Ingrid Lunden
Writer
The Latest from Ingrid Lunden
WhatsApp Business, now with 50M MAUs, adds QR codes and catalog sharing
The global COVID-19 health pandemic has raised the stakes for businesses when it comes to using digital channels to connect with customers, and today WhatsApp unveiled its latest tools to help busine
PQShield raises $7M for quantum-ready cryptographic security solutions
A deep tech startup building cryptographic solutions to secure hardware, software, and communications systems for a future when quantum computers may render many current cybersecurity approaches usele
UK’s Farewill raises $25M for its new-approach online will writing, funerals and other death services
The daily updates on COVID-19 outbreaks, tragic stories of related fatalities and our narrowed scope of life due to lockdown have all put the concept of mortality — and for some the sad business
Uber confirms it is acquiring Postmates in an all-stock, $2.65B deal
Competition continues to heat up in the food delivery wars. In the latest development, Uber today announced that it has acquired Postmates in a $2.65 billion, all-stock deal. It plans to run the busin
Extra Crunch Live: Join Jason Green of Emergence Capital for a live Q&A on July 9 at 2 pm EDT/11 am PDT
2020 may feel so far like the year of living dangerously, but for many of us it has also been the year of working remotely. Led by the stick of COVID-19 rather than the carrot of the benefits of more
SEC filing indicates big data provider Palantir is raising $961M, $550M of it already secured
Palantir, the sometimes controversial, but always secretive, big data and analytics provider that works with governments and other public and private organizations to power national security, health a
The Mom Project raises $25M for its job site aimed at working mothers
Women have long had the short end of the stick when it comes to employment, regularly finding themselves struggling to break through the glass ceiling for promotions and on average getting paid less t
Andela, which builds engineering teams tapping African talent, goes fully remote and opens to the wider continent
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote working has become the name of the game for knowledge workers in the tech industry. Today, a startup that was an early mover on the opportunity of that mod
E-scooter firms get the green light to start trials of up to one year on UK streets
In light of COVID-19 and social distancing regulations, the U.K. has been working on making it easier for people to get from point A to B in cities without resorting to buses and trains or bringing mo
Microsoft to distribute $20M in grants to nonprofits, offers free skills training via LinkedIn
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an almost immeasurable negative impact on the wider economy. Specifically in the job market, there have been millions of job losses, and in the U.S. alone unemployment nu
Capital raises $9M for its AI-based ‘capital as a service’ funding platform for startups
In 2019, in the US alone, more than 10,000 startups raised more than $133 billion in venture funding, with a large proportion of that equity investments. Today, a company building a platform to help s
Artlist raises $48M led by KKR for its royalty-free music, video and sound effect library
Like it or loathe it, video has proven to be the most engaging of all mediums across the web, and today a company out of Israel called Artlist — which provides royalty-free libraries of music, s
SevenRooms raises $50M to double down on reservations, ordering and other tools for hospitality businesses
Restaurants, hotels and other public venues where we spend leisure and business time have started to reopen in many parts of the world after a period of going dark to try to slow down the spread of th
Wirecard, the disgraced German payments firm backed by SoftBank, files for insolvency over €1.3B in loans coming due
The house of cards has well and truly collapsed for Wirecard, the German payments company that has been accused of accounting fraud. Today it announced that its German operation Wirecard AG was applyi
UK’s CMA clears Amazon’s 16% Deliveroo stake, says COVID-19 impact less severe than initially thought
More than a year after Amazon announced that it would be lead a $575 million investment into UK food delivery startup Deliveroo, the country’s competition regulator, the CMA, has finally announc
Rasa raises $26M led by A16Z for its open source conversational AI platform
As chatbots and other AI-based services like interactive voice apps continue to become more ubiquitous, a startup that’s built software to help create and — critically — improve how
Microsoft confirms acquisition of CyberX to boost security in its Azure IoT business
Another big acquisition out of Israel this week points to how bigger tech companies are using the economic slowdown to focus on their longer-term strategies and shore up assets to support that. Today
Checkout.com, the UK payments startup, raises another $150M, now valued at $5.5B
E-commerce has been on a growth tear in the past few months, a result of more people opting to shop and pay for goods online to adhere to COVID-19 social distancing rules. To underscore the surge of b
Amazon and Valentino team up in joint lawsuit against New York counterfeiter over Rockstud knock-offs
Amazon is ramping up its efforts to tackle counterfeiting on its platform by aiming for the higher end of the fashion market. Today the e-commerce giant announced that it has jointly filed a lawsuit w
Payfone raises $100M for its mobile phone-based digital verification and ID platform
As an increasing number of daily and essential services move to digital platforms — a trend that’s had a massive fillip in the last few months — having efficient but effective ways t