Startups

Two months after its seed round announcement, Singapore-based startup Upmesh has raised a $7.5 million pre-Series A round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. The new funding brings its total raised so far to $10.5 million.   Upmesh will use the pre-Series A funding to expand its regional presence in Southeast Asia and launch its first Instagram

In 2014, more than 40% of U.S. seed- and early-stage venture dollars went to Bay Area startups. But that was a long time ago. In recent years, Bay Area startups have accounted for a smaller percentage of U.S. VC investment, according to “Beyond Silicon Valley,” a new report co-produced by venture firm Revolution and PitchBook.

E-commerce roll-up play Opontia launched in June, raising $20 million in debt and equity to acquire older, small e-commerce brands in the Middle East and Africa. Today, the company confirmed to TechCrunch that it has closed a subsequent round, a $42 million Series A nine months after it was founded. Roll-up plays are generally known

Better.com CEO Vishal Garg apparently realizes he’s done wrong. (As if the barrage of negative publicity wasn’t enough evidence of that ). Today, a letter to current employees was leaked on Blind by a verified Better employee. In the letter, Garg apologized for the way he (mis)handled the layoffs news last week, writing: “I failed to

Chris Watson Contributor Chris Watson is the director of the International Development Division at Premise and an evangelist for using data to improve the impact of development programs. In 2019, the U.S. Agency for International Development developed the “New Partnerships Initiative” (NPI) to build a “safer, healthier and more prosperous” world for people everywhere. NPI

One of the biggest pain points for any business, but especially SMEs, is managing payroll.  A startup that has built payroll automation software to make the process less painful, Pento, has raised $35 million in a Series B round of funding co-led by Tiger Global Management and Avid Ventures. The investment marks Tiger Global’s first

Hello and welcome back to Max Q! There was a TON of space news this week so I won’t ramble too much, other than to remind you that many of the people mentioned below will be at TC Sessions: Space on the 14th and 15th! That includes Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, Nanoracks’ Jeffrey Manber, and

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Despite the advanced week, news is still coming in in hot and heavy, so strap in for today’s busy episode: I would normally say that it’s a holiday week, so let’s relax, but

Startups digitizing B2B e-commerce and retail in Africa continue to grab the headlines after the pandemic paved the way for widespread offline retail and commerce disruption. TradeDepot, a Nigeria- and U.S.-based company that connects consumer goods brands to thousands of retailers and help out with distribution, has raised $110 million in new equity and debt

Sergiu Matei Contributor Sergiu Matei is the founder of Index, a platform that helps teams find and hire world-class remote software developers and be globally compliant from the get-go. We’ve recently been bombarded with news of job surpluses, including predictions that the number of software developer roles will increase 22% by 2030. With the need

James Nash Contributor James Nash is CEO and founder of inbeta, a tech-enabled talent specialist using data, social listening and human science to help corporations overcome bias. Today, the age of corporate social justice is dawning. With the business case for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) now more vital than ever, we’re beginning to see

Russ Heddleston Contributor Russ Heddleston is the co-founder and CEO of DocSend. He was previously a product manager at Facebook, where he arrived via the acquisition of his startup Pursuit.com, and has held roles at Dropbox, Greystripe and Trulia. Follow him here: @rheddleston and @docsend More posts by this contributor Pre-seed round funding is under

Donald R. Cravins Jr. Contributor Systemic racism is nothing new in America, and the effects of unconscious racial bias have long created inequity in the workplace. So why — when presented with the task of developing new “normal” hybrid workplaces — are we allowing the same systemic problems that boxed generations of Black and brown

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. It’s Friday, which means the whole crew was aboard for this particular episode. We had Grace and Chris behind the scenes, and Mary Ann, Natasha, and Alex on the mics. And, frankly, we

Zindi is all about using AI to solve real world problems for companies and individuals. And the South Africa-based crowd-solving startup has done that over the last three years they have been in existence. Just last year a team of data scientists under Zindi used machine learning to improve air quality monitoring in Kampala as

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. Student financing is a little different. Sure, your past plays a role, but

If you bring up bad news about the price of technology stocks on Twitter, very helpful people will send you multi-year charts that put recent declines into historical context. Yes, thank you; I was not aware you could zoom out. The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on TechCrunch+ or get

Gozem, a super app that provides a host of services — including transport, e-commerce and financial services in Francophone Africa — has raised $5 million in Series A financing, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The Togo- and Singapore-based company received investment from AAIC, Thunes (TransferTo), Momentum Ventures (SMRT), Innoport Ventures (Schulte Group), CMC Ventures (National

Vijay Menon, a statistician by trade, began his career at Microsoft.  It was there that he realized there was an astounding number of subscriptions that failed to renew or even go through to begin with due to payment-related issues. He became intrigued by the problem, and solving it. Ultimately in 2016 alone, he helped the

Didi’s U.S. IPO is one of several key moments of the recent regulatory shift inside China regarding its leading technology companies. The other is Ant’s IPO that never happened, pulled in the wake of criticisms of the Chinese government’s handling of newer technologies by the previously prominent Alibaba founder Jack Ma. It’s been a busy

South African tech talent marketplace OfferZen is one of the beneficiaries of the growing global demand for tech workers: It confirmed to TechCrunch that it has raised €4.5 million ($5.07 million) in Series A funding from South African investment company Base Capital. This is OfferZen’s first round of funding since Philip Joubert, Malan Joubert and Brett

South Korea-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform PeopleFund announced today it has closed a $63.4 million (75.9 billion won) Series C round led by Bain Capital with participation from Goldman Sachs. Returning investors in the round include CLSA Lending Ark Asia and 500 Global. The latest funding brings the total raised by PeopleFund to about $83.6

Brazil’s Nu Holdings, the parent company of the popular Latin American neobank Nubank, announced a reduction to the expected price of its public offering this morning. The well-funded fintech is listing in the United States and its native Brazil, and is among the final companies that TechCrunch is tracking for a 2021 debut. The Exchange

Meet Upway, a French startup that is building a marketplace for second-hand electric bikes. The startup just raised a $5.7 million (€5 million) seed round from Sequoia Capital and Global Founders Capital. If you’re familiar with the world of online marketplaces for cars, Upway will sound familiar to you as well. The company buys electric

Yassir, an Algerian startup that provides on-demand services such as ride-hailing and last-mile delivery, has raised a $30 million Series A round. The investment came from a long list of VCs and angel investors. VCs include WndrCo, DN Capital, Kismet Capital, Spike Ventures, Quiet Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, FJ Labs, VentureSouq, Nellore Capital and Moving Capital.

QR code ordering at restaurants has been around for years, but the pandemic increased its adoption as social distancing and hygiene measures went into place. Mr Yum, a Melbourne-based mobile ordering and payments platform that was founded in 2018, announced today it has raised a $65 million USD Series A round, led by Tiger Global.

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. The company has managed to attract 115,000 women on its waitlist and participated in TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield last year. Investors in Jefa include The Venture Collective,

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This is our Wednesday episode when we niche down to a single topic, looking to expand our understanding of one particular technology trend or another. And this week, it was all about

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Services.” She connects people with the businesses and opportunities that expand their lives. More posts by this contributor Dear Sophie: Any advice on visa

Camlist, a video marketplace for pets, has raised $1.3 million in a pre-seed round, funding that the startup plans to use to develop its platform and grow its workforce — as it looks to expand its reach in the UK, its second market (after the U.A.E.), which it entered earlier this year. Unlike other marketplaces,