Elon Musk wants to connect your brain directly to a computer, and investors are ready to make that science fiction a reality. Musk’s startup Neuralink has raised the $26.96 million of a technically still-open funding round that could grow to $100 million, according to a new SEC filing. However, Musk himself tweets that Neuralink is no longer raising cash. Read More
from TechCrunch
Price comparison websites for insurance products have been around for many years. However, typically, people buy from these based just on price, with zero customization based on the person. What’s required is a much more tailor-made service, changing the culture from strictly price-only focused to the “best cover for you.” That’s the pitch of U.K. startup Sherpa. Read More
from TechCrunch
What if you could see if your Instagrams made people happy, surprised, or disgusted? That’s just one of the innovative features of new photo sharing social network Polygram. Using facial detection, Polygram gives you analytics about the emotional reactions people have to the photos you post. Polygram also has augmented reality makeup to that let’s you look more attractive instead… Read More
from TechCrunch
Go-Jek, the on-demand transportation company that rivals Uber and Grab in Indonesia, is getting close to pulling in its next huge funding round. That’s because JD.com, the China-based e-commerce firm that rivals Alibaba, has agreed to join Go-Jek’s upcoming $1.2 billion round, a source with knowledge of discussions told TechCrunch. The news was first reported by The Information.… Read More
from TechCrunch
Real estate tech startup Amitree is making life easier for real estate agents, which it hopes will make life even easier for the homebuyers they work with. The company has raised $7 million to grow its Folio assistant for real estate agents. Read More
from TechCrunch
Welcome back to Equity, our podcast for all things venture capital and tech business. I host along with Matthew Lynley and Alex Wilhelm, who was out-of-town (how dare he). This week we were joined by Rob Coneybeer, who is co-founder and managing director at Shasta Ventures. We talked about Uber (what else?!), which shared its growing financials, suggesting that people are still using the… Read More
from TechCrunch
There are more than 1 billion cellphone users in India, which abruptly went cashless last November. These two developments play nicely into the vision of Ezetap, a six-year-old, Bangalore-based startup whose software as a service is used by more than 200,000 merchants. Read More
from TechCrunch
San Francisco-based Blend is simplifying the process of mortgage applications for both borrowers and lenders, but is looking to expand into other lending products. To do that the company has raised $100 million in new funding led by Greylock, with participation from a bunch of existing investors. Read More
from TechCrunch
It’s official…Amazon says its purchase of Whole Foods will close on Monday. According to the release, “the two companies will together pursue the vision of making Whole Foods Market’s high-quality, natural and organic food affordable for everyone. As a down payment on that vision, Whole Foods Market will offer lower prices starting Monday on a selection of… Read More
from TechCrunch
Descartes Labs is announcing a $30 million Series B this morning in a large round led by March Capital. This comes just three months after one of Descartes’ largest competitors, Orbital Insight, closed its own $50 million Series C with Sequoia. Both Descartes and Orbital are playing in the emerging market of geospatial analytics. These companies use machine learning to produce insights… Read More
from TechCrunch