The world of digital payments is very fragmented, with different types of online bank accounts, digital wallets and money transfer services used in different countries. Singapore-based Thunes, a fintech focused on making cross-border money transfers easier, announced today it has raised a $60 million growth round led by Insight Partners. One of the world’s largest […]
Facebook wants to whet consumers’ appetite for live streamed shopping with this week’s launch of “Live Shopping Fridays” event series, which will see larger brands live streaming beauty, skincare, and fashion content on a weekly basis. The event begins Friday, May 22nd and runs through mid-July, with streams from brands like Abercrombie and Fitch, Bobbi […]
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) is seeking to make swift use of a new competition tool to target big tech — announcing today that it’s opened a proceeding against ecommerce giant Amazon. If the FCO confirms that Amazon is of “paramount significance for competition across markets” — as defined by an amendment to the German […]
Less than a month after announcing a partnership with India’s largest two-wheeled vehicle maker, Gogoro is taking another big step in its global expansion plans. This time the market is China, where Gogoro’s technology, including its swappable smart batteries, will be used in scooters made by Dachangjiang Group (DCJ), one of the country’s biggest motorcycle […]
A technical violation is one of those Orwellian terms used by the U.S. government to occlude the absurd morass of process and procedure that is the modern criminal justice system in this country. After an offender has served their sentence, they are often placed under probation, which is accompanied by scores of rules on everything […]
“Order and pay” platform for bars and restaurants Ordr has raised a €10m ($12M) Series A round from Idekapital and OpenOcean. Launched in Norway in 2020 it now counts IKEA, Nordic Choice, REKOM and Color Line as customers. The company is now launching in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Ordr’s competitors include FlipDish, […]
Shein‘s quiet rise has reached a crescendo as the fast fashion e-commerce app takes the crown from Amazon as the most downloaded shopping app on iOS and Android in the United States, according to data from app tracking firm App Annie. Its ascent is quiet because the startup, despite reportedly exceeding a $15 billion valuation, maintains […]
Creandum, a European early-stage VC, is bringing on board two new key team members: Ex-Kry CSO Sabina Wizander joins as Partner and Gemma Bloemen as Principal. Both will joins this summer. Creandum has previously backed the likes of Spotify, Klarna, Depop, Kahoot!, Trade Republic, among others. Former engineer Wizander was previously at the firn in 2015and worked […]
In most parts of Africa and the Middle East, a consumer journey and experience in buying furniture is not fun. A typical shopping process would entail looking out for the best price and quality and asking for recommendations and checking offline stores, one after another. It is rare to find one-stop shops, especially large offline […]
Pinterest is expanding further into the creator community with today’s launch of a video-first feature called “Idea Pins,” aimed at creators who want to tell their stories using video, music, creative editing tools and more. The feature feels a lot like Pinterest’s own take on TikTok, mixed with Stories, as the new Pins allow creators […]
While Madrid and Barcelona tend to attract the buzz when it comes to tech startups in Spain, Valencia is slowly and surely making a name for itself as a growing tech ecosystem.
Heaven knows what will happen to the mental health of children who’ve gone through this past year but if there’s one thing we need right now it’s mental health provision for young people that can scale. And as much as some of us can’t bear the thought of another video call, a UK startup reckons […]
French startup Back Market — a marketplace for refurbished electronics goods — has raised a $335 million Series D funding round led by General Atlantic. Today’s funding round values the startup — which says it now has 5 million customers globally — at $3.2 billion, the company said. It will be using the funding to […]
BukuKas, a startup focused on digitizing Indonesia’s small businesses, has raised $50 million in Series B funding. The round included participation from Gokul Rajaram, the DoorDash executive, and Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder and chief executive officer of TransferWise. This news comes just four months after BukuKas announced a $10 million Series A led by Sequoia Capital India. […]
Transport for London and London Councils have announced Dott, Lime and Tier Mobility as the winners of its prized e-scooter pilot, confirming last month’s suspicions based on job postings by the companies. Last year, the government legalized e-scooter rental trials by local authorities, although private e-scooter riding is still illegal. This legislation spurred the launch of […]
Canoo, the Los Angeles-based electric vehicle startup that debuted on the Nasdaq public exchange earlier this year, is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, just months after its merger with special purpose acquisition company Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. The investigation is broad, covering the Hennessy’s initial public offering and merger with Canoo, […]
Per a recent report by Bain & Co., e-commerce is expected to grow to $28.5 billion in MENA by 2022 from a 2019 value of $8.3 billion. Egypt, one of the most active e-commerce countries in the region, is anticipated to grow 33% annually to reach $3 billion by 2022. But for any e-commerce business […]
Turnkey solutions might be tempting to healthcare startups looking to take advantage of the current market tailwinds, but startups still have to decide what to outsource and what to build.
Years of data from hundreds of successful startups show the impact of relevant executive expertise is even greater than anticipated — it doubles the rate of return on a venture investment.
