The Latest
Tecera launches with $225M to fund cloud consulting firms
As we move deeper into a cloud-centric world, everything was supposed to get easier, but in truth there’s a lot of moving parts, and companies need help getting everything to work. This takes pe
Heights raises $2M for its subscription supplements aimed new ‘braincare’ category
New wellness startup Heights is formally launching this week, focusing on a category it describes as ‘braincare’. The startup will market “ultra high quality, sustainable plant-based supple
Fintech darling Nubank raises blockbuster $400M Series G at $25B valuation
While the pandemic has left some startups strapped for cash, the aptly-named Brazilian neobank Nubank is swimming in it. This morning, the company announced that it has raised a $400 million Series
UK’s competition watchdog still eyeing Facebook’s Giphy buy
The UK’s competition regulator will make a decision on whether or not Facebook’s purchase of Giphy has a ‘realistic prospect’ of substantially lessening competition by March 25
Berlin Brands Group commits $302M to acquire D2C and Amazon merchants
If the rise of direct-to-consumer businesses has been one of the big e-commerce trends of the last decade, then the growth of startups raising huge rounds to consolidate D2C players, to bring more eco
Google updates Play Store policies on gamified loyalty programs following confusion in India
Google has updated and broadened its Play Store policy on gaming loyalty programs to help developers better understand the practices that are permitted, months after confusion about the guidance promp
Female-led startups dominate Catalyst Fund’s inclusive fintech 2021 cohort
Catalyst Fund, a global accelerator managed by BFA Global, announced the 8th cohort for its Inclusive Fintech Program today. The accelerator runs the flagship program annually and with a focus on Keny
Ula raises $20 million to expand its e-commerce marketplace in Indonesia
Tokopedia, Lazada, Shopee, and other firms created an e-commerce market in Indonesia in the past decade, making it possible for consumers to shop online in the island nation. But as is true in other A
Flowhaven raises $16M to evolve brand licensing management beyond emails and spreadsheets
The media licensing business is a massive market, but much of the work involved is still handled manually through emails and spreadsheets. A startup called Flowhaven is working to change that. The co
Nigeria’s Cowrywise raises $3M pre-Series A to scale its wealth management platform
Cowrywise, a Nigerian fintech startup that offers digital wealth management and financial planning solutions, has raised $3 million in pre-Series A funding. Quona Capital led the round as Tsadik Found
WhatsApp adds biometric authentication to its web and desktop versions
WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned popular messaging app with more than 2 billion users, has been getting a lot of heat and losing users in recent weeks after announcing (and then delaying) changes to how i
Levity is a ‘no-code’ AI tool to let anyone create workflow automations
Levity, which has been operating in stealth (until now), is the latest no-code company to throw its wares into the ring, having picked up $1.7M in pre-seed funding led by Gil Dibner’s Angular Ventur
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature will be enabled by default and arrive in ‘early spring’ on iOS
Apple has shared a few more details about its much-discussed privacy changes in iOS 14. The company first announced at WWDC in June that app developers would have to ask users for permission in order
Elon Musk says Tesla Semi is ready for production, but limited by battery cell output
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s 2020 Q4 earnings call that all engineering work is now complete on the Tesla Semi, the freight-hauling semi truck that the company is building with an a
Pro-Trump Twitter figure arrested for spreading vote-by-text disinformation in 2016
The man behind a once-influential pro-Trump account is facing charges of election interference for allegedly disseminating voting disinformation on Twitter in 2016. Federal prosecutors allege that Do
Tesla is willing to license Autopilot and has already had ‘preliminary discussions’ about it with other automakers
Tesla is open to licensing its software, including its Autopilot highly-automated driving technology and the neural network training it has built to improve its autonomous driving technology. Tesla CE
WallStreetBets goes dark
After a wild day for public markets driven by Reddit traders commandeering stocks and combatting hedge fund short sellers, the community at r/wallstreetbets no longer has a home on Discord and its Red
Tesla’s power businesses are beginning to take off
Tesla just released its latest earnings report, and the results indicate that Elon Musk’s bets on energy storage and solar are beginning to pay off. The storage business was the star of the comp
Daily Crunch: GameStop becomes a meme stock
Reddit users have some fun with the stock market, Facebook predicts advertising challenges and ByteDance is cutting jobs in India. This is your Daily Crunch for January 27, 2021. The big story: GameSt
ProtonMail, Threema, Tresorit and Tutanota warn EU lawmakers over ‘anti-encryption’ push
Four European apps which secure user data via end-to-end encryption, ProtonMail, Threema, Tresorit and Tutanota, have issued a joint-statement warning over recent moves by EU institutions that they sa