Airbnb has finalized its deal to buy social payments startup Tilt, TechCrunch has confirmed. We first reported the acquisition talks last month, but now everything has been made official. We are told that investors will be getting back about $12 million in cash, but the deal value is tens of millions of dollars higher if you include employee retention packages, which were paid for in cash… Read More
from TechCrunch
Voice-powered artificial intelligence is not something that’s easy to set up for just any business, even if it might have real benefits in terms of driving sales or improving customer experience. Voysis is a startup that wants to change that, with an AI platform that can parse natural language input, and that works effectively in specific domains including ecommerce, entertainment and more. Read More
from TechCrunch
MakieLab, a London-based startup that 3D printed and sold custom dolls, has officially shuttered, with a partial exit to Disney. TechCrunch understands that the U.S. entertainment company acquired MakieLab’s tech and assets as early as July last year, a story that I have tried but failed to nail down ever since. Until now, that is. Read More
from TechCrunch
500 Startups is rebooting its efforts in Greater China after it hired a new head of business for the region, which covers mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Edith Yeung, a former executive with browser firm Dolphin Mobile, is taking up the reins. The VC firm had been without a recognized setup in China for some time after former lead Rui Ma relocated to the 500’s U.S. operations… Read More
from TechCrunch
More new VC money sloshing around Europe. This time it comes courtesy of Berlin-based Project A, which has previously invested in companies such as WorldRemit, Lost My Name, and ZenMate. The German VC firm is announcing the closure of its second fund, totalling €140 million, to be invested in early-stage European technology startups. In addition, Project A is closing in on a separate new… Read More
from TechCrunch
Baidu is charging up its video content push after iQiyi, its YouTube-style service in China, raised $1.53 billion from the sale of convertible notes to investors. The deal appears to end speculation that the firm was mulling an IPO.
iQiyi, which had on offer to go independent fall through last year, raised the capital from a number of top-name investors including Hillhouse Capital, Boyu… Read More
from TechCrunch
As our society continues to devalue facts and statistics, Data.world, a two year old data collaboration startup out of Austin, Texas, is fighting back with its passionate community of data nerds. Today the company is announcing a $18.7 million Series B led by Pat Ryan’s family investment group to further build out its platform for aggregating and analyzing data.
CEO Brett Hurt and… Read More
from TechCrunch
Jay Z invested in Uber in 2011 and today it’s worth 200X more. Now he’s getting serious about investing in startups with plans to create his own venture capital firm, according to respected tech journalist Dan Primack’s publication Axios.
Jay Z is building the fund with long-time partner and Roc Nation co-founder Jay Brown. They plan to focus on seed investments in young… Read More
from TechCrunch
MobiTV, one of the first companies (est. 1999) to bring TV services to mobile devices, has raised some funding as it moves into a late-stage pivot to bring its technology to the living room. The company today announced that it has picked up a growth round of $21 million from Oak Investment Partners and Ally Bank. Read More
from TechCrunch
Skurt, the Los Angeles-based rental car delivery startup, has raised $10 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Upfront Ventures (which also led a $1.3 million seed round), and included a strategic investment from BMW, as well as funding from Troy Carter’s Cross Culture Ventures, Expansion VC, Greycroft and Magic Johnson.
Skurt has an interesting take on the rental car… Read More
from TechCrunch