TechCrunch Startup News
3,836 episodes — Page 52 of 77
Neighbor raises $53M for self-storage marketplace after 5x YoY revenue growth
Neighbor, which operates a self-storage marketplace, announced Wednesday that it has raised $53 million in a Series B round of funding. Fifth Wall led the financing, which notably also included participation from returning backer Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and new investors DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and StockX CEO Scott Cutler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Y Combinator’s new batch features its largest group of Indian startups
Y Combinator’s latest batch — W21 — features 350 startups from 41 nations. 50% of the firms, the highest percentage to date, in the new batch are based outside of the United States. India is the second largest demographic represented in the new batch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Social shopping-focused Chums announces $3.5M raise ahead of YC Demo Day
With Y Combinator Demo Day kicking off tomorrow morning, startups in the current batch are hurrying to make a little news before they show off their recent growth to investors. The list includes Runway, Mono, Pangea and Flux. Add Chums to the mix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Do we need so many virtual HQ platforms?
Teamflow, founded by ex-Uber manager Flo Crivello, has raised an $11 million Series A just three months after raising a $3.9 million seed for its virtual HQ platform. The latest round in the startup was led by Battery Ventures, with Menlo Ventures leading its previous financing event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Camunda snares $98M Series B as process automation continues to flourish
It’s clear that automated workflow tooling has become increasingly important for companies. Perhaps that explains why Camunda, a Berlin startup that makes open source process automation software, announced an €82 million Series B today. That translates into approximately $98 million U.S. Insight Partners led the round with help from A round investor Highland Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vega raises $5M to give anyone the ability to launch a derivatives market
Vega, a startup that is building a decentralized protocol for creating and trading on derivatives markets, has raised $5 million in funding. Arrington Capital and Cumberland DRW co-led the round, which also included participation from Coinbase Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Signum Capital, CMT Digital, CMS Holdings, Three Commas and a slew of others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Backed by YC, Vendease is building Amazon Prime for restaurants in Africa
For small and mid-sized restaurants in Nigeria and most of Africa, food procurement can be a complex process to manage. The system is such that a business can easily run out of money or have considerable savings. Most restaurants don’t have access to deal directly with farms to get better deals because they lack the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cohere raises $3.1 million for its remote control solution for web apps
Existing remote desktop solutions like LogMeIn and TeamViewer can be complicated to set up and use, and can feel dated. A new startup called Cohere, now backed by $3.1 million in seed funding, aims to improve on the remote desktop and screen-sharing experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This new startup is weeding out the weed-out classes, instead of students
Five years ago, entrepreneur Dan Sommer bet big on the adult learning space when he was building out Trilogy Education, an online and in-person bootcamp in collaboration with universities to train workforces on the latest tech skills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oso announces $8.2M Series A to simplify authorization for developers
When we think about getting access to an application, we tend to focus on the authentication side — granting or denying people (or devices) entry. But there is another piece to this, and that’s authorization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Docker nabs $23M Series B as as new developer focus takes shape
It was easy to wonder what would become of Docker after it sold its enterprise business in 2019, but it regrouped last year as a cloud native container company focused on developers, and the new approach appears to be bearing fruit. Today, the company announced a $23 million Series B investment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Noogata raises $12M seed round for its no-code enterprise AI platform
Noogata, a startup that offers a no-code AI solution for enterprises, today announced that it has raised a $12 million seed round led by Team8, with participation from Skylake Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mexican challenger bank Fondeadora adds $14 million to its Series B
Fondeadora, a fintech startup based in Mexico City and building a challenger bank, has extended its Series A funding round. I covered the company’s original round back in August 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Swell launches its app for asynchronous voice conversations
You might think that Clubhouse is the final word on audio-centric social networks, but a San Francisco startup called Swell is launching its own iOS and Android app focused on voice conversations. The big difference: While conversations on Clubhouse all happen in real-time — meaning that you’ve got to listen live or miss it all […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Disruptel raises $1.1M to make smart TVs smarter
St. Louis-based voice assistant startup Disruptel is announcing that it has raised $1.1 million in seed funding. The money comes from an impressive group of investors who seem well-aligned with what the startup is aiming to do — namely, build a voice assistant that can provide detailed information about what’s happening on your TV screen. […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Arist adds $2M to its seed round to grow its SMS-based training service
This morning Arist, a startup that sells software allowing other organizations to offer SMS-based training to staff, announced that it has extended its seed round to $3.9 million after adding $2 million to its prior raise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Regenerative agriculture is the next great ally in fight against climate change
Backed by innovations in science, big data, financing and farmer networking, investing in regenerative agriculture promises to slash farming’s carbon footprint while rewarding farmers for their stewardship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tackle nabs $35M Series B to help companies navigate cloud marketplaces
Each of the big three cloud vendors — Amazon, Microsoft and Google — has a marketplace where software vendors can sell their wares. It seems like an easy enough proposition to throw your software up there and be done with it, but it turns out that it’s not quite that simple. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
M1 Finance raises another rapid-fire round after scaling its AUM to more than $3.5B
Months after raising a Series C worth $45 million, Chicago-based M1 Finance announced a new round of capital today. A Series D, the new $75 million investment was led by Coatue, with two prior investors — Left Lane Capital and Clocktower Technology Ventures — also taking part. The new financing comes after M1 raised twice […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chatbot startup Heyday raises $5.1M
Montreal-based Heyday announced today that it has raised $6.5 million Canadian ($5.1 million in US dollars) in additional seed funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fleex lets you allocate a monthly budget for work from home equipment
Meet Fleex, a French startup that was formally named Flexlab. The company wants to make it easier to give some cash to your employees so that they can spend it on a desk, an external monitor, some computer peripherals, a nice chair, etc. Essentially, Fleex wants to make it easier to turn remote work into […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cube raises $10M more to help companies plan their financial future
This morning Cube, a startup that builds FP&A software for the mid-market, announced that it has raised a $10 million Series A. The company previously raised a $5 million seed round that TechCrunch covered last August. Mayfield led its Series A, which saw participation from Operator Collective and Bonfire Ventures. FP&A is probably not an […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Eye surgery robotics startup ForSight raises $10M
Israel-based ForSight Robotics announced today that it has raised $10 million for what it has deemed a “mega-seed round.” Led by Eclipse Ventures and Mithril Capital, the round will go toward expanding the company’s headcount and global reach, as it looks to bring its offerings to international markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vendr raises huge $60M Series A as its SaaS-purchasing service scales
This morning Vendr announced a $60 million Series A round, a huge funding event led by Tiger Global, with participation from Y Combinator, Sound Ventures, Craft Ventures, F-Prime Capital, and Garage Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Swiss maker of meat alternatives Planted will expand and diversify with $18M Series A
Planted, a startup pursuing a unique method of creating a vegetarian chicken alternative, has raised an $18M (CHF 17M) Series A to expand its product offerings and international footprint. With new kebabs and pulled-style faux meats available and steak-like cuts in the (literal) pipeline, Planted has begun to set its sights outside central Europe. The […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dan Siroker’s new startup Scribe automates Zoom note-taking
Optimizely co-founder Dan Siroker said the idea for his new startup Scribe goes back to a couple of personal experiences — and although Scribe’s first product is focused on Zoom, those experiences weren’t Zoom-related at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Revolut lets customers switch to Revolut Bank in 10 additional countries
Fintech startup Revolut has its own banking license in the European Union since late 2018. It lets the company offer some additional financial services without partnering with third-party companies. And the company is going to let customers switch to Revolut Bank in 10 additional countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Deliverr scores $170M to bring fast delivery to every e-commerce vendor
At a time when e-commerce is exploding due in large part to the pandemic, a business that helps any online merchant ship goods to a consumer in one or two days is going to be in demand. Deliverr is a startup that fits that bill, and today the company announced a $170 million financing round. […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hopin confirms $400M raise at $5.65B valuation
This morning Hopin, a virtual events platform and video-focused software service, announced that it has closed a $400 million Series C. The new capital values Hopin at $5.65 billion. Both numbers match prior TechCrunch reporting that the company was targeting a $400 million raise at a valuation of between $5 billion and $6 billion. Andreessen […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Yugabyte announces $48M Series C as cloud native database makes enterprise push
As demand for cloud native applications is growing, Yugabyte, makers of the cloud native, open source YugabyteDB database are seeing a corresponding rise in demand for their products, especially with large enterprise customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Indonesian supply chain startup Advotics raises $2.75M led by East Ventures
The rapid growth of e-commerce in Indonesia, especially during the pandemic, is placing increasing demands on its supply chain infrastructure. But the country’s logistics industry is highly fragmented, with companies usually relying on multiple providers for one shipment, and many warehouses are still concentrated around major cities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cornea eyes in on fighting wildfires using better data
It’s not yet fire season thankfully, which affords some breathing room for firefighters and emergency responders to begin planning out how to confront the increasingly complex and unwieldy task of preventing and responding to fires in the American West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Coupang may raise up to $3.6 billion in its IPO, at a potential valuation of $51 billion
According to an amended S-1 filing, South Korean e-commerce leader Coupang expects to price its initial public offering between $27 to $30 per share, potentially raising up to $3.6 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Murmur, still in private beta, wants to help startups make private work agreements public
As building in public continues to gain popularity with early-stage startup founders, Murmur, coming out of stealth today, wants to leverage that natural transparency to a louder frequency. Founded by Aaron Dignan, Murmur helps startups create work agreements based on the policies of other startups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rocket Lab debuts plans for a new, larger, reusable rocket for launching satellite constellations
Because news of its SPAC-fueled public market debut wasn’t enough, Rocket Lab also unveiled a new class of rocket it has in development on Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Atlassian is acquiring Chartio to bring data visualization to the platform
The Atlassian platform is chock full of data about how a company operates and communicates. Atlassian launched a machine learning layer, which relies on data on the platform with the addition of Atlassian Smarts last fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aquarium scores $2.6M seed to refine machine learning model data
Aquarium, a startup from two former Cruise employees, wants to help companies refine their machine learning model data more easily and move the models into production faster. Today the company announced a $2.6 million seed led by Sequoia with participation from Y Combinator and a bunch of angel investors including Cruise co-founders Kyle Vogt and Dan Kan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MealMe raises $900,000 for its food search engine
This morning MealMe.ai, a food search engine, announced that it has closed a $900,000 pre-seed round. Palm Drive Capital led the round, with participation from Slow Ventures and CP Ventures. TechCrunch first became familiar with MealMe when it presented as part of the Techstars Atlanta demo day last October, mentioning it in a roundup of […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Maze raises another $15 million for its user testing platform
Maze has closed a $15 million Series A funding round led by Emergence Capital. The company lets you run user tests at scale so that you can get feedback before rolling out a design update or test copy. When you have a lot of users, you don’t want to roll out some changes before testing […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gamified emergency prep startup Harbor inks ADT partnership
Harbor, an app that gamifies emergency preparedness, has today announced the launch of a premium tier that includes features like an emergency button called HarborHELP that it has built in partnership with home-security company ADT. The premium subscription also includes a family plan, which lets paying users add up to 12 other users to the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The current narrative explaining why tech stocks are getting hammered
This morning the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index is off 2.34% after falling yesterday. Shares of Tesla are off more than 6% today, now mired in a bear-market correction after reaching new all-time highs earlier this year. Apple stock is worth $122.02 per share, down from over its recent highs of more than $145. After a […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Archer Aviation aims to launch network of urban air taxis in Los Angeles by 2024
Archer Aviation, the electric aircraft startup that recently announced a deal to go public via a merger with a blank-check company, plans to launch a network of its urban air taxis in Los Angeles by 2024. The announcement comes two months after the formation of the Urban Air Mobility Partnership, a one-year initiative between Los […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ErudiFi raises $5 million Series A to give students in Southeast Asia more education financing options
Based in Singapore, ErudiFi wants to help more students in Southeast Asia stay in school by giving them affordable financing options. The startup announced today it has raised a $5 million Series A, co-led by Monk’s Hill Ventures and Qualgro. ErudiFi currently works with more than 50 universities and vocational schools in Indonesia and the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Creatio raises $68M as the low-code space keeps attracting huge checks
This morning Creatio, a Boston-based software company, announced that it has raised $68 million. Volition Capital, a growth-equity fund, led the round. The deal was a minority investment in the startup. The deal is notable not merely thanks to its sheer size, but because up until today Creatio had bootstrapped. That’s according to founder and […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Indonesian investment platform FUNDtastic lands $7.7 million Series A
Despite the market impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, retail investing is increasing in Indonesia, especially among people aged 18 to 30. Today, investment platform FUNDtastic announced it has raised a $7.7 million Series A to tap into that demand, with plans to launch new products for retail investors, reports DealStreetAsia. The round was led by […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AccountsIQ scores €5.8M for its financial management software for multi-entity SMEs
AccountsIQ, a financial management software (FMS) startup founded by a team of chartered accountants (when accountants want to be entrepreneurs, you know startups are a thing), has raised €5.8 million in funding. Backing the Dublin-based company, which targets mid-sized businesses that operate multi-entities, is Finch Capital, the fintech focussed VC that recently outed its third […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Torii announces $10M Series A to automate SaaS management
Today, that software is offered as a cloud service should be pretty much considered a given. Certainly any modern tooling is going to be SaaS, and as companies and employees add services, it becomes a management nightmare. Enter Torii, an early stage startup that wants to make it easier to manage SaaS bloat. Today, the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Robinhood goes to Congress
Update: There’s an entire second session of this? My lord. Today the House Financial Services Committee dragged the CEO of Reddit, a Cato wonk, social media icon DeepFuckingValue, the CEO of Citadel Kenneth Griffin, a hedgefund bro who got whomped by DeepFuckingValue, and the CEO of Robinhood Vlad Tenev, who got womped when individual investors […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Locus Robotics has raised a $150M Series E
Massachusetts-based Locus Robotics today announced a $150 million Series E. The round, led by Tiger Global Management and Bond, brings the firm’s total to around $250 to date, and values the robotics company at $1 billion. Locus is notable for a more modular and flexible solution for automating warehouses than many of its competitors (see: […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ally.io rasies $50M Series C as the OKR software market stays explosive
This morning Ally.io, a software startup with a focus on the OKR (objectives and key results, in case you’ve somehow avoided being exposed) goal-setting technique, announced that it has closed $50 million in new capital. The Series C round was led by Green Oaks Capital, Madrona Capital, and its Series B lead, Tiger Global. Ally […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices