
TechCrunch Startup News
3,873 episodes — Page 37 of 78

Identity security platform Oort bags new cash to grow its product
Oort, an identity threat detection and response platform, today announced that it raised $11.5 million in a Series A round co-led by .406 Ventures and Energy Impact Partners with participation from Cisco Investments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Techstars unveils sustainability-focused acceleration program in Paris
Techstars, a network of startup accelerators and an investment company, is launching a new accelerator in Paris called Techstars Sustainability Paris. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gourmey grabs $48 million to keep working on lab-grown foie gras
French startup Gourmey just raised a Series A funding round led by Earlybird Venture Capital. In total, the company banked $48 million (€48 million). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

IriusRisk lands $29M to automate threat modeling for apps
IriusRisk, a threat modeling platform, today announced that it raised $29 million in a Series B funding round led by Paladin Capital Group with participation from BrightPixel Capital, SwanLab Venture Factory, 360 Capital and Inveready. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Humaans raises $15M to simplify HR tasks like onboarding
The role of HR professionals grew in scope during the pandemic as companies were forced to navigate major workplace changes, like working from home. Unsurprisingly, those professionals have had some of the highest burnout rates over the past two years, particularly as HR departments remain under-resourced. According to an August survey from Workvivo, an employee […]Humaans raises $15M to simplify HR tasks like onboarding by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vodafone confirms merger talks with Three UK in a “no cash” deal to scale up in 5G
Another major piece of mobile M&A appears to be in the works in the UK. Today, Vodafone confirmed that it was in merger discussions with Three UK, a carrier owned by CK Hutchison, to accelerate their 5G rollout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Web3 banking platform Juno raises $18 million, launches tokenized loyalty program
Juno, a startup that provides checking accounts to crypto enthusiasts and allows them to take their paychecks in digital tokens, has raised a new funding round as it expands its offerings to include a tokenized loyalty program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With $17M in funding, Immerok launches cloud service for real-time streaming data
In 2011, the Apache Software Foundation released Flink, a high-throughput, low-latency engine for streaming various data types. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TestGrid is a “one-stop shop” for testing apps at scale
Created by developer who needed to test apps at scale, TestGrid is an on-demand platform that lets users run tests on websites and apps across browsers, operating systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Arcade scores $7.5M seed to make it simple to build a product demo
Software product marketers typically are charged with creating demos for potential customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lunio raises $15M to combat click fraud with algorithms
The digital ads market is robust, with Statista predicting that worldwide spend will reach nearly $900 billion by 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pigment raises another $65M to build the modern business planning platform
French startup Pigment has raised a new round of funding less than a year after raising a $73 million Series B round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Firehawk’s rocket engines and 3D-printed fuel hit testing milestones ahead of first launch
Although today’s rocket engines are advanced and powerful, they tend to rely on traditional — and naturally volatile — fuels like hydrazine or liquid oxygen and kerosene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stockly raises another $12 million to sell out-of-stock items via other retailers
French startup Stockly is raising a $12 million Series A round (€12 million) from Eurazeo, Daphni and several business angels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AmazeVR wants to scale its virtual concert platform with $17M funding
AmazeVR, a Los Angeles-based virtual concert platform, said Tuesday it has raised a $17 million funding round to create immersive music experiences through virtual reality (VR) concerts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Livin Farms’ investors are betting $5.8M on powdered fly larvae
In a world of climate change-fueled food shortages, insect-based proteins are being viewed as an increasingly valuable potential alternative food service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Strava co-founder races into a lucrative market – lending against life insurance
Mark Shaw likes running around. The serial entrepreneur joined activity and fitness tracking platform Strava as a co-founder in 2009 to lead engineering as CTO. He spent eight years there, and as of its most recent raise in 2020, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Checkmate captures all of your shopping deals so you don’t have to
Checkmate's shopping tool gathers all the online discount codes, gift cards and personalized deals from your inbox and automatically applies them at checkout.Checkmate captures all of your shopping deals so you don’t have to by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Steadybit wants developers involved in chaos engineering before production
Chaos engineering was originally developed at large companies to help them pressure test systems in production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cloud kitchen startup CloudEats raises more capital to ramp up Southeast Asian expansion
A cloud kitchen — also known as a ghost kitchen or a shared kitchen — offers restaurant owners and food entrepreneurs a commercial kitchen space at a reduced cost for food delivery and takeout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Crypto tax reporting app Binocs helps users navigate regulations
Keeping up with tax compliance for cryptocurrency can be tricky, especially since many laws are new (or haven’t been written yet). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

EV charging operator Bump unlocks $180 million
French startup Bump has signed a multi-year financing partnership with DIF Capital Partners in order to roll out more charging stations for electric vehicles and double down on growth in general. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Razor’s Edge Ventures closes $340M fund as it looks to invest in defense startups
In a sign that national security tech is a safe bet even during troubled economic times, defense- and security-focused VC firm Razor’s Edge Ventures today announced the closing of its third startup investment fund at just under $340 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Leoparda Electric is bringing battery swapping for two-wheelers to LatAm
Leoparda Electric, a São Paolo–based startup, wants to be the Gogoro of Latin America. In other words, it’s looking to build out a network of battery swapping stations that should help spread adoption of electric two-wheelers in the region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zopper raises $75 million to solve India’s insurance problem
For more than half a decade, Zopper built a platform for small and medium-sized businesses, helping merchants with invoicing and payments through its point-of-sale platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta alumni’s startup TrueFoundry raises $2.3 million to accelerate ML deployments
A group of former Meta engineers is building a platform to help enterprises deploy machine learning models at the speed of big tech companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This robot crossed a line it shouldn’t have because humans told it to
Video of a sidewalk delivery robot crossing yellow caution tape and rolling through a crime scene in Los Angeles went viral this week, amassing more than 650,000 views on Twitter and sparking debate about whether the technology is ready for prime time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Launch House holds private town hall, says investigation is underway
In a town hall to some members of their community, Launch House addressed the harassment and assault allegations surfaced by a Vox Investigation earlier this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Virtual Internships matches students with top companies around the world
Remote work struck down barriers for many employees, and now Virtual Internships is doing the same for university students around the world by partnering with over 12,000 companies from 100 countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Polywork lands $28 million more to add hyphens to your job title
Stop trying to make Polywork happen. It’s already happening. You may even be polyworking as you read this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Denim, a fintech platform for freight brokers, raises $126M in equity and debt
Denim, the fintech platform for freight and logistics formerly known as Axle Payments, today announced that it raised $126 million in a Series B funding round led by Pelion Venture Partners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MVP Match, a tech-talent marketplace, raises $5M from Stage 2 Capital
Tech-talent marketplace MVP Match has raised €5 million ($5 million) seed funding from Stage 2 Capital to double down its strategy for pairing companies with talent from across the globe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CoverSelf’s customizable platform simplifies the healthcare claims system
The U.S healthcare system is infamously labyrinthine, with a lengthy claims process that results in frequent errors and high administrative costs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cultured meat startup Prolific Machines unveils its ‘Henry Ford approach’ to cell growth
Its technology is a way to grow and control cells without the need for any of those expensive recombinant proteins for cell production.Cultured meat startup Prolific Machines unveils its ‘Henry Ford approach’ to cell growth by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How WhiteLab Genomics is using AI to aid gene and cell therapy development
French biotech company WhiteLab Genomics has raised $10 million in funding for an AI platform designed to aid the discovery and development of genomic therapies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Industrial IoT startup Litmus Automation bags new cash to grow its product
In recent years, a cottage industry has sprung up around the industrial internet of things (IoT) landscape — and the data generated by it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kenya’s HotelOnline acquires hospitality software company HotelPlus
HotelOnline, a Kenyan-based travel technology scale-up that fashions itself as an e-commerce and digital marketing enabler in the hospitality industry, has acquired HotelPlus, a software provider with clients in 22 countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Diveplane lands $25M to grow its MLOps platform
In 2017, three entrepreneurs — Chris Hazard, Mike Resnick and Mike Capps — came together to launch a platform for building AI and machine learning tools geared toward the enterprise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Synthetic DNA startup Catalog partners with Seagate for its DNA-based data storage platform
Data needs to be stored somewhere. However, data storage costs keep growing, and the data people keep producing and consuming can’t keep up with the available storage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stack.io banks $2.7M to teach teens, parents about crypto
The app was designed with Gen Z in mind, a generation that will grow up with the blockchain and most likely own some kind of digital assets.Stack.io banks $2.7M to teach teens, parents about crypto by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lucidity keeps cloud block storage neat, tidy and cost-efficient
Cloud storage is expensive (especially in this economy), but many companies often over-provision, cutting their full return on investment. Lucidity was created to help them manage block storage more efficiently with a set of automated tools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

London-based RegTech SteelEye nabs $21M
London-based regulatory technology (RegTech) startup SteelEye has raised $21 million in a series B round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nektar.ai exits stealth mode to plug CRM data leakages
A lot of important data gets lost along the sales pipeline because sales teams use multiple tools, including email, Zoom and WhatsApp, to talk with buyers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cultivated Biosciences wants to make plant-based dairy ‘feel’ more like the real McCoy
The vegan food market was pegged as a $27 billion industry last year, a figure that’s expected to more than double within a decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

JusticeText raises $2.2M to increase transparency in criminal evidence-gathering
The company currently works with 50 public defender agencies and has around 60 clients who are private criminal defense attorneys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This Gen Z founder is pitching hundreds of investors… via Venmo
My phone buzzes as I get a text from a friend who’s a partner at a VC firm. It’s a screenshot of a Venmo notification that just came in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Indian agency searches fintech Paytm, Razorpay and Cashfree offices in Chinese loan apps probe
India’s financial crime fighting agency searched the offices of fintech unicorns Paytm and Razorpay as well as Cashfree on Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into fraudulent Chinese loan apps, it said Saturday, the latest in a series of probes in recent months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fairmarkit’s AI-fueled platform delivers autonomous procurement sourcing
Companies tend to divide their procurement spending into two main buckets. The first is large purchases over $500,000 with some starting $1 million, depending on the size of the organization. Anything below that figure falls under a category known as “tail spend.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With schools increasingly focused on mental health, PsycApps raises Seed round for US expansion
I’ve been tracking PsycApps, a startup that came up with a gamified mental health game ‘eQuoo’, since 2016, and this company – and its founder – is nothing if not persistent in ‘pivoting into the wind’. T Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This dating app fought scammers with bots… hilarity ensued
You know the feeling; you’re on a dating app, and you start a conversation with someone, and things don’t seem like they add up completely. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices