Nexla, a company that participated in the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield in New York City in 2017, has been building its data operations startup the old fashioned way. After launching in beta and securing a $3.5 million seed at Battlefield, it has proceeded to build a cash flow positive business. Today with a firm financial foundation
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Facebook’s lead data protection regulator in the European Union is inching toward making its first decision on a complaint against Facebook itself. And it looks like it’s a doozy. Privacy campaign not-for-profit noyb today published a draft decision by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) on a complaint made under the EU’s General Data Protection
In a rather surprising move, the makers of the reMarkable line of e-paper tablets have added a subscription service to their latest device that enables several of its more advanced features. All current users are provided a lifetime subscription, and new users get about a year for free, so nothing will change for most, but
It’s no longer Hot Summer anything, sadly, as the seasons change. But perhaps we’re in for Warm IPO Autumn. Rent the Runway, NerdWallet and other companies are setting us up for a busy second half of October. But this week will see the debut of a company worth a multiple of those other venture-backed former
Matik, which has created automated data-driven software for customizing Google Slides or PowerPoint presentations, has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Menlo Ventures, BoxGroup and Oceans Ventures also participated in the financing, which brings the San Francisco-based startup’s total raised to just over $23 million since its
Reddit today is introducing a new way to post to its communities with the launch of the on-platform feature called “Predictions.” Spun off of the popular Reddit Polls, Predictions allow users to guess the answers to timely questions like “who will win the game tomorrow?” or “which character will meet their fate in the next
On the heels of Personio raising a big round yesterday, one of its competitors and another big startup in the area of HR has also picked up some fundning. Hibob, a London-based company that targets the mid-market with an all-in-one platform that handles various human resources functions, closed a Series C of $150 million. The
Lunar Ventures, is a a new, technically-oriented VC fund aimed at early-stage DeepTech startups, that is now announcing the closing of its €40M first fund. Lunar was founded in Berlin in 2019 by Dr Elad Verbin, a computer science researcher; Mick Halsband, a CTO and software architect; and Luis Shemtov, a former entrepreneur. The launch
Last year, Spotify decided to embrace podcasts as part of the company’s larger communications strategy with the launch of its behind-the-scenes podcast, “Spotify: For the Record,” which has featured interviews with Spotify execs, employees, and industry experts about music, tech, and podcasting. Today, the company is expanding on its in-house podcasting strategy with the debut
CarDekho, an Indian search and e-commerce platform for new and used cars, has become the latest startup in the world’s second-largest market to reach the unicorn status. The 14-year-old startup said on Wednesday it has raised $250 million — $200 million in equity and $50 million in debt — in its Series E financing round.
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) has been making headlines all over the place this year — from Square’s planned acquisition of Afterpay to Affirm going public. Still, Latin America remains an under-penetrated market in the increasingly crowded space. Nelo, a startup founded by former Uber international growth team leads, began offering buy now, pay later
Every popular social media platform has opened up a new type of storytelling to a new generation of users, but TikTok’s impact has perhaps been the swiftest as the short-form video platform’s user base has quickly swelled past 1 billion users and transformed how social media stars are made. FourFront is a media startup that’s
Doist, the company behind Todoist and Twist, has revamped its internal communication product Twist. When I first covered Twist, I said it was like Slack without the annoying distractions. With today’s redesign, the company is doubling down on that idea. The result is an opinionated tool for internal conversations that should help you focus and
French startup Jow has raised a $20 million funding round led by Eurazeo. Jow wants to make it easier to cook at home by taking care of menu ideas and helping you manage your online orders of groceries. The company has partnered with national food retailers so that your oder is seamlessly processed by your
Following Tile’s recent close on $40 million in debt financing, the company today is introducing its latest lineup of lost-item trackers, including the long-promised ultra-wideband-powered tracker aimed to compete with Apple AirTag, Tile Ultra. This product, though being officially announced, is not yet available for purchase. Instead, the company’s first updates include the premium Tile
As the Apple v. Epic Games lawsuit goes under appeal, Google on Monday afternoon filed an answer and counterclaim in the Epic Games’ antitrust litigation against the company. The tech giant and Android maker denies Epic’s allegations of antitrust behavior and instead says that it’s owed relief, as Epic Games breached the Google Play Developer
Vertical farms usually look up. Aerofarms, Plenty, Gotham Greens — these companies are trying to revolutionize agriculture by looking toward the sky, with tall warehouses full of growing equipment extending upward. But Philippe Labrie is looking down. Labrie is the CEO and founder of the pre-seed startup GreenForges, an underground farming company founded in 2019
The Exchange is digging into the Chinese venture capital market this week, but getting folks to chat about business and China on the record is turning out to be slightly harder than we anticipated. More on that later this week. The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on Extra Crunch or
Twitter is deepening its investment in Spaces, the Clubhouse-like audio rooms the social network launched this year. The company announced the launch of a new creator program for Spaces on Tuesday. The Spark program is a three-month-long accelerator that aims to “discover and reward great Spaces on Twitter with financial, technical, and marketing support.” Twitter
The startup myth goes something like this: You launch a startup in your dorm room, get into Y Combinator, find product-market fit, experience hockey-stick growth, raise some funding and expand the platform. Somehow your revenue hurtles toward $100 million and the company valuation flies to $1 billion. All’s right with the world. In reality, though,
Paris-based cryptocurrency broker SheeldMarket has raised a $10 million Series A funding round led by Atomico. As a EU-registered broker, the company wants to help institutional investors buy and sell crypto assets in a regulated way. Most cryptocurrency products designed for institutional investors focus on American or Asian investors. SheeldMarket thinks it can convince institutional
E-bike manufacturer VanMoof recently raised a $128 million funding round. And the company is already using some of that cash to develop a brand new product — the VanMoof V. This is a new product in the VanMoof lineup, a high-speed bike. The VanMoof V isn’t available just yet. Instead, the company teased the new
Fintech startup Atomic announced this morning that it has closed a $22 million Series A. Core Innovation Capital led the round, which saw participation from preceding investors. The company has raised just under $39 million to date. The company’s API-delivered product, which focuses on payroll data, helps power a number of fintech startups that we
ResQ, which does end-to-end equipment repairs for over 4,000 restaurant groups — from Taco Bell to Tim Hortons — has raised a $39 million Series A co-led by Tiger Global and Canvas Ventures. The capital, which includes investments from Homebrew, Inovia Capital and Golden Ventures, comes just months after the startup announced its $7.5 million
Carving out 45 minutes or an hour for a workout can be difficult between work, home and daily life. Digital fitness and wellness company FitOn was created to provide 15- or 20-minute workouts aimed at getting people moving in whatever time they can make. The company closed on an $18 million Series B round of
Facebook is expanding its investment in audio initiatives with the launch of a new “Audio” destination in its mobile app in the U.S., where users will be able to discover all the audio formats Facebook now hosts in one place, including podcasts, Live Audio Rooms, and short-form audio. The company says it’s also making its
Alviere, an embedded finance startup that aims to help any brand deliver financial products and services to its customers and employees, announced today it has closed $70 million of new funding. In April, New York-based Alviere closed a $20 million Series A led by Viola Ventures and Viola Fintech, with the participation of CommerzVentures, Mitsubishi
Nearly a year after Dott originally announced plans to launch a bike-sharing service, the new offering is going live in Paris. Dott is better known for its scooter-sharing service across dozens of European cities. It is adding electric bikes to complement its service. In addition to Dott, Lime and Tier also have scooters currently available
When the Trump administration announced it would ban TikTok in the U.S., a number of alternative short-form video apps began to flourish, as users hedged their bets on a potential TikTok exit. Among these was Byte, an app co-created by Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann, which topped 1.3 million downloads in its first week alone. But
Fount, a robo-advisor startup in South Korea, has raised a $33.4 million Series C round to beef up its machine learning-based platform development and hire staff. The latest round was led by Hana Financial Investment, along with Nice Investment. Returning backers Smilegate Investment, KT Investment, Shinhan Capital and Korea Development Bank also participated. The