TechCrunch Startup News
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Indian neobank Jupiter raises $86 million to launch lending and wealth management services
Industry veteran Jitendra Gupta’s consumer-focused neobank Jupiter has raised about $86 million in a new financing round as the Bangalore-based startup gears up to offer its customers lending and wealth management services. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Automation Anywhere expands into process discovery with FortressIQ acquisition
Automation Anywhere, which is best known for its robotic process automation (RPA) software, plans to expand the platform. This morning, the company announced that it intends to acquire process discovery startup FortressIQ. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Skio raises $3.7M to help brands on Shopify sell subscriptions
Skio, a startup that aims to take the pain out of selling subscriptions for brands on Shopify, has raised $3.7 million in a seed funding round. Kennan Davison, an engineer who previously worked at Hulu and Pinterest, founded the startup in April. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With $36 million Series C, Brazil’s Ambar hopes to make civil construction more efficient
Brazilian construction tech startup Ambar announced it has raised a large Series C round of R$204 million, approximately $36 million, to boost the digitization arm of its business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok rival Triller to go public via merger with SeaChange International
Short video app Triller is set to go public via a reverse merger with video-tech company SeaChange International, the two companies announced on Wednesday. The combined entity will be valued at approximately $5 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ampla raises $40M Series A for its business of providing credit to commerce brands
Ampla Technologies, a startup which provides financing to small-to-medium sized consumer-facing businesses, announced today it has raised $40 million in a Series A round of funding co-led by VMG Partners and Forerunner Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Airtable acqui-hires Walrus.ai’s founding team
Airtable today announced that it quietly acquired Walrus.ai, a no-code software testing platform, earlier this year. ‘Acquired’ may be overstating things a bit, though. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rocket Companies buys Truebill for $1.275B
Rocket Companies announced this morning that it will purchase Truebill for $1.275 billion in cash. Rocket Companies is best known for its Rocket Mortgage product, while Truebill is a consumer-facing app that helps consumers manage subscriptions, automate savings and budget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Melbourne-based edtech startup Vivi raises $20M to accelerate overseas expansion in race to reach 1M classrooms
Australian edtech start-up Vivi has raised $20 million from education investor Quad Partners, funds that it intends to use to improve its platform, upgrade its operational infrastructure, and hire more sales and marketing teams in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GDevelop wants to make game development accessible
GDevelop is a game engine that lets you develop a video game without any specific development experience. While the ‘no-code’ trend has been quite popular this year, GDevelop has been around for a few years already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tiger Global backs fintech CreditBook in first Pakistan investment
Two years ago, a group of entrepreneurs in Pakistan began surveying the market to understand why financial services weren’t reaching the majority of merchants in the world’s fifth most populous nation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Z Fellows wants to give you $10K to launch a crypto startup
Capital may help someone take the jump into entrepreneurship, but what about the activation energy to let them think that big in the first place? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gopuff, the instant grocery startup, is raising $1.5B in a convertible note at up to a $40B valuation, ahead of going public as soon as mid-2022
Instant grocery — where urban-dwelling consumers buy food and other essentials and can get them delivered in 15 minutes or less — continues to be a big business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Taxdoo raises $64M to expand from tax compliance to a wider set of financial tools for e-commerce companies
With e-commerce becoming increasingly globalized, a company called Taxdoo, which builds API-based tools to help e-commerce companies with tax compliance and other accounting needs, is announcing a round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Quo.com raises $7.2M seed round led by SignalFire to broaden access to mortgages
Almost three million Americans a year are denied a mortgage. Most don’t even know where to start or understand what would qualify them. The system has become complex and confusing, causing people to never make it onto the housing ladder at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Crypto company Anchorage raises $350 million at $3 billion valuation
Less than a year after raising an $80 million Series C round, Anchorage is announcing that it has raised a $350 million Series D round. With today’s funding round, the company has reached a valuation of more than $3 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pair Eyewear focuses on adult glasses as it takes in $60M
If Pair’s announcement is any indication, the direct-to-consumer eyewear market is doing quite well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Weather-focused IBISA raises seed round to back its microinsurance solutions for low-income small farmers
Agricultural microinsurance startup IBISA raised a seed round of approximately $1.70 million led by London-based Insurtech Gateway, with participation from Rockstart’s AgriFood fund and others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brand incubator Harry’s Labs makes acquisition of D2C deodorant brand LumÄ“
Prior to agreeing to acquire LumÄ“, Harry’s had looked at over 100 companies for possible M&A opportunities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LiveKit co-founder believes the metaverse needs open infrastructure
The company is developing a free, open source infrastructure for building and scaling real-time audio and video experiences in applications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anakin’s pricing tool gives e-commerce companies jump on competitors
The company launched its tool in March that help e-commerce stores and brands increase their revenue using pricing, products and trends data from other companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
First Resonance brings its space-scale manufacturing OS to hardware makers with $14M A round
First Resonance makes software for making hardware. The company’s Ion platform provides an all-in-one option for anyone who has to manage manufacturing lines, supply chains, engineering and design, among other things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Deed raises $10M for its workplace giving platform
As I wrote earlier this year, Deed‘s mission is a clearcut one: take the employee giving/charity/volunteer program that many big companies have, and make it better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Petra emerges from stealth with $30M raised for tunnel-boring robot, Swifty
Petra emerged from stealth this week, announcing a $30 million Series A. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Black Ops Ventures launches to invest in Black founders
The venture capital market is on a tear, pumping capital into a host of startups around the world. It’s generally considered a great time to raise capital and build a technology-centered, disruptive business. For some, that is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lydia grabs another $100 million for its European financial super app
Just a few weeks after announcing stock and crypto trading, French fintech startup Lydia is announcing that it has raised a $100 million Series C round. With this funding round, the startup has reached a unicorn valuation, which means that it is currently valued at more than $1 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ursa Major raises $85M to disrupt the vertically-integrated launch sector
The launch sector is getting crowded. Many of the biggest players are building their own rocket engines, but space startup Ursa Major is betting that many new launch providers would rather outsource the engine than build it in-house. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Supplier, grocer connector Clubbi secures $4.5M to expand in Brazil
Clubbi launched in October 2020 with 24-hour delivery, no minimum order quantity and flexible payment terms. It is currently working with 1,000 grocery stores in Rio de Janeiro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Berlin’s Everphone raises $200M in debt and Series C equity
Berlin-based smartphone-as-a-service provider Everphone has topped up with $65 million in a Series C equity raise in addition to taking $135 million in debt financing — for a total raise of $200 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TamatemGames raises $11M Series B led by PUBG maker Krafton
Jordan-based mobile game publisher TamatemGames announced today it has raised $11 million in a Series B led by KRAFTON, a South Korean game developer behind PUBG, marking its first investment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Umamicart bags $6M to deliver traditional Asian ingredients right to your home
Umamicart aims to be a one-stop shop for home cooks, offering staple products and pantry essentials, recipe inspirations and occasion-specific kits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Judging by the future, not the past, Stride takes steps to turn student finance upside down
If you’re trying to get a mortgage or an auto loan, banks will put on their judging glasses and look into your past. Makes sense; it’s a reasonably reliable indicator as to whether you’ll be able to repay your loans or not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Social app IRL makes its first acquisition with deal for digital nutrition company AaBeZe Labs
IRL, the SoftBank-backed social app and recent unicorn, is today announcing its first acquisition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Toronto-based VFX startup MARZ raises $5.3M to develop AI technology solutions
Technology and visual effects startup Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies (MARZ) has raised $5.3 million in Series A funding. The investment was led by Round13 Captial with participation from Rhino Ventures and Harlo Equity Partners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Better.com gets $1B cash infusion in new agreement with its SPAC backers
Digital mortgage lender Better.com, which announced in March that it was going public via a SPAC, is getting a cash infusion from its backers sooner than expected. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bitly makes first acquisition with QR code leader Egoditor
The acquisition is in line with Bitly’s goal of becoming a global SaaS company that enables organizations to engage with customers and for people to connect with digital experiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Partech raises $750 million growth fund
Paris-based VC firm Partech has announced the closing of the fundraising of its new growth fund. Partech Growth II is the firm’s second growth fund. And the team managed to raise $750 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Quick-commerce startup YallaMarket eyes Saudi Arabia and Qatar next year after U.A.E expansion
YallaMarket, a Dubai-based quick-commerce startup, is planning to expand within the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E), and to enter Saudi Arabia and Qatar next year, to tap the appetite for speedy and convenient grocery shopping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pyxo wants to build the biggest network of reusable food containers
Meet Pyxo, a French startup that has been thinking a lot about single-use plastic food packaging for the past three years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jefa raises $2 million for its challenger bank for women in LATAM
Fintech startup Jefa has raised a $2 million seed round to build a challenger bank with a product specifically designed for women living in Latin America and the Caribbean. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TabTrader raises $5.8M for a mobile app that aggregates crypto exchange data
As many of the top cryptocurrencies seem to temporarily stabilize near all-time highs, users looking to speculate on tokens that are a bit more volatile are searching across exchanges to find deals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Attio wants to build the CRM for the Airtable generation
Meet Attio, a new CRM for people who are familiar with modern collaboration tools, such as Airtable, Notion and Zapier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Arc hooks another $30M in investment as EV interest spills over into electric boats
Arc is not even a year old and the electric boat startup has attracted investment from top VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, entertainment industry big wigs and now a $30 million raise led by an early Tesla executive who led the automaker’s early manufacturing efforts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Payhawk raises $112M to better compete in the heated corporate card race
If you’ve followed corporate card and spend management startups in the U.S., you might be familiar with Brex and Ramp. Payhawk is also offering an all-in-one financial management solution for businesses, but with a focus on European customers. And the company just raised a $112 million Series B round at a $570 million valuation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wave brings some science and sanity to the business of mental health
The kids aren’t alright. According to the founders of Wave, 75% of Gen Z is struggling with their emotional well-being. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Deliverr bags another giant round as it works to move inventory closer to customers
E-commerce fulfillment is certainly having a moment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Food tech company Amara gobbles up $12M for its nutrient-dense infant products
This year, Amara produced its Yogurt Smoothie Melts, which CEO Jessica Sturzenegger touts as “the only melt-in-mouth snacks for babies and toddlers without any added sugar.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Workday to acquire external workforce management startup VNDLY for $510M
Workday announced this afternoon that it intends to acquire VNDLY, a Mason, OH startup that helps companies manage external workforce personnel for $510 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Eatron, which makes ‘intelligentautomotive software’, raises $11M Series A led by MMC
An electric vehicle is, essentially, just ‘software on wheels’, and requires lots of moving parts, not physical but, of course, virtual. That software needs to continually optimize the performance, efficiency, and safety of the EV it’s running. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kandji pulls in $100M Series C on $800M valuation, up 10x since last year
Kandji, the startup building an Apple device management business, has been doing pretty well for itself with rapidly growing revenue, a fat valuation and lots of investment capital rolling in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices