Startups do not have a great survival rate. Nine out of ten will fail, and those that persist will likely need at least three to four years to become profitable. Entrepreneurs who are fortunate enough to make it across the finish line of an exit often still find themselves running uphill: reorganizations and layoffs create
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European Union lawmakers have today presented a Chips Act: Their plan, trailed last fall, to bolster regional sovereignty in semiconductor production and supply chain resilience through a package of targeted support for chip production inside the bloc, including in areas like R&D and via funding for startups and scale-ups working on cutting edge tech in
Chicken is the most consumed meat in the United States and the world. And yet, the system in place to breed and feed and raise all this chicken is incredibly detrimental to our overall wellbeing. It props up a conventional agricultural apparatus that focuses on corn and soy production, not to mention fosters a system
As proof that web3 is not some passing trend, blockchain infrastructure startup Alchemy announced today that it has closed on a $200 million Series C1 equity round that values the company at $10.2 billion. For the unacquainted, web3 refers to a decentralized web based on the blockchain. And put simply, Alchemy wants to do for
Months after TikTok was hauled into its first-ever major congressional hearing over platform safety, the company is today announcing a series of policy updates and plans for new features and technologies aimed at making the video-based social network a safer and more secure environment, particularly for younger users. The changes attempt to address some concerns
In climate circles we spend a lot of time talking about manufacturing and power generation in the effort of cutting CO2 emissions. It’s pretty rare that I get a whiff of a company that has a clear path toward cutting global carbon emissions by a full percent — but that’s what Rondo Energy pitched to
Product-led sales and growth were big buzzwords last year, and startups are continuing to raise new infusions of capital as they develop their approaches. In Endgame’s case, the company announced Tuesday it closed on $30 million in Series B funding. The company touts itself as “the world’s first product-led sales platform” and enables software companies
Hearts Radiant, a Spanish startup that’s building a “longevity coach” for seniors — with the goal of extending quality of life through app-based personalized coaching designed to combat and even prevent frailty — has closed a seed round of funding as it gears up to launch in the US, eyeing Florida’s 4M+ over 65s. We
MicroStrategy co-Founder, Chairman & CEO Michael Saylor joins Emily Chang on the heels of their 4Q earnings. They discuss their results and the firm purchasing another $25 million worth of Bitcoin; Bitcoin’s spiraling down since November; and his discussion with Block’s Jack Dorsey during the MicroStrategy World 2022 conference.
For many of us, our home is by far our biggest asset, and in the world of fintech, that’s led to a logical extension: when you need money, borrow against that biggest asset. Today, a London fintech called Selina, which provides flexible capital to consumers on five-year terms against up to 85% of the value
Retail investment apps in Southeast Asia attracted a lot of funding last year, and the trend looks set to continue with Vietnam-focused Infina announcing that it has added $4 million to its seed funding. Along with the $2 million it announced in June, this brings the round’s total to $6 million. Investors include Sequoia Capital
Bruce Dahlgren Contributor Bruce Dahlgren is CEO of MetricStream, a risk management (IRM) and governance, risk and compliance (GRC) company. Browsing travel options on Google Flights, you may have noticed that airlines have begun to incorporate carbon emissions data into their offerings to consumers. As a frequent flyer, all things — including price — being
Companies like Opendoor opened the door to a new way of buying and selling properties by inserting a strong middle player who could buy in houses or apartments and redevelop them at scale, and then sell them to new homeowners at a profit. Now Clikalia, another player in the so-called iBuyer space, has raised €75
Vivek Narayanadas Contributor Vivek Narayanadas serves as General Counsel for MetaMap, which helps online services become borderless through user-centric, privacy-forward trust and safety workflows. From securing a loan to renting a car to getting a job, our lives increasingly depend on the digital world to enable trust-based interactions online. That world is now borderless: people
Remember Wag? The dog-walking app made huge waves back in 2018 when it raised $300 million from SoftBank’s Vision Fund. Competing with rival Rover, Wag’s service fell out of our minds in the years since its mega-deal. Today, Wag is back in the news thanks to a recently announced SPAC deal that will take the
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced today that board member Peter Thiel will not seek reelection to his post, effectively ending his tenure in the top echelon of the social media company’s leadership. The move is not an enormous surprise. Thiel has been increasingly publicly involved with political activities, including backing several Congressional candidates.
Gary Little Contributor Prior to becoming CEO of Foursquare, Gary was MD of Raine, leading the technology practice with a focus on advisory assignments and principal investments in consumer internet, enterprise software and emerging technology. In the current environment, businesses are now tasked with balancing the push toward recovery and developing the agility required to
The bill for Apple’s antitrust stand off in the Netherlands over dating apps’ payment methods has ticked up by another €5 million — and now stands at €15M, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) confirmed today. The penalty relates to an order by the competition authority requiring Apple to allow local dating apps to
Rating symptoms on a numerical scale seems easy, but it can be harder than it appears. How much did it hurt when you stubbed your toe? Was it a two out of 10? A four? How often do you wake up at night? Twice, three times? Regularly? Rarely? These imprecise, self-reported scales can be found
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been worst-affected by Meta’s plan to discontinue its low-cost Express Wi-Fi internet, launched five years ago to drive connectivity in underserved regions. Meta (formerly Facebook) quietly issued this notice saying that it plans to wind down the program later this year. In countries like Kenya, however, the service has been
There’s no denying the growth of healthtech globally over the past three years thanks to the pandemic. The event has accelerated the use of telemedicine, virtual care, and drug delivery, thus fuelling investor interest in the sector. Investment has also trickled down to Africa, with large checks going into growth-stage startups. Lagos- and Texas-based digital
Dating app company Bumble, Inc. is making its first acquisition with today’s news that it’s adding the fast-growing French dating app Fruitz to its family of applications. Though Bumble, Inc. already has an international footprint as the parent company to Badoo, which is particularly popular in Europe, it sees the addition of Fruitz as a
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen joins Emily Chang to share his 2022 outlook on supply chain issues – which were the most often cited topic during 2022 earnings calls. Also, whether or not they’re planning another stunt like their three planes full of potatoes headed for Japan last December to avert a french fries crisis.
Swing, a South Korean electric scooter and micromobility startup, announced today it has raised $24 million in a Series B round to spur its growth and expansion to Japan. The funding was led by White Star Capital, which also invested in Berlin-based Tier Mobility, and included existing backer Hashed, among others. With the fresh capital,
Welcome to my new weekly fintech focused column. I’ll be publishing this every Sunday, so in between posts, be sure to listen to the Equity podcast and hear Alex Wilhelm, Natasha Mascarenhas and me riff on all things startups! And if you want to have this hit your inbox directly once it turns into a
Michael Fey Contributor Michael Fey leads Island as co-founder and CEO, relying on his extensive experience in cyber security, enterprise software and cloud technology. A company’s most valuable asset is its people, especially for organizations still in their infancy. A startup’s founding team can be the difference between an industry-changing unicorn and just another failed
Cloud is the big buzzword these days, with people talking about why it’s a smart move for companies, and lots of venture-backed startups developing easy ways for companies to make the shift. Artisanal Ventures, a Bay Area venture capital firm investing in B2B cloud startups, closed on its first fund, the oversubscribed $62 million Artisanal
Q5D’s proposition is a simple one: use robotics to automate the process of producing wiring harnesses for electronics. It’s one that — surprisingly — is often still executed by hand, owing to its overall complexity. It’s a process, the company is quick to point out, that hasn’t really changed all that much over the previous
Hello and happy weekend from the Equity crew! We had a busy week, including a Twitter Space with Natasha and Alex taking to the mics to dig into some tasty public-market news. Naturally our show is more startup-focused than public-market centered. But! We can learn a lot from the world of public companies that have
Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh human-first take on this week’s startup news and trends. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. If there’s one sector that is incessantly in pursuit of Magic Metrics, it’s edtech. For the past two years, I’ve spoken with every top investor and founder in the industry and each