the anonymous posting platform that began blowing up last year on college campuses, appears to have acquired a rival anonymous social platform, Yik Yak. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zed raises $10M for a code editor built for collaboration
Code editors are complex and demanding pieces of software, but from a business standpoint, they’re notoriously difficult to monetize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ADIA invests $500 million in Lenskart
Lenskart has signed a definitive agreement to raise $500 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, they said Wednesday, at the height of the market slump as the Indian eyewear retailer bulks up its offerings and scales to international markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LexxPluss expands into US with its warehouse robots
When Masaya Aso worked on autonomous driving technology at Bosch in Japan and Germany, he realized that “many tasks were still manual as over 85% of warehouses have almost no automation at all.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Medwing, a recruitment marketplace for Europe’s healthcare workforce, raises $47M
Medwing, a European startup building a recruitment marketplace for healthcare workers, has raised €44 million ($47 million) in a Series C round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AG5 throws a lifeline to a manufacturing industry drowning in spreadsheets
You’d think that an industry like manufacturing had its own software stack, but in a lot of cases, a huge amount of getting-things-made is managed through Excel spreadsheets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cloud security vendor Mitiga lands $45M, valuing the company at over $100M
Companies moved en masse to the cloud during the pandemic, under pressure to digitally transform. According to a 2021 survey from O’Reilly, cloud adoption steadily rose across industries, with 90% of organizations using cloud computing compared to 88% in 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Deel makes over $120M of its own cash available to support customers affected by SVB crisis
Global payroll provider Deel plans to provide $120 million of its own cash off its balance sheet to support startups’ payroll operations in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank shutting down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After SVB failure, regulators close crypto-friendly bank Signature Bank
Signature Bank is the second casualty of the ongoing banking crisis in the U.S. The New York-based financial institution stopped operating abruptly on Sunday — customers will be made whole. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bach, an app for planning bachelorette trips and group travel experiences, raises $9M
Bach, an app for planning bachelorette trips and group travel experiences, has announced $9 million in Series A funding led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Synctera raises $15M to help companies launch embedded banking products in Canada
Synctera, a banking-as-a-service startup, has raised an additional $15 million as it expands into Canada. NAventures, the corporate venture arm of National Bank of Canada, led the financing, which brings Synctera’s total raised to $60 million since its June 2020 inception. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MentorcliQ raises over $80 million to grow its employee mentoring software and services
For years, Phil George was the executive sponsor of a mentoring program at McMaster-Carr, an industrial hardware supplier, where he spent weeks trying to match program participants with only scant information about them to go on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
E-bike maker Cowboy raises new funding round and launches AdaptivePower
Brussels-based startup Cowboy has been in the news lately for its cash burn rate. But the company wants to control its narrative again with some product and business news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threecolts raises $90M to build out its toolkit for third parties selling on marketplaces like Amazon
Amazon rules the roost when it comes to e-commerce, with its marketplace outpacing everyone else when it comes to gross merchandise value, reach and market capitalization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Consensus raises $110M to inject automation into SaaS product demos
Garin Hess, a tech entrepreneur based in Utah, experienced what he calls the “demo bottleneck” at a previous software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup while pitching to potential customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Growfin’s AI-based cash collection SaaS expands further to US and Asia
Cash management — tracking who needs to pay an invoice and whether it’s been done — can make or break a business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Assured Allies secures $42.5M Series B to help Americans ‘successfully age’
The company uses machine learning and predictive analytics along with science-of-aging and essential human support to offer retirement products and programs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Behavioral marketing platform Wunderkind nabs $76M
Wunderkind, a platform that enables brands to target web visitors through emails, texts and other digital advertising formats, today announced that it raised $76 million in a Series C round led by Neuberger Berman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Attio raises $23.5M to build a next-gen CRM platform
While a partner at a VC firm, Nicolas Sharp took on the project of finding customer relationship management (CRM) software for the firm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Japan’s Geniee acquires AdPushup-operator Zelto for $70 million
Japanese marketing tech firm Geniee, part of the SoftBank Group, has paid about $70 million in cash to acquire the revenue optimization platform Zelto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpotDraft shows that contract lifecycle management remains profitable, raises $26M
VCs see a rich opportunity in tools to manage the contract lifecycle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hexa raises $20.5M to turn images into 3D objects for VR, AR and more
Hexa, a 3D asset visualization and management platform, today announced that it closed a $20.5 million Series A round from Point72 Ventures, Samurai Incubate, Sarona Partners and HTC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
8VC raises $880M in new fund that aims “to fix a broken world”
Austin-based venture firm 8VC, led by controversial Palantir founder Jon Lonsdale, has raised $880 million in its fifth fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
StudentFinance nabs $41M to help Europeans upskill for in-demand jobs
StudentFinance, a European fintech that funds educational programs for individuals through so-called income share agreements, has raised €39 million ($41 million) in a Series A round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
E-commerce aggregator Una Brands lands $30M just five months after its Series B
Una Brands, a Singapore-based e-commerce aggregator, has raised $30 million in pre-Series C financing just five months after announcing its $30 million Series B funding that was raised in September of last year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices