In Africa, Y Combinator is known to be a major backer of most of the continent’s well-known startups. Two of the most talked-about in the last two quarters — Flutterwave and Paystack — are YC-backed. Their recent successes (Flutterwave’s billion-dollar valuation and Paystack’s rare exit to Stripe) have greatly increased YC’s appeal in the eyes of […]
QuantumScape has issued a share offering to pay for an expanded pilot production line for its solid-state batteries just months after it became a publicly traded company via a reverse merger. QuantumScape said in a regulatory filing that the net proceeds from its sale of 13 million shares — along with an additional 1.95 million […]
U.K. challenger stockbroker Freetrade has raised a $69 million Series B round led by Left Lane Capital. The growth fund of L Catterton and existing investor Draper Esprit also participated. Freetrade operates a stock trading app and has managed to attract 600,000 users in the U.K. — they generated £1 billion in quarterly trade volume. […]
Researchers say a botnet targeting Windows devices is rapidly growing in size, thanks to a new infection technique that allows the malware to spread from computer to computer. The Purple Fox malware was first spotted in 2018 spreading through phishing emails and exploit kits, a way for threat groups to infect machines using existing security […]
Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings is launching a new brand of premium electric vehicles as it aims to capture a share of the luxury EV market that has been dominated by Tesla and other homegrown companies. The new brand of vehicles, called Zeekr, will be manufactured by parent company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. The first […]
Soft robotics have long been one of the more exciting categories among emerging technologies. Of course, as with most new tech, the field has some drawbacks over more traditional models. While they improve flexibility and complains over their more rigid counterparts, robots made of soft materials have often had an issue delivering electrical connectivity. In […]
Well before the rumors, we knew this day was coming. After several generations of smartwatches and a handful of headphones, the smartwatch was the next logical step for OnePlus. At today’s big launch event, the company made its first major wearable official, sporting the decidedly pared-down name, OnePlus Watch. As the title implies, the smartwatch […]
Cameras have long been the battleground on which the smartphone wars have been fought. Short of any left-field innovation like folding screens or strange form factors, that looks likely to continue to be the case for the foreseeable future. Year after year and generation after generation, companies tout imaging breakthroughs to set themselves apart. It […]
When it comes to fast-moving technology, mobility zooms ahead of the pack — both literally and figuratively. Early-stage startup founders and investors need to keep their fingers on the sector’s very rapid pulse and the best place to do that is, you guessed it, TC Sessions: Mobility 2021 on June 9. If you’re eager to […]
OneTrust, a late stage privacy platform startup, announced it was adding ethics and compliance to the mix this morning by acquiring Convercent, a company that was built to help build more ethical organizations. The companies did not share the purchase price. OneTrust just raised $300 million on a fat $5.1 billion valuation at the end […]
Apple this morning announced a handful of education-related updates to its suite of classroom apps as well as a new recognition for teachers, called the Apple Teacher Portfolio. Teachers who complete a total of nine lessons where they learn foundational skills on iPad and Mac to become an officially recognized Apple Teacher will be able […]
Augmented Reality pioneer Blippar – which has had a tortuous history after early investors pulled out and the company had to scramble for new backers – has now closed a $5 million funding round, after 18 months of re-positioning as a B2B company in the AR space. The pre-Series A round was co-led by Chroma […]
On the third greatest television show of all time (sorry Rolling Stone), one of Texas’ most famous fictional football players once said, “When all the scared rats are leaving a sinking market, that’s when a real entrepreneur steps in — a true visionary.” If that’s the case, then the startup renewable energy retail reseller Arcadia […]
Huckleberry, an insurtech company that offers a variety of insurance to small businesses, has announced a partnership with Berkshire Hathaway GUARD. This represents the biggest partnership with a carrier for the startup to date. The startup, cofounded by Bryan O’Connell, has made some major moves in the past year. The company launched in 2017 offering […]
User Interviews, the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator-backed company that has built a CRM for product research teams to get user feedback, has closed on a $10 million Series A round. The financing was led by Teamworthy Ventures, with participation from Las Olas, Accomplice, FJ Labs, ERA, Trestle Partners and ValueStream. The company, cofounded by Basel Fakhoury, […]
Last fall, delivery startup goPuff made a big splash by raising $380 million in funding and acquiring West Coast beverage retailer BevMo shortly afterwards. Just a few months later, the Philadelphia-based company is announcing that it has raised another $1.15 billion in funding at an $8.9 billion valuation (compared to $3.9 billion in October). Available in […]
After a few twists and turns and then ultimately cancelling its F8 developer conference last year over Covid-19 concerns, Facebook today announced a return of the event in a virtual-only format it is calling F8 Refresh. The company today said that it will be holding it as a one-day event on June 2. You can […]
Trace, an early startup that wants to bring a taste of SaaS to the finance side of the house, announced an $8 million seed round today led by Greylock and Uncork Capital with participation from Nyca Partners, Redpoint Ventures and various individual angels. Mike Gonzalez, co-founder and CEO at the company describes Trace as the […]
Like other venture investors over the past year, Cain McClary, co-founder of the investment firm KdT Ventures, recently made the jump to Austin. But unlike the rest of them, he was coming from Black Mountain, NC. McClary had spent the better part of the last three years with his co-founder Mack Healy building out a […]
