Google Wallet has been integrated into Gmail on the web since 2013, but today Google is rolling out a new integration on mobile. Starting today, users of the Gmail app on Android will be able to send or request money with anyone, including those who don’t have a Gmail address, with just a tap. Read More
After unveiling a limited preview of Teams in November last year, Microsoft is now rolling out its collaboration and communication platform, positioned as a rival to Slack, more widely: Teams is now available, and free, for all 85 million monthly active users of Office 365, Microsoft’s suite of cloud services and apps as a web app and native apps for Windows, iOS and Android. Read More
Emboldened by the surprise success of its $1,500 Connected smartwatch, Tag Heuer is back with something even more expensive. Starting at around $1,650, the Connected Modular 45 once again finds the luxury Swiss watchmaker teaming up with Google and Intel, and this time living up to the “avant-garde” bit of the company’s tagline a touch more with a truly modular design. Read More
Bringg, a startup taking advantage of the shift toward faster, more transparent on-demand delivery, has raised an additional $10 million in Series B funding, the company announced this morning. The funding was led by Aleph VC, and includes participation from Coca-Cola and prior investor Pereg Ventures. Read More
Alibaba’s conquest to own a piece of the global money transfer industry just suffered a huge blow after Euronet outbid its fintech affiliate business for the proposed acquisition of MoneyGram, a popular option for cross-border money transfers. Read More
When Okta, the unicorn cloud identity management company, filed its S-1 IPO paperwork yesterday, it was the latest pure-cloud subscription-based company to go public. Wall Street could finally be ready to accept that model and the long path to profitability that tends to be part and parcel of this approach. Read More
As the legal cannabis industry grows in the U.S., competition for customers is heating up. Now, a startup called Baker Technologies has raised $3.5 million to become a “Salesforce for pot.” The company’s software helps marijuana dispensaries bring in new customers and inspire customer loyalty, without running afoul of ever-shifting regulations that govern precisely how… Read More
Following the launch of Jay Z’s new VC vehicle, Arrive, earlier this month, we did a data pull on how music industry moguls spend their ducats. And hip hop artists are way ahead of rock stars when it comes to making tech investments, according to an analysis of Crunchbase data. Read More
Facebook and Twitter have once again been criticized in Germany for failures to promptly remove hate speech being spread via their platforms. Read More
The only places where one used to worry about the possibility of mass casualties were “high-value targets,” like airports — places that have scanners, inspections and guards. But attackers now strike at public places. Evolv Technology Inc. has raised $18 million to help venues with limited budgets use advanced technology to detect and prevent mass casualties. Read More
When it comes to understanding and writing about technology, one of the biggest challenges is dealing with all the insider-y terminology — particularly because it can feel so removed from everyday experience. Now Alphabet’s tech incubator Jigsaw is working with The Washington Post on a new way to offer these explanations. Read More
Driving in a car and listening to music go hand in hand, and now a new partnership between music streaming app Spotify and navigation app Waze hopes to make that experience more seamless in the connected age. The two have teamed up so that users of the Waze app can listen to Spotify playlists from within the app, and Spotify users can continue to get their Waze navigation instructions while in… Read More
Just a few weeks after N26 started offering credit in Germany, fintech startup Revolut is also launching a brand new credit feature for U.K. users. Behind the scene, Revolut is working with Lending Works to provide those credit lines.
Lending Works is a peer-to-peer lending company that matches individual lenders with borrowers. So Revolut chose not to work with a traditional bank for this… Read More
Evrythng, the Internet of Things (IoT) smart products platform that gives any physical object a so-called ‘digital identity,’ has closed $24.8 million Series B funding. Read More
Capturing kids’ attention can be expensive. Roblox has spent the greater part of the millennium creating a cool place for kids to play a diverse collection of games inside a single cross-platform world for its huge audience of tens of millions of monthly active youngsters. The company announced Tuesday that it has closed a massive $92 million funding round led by Meritech Capital… Read More
Mesosphere is launching an updated version of its DC/OS platform for running microservices and big data applications in private and public clouds. Version 1.9 of DC/OS is a significantly bigger release than the version number indicates at first glance. Read More
Leveraging post-literate tools like YouTube and emojis to create a website and mobile app that allows people to review the books they’re reading while they’re reading them, Beek is a startup that embraces the amazing contradictions of the internet age. The Mexico City-based company, graduating from the most recent batch of YCombinator, began as a hackathon project in Austin,… Read More
New York City has slapped Verizon with a lawsuit that claims the telecommunications conglomerate broke a 2008 contract to provide citywide fiber coverage, depriving residents of competitively-priced options for better television and Internet service. Read More
Optionspace, a new Berlin-based startup, sees its official launch today with a service that is something akin to an ‘Airbnb for office space’. Read More
Silverfin, a startup out of Ghent, Belgium (of all places) that offers a ‘connected accounting platform’ to help businesses stay on top of their financial data, has picked up $4.5 million in Series A funding. Read More
