Jonathan Shieber
Writer
The Latest from Jonathan Shieber
New bidders reportedly emerge for TikTok in the US as powerful critics assail the process
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that TikTok and Twitter have held talks about a potential merger, even as the video sharing company defends itself against President Donald Trump’s pressure
TikTok is reportedly planning to challenge the Trump Administration ban
TikTok, the video-sharing app that’s moved to the center of the economic conflict between the US and China, is planning to challenge the executive order issued by President Donald Trump that wou
Share Ventures, an LA-based studio for company creation, is MoviePass co-founder Hamet Watt’s next act
Nearly eight years ago, Hamet Watt and Stacy Spikes launched MoviePass, the subscription-based movie ticketing service that captured the minds and dollars of investors and brought thousands of cinephi
Casa pivots to provide self-custody services to secure bitcoin
Casa, a Colorado-based provider of bitcoin security services, is launching a managed service allowing customers to buy and hold their own bitcoin, rather than using an external custodian like Coinbase
On-demand mental health service provider Ginger raises $50 million
Ginger, a provider of on-demand mental healthcare services, has raised $50 million in a new round of funding. The new capital comes as interest and investment in mental health and wellness has emerged
Attorneys general from twenty states call on Facebook to do more to fight discrimination, disinformation and harassment
In an open letter to Facebook’s leadership posted earlier today, the attorneys general from 20 states called on the company to do more to fight intimidation, discrimination, disinformation, hara
In a sign of digital health’s rise, Livongo and Teladoc Health agree to $18.5 billion merger
In a sign of the growing importance and value of digital healthcare in the world of medicine, two of the industry’s publicly traded companies have agreed to a whopping $18.5 billion merger. The
Mozper launches digital banking service for Latin American parents and kids
Mozper, a new service launching from Y Combinator’s latest cohort to provide digital banking services, takes its name from the English words for money, prosperity and Generation Z, according to
Microsoft, Amazon back a SoCal company making microchips specifically for voice-based apps
Microsoft’s venture capital fund, M12 Ventures, has led a slew of strategic corporate investors backing a new chip developer out of Southern California called Syntiant, which makes semiconductor
Founded by a lifelong house-flipper, Inspectify is a marketplace for home inspections and repairs
Josh Jensen bought his first house in Peoria, Ill., when he was 23. He sold the house to pay for business school and over the course of his tech career — first as a mechanical engineer and then
OneKey wants to make it easier to work without a desktop by integrating apps into mobile keyboards
“The app that you use the most on your phone and you don’t realize it is your keyboard,” says Christophe Barre, the co-founder and chief executive of OneKey. A member of Y Combinator
Y Combinator’s Kuleana is making an animal-free substitute for raw tuna
Companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat that are making vegetable-based meat substitutes have captured the imagination and wallets of consumers, but so far, there’s been no real corollar
Future Fields is tackling cultured meat’s biggest problem
One possible solution to cellular agriculture’s biggest problem — how to develop a cheap, humane growth material for cultured meat — may have come from a conversation in line at a Ti
As threats to the company mount, TikTok pushes back
As TikTok’s existential roller coaster ride continues to rattle on, the company is trying to sway regulators and the public with a flood of dollars and arguments wrapped in free enterprise and f
Impossible Foods starts selling in Walmart and expands distribution of its new sausage product
Impossible Foods said today that it will now be available in Walmart, the largest meat market in America. The deal with Walmart and other retail locations across the country increases the company̵
Magnetis raises $11 million for its automated wealth management and brokerage service for Brazil
Magnetis, an automated wealth management solution for Brazilian investors, has raised $11 million in a new round of funding as it transforms itself into a full-service brokerage for the nation’s
Amazon’s hardware business doesn’t escape Congressional scrutiny
While much of today’s Congressional grilling into the anti-competitive practices of the big tech giants focused on their core businesses, Amazon’s hardware also came in for close inspectio
LA’s consumer goods rental service, Joymode, sells to the NYC retail investment firm, XRC Labs
After raising $15 million in financing from one of technology’s most successful global investment firms, the Los Angeles-based consumer goods rental company Joymode is selling itself to an early
CVS adds another Big Health product to its point solutions management program
CVS Caremark launched its point solutions management program with a sleep service from Big Health nearly a year ago, and now it’s adding another of the digital mental healthcare startup’s
Humana partners with Heal and invests $100 million in the company’s doctor-on-demand service
“The doctor’s office is dead.” That’s the way Nick Desai, the co-founder and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based startup Heal, describes the future of traditional healthca