Grocery delivery startup Instacart has raised approximately $400 million in a new round of venture funding at a valuation of $3.4 billion according to sources familiar with the deal. Axios broke news that Instacart was in talks to close this mammoth venture deal last week. Instacart executives declined to comment for this story. Over the past year, Instacart has weathered controversies… Read More
from TechCrunch
Wrapify, the startup that will pay you to wrap your car with an advertisement, has raised $3M in seed funding. As a refresher, the startup provides a two-side marketplace that matches up drivers wanting to make some extra money with brands looking for a unique way to advertise. Eligible drivers will get their car wrap installed (and removed) for free, and on average are paid $450 a month for… Read More
from TechCrunch
GV (formerly known as Google Ventures) and DBL Partners co-led a $40 million investment in Farmers Business Network Inc., the company announced on Tuesday. FBN started out as something of a professional network for farmers and other agronomists. It allowed people working in agriculture to anonymously share information about what they were paying for seeds, fertilizers, and other… Read More
from TechCrunch
Lemnos, a seed-stage, hardware-focused venture firm in San Francisco, is today announcing the close of its third and newest fund, with $50 million in commitments. It’s a proud moment for co-founder Jeremy Conrad, whose pitch for Lemnos wasn’t met with a lot of enthusiasm when the firm was founded in 2011, but whose passion for hardware now resonates with plenty of investors. Read More
from TechCrunch
The world of coffee is one often torn between the old and the new, traditional brewing techniques and the latest, coolest method. But if there’s one area pretty much anyone would agree improvements could be made, high tech or otherwise, it’s instant coffee. Sudden Coffee is looking to do just that with good beans, better tech, and a web-based business model. Read More
from TechCrunch
Snap, the parent of Snapchat, had a great first two days on the stock market, only to be followed by two terrible ones. Shares quickly tumbled to beneath $22, an over 11% drop in morning trading. This means that most investors are already losing money on the social media company. Snap opened Thursday at $24 per share. It is still above its $17 IPO price, but that’s mainly relevant for… Read More
from TechCrunch
Australian peer-to-peer car parking marketplace Spacer has acquired U.S.-based Roost, which provides the same services stateside from its San Francisco-based headquarters. It’s a move that lets Spacer make its entry into the U.S. market without having to establish its own office and start from scratch. The deal will include rebranding all of Roost’s existing U.S. service… Read More
from TechCrunch
Streaming music service Spotify announced this morning it has acquired a company called Sonalytic, makers of an audio detection technology that can identify songs, mixed content and audio clips, as well as track copyright-protected material, and aid in music discovery. These features line up with services that Spotify offers, making Sonalytic a natural fit for the company, it seems.
Spotify… Read More
from TechCrunch
Last week, GIF-finding platform Giphy revealed a new line of business offering artist-created stickers in Apple’s iMessage app. But what it didn’t announce was that it also made an acquisition to bolster this new sticker strategy. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Giphy quietly acquired imoji, a startup that had developed a popular platform for creators to build and… Read More
from TechCrunch
A subscription commerce startup that sells its own brand of daily disposable contact lenses, Hubble, has raised $16.5 million in a new round of venture funding just five months after having launched its service publicly. One might say the deal happened in the blink of an eye for the startup, which is incorporated as Vision Path Inc. Co-founded by Ben Cogan and Jesse Horwitz, Hubble sells… Read More
from TechCrunch