Data indicate that the pace of startup value creation reached a fever pitch in 2021. According to venture capital data collected by PitchBook, prices spiked for startup equity across the maturity spectrum last year. The result of those rising prices was a huge gain in the pace at which paper wealth was generated. The rising
Twitter is broadening access to a feature called Safety Mode, designed to give users a set of tools to defend themselves against the toxicity and abuse that is still far too often a problem on its platform. First introduced to a small group of testers last September, Safety Mode will today launch into beta for
When consumers started buying cars, many predicted the transportation revolution would lead to air pollution, traffic and life-threatening collisions. But no one gave much thought to the security aspect. Early autos were very easy to steal: With a little practice, almost anyone could hot-wire an ignition, and Vehicle Identification Numbers were decades away. Most cars
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has called for a bloc-wide ban on the controversial Pegasus spyware tool, warning its use could lead to an “unprecedented level of intrusiveness.” Israeli’s NSO Group, the developer of the notorious spyware, claims to only sell Pegasus to governments for the purpose of fighting crime and terrorism. However, multiple
Michael Chertoff Contributor Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is the author of “Exploding Data: Reclaiming Our Cyber Security in the Digital Age” and executive chairman of the Chertoff Group, a security and risk-management firm with clients in the technology sector. The Open App Markets Act, a bill that would, among many other things, require
Contact Financial Holding, Egypt’s non-bank consumer finance provider, has invested $9 million in the country’s ecommerce super-app Wasla, setting the stage for the rollout of new online shopping capabilities, products and regional expansion. Contact has been in the business of consumer finance since 2001, while Wasla was founded in 2018 by former Serag Meneassy and
Alternative protein startups have attracted a lot of investor attention over the past couple of years and the trend looks set to continue. The latest startup with funding news is Next Gen Foods, the creator of plant-based chicken alternative TiNDLE. The company announced today it has raised a $100 million Series A that will be
Two months after taking on a monster $125 million Series A that propelled the company into unicorn territory, package delivery company Veho is back with another huge round — this time $170 million in Series B. Leading the round this time was Tiger Global, with SoftBank Vision Fund 2 participating. This latest round gives the
A coordinated enforcement action focused on public sector bodies’ use of cloud services is kicking off across the European Union. More than 80 public bodies in a wide range of sectors, including health, finance, tax, education and IT service supply and procurement, will face contact from local data protection authorities — ranging from fact-finding exercises
Based in Singapore with offices throughout Asia and Australia, Reebelo wants to make buying pre-owned tech as desirable as a brand new device. “What we have seen is that many younger generations are very much open to the idea of sustainable consumption,” co-founder Philip Franta told TechCrunch. “We see a lot of growth and momentum
Mental wellness startup MindFi operates throughout APAC, but wants to deliver “culturally competent” care in each of its markets. To do that, it develops programs for its app, available as an employee benefit, with local providers that take into account religion, gender stereotypes, racial representation, communication style and values, co-founder and CEO Bjorn Lee told
After securing $16 million in Series A funding last April, Databook, an AI-powered consultative sales intelligence company, is back, this time with $50 million in Series B funding. With people still working remotely in the third year of the pandemic, Salesforce reported that 88% of salespeople feel that the “current economic conditions make it important
Banked is a FinTech startup that offers an alternative to card schemes. Consumers are able to pay without entering financial data, no need to create an account, no financial details are shared, authorization is biometric, and the merchant receives the funds in real-time. Businesses use it to drive customer engagement and loyalty with incentives and
Yann Leretaille Contributor Yann Leretaille is the co-founder and CTO of Wingback, a SaaS growth infrastructure company. The very first hire at our SaaS startup was (surprise!) not an engineer. It might seem counterintuitive, but the first person on board at Wingback was a Fractional Head of Remote — and it was the best decision
Upcycling polyethylene (the normal ubiquitous plastic we are all familiar with) into high-value plastics that can compete with “virgin” plastic (meaning plastics made directly from petro-chemicals) is a fiendish problem to solve. The fact that it’s been extremely hard to do so means billions of tonnes of plastic is never recycled, and it’s out there pouting the
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Meta over Facebook’s facial recognition practices, his office announced on Monday. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which notes that the lawsuit seeks civil penalties in the hundreds of billions of dollars. The lawsuit alleges that the company’s use of facial
Forrest Iandola Contributor Air conditioners are a major source of greenhouse gases. On Project Drawdown’s 2017 list of over 100 opportunities to reduce human-caused global warming, cleaner tech for refrigeration and air-conditioning is at the very top. So, back at my house, what’s so dirty about our air conditioner? Since I am using solar power,
Depending on your age, getting from point A to point B might have involved paper maps — what we called an “atlas,” the giant book that lived in the pocket behind the passenger seat of the car. As maps went digital, you might have relied on MapQuest to help plot the fastest route to your
Apple has been fined another €5 million in the Netherlands after the country’s antitrust watchdog said the tech giant is applying “unreasonable” conditions to local dating app providers which want to make use of non-Apple payment technology in their apps. Apple’s total fine, including earlier penalties for failing to comply with the regulator’s order, now
Last week, Samsung killed the Note once and for all. It was a symbolic move. For all intents and purposes, the phone will live on as the Ultra tier of the company’s Galaxy S line. But it represents the end of an era for the decade-old brand. It’s also another opportunity for the company to
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai sits down with Emily Chang on this episode of “Bloomberg Studio 1.0” to discuss his company’s $2 trillion valuation, artificial intelligence, the metaverse, climate change initiatives, China and data privacy. ——– Like this video? Subscribe to Bloomberg Technology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrM7B7SL_g1edFOnmj-SDKg Watch the latest full episodes of “Bloomberg Technology” with Emily
Open finance continues to be a significant theme in the world of fintech as businesses tap APIs to access customers’ financial accounts and provide a gamut of integrated and embedded financial services. In the latest development, Stitch — one of the prominent players building and operating these APIs in Africa — confirmed to TechCrunch that
Gaia is a startup that is effectively out to ‘de-risk’ the whole process of IVF fertility treatment, using products like personalized insurance and payment plans. It’s almost BNPL for babies — but not quite. It’s now closed a $20 million Series A funding round led by London’s Atomico. Previous investors were Kindred Capital, Seedcamp, and
Remedial Health has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding to digitize pharmacies, and stem the supply of fake and substandard pharmaceutical products, starting with Nigeria before expanding to the rest of Africa. The round was led by Global Ventures and Ventures Platform, with participation from Ingressive Capital, Voltron Capital, Opeyemi Awoyemi’s (Jobberman co-founder) Angel Syndicate
The Indian government-run insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India filed draft papers with the market regulator on Sunday, announcing its plans to sell 5% of its shares to raise nearly $8 billion in the country’s biggest IPO. The Narendra Modi’s government plans to sell about 316 million shares in the wholly-owned insurer, the draft prospectus
Papier, a startup leveraging technology to bring very non-tech products into the world, has raised some funding to continue expanding its business on the heels of strong demand for its personalized notebooks, planners, cards and other paper-based stationary that it sells online. The London startup has raised $50 million, a Series C that it will
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
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. In the beginning of the pandemic, we learned which companies were unprepared to handle a cataclysmic event. Now, as the world slowly starts to reopen in light of vaccinations, we’re learning which
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the
Amit Anand Contributor Amit Anand is a founding partner of Jungle Ventures and an early pioneer and leader in the development of Southeast Asia’s venture capital industry. More posts by this contributor Predicting the next wave of Southeast Asia tech giants Investors are doubling down on Southeast Asia’s digital economy It was only a matter