For the average American, the name SoftBank doesn’t mean much. It’s neither soft nor, technically, a bank. It’s a sprawling Japanese mobile carrier, ISP and holding company. And its investment arm has bankrolled some of the world’s largest and most successful upstart technology companies. So where does that cash go, and how is it doled out to startups across the globe? Read More
from TechCrunch
Roivant Sciences, a three-year-old, Basel, Switzerland-based company aiming to one day be a giant holding company for dozens of independent biopharmaceutical companies, has raised $1.1 billion in equity led by the SoftBank Vision Fund — making it the latest in a string of enormous bets by SoftBank, and putting the young outfit more squarely on the radar of the tech world. Read More
from TechCrunch
Here Be Dragons, an immersive production studio focused on virtual reality content, has closed a $10 million Series A round led by Discovery Communications with participation also coming from David Droga and David Jones. The raise sets the virtual reality studio’s valuation at $55 million pre-money. Read More
from TechCrunch
Los Angeles-based Pistol Lake has developed what it thinks could be the next thing in men’s activewear — a line of shirts and other products made with new fabric that could be worn at the gym or out and about. To fund the next evolution of its product expansion, the company has raised $600,000 in new funding. Read More
from TechCrunch
Business intelligence and analytics firm Tableau today announced that it has acquired ClearGraph, a service that lets you query and visualize large amounts of business date through natural language queries (think “this week’s transactions over $500”). Tableau expects to integrate this technology with its own products as it looks to make it easier for its users to use… Read More
from TechCrunch
Buoy, a startup using an intelligent algorithm backed my medical data to guess what ails you, has raised $6.7 million in Series A funding from F-Prime Capital Partners, FundRx and various angel investors to help scale operations. The startup debuted in March of this year to take on WebMD and other online symptom checkers with an algorithm it believes can more accurately diagnose patients.… Read More
from TechCrunch
Railsbank, a relatively new fintech startup co-founded by CEO Nigel Verdon, who previously co-founded money exchange and payments platform Currencycloud, has raised $1.2 million in a funding round led by seed investment firm Firestartr. Read More
from TechCrunch
You’ve likely seen them plastered across your social media accounts, if not on someone’s feet in San Francisco, where the company is based: attractive women’s flats in bright red with black soles, or bright red with pink stripes and blue detailing, or a gray camo pattern with a red sole. Rothy’s, available online only at the company’s site, suddenly seem to be… Read More
from TechCrunch
Pro.com started out as a marketplace that wanted to connect homeowners with home improvement and renovation professionals. Today, however, the company is a tech-centric general contractor with licenses in Washington state and California — and it’s also probably one of the best-funded general contractors. The company today announced that it has raised a $10 million growth… Read More
from TechCrunch
We’re taking a look at the IPOs of tech’s biggest players. Today, we’re taking a look at Microsoft, which went public in 1986 for $21 per share, a price that was both higher than what many expected and a figure that was reportedly higher than Bill Gates wanted. We’ll start with a look at the company’s roots, then look at its IPO numbers and wrap up with notes. Read More
from TechCrunch