The Latest from Kyle Wiggers
B2B sales closing and financing platform Vartana raises $12M
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry is facing budget constraints and reductions in headcount as a result of the pandemic and the broader slowdown in tech. Companies have tightened up their budge
Reimbursement and spend management platform PayEm secures $220M in equity and debt
When Itamar Jobani, a software developer by trade, was working for a healthcare company, he dreaded doing expense reports every month using his employer’s preferred reimbursement tool. Jobani lo
Memfault raises $24M to help companies manage their growing IoT device fleets
At the same time Internet of Things (IoT) devices and embedded software are becoming more complex, manufacturers are looking for ways to effectively manage the increasing volume of edge hardware. Acco
Komprise raises $37M to help companies index, manage and transform data
In the enterprise, there’s been an explosive growth of data — think documents, videos, audio files, posts on social media and even emails. According to a Matillion and IDG survey, data vol
Niantic tries its hand at sports with NBA All-World
Niantic, the company behind the mega-hit Pokémon GO, has reached an inflection point. Whether because of pandemic fatigue or frustration over the limitations of today’s AR tech, the Google-spaw
McKinsey, eyeing the MLOps space, buys Tel Aviv–based Iguazio
The same day Microsoft invested billions in OpenAI, McKinsey snatched up enterprise-focused AI firm Iguazio for a relative steal. The consulting giant reportedly paid around $50 million for Iguazio, a
Microsoft invests billions more dollars in OpenAI, extends partnership
Microsoft today said that it’s extending its partnership with OpenAI, the startup behind art- and text-generating AI systems like ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and GPT-3, with a “multi-year, multi-bil
Alphabet makes cuts, Twitter bans third-party clients, and Netflix’s Reed Hastings steps down
Howdy, folks! Happy Friday. While our fearless Week in Review leader Greg enjoys parental leave, I’m filling in, curating the latest on the tech news front. It was a roller coaster of a week onc
Area 120, Google’s in-house incubator, severely impacted by Alphabet mass layoffs
Area 120, the Google in-house incubator responsible for products such as Checks, Tables, Stack and ThreadBite, has been significantly affected by broader layoffs at Google parent company Alphabet. A s
Thoma Bravo agrees to acquire digital forensics firm Magnet Forensics for over $1B
Thoma Bravo, the private equity and growth capital firm, today announced that it would spend $1.8 billion CAD (~$1.34 billion) to acquire Magnet Forensics, a Waterloo-based company making software use
Twitter officially bans third-party clients after cutting off prominent devs
After cutting off prominent app makers like Tweetbot and Twitterific, Twitter today quietly updated its developer terms to ban third-party clients altogether. Spotted by Engadget, the “restricti
Copilot lands $10M to help service businesses build digital customer experiences
Copilot, a platform aimed at helping companies, including marketing agencies, accounting firms and law firms, run and grow their businesses, today announced that it raised $10 million in a Series A fu
Scenario lands $6M for its AI platform that generates game art assets
Depending on who you ask, generative AI is either massively overhyped or undervalued. Defined as algorithm-driven tech that creates text, art and other forms of media given a prompt, it’s captur
Link raises $30M to help merchants accept direct bank payments
People are addicted to credit cards — and it’s no wonder, given the lucrative rewards that many of them offer. But for merchants, credit cards tend to be less appealing. That’s becau
ThriveCart, which sells tools to build e-commerce carts, raises $35M
Often, first-time e-commerce entrepreneurs don’t know what they need to build an effective funnel and cart experience for their platforms. It’s not their fault; the problem’s challenging
Beaconstac lands $25M investment for its QR code management platform
QR code tech, which exploded during the pandemic as businesses searched for hygienic alternatives to physical touchpoints, continues to grow in popularity, particularly across sectors such as restaura
Apple unveils M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, featuring new Neural Engine and more
Apple this morning announced new MacBooks powered by the latest generation of its in-house, custom-designed PC chipsets. The chipsets — the M2 Pro and M2 Max — feature a more powerful CPU
AI21 Labs intros an AI writing assistant that cites its sources
ChatGPT, the AI that can write poems, emails, spreadsheet formulas and more, has attracted a lot of negative publicity lately. Q&A coding site Stack Overflow temporarily banned users from sharing
CloseFactor raises $15.2M to automate repetitive sales processes
Several years ago, co-founders Leena Joshi, Ben Cheung and Erik Buchanan experienced frustration with the amount of manual work they were putting into collecting information about sales and marketing
Nucleus aims to simplify the process of managing microservices
An increasing number of organizations are adopting microservices, the loosely coupled, independently deployable services that together make up an app. According to a 2020 O’Reilly survey, 77% of