London-based Entrepreneur First (EF) — the self-described “talent first” investor that backs (mostly) technical founders, often straight out of university, “pre-team, pre-idea” — is expanding internationally, setting up shop in Singapore. The new programme, which will see 400 technical individuals recruited and helped to found startups over the next 4 years,… Read More
from TechCrunch
Microsoft is further expanding on its investment in Minecraft, bought in 2014 for $2.5 billion, by acquiring a learning game called MinecraftEdu for an undisclosed sum. The game, produced by a company called Teacher Gaming LLC, allows teachers to use Minecraft in the classroom, and includes a library of lessons and activities used to teach subjects including STEM, history, language, and art. Read More
from TechCrunch
Earlier this week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced a set of initiatives, called Startup India, designed to help the country’s fledgling tech companies and their investors. One of the first Silicon Valley venture capital firms to take advantage of Startup India is Storm Ventures, which just launched a new fund for SaaS startups in India. Read More
from TechCrunch
Techstars London alumni eRated is another startup taking aim at the online reputation problem, specifically relating to online sellers. Targeting online marketplaces, it lets sellers of a product or service create one online profile to rule them all that consolidates and makes portable their seller history and reputation imported from all of the disperate marketplaces and social sites… Read More
from TechCrunch
Telensa is quite a possibly a U.K. tech success story you haven’t heard of. The company, which develops ‘smart city’ solutions has made a land grab in its home country and is looking distinctively like the domestic leader in smart street lighting, as local governments seek ways to reduce energy consumption. Read More
from TechCrunch
If you want proof that Android is the operating system of emerging markets, look no further than Indus OS. The company, formerly known as Firstouch, is tweaking the Google-run operating system to the unique demands and cultures of India. And it’s raised $5 million in fresh funding to push on with its lofty target of reach one billion emerging market users. Read More
from TechCrunch
Neura, a platform that helps users personalize connected devices while guarding their data, will promote its new software development kit after raising a $11 million Series A. The round was led by AXA Strategic Partners and Pitango Venture Capital, with participation from Liberty Israel Venture Fund and Lenovo Group. Read More
from TechCrunch
Alibaba isn’t the only e-commerce service in China with a financial services arm capable of raising large amounts of external funding. While Alibaba’s Ant Financial raised an undisclosed round last summer at a colossal $45-$50 billion valuation, its rival e-commerce giant JD.com’s money-focused unit is also in the money after it took in RMB 6.65 billion from a clutch of… Read More
from TechCrunch
Appcelerator has been acquired. The mobile app development platform that counts the likes of T-Mobile, PayPal and GameStop among its customers has been bought by the B2B enterprise company Axway in an all-cash deal.
Chances are, Axway isn’t a company you’re necessarily familiar with, but it’s a large publicly traded company with headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona… Read More
from TechCrunch
Estimote, a beacon company whose small, wireless sensors and accompanying software provide indoor location technology to some of the largest retailers as well as 65 percent of the Fortune 100, has now closed on $10.7 million in Series A funding. The round will help the business scale to meet the needs of its current customer base, around half of which is retail, as well as fund R&D… Read More
from TechCrunch