Mixed reality slash augmented reality startup Magic Leap announced today that it raised a $502 million Series D round led by Temasek with participation from EDBI, Grupo Globo, Janus Henderson, Alibaba Group, Fidelity Management and others. Just last week, a Delaware filing confirmed that Magic Leap authorized up to $1 billion in new shares. Read More
from TechCrunch
Media mogul and IAC chairman Barry Diller had some choice words for venture capitalists when he took the stage at WSJ D.Live in Laguna Beach on Tuesday. “These valuations don’t bear reality,” said Diller, speaking about the high multiples that some startups are generating. “They’re truly made up.” He quipped that it’s the “absence of dealing… Read More
from TechCrunch
Walmart has bought a handful of startups lately and the company says this acquisition spree will continue. It’s looking to buy businesses in the technology, retail and digital native brands categories, said Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart eCommerce U.S., on stage at WSJ D.Live in Laguna Beach on Tuesday. The Jet.com founder joined Walmart through an acquisition last year when Walmart paid over… Read More
from TechCrunch
One of the leading environmentalists among Hollywood’s leading men, Leonardo DiCaprio, has added his name to the list of backers for the beef-less, veggie burger maker, Beyond Meat. “I am thrilled to officially welcome Leonardo DiCaprio to the Beyond Meat family,” said Ethan Brown, the chief executive of Beyond Meat, in a statement. “His investment and role as an… Read More
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Indian credit marketplace BankBazaar has pulled in $30 million in fresh funding led by Experian, the London-headquartered credit giant with a £14 billion ($18 billion) market cap. BankBazaar seems to have a penchant for big name backers. Amazon led its $60 million Series C funding in 2015 while Experian is the main investor behind this Series D raise. The company didn’t specific the… Read More
from TechCrunch
Feedzai is announcing a $50 million Series C this morning led by an unnamed VC with additional capital from Sapphire Ventures. The six year old startup builds machine learning tools to help banks and merchants spot payment fraud. In today’s rapidly maturing world of fintech, Feedzai is trying to thread the needle between turnkey solution and customizable platform. With 60 clients… Read More
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Spotahome, a Madrid-based startup that lets you view and book mid to long-term accommodation online, has closed €13.6 million in Series A backing. This brings the total raised to €20.7 million since the ‘proptech’ company was founded in 2014. Read More
from TechCrunch
Facebook wants tbh to be its next Instagram. Today, Facebook announced it’s acquiring positivity-focused polling startup tbh and will allow it to operate somewhat independently as it’s done with Instagram and WhatsApp. tbh had scored 5 million downloads and 4 million daily active users in the past 9 weeks with its app that lets people anonymously answer kind-hearted… Read More
from TechCrunch
Boston and its surrounding universities are jam-packed with big ideas, but the problem is that many of them never get out of the lab. MIT president Rafael Reif recognized this and decided the city needed an engine to push those ideas and The Engine — part venture capital firm, part business incubator — was born. When smart people are working on hard problems inside a lab, they… Read More
from TechCrunch
LimeBike, one of several companies competing in the rapidly expanding bike-sharing space, has raised a $50 million C round to continue building out the operation. The company is also looking into ways to differentiate itself from the competition — including the two 900-pound Chinese gorillas in the industry, Ofo and Mobike. Read More
from TechCrunch