Oct 28th
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The Latest
Gadgets
Fairphone nabs $53M in growth capital for ‘sustainable’ consumer electronics
4:01 am PST • January 31, 2023
Dutch social enterprise Fairphone, which makes modular and — the claim is — more sustainable and ethical consumer electronics, has nabbed a chunk of funding to continue scaling a circular-economy-aligned…
Enterprise
Guardz emerges from stealth with $10M for SMB security and cyber insurance to protect against attack-as-a-service breaches
3:59 am PST • January 31, 2023
Small and medium businesses have become a growing target for malicious online hackers in recent years, currently accounting for between 43% and 61% of all security breaches and some $7…
Fintech
Finley closes $17M to turn 100-page debt capital agreements into software-managed code
3:01 am PST • January 31, 2023
Finley helps companies taking out debt capital understand their loan agreements and better comply with terms and reporting requirements.
Startups
Identity management platform Saviynt secures $205M in debt, appoints new CEO
3:00 am PST • January 31, 2023
Showing that there’s real investor enthusiasm for identity management platforms, Saviynt, which enables companies to secure apps, data and infrastructure in a single platform, today announced that it raised $205…
Baidu, China’s top search engine provider and robotaxi developer, is apparently working on its own counterpart to ChatGPT. The news, first reported by Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, sent…
Featured Article
InstaDeep’s acquisition is a classic case of an African startup gone global
This January, Germany’s largest vaccine maker BioNTech announced that it had agreed to acquire Tunisian-born and London-headquartered AI startup InstaDeep for up to £562 million, including a performance-tied £200 million tranche investment. InstaDeep’s deal — subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in the first half of this year — is quite intriguing, for…
12:08 am PST • January 31, 2023
Climate
Entocycle grabs $5 million for its insect breeding technology
12:00 am PST • January 31, 2023
Even if insects don’t sound appealing to you, black soldier flies could play an essential role in the food chain in the coming years. In particular, these flies’ larvae can…
Commerce
Groupon cuts another 500 employees in second round of layoffs
10:50 pm PST • January 30, 2023
Groupon has laid off another 500 employees in a bid to cut costs, the company said in an SEC filing last week. The e-commerce company had cut 500 jobs —…
Startups
Southeast Asia farm-to-table startup Secai Marche raises Series A
9:03 pm PST • January 30, 2023
Secai Marche, a farm-to-table fulfillment platform serving farmers in Japan and Southeast Asia, announced today it has raised 210 million Japanese yen (about $1.6 million USD) in Series A funding.…
Government & Policy
Labor officials found that Apple execs infringed on workers’ rights
7:29 pm PST • January 30, 2023
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found merit to complaints that high-level executives at Apple violated national labor law. This finding comes after the NLRB also found that Apple illegally…
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Jun 11th
StrictlyVC – Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
May 21st
StrictlyVC – London
London
Taiwanese automotive conglomerate Hotai Motor exposed reams of personal customer data from its car rental and carshare unit, iRent, until a security researcher found the data online last week. Even…
Featured Article
Put a (smart) ring on it: Movano on why its health wearable will put women first
Movano Health turned heads at CES with an ouroboros-esque smart ring designed for women. In the crowded field of fitness wearables, where the mainstream heavy hitter of the Apple Watch heads up a very long tail of typically less pricey and/or more specialist activity tracking bracelets and bands all keen to claim their own patch…
4:53 pm PST • January 30, 2023
Transportation
AV company Aurora hires president ahead of commercial launch
4:01 pm PST • January 30, 2023
Aurora Innovation said Monday it has hired Ossa Fisher as president as the autonomous vehicle company prepares to commercially launch its self-driving trucks business next year. The company said Fisher,…
Startups
Daily Crunch: Marqeta acquires fintech infrastructure startup Power Finance for $275M
3:05 pm PST • January 30, 2023
Hello, friends, and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.
In this issue: Rocket Lab enters a new era with Virginia launch; SpaceX moves closer to Starship’s first orbital flight test; news from Quindar, AstroForge and more
The Russian government has blocked another encrypted email provider, according to a Russian digital rights organization and the email provider. Last Wednesday, Roskomsvoboda, which describes itself as “the first Russian…
Earlier this month, the company reported a year of record sales that included over 50% dollar sales growth in 2022.
Media & Entertainment
Amid growing competition, Paramount+ and Showtime are combining in the US
1:16 pm PST • January 30, 2023
Nearly a year after ViacomCBS announced its rebrand to become Paramount, the company is now making a major change to its portfolio with today’s news that it will be fully integrating…
Apps
Rewind’s new app lets you ‘time travel’ through music from decades past
12:01 pm PST • January 30, 2023
A new app called Rewind wants to make it easier for music fans to explore the top songs of decades past. Hoping to cater to consumer demand for nostalgic music…
Startups
If, and only if, McDonald’s had an appetite for acquisitions
12:00 PM PST • January 30, 2023
Welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. I’m back, I’m drinking an…
