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WhatsApp brings its Business API to the cloud to speed adoption
WhatsApp will today begin beta testing a new, cloud-based version of its WhatsApp Business API, hosted on parent company Facebook’s infrastructure. With the shift to the cloud, the setup time…
Funnel, a no-code tool for marketers to organize disparate data sources, raises $66M in ‘pre-IPO’ round
The world of marketing has become a world of marketing tech. But marketers are not necessarily engineers, so working with the terabytes of data their campaigns produce can be a…
Frontify raises $50M for a collaborative cloud platform for organizations to manage and use their design and brand assets
The meteoric rise of collaborative design startup Canva — now valued at $40 billion — and conversely, the viral interest we’ve been seeing in the market for NFTs where you…
Europe’s top court slaps down ‘zero rating’ again
Europe’s top court has dealt another blow to “zero rating” — ruling for a second time that the controversial carrier practice goes against the European Union’s rules on open internet…
Peak raises $75M for a platform that helps non-tech companies build AI applications
As artificial intelligence continues to weave its way into more enterprise applications, a startup that has built a platform to help businesses, especially non-tech organizations, build more customized AI decision-making…
US giants top tech industry’s $100M+ a year lobbying blitz in EU
The scale of the tech industry’s spending to influence the European Union’s tech policy agenda has been laid out in a report published today by Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl…
Gapsquare, a pioneer of machine learning into gender pay disparity, is acquired by XpertHR
Inequalities between women and men in the workplace have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and are likely to persist in the near future, according to the International Labour Organization…
Untitled Ventures joins the scramble for Russian & Eastern European startups with a $118M warchest
Sorry Mr. Putin, but there’s a race on for Russian and Eastern European founders. And right now, those awful capitalists in the corrupt West are starting to out-gun the opposition!…
Forto raises $240M in funding round led by SoftBank, taking its valuation to $1.2B
Freight technology startup, Forto, which we most recently covered when it raised $50 million late last year, is upping the stakes. It’s now raised $240 million in a round led…
Cybersecurity training platform Immersive Labs closes $75M Series C led by Insight Partners
Immersive Labs, a platform which teaches cybersecurity skills to corporate employees by using real, up-to-date threat intelligence in a “gamified” way, has closed a $75 million Series C funding round…
SoftBank pours up to $150M into GBM, a Mexico City-based investment platform
Grupo Bursátil Mexicano (GBM) is a 35-year-old investment platform in the Mexican stock market. In its first three decades of life, GBM was focused on providing investment services to high…
SoftBank-backed construction giant Katerra said to be shutting down after raising billions
After burning through more than $2 billion in funding, SoftBank-backed construction startup Katerra has told employees that it will be shutting down operations, according to a report in The Information.…
India grants approval for 5G trials, avoids Chinese firms
The Indian telecom ministry on Tuesday said it has granted several telecom service providers permission to conduct a six-month trial for the use and application of 5G technology in the…
Welcome Tech, which has built a digital platform aimed at immigrants and their families, has raised $35 million in a Series B funding round co-led by TTV Capital, Owl Ventures…
Mortgage is suddenly sexy as SoftBank pumps $500M in Better.com at a $6B valuation
Digital mortgage lender Better.com has raised a $500 million round from Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank that values the company at $6 billion. The financing is notable for a few reasons.…
How SoftBank’s Vision Fund turned losses into gold this summer
It’s hard to think back to the Vision Fund era today, given the oddities that 2020 has brought. But SoftBank’s gravity-bending investment vehicle only stopped investing last September, ending its…
SoftBank’s $100 million diversity and inclusion fund makes its first bet … in health
SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund has made the health insurance startup Vitable Health the first public commitment from its $100 million fund dedicated to investing in startups founded by entrepreneurs of color.…
Indian telecom giant Vodafone Idea rebrands as ‘Vi’
Vodafone Idea, one of the largest telecom operators in India, has rebranded as ‘Vi’ as it looks for a “fresh start” three years after the British telecom giant Vodafone Group’s India…
Featured Article
How Reliance Jio Platforms became India’s biggest telecom network
It’s raised $5.7 billion from Facebook. It’s taken $1.5 billion from KKR, another $1.5 billion from Vista Equity Partners, $1.5 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, $1.35 billion from Silver Lake, $1.2 billion from Mubadala, $870 million from General Atlantic, $750 million from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, $600 million from TPG, and $250 million from…
Amazon reportedly considering $2 billion stake in Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel
Amazon.com may follow its American peer Facebook’s footsteps in securing a slice of India’s booming telecom market. The e-commerce giant, which has invested over $6.5 billion in India, is in…
China Roundup: SoftBank leads Didi’s $500M round and Meituan crosses $100B valuation
Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch’s China Roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world.…
Google and Microsoft reportedly considering stakes in telecom firms in India after Facebook deal
Weeks after Facebook acquired a 9.9% stake in India’s Reliance Jio Platforms, two more American firms are reportedly interested in the Indian telecom market. Google is considering buying a stake…
China Roundup: A blow to US-listed Chinese firms and TikTok’s new global face
Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch’s China Roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world.…
Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. Today we’re digging into SoftBank’s latest earnings slides. Not only…
Huawei is facing an uphill challenge in the overseas market as its upcoming devices lack the full set of Google apps and services. That leaves ample room for its Chinese…
Facebook, telcos to build huge subsea cable for Africa and Middle East
Facebook, and a group of telecom companies including China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange and Vodafone, are collaborating to build the “most comprehensive” subsea cable to serve the African continent…
SirionLabs raises $44M to scale its contract management software
SirionLabs, a startup that provides contract management software to enterprises, has raised $44 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand and handle surge in demand from…
Vista Equity Partners to invest $1.5B in India’s Reliance Jio Platforms
Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners said on Friday it will invest $1.5 billion in Reliance Jio Platforms, joining social conglomerate Facebook and Silver Lake that have also made bets on…
Cuckoo Internet closes seed funding to disrupt UK broadband market
Cuckoo Internet is a new U.K. startup that aims to disrupt the U.K. broadband market. It has now raised £470,000 in seed funding, which includes funding from work.fund, a new…
Africa Roundup: Visa connects to M-Pesa, Flutterwave enters e-commerce
It seems the demand for Safaricom’s M-Pesa payment product never eases. Since its 2007 launch in Kenya, the fintech app has commanded over 70% of the mobile money market in…
