ICOs have barely touched mainstream tech companies. But that all changes this week as Kik begins selling its Kin token in an ICO targeted at raising $125 million. The sale bucks ICO trends, and it could prove to be a seminal event for the tech industry at large. Read More
from TechCrunch
Genetics testing company 23andMe has formally announced that Sequoia Capital is leading an investment round in the company. This confirms the news we broke last week. The press release says that the final amount was $250 million and that Sequoia’s Roelof Botha will be taking a board seat. Others participating in the round include new investors Euclidean Capital, Altimeter Capital and… Read More
from TechCrunch
Southeast Asia-based fashion marketplace Zilingo has closed an $18 million Series B funding round led by Sequoia Capital India and Burda Principal Investments. Zilingo was founded less than two years ago by ex Sequoia analyst Ankiti Bose (CEO) and former Yahoo engineer Dhruv Kapoor (CTO). The basic vision is to help Southeast Asia’s thriving independent fashion sellers and… Read More
from TechCrunch
Singapore’s Red Dot Payment, a payment gateway startup founded by a team of ex Visa and MasterCard executives, has closed a $5.2 million Series B round to grow its business.
Existing backers GMO Venture Partners from Japan, Wavemaker Partners, Skype co-founder Toivo Annus and MDI Ventures put into the round. New investor DORR Group also took part. The startup previously raised an… Read More
from TechCrunch
Autonomous vehicle startup Zoox is in talks with Japanese investment firm SoftBank to raise more funding. We’ve confirmed the news, which was first reported by Axios. We’re hearing the discussions are in the early stages and nothing has been finalized, but that SoftBank has been interested in Zoox for a while. The startup is also talking to other unnamed potential investors.… Read More
from TechCrunch
Well, this is quite a coup. Entrepreneur First (EF), the London headquartered company builder that invests in individuals “pre-team, pre-idea” to help create new technology startups, has raised $12.4 million in new funding led by Silicon Valley’s Greylock Partners. Read More
from TechCrunch
Filling out forms online and on mobile can be a tedious and bug-ridden — yet annoyingly necessary — experience. Today, a startup called Typeform has raised a significant round of capital to help fund its mission to change all that, with a platform for third parties to help turn our form frowns upside down.
The startup, based out of Barcelona, is today announced a Series B of $35… Read More
from TechCrunch
Startup funding and exiting activity has been slow over the past few months in the U.S. Fewer companies closed rounds, IPO volumes were light, and not a lot of big M&A deals got done. But that’s to be expected, right? After all, it was summer break. Now that Labor Day’s over and we’re back at our desks, we can expect deal volumes to pick up. That seasonal explanation for… Read More
from TechCrunch
Credit score business Equifax revealed Thursday that 143 million people were compromised in a cyber attack. Social security numbers and other personally identifying information were accessed. And guess what, the stock market didn’t like it! The company lost about $2 billion in market cap Friday after tumbling nearly 14%. Apparently, the company has known about the hack since July 29,… Read More
from TechCrunch
After a pivot and months of speculation about the future of car valet and concierge startup Luxe, the company has finally found a home. Today, automaker Volvo Cars announced that it is acquiring the startup’s platform, technology, key staff and other assets, which it will use to put some fuel into its own digital services strategy. The terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed, but… Read More
from TechCrunch