Lan Xuezhao has spent the last few months pulling together $136 million for her new machine intelligence-focused venture capital fund, Basis Set Ventures. I met Xuezhao for tea on a park bench in Potrero Hill earlier this week to chat about her strategy for the fund. Read More
from TechCrunch
Treebo Hotels, one of the most prominent members of India’s emerging budget hotel networks, has closed a $34 million Series C round. The deal was led by new backers Ward Ferry Management and Karst Peak Capital, two Hong Kong PE firms, with participation from existing investors SAIF Partners, Matrix Partners India and Bertelsmann India Investments. Before this deal, two-year-old Treebo… Read More
from TechCrunch
Half a decade after it was founded, website building platform Strikingly finally decided its time to raise a Series A. The Y Combinator alum announced that it closed a $6 million round from investors including CAS Holding, Infinity Venture Partners, Innovation Works, former Y Combinator partner Kevin Hale and TEEC. Strikingly also recently launched an app that lets users build and publish… Read More
from TechCrunch
De-cloaking today is a new startup from two of the founders of defunct food delivery company Take Eat Easy. Dubbed Cowboy, the company is building a new electronic bicycle that it claims will address issues that have historically stopped e-bikes from becoming a “fully fledged mobility solution”. Read More
from TechCrunch
If you travel a lot for work, you know there are two kinds of employees. There are those who spend less than the budget allows and those who push it to the very limit. Most people don’t feel incentivized to save money for their employer, so that’s why a handful of startups are attempting to solve this problem by rewarding travelers for cost-savings. TravelBank is the latest. Read More
from TechCrunch
Uber has a new CEO and he wasted no time in talking about IPO prospects. Addressing employees at a company meeting today, Dara Khosrowshahi, who recently had the top job at public company Expedia, said that Uber could IPO as soon as 18 months. He also said it could take up to 36 months (three years), but that the timing wasn’t finalized. Khosrowshahi was offered the job on Sunday and… Read More
from TechCrunch
Adwerx is a well-known advertising and re-targeting network for real estate agents (though if you’re not in that line of business, chances are you’ve never heard of it, of course). The Durham, NC-based company today announced that it has raised a $4.3 million funding round led by Grotech Ventures, with participation from Bull City Venture Partners and Alerion Ventures. Read More
from TechCrunch
Domuso, a property management system and payment portal that lets tenants in sticky situations pay late rent over time, has raised $3.1M in funding. This brings the total amount raised for the startup, which was part of the Techcrunch Disrupt NY 2017 Battlefield competition, to $5.8M. The concept for Domuso is straightforward – there are certain life events that sometimes get in the way… Read More
from TechCrunch
One growing sector we can add to the travel accommodation list is long term stays for business travellers. Enter Cologne-based Homelike, founded in 2015 by Dustin Figge and Christoph Kasper. The German startup targets business travellers who need “long-stay” accommodation of a month or more and for which a hotel doesn’t really cut it. Read More
from TechCrunch
Thailand’s banks have stepped up to chase the startup dream over the past year. Following on from SCB’s Digital Ventures, which has backed blockchain startup Ripple among others, Kasikorn Bank (KBank) has made the first investment from its $30 million fund — a $1.15 million round for Bangkok-based FlowAccount. KBank announced its Beacon fund this summer. It has made… Read More
from TechCrunch