Jonathan Shieber
Writer
The Latest from Jonathan Shieber
How the founder of Pocketwatch sees the future of children’s entertainment
When Chris Williams founded entertainment platform Pocketwatch in 2017, he was certain that no one had yet found the right way to work with the generation of children’s talent finding its audien
Dutch startup Meatable is developing lab-grown pork and has $10 million in new financing to do it
Meatable, the Dutch startup developing cruelty-free technologies for manufacturing cultured meat, is pivoting to pork production as a swine flu epidemic ravages one quarter of the world’s pork s
Brazil’s new fintech startup Cora raised $10 million on the strength of its founding team
It didn’t take much for the founders of Cora, Brazil’s newest startup to tackle some aspect of the broken financial services industry in the country, to raise their first $10 million. Igor
The Urban.Us and BMW Mini accelerator focused on urban innovation names its latest cohort
URBAN-X, the accelerator program focused on companies developing technologies to increase the sustainability, resiliency and efficiency of cities, has selected seven companies for its latest cohort. O
Carbon dioxide emissions are set to hit a record high this year (it’s not fine, but not hopeless)
Carbon dioxide emissions, one of the main contributors to the climate changes bringing extreme weather, rising oceans and more frequent fires that have killed hundreds of Americans and cost the U.S. b
Setting politics aside, Sequoia raises $3.4 billion for US and China investments
Noted Silicon Valley venture capital fund Sequoia Capital has raised nearly $1 billion for later-stage U.S. investments and roughly $2.4 billion for venture and growth deals in China, according to pap
AWS launches managed Cassandra services
Today at AWS re:Invent, Amazon announced a new ability to manage Cassandra databases on AWS. Already used by companies as diverse as Grubhub.com, Netflix, Ooyala, Openwave, Reddit and Uber to manage d
Podcorn connects advertisers with podcasters and manages sponsored messages in podcasts
Podcorn, the service that connects brands with podcasters to acquire in-broadcast sponsored time (not pre- or post-roll advertising), is officially launching its services today. “For brands, the
Fulcrum, which provides freelance placement opportunities for technical projects, raises $1 million
La Jolla, Calif.-based Fulcrum, a job-placement company for technical projects, has raised $1 million in a seed round of funding, led by local technology investment firm Greatscale Ventures with parti
Simple Contacts has a new service letting users cheaply switch contact lens prescriptions
Simple Contacts has launched a new service letting users try out new contact lenses for as little as $3. The company launched a little over three years ago as a way for contact lens wearers to slash t
Mojichat is partnering with Streamlabs to create customized emotes of streamers
Mojichat, the Los Angeles startup which makes full-body, animated emojis, is launching a partnership with Streamlabs to offer gamers an opportunity to sell customized emojis to fans and potential spon
Baby Yoda memes return as Giphy stops pulling content over copyright concerns
Almost as soon as “Baby Yoda” (or “Yoda Baby”?) debuted on the wildly popular new Disney Plus series “The Mandalorian,” a thousand internet memes bloomed in its wak
What the partnership at Trinity Ventures sees for the road ahead in 2020
Over the years, Trinity Ventures has racked up many exits for its limited partners. Through deals in consumer brands like Starbucks and Zulily and enterprise companies like TubeMogul and New Relic, th
Gloria brings international soccer scouting into the 21st century
Lionel Messi, who’s still arguably the greatest soccer player in the world, signed his first contract with FC Barcelona when he was thirteen years old. Although he grew up in a small town in cen
With echoes of Theranos, Truvian Sciences revives the dream of low-cost, accessible blood tests
A little over a year after the dissolution of the once high-flying blood testing startup Theranos, another startup has raised more than $27 million to breathe new life into the vision of bringing low-
WHILL brings its autonomous wheelchairs to North American airports
After trials in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, Tokyo’s Haneda airport and Abu Dhabi airport earlier this year, WHILL, the developer of autonomous wheelchairs, is bringing its robotic mobili
Tuesday Company acquires VoteWithMe as tech for politics looks to consolidate ahead of 2020
Tuesday Company, the organizational toolkit for political advocacy groups and candidates, has taken another step to consolidate its position in the growing market for tech-enabled political outreach w
San Diego-based Founders First Capital Partners gets $100 million for revenue-based fund
Founders First Capital Partners, an accelerator and investment firm that provides revenue-based financing to businesses led by “underrepresented entrepreneurs” operating in underserved mar
LA-based Maslo pivots to professional services, launching an AI product for executive coaching
When the Los Angeles-based startup Maslo launched its first product in early 2018, the company was focused on a direct-to-consumer tool designed to encourage mindfulness and self-awareness through a m
Heliogen’s new tech could unlock renewable energy for industrial manufacturing
Last Monday a group of millionaires and billionaires took a trip to an industrial site in Lancaster, Calif. to witness the achievement of what could represent a giant leap forward in the effort to dec