By now you’ve probably heard of ICOs. The alternative fundraising option has been used to raise more than $500 million in funding this year alone, but it has gotten a reputation for unfinished products and untested teams raising gargantuan sums. One company may have just shown that there is a responsible way to handle an ICO. Omise, a fintech startup based in Thailand, has closed $25… Read More
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Office closures don’t just mean unemployment and uncertainty, they can lead to new opportunities. That’s the case for Mighty Bear Games, a Singapore-based games studio that grew out of the closure of King.com’s local office. As part of streamlining following its $5.9 billion acquisition by Activision, King.com shut down the Singapore office it picked up when it bought Non… Read More
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Push Doctor, a U.K.-based startup that lets you book a video consultation with a doctor and manage other aspects of your health digitally, has raised $26.1 million in Series B funding. Read More
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Ohpen, a Netherlands-based company that has built cloud-based core banking software, has raised €15 million in Series B funding, which I understand gives it a valuation of €100 million. Private equity firm Amerborgh has led the round, with the new financing pegged for accelerated growth, including expansion to the U.K. where it recently opened an office in London. Read More
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China’s search giant Baidu has made another acquisition to continue its push into artificial intelligence, and specifically carving out a place for itself as a platform for developers who want to create chatbots and other services based on natural language technology. It has acquired Kitt.ai, a profitable startup based out of Seattle that has developed a framework to build and power… Read More
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Cooking kit delivery company Blue Apron traded up 3.5% on the stock market Monday, erasing some of the losses from its first two days as a public company. Shares closed at $9.67, which was still beneath last week’s $10 IPO price. This is in contrast to a lot of public debuts, where companies are typically in the green for the first day “pop.” It’s the subsequent days… Read More
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Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on TechNode, an editorial partner of TechCrunch based in China. URWork, a billion-dollar-valued co-working in China, announced today that it has closed a RMB 200 million ($30 million) investment from Beijing’s Aikang Group. The deal is a strategic one that both sides said will grow the selection of services for URWork customers and… Read More
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Cross-border payment startup InstaRem has raised $13 million in new financing as it looks to expand its business, which is rooted in Asia, into Europe and North America ahead of an eventual public listing as soon as 2020. The Singapore-based startup said the raise was led by China’s GSR Ventures, an early investor in Didi among others, with participation from Japan/Netherlands… Read More
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Online lending company SoFi is closing down Zenbanx, the online banking provider it bought earlier this year. In an email sent to Zenbanx customers, the company announced that it will close all accounts at the end of next month. Read More
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After quite a lot of time, a business pivot, two different credit lines, buckets of capital and a refocus on cost-control, Dropbox may be finally on the path to going public. Read More
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