TechCrunch Disrupt alum UnifyID has the clear goal of changing the way we think about authentication. Instead of entering a username and password as the only line of defense to our computer systems, it wants us to rely on other data that comes from the phone in our pockets. That smartphone has a number of sensors in it like an accelerometer and a GPS, and using the kinds of data it gather… Read More
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Didi Chuxing, the ride-sharing company that forced Uber out of China, has expanded its increasingly global empire after it made an undisclosed investment in Taxify, an Uber-like service that operates in Europe and Africa. Four-year-old Taxify is headquartered in Estonia — three of its founders are ex-Skype — and today it operates in 18 countries, including Hungary, Romania,… Read More
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Carspring, the London and Berlin used car buying platform founded by Rocket Internet, has picked up £5 million in Series B funding. Backing the round are Rocket Internet itself, along with Channel 4’s Commercial Growth Fund, which offers media in the form of TV advertising in return for equity. Read More
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Following sexual harassment allegations that led to the resignation of 500 Startups co-founder Dave McClure, it’s now emerged that the troubled VC firm has abandoned its Canada fund. According to reports in The Globe and Mail and BetaKit, the saga made it difficult to move forward with the next phase of 500 Canada, where it had a profit-sharing relationship. The firm was in the process… Read More
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Snap, the Snapchat parent, closed the day down just 1% after the first phase of the dreaded lockup expiration, which meant that some insiders are now eligible to sell shares. The anticipation of a big selloff had been putting downward pressure on the stock for weeks, but it appears that enough of that fear was already built into the stock price to withstand day one. But while venture… Read More
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We’re taking a look at the IPOs of tech’s biggest players. Next up is Google, which went public in 2004. At the time, the firm frankly told investors that it was “not a conventional company,” and it did “not intend to become one.” For Google, the unconventional attitude worked. But before its IPO more than 10 years ago, the company’s future was… Read More
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Facebook has gone ahead and purchased Charles Jolley’s conversational AI startup Ozlo. Jolley, formerly Head of Platform for Android at Facebook, will not be returning to the company. The Ozlo team is expected to join Facebook to work on natural language processing challenges. Ozlo launched with a consumer facing app back in October 2016. Jolley told me at the time that the… Read More
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Noted venture firm Kleiner Perkins is getting a little leaner. General partner Mike Abbott announced Monday that he’s leaving the team for an undetermined startup role. Separately, its early stage “Edge” team is folding. The instances are unrelated, I am told. Abbott, who joined KPCB in 2011 from Twitter, wrote in a post, “my desire to discover and invest in the next… Read More
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Redfin, the Seattle-based real estate site, had a great first couple days on the stock market. After pricing above the expected range at $15 per share, the stock closed Friday up about 45% at almost $22. Today, shares were up another 11%, closing above $24. With a market cap approaching $2 billion, it’s more than double than the $770 million valuation that Redfin achieved in its last… Read More
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Lost My Name, the London-based startup that uses tech to create and publish personalised story books for children, has raised $8.5 million in Series B funding. It is also revealing an upcoming tie-in with the Roald Dahl Estate, owners of IP such as Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Read More
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