Headlines | Technology | Reviews | Gadget Updates
Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. We’ve dug into churn twice in the last week from an expert and data-based perspective. We’ve also spent a good amount of time talking to venture capitalists about how they are approaching today’s turbulent market. …
April 7, 2020 | by RaheelSteve Blank Contributor Share on Twitter Steve Blank is the creator of the Lean Startup movement, a serial entrepreneur-turned-academic who is an adjunct professor at Stanford University and a senior fellow at Columbia University. He helped start the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps; Hacking for Defense and its sister programs, including Hacking for Diplomacy and …
April 7, 2020 | by RaheelThis morning, Utah-based SaaS startup Podium announced that it has closed a $125 million Series C led by Y Combinator’s Continuity fund, with participation from Sapphire Ventures and Alkeon, and Recruit Co. Ltd. Prior investors IVP, GV, Summit, and Accel also took part in the funding event. The new capital values Podium at around $1.5 billion, and brings …
April 7, 2020 | by RaheelJust a few months after closing a new $185 million fund to continue backing early-stage European startups, Blossom Capital, the VC firm founded by Ophelia Brown, is announcing a new angel investment program seeking to back European unicorn alumnus. Dubbed “Cultivate,” the new program looks to create a 30-strong angel network made up of founders …
April 7, 2020 | by RaheelDeHaat, an online platform that offers full-stack agricultural services to farmers, has raised $12 million as it looks to scale its network across India. The Series A financial round for the eight-year-old Patna and Gurgaon-based startup was led by Sequoia Capital India. Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO, and existing investors Omnivore and AgFunder, also participated …
April 7, 2020 | by RaheelBusiness at Tushy is booming. While the circumstances that led to the boom are sobering, the bidet company needed to adapt its strategy after seeing an uptick in business amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Other companies in this cohort include video conferencing service Zoom, meal kit service Blue Apron and Facebook, thanks to its social network, …
April 6, 2020 | by Raheel“Our real focus is on democratizing mental healthcare,” says SonderMind co-founder chief executive, Mark Frank. His company, founded back in 2017, is having a moment. With the restrictions and economic stresses caused by the government’s efforts to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in the U.S., demand for mental health services is soaring. And …
April 6, 2020 | by RaheelAirbnb said Monday that it has raised $1 billion in debt and equity from private equity firms Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners, even as the online rental marketplace has seen its business plummet due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. It’s unclear how this funding might alter Airbnb’s previously …
April 6, 2020 | by RaheelLooks like things haven’t gone completely smoothly with Quibi‘s launch. The issue appears to have been resolved, but the Quibi customer support account tweeted this afternoon that “some users may be experiencing problems with the Quibi app,” only to add an hour later that “Users should once again be able to use the Quibi app …
April 6, 2020 | by RaheelEva Yoo Contributor Eva Yoo is founder of Seek Road, the project wherein she cycles from Seoul to London while interviewing startups on the Silk Road. More posts by this contributor How this Kazakhstan internet giant built success on ideas from Russia and China While a number of startups have been hard hit by efforts …
April 6, 2020 | by Raheel