Grindr, the social network for gay men, has sold a majority 60 percent stake to Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech for $93 million. The deal, which values six-year-old Grindr at $155 million, is the first time that the U.S. company has taken outside investment. Read More
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Mambu, the SaaS banking platform, has raised a further €8 million in funding. The round was led by Acton Capital Partners and CommerzVentures, with participation from existing investors. The additional capital will be used to expand its commercial team, invest in the platform and to open new offices in Asia and the Americas. Read More
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Honestbee, a grocery delivery service backed by Formation 8, has launched in Taipei, its third city so far. Services are already available in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Niseko, Japan. During the first half of this year, Honestbee also plans to expand into Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta. Read More
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Ctrip, the Chinese travel booking site valued at over $10 billion, has taken a big step in India after it agreed to invest $180 million in MakeMyTrip, a fellow booking service that covers flights, hotels and bus ticketing in the South Asian country. Read More
from TechCrunch
This week at CES, IBM unveiled a some new Watson partnerships that underscore its push into big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence. But at the same time, the company has quietly divested itself of an older asset. Today it was announced that Salary.com — a portal for people to find and compare remuneration data across lots of different industries, as well as look for… Read More
from TechCrunch
Hudson’s Bay Company, the owner of department chain stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, said today it was acquiring Gilt Groupe for $250 million. The sale still represents a tough end to the story of Gilt. The startup was one of the original darling flash-sale sites coming out of New York. But that whole market has found itself challenged by slim operating margins, its initial popularity… Read More
from TechCrunch
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Apple has acquired Emotient, an artificial intelligence startup. The company confirmed the move to the WSJ. The San Diego-based company was founded in 2012 and has raised $8M from investors like Intel Capital and Seth Neiman, and had been tinkering around with products like Google Glass and other wearables. Most recently the company was… Read More
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It was only last July that HomeToGo, a European ‘metasearch’ engine for holiday rentals, raised €6 million in Series A funding. And now competitor Holidu has gotten in on the fundraising action. The Munich-based company has closed a €5 million Series A round led by EQT ventures. Also participating is Venture Stars, and Senovo, who join existing angel investors led by… Read More
from TechCrunch
PushDoctor, the U.K. ‘on-demand’ service that enables you to have a video consultation with a doctor, has raised $8.2 million in funding — money it plans to use to develop the data side of its offering to improve the way it integrates with other healthcare providers and to significantly bolster marketing. Read More
from TechCrunch
Tracxn, a company that tracks and analyzes data about startups, has added entrepreneur Ratan Tata as an angel investor. Though the amount of new funding was undisclosed, Tata’s contribution is noteworthy because he is one of India’s most renowned businessmen. The former chairman of conglomerate Tata Group, Tata began investing in tech startups last year. His portfolio now… Read More
from TechCrunch