Inverse, a new-ish digital media startup founded by Bleacher Report’s Dave Nemetz, is announcing that it has raised $6 million in Series A funding. The Inverse site launched in August 2015 and covers a mix of science, technology and entertainment news — as I write this, the front page features stories on astrobiology, future cities and The Simpsons. Nemetz told me the goal is to… Read More
from TechCrunch
FreshDirect, a popular online grocery service on the East Coast, is arming itself with $189 million in additional funding. The round was led by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with W Capital and AARP Innovation Fund investing as well. The new capital will be used to help FreshDirect build up its “manufacturing capacity” and “open up some new geographies,” according… Read More
from TechCrunch
Didi Chuxing, China’s largest ride-hailing company, may be about to get into bicycles. Bike sharing, to be precise. The company, which is in the process of finalizing its acquisition of Uber’s business unit in China, today revealed that it has invested in bike-sharing startup Ofo. Read More
from TechCrunch
The company behind iconic music magazine Rolling Stone has sold a 49 percent share in the business to a startup from Singapore in a bid to grow its international reach. Read More
from TechCrunch
The coffee wars of San Francisco are back on! We’re now hearing from sources that Blue Bottle is raising a big round of financing a little more than a year after it raised a whopping $75 million. We don’t know the exact amount, but given the immense (and at times odd) interest in coffee from investors in Silicon Valley, it wouldn’t be surprising if it would be approaching… Read More
from TechCrunch
Seattle-based Apptio went public on the Nasdaq today, seeing its shares rise nearly 41% on its first day of trading. The cloud software company, which targets CIOs, went public during a slow year for tech IPOs. Only a handful have braved the market, following the dismal performance of last year’s tech stocks. But the few that went public this year have mostly done very well. Twilio has… Read More
from TechCrunch
Airbnb formally filed a Form D with the Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon announcing that it had raised $555,462,180 in an equity deal. Last month TechCrunch independently verified that Airbnb had filed a 28 page document with the State of Delaware indicating that it had intentions to raise additional late-stage capital. At the time, Equidate speculated that the company… Read More
from TechCrunch
Signia Venture Partners has closed its second fund at $85 million to lead early-stage deals in emerging tech startups mostly in and around San Francisco. For the unfamiliar, Signia is typically the first money in and the lead investor in the companies it backs, writing $1-2 million in seed stage deals or $2-8 million in later stage rounds. The firm was started in 2012 by Rick Thompson, the… Read More
from TechCrunch
With a little personal shopping assistance, Operator thinks Chinese citizens will pounce on American products sold through its conversational shopping app. The promise of becoming the guided commerce layer connecting China with the US has earned the two-year-old a $15 million series B round at a $100 million pre-money valuation. “We’re making commerce borderless”, Operator… Read More
from TechCrunch
Agriculture tech startup BrightFarms has raised $30.1 million in Series C funding to bring its high-tech greenhouses, and fresh produce, across the U.S. The company is on a mission to make all fresh fruit and vegetables locally, rather than require them to be hauled from long distances or imported from overseas before they are sold at groceries. Taking a page from the playbook of solar… Read More
from TechCrunch