An accelerator and fund that backs innovative food and beverage companies, AccelFoods, has added $15 million to its second fund, according to founding partners Jordan Gaspar and Lauren Jupiter. AccelFoods has backed brands making products that range from edgy to adorable. Examples are Exo, which makes protein supplements and bars from crickets (yes the insects), Four Sigmatic which uses a… Read More
from TechCrunch
Amazon has quietly made one more acquisition to build out the productivity services on its cloud platform AWS. The company has acquired Do.com, a startup that had built a platform to make meetings more productive by doing things like managing notes in preparation for them, and creating reports for those who were not there, as well as organising the meetings themselves. Amazon is… Read More
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Localytics, the Boston-based mobile engagement platform, has acquired Berlin’s Tapglue, which offered mobile app developers an API and backend service to enable them to easily add social features to their apps. Terms of the deal remain undisclosed. Read More
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Norwegian startup Gobi raised $500,000 at a $15 million valuation to take on Snapchat with its “Stories” communication tool. The platform enables users to create public and private groups where users can share photos and videos that stay around for three days before vanishing into digital pixel-dust. Read More
from TechCrunch
There can be little doubt that journalism and media is under a bit of an onslaught at the moment. The desire to deliver independent, trustworthy news runs deep, but can often be at odds with pressures from owners and advertisers. To that end, 44-year-old magazine New Internationalist is turning to its readers in a “community share offer” in a bid for sustained independence. Read More
from TechCrunch
Sources tell us that Google is acquiring Kaggle, a platform that hosts data science and machine learning competitions. Details about the transaction remain somewhat vague, but given that Google is hosting its Cloud Next conference in San Francisco this week, the official announcement could come as early as tomorrow. Reached by phone, Kaggle co-founder CEO Anthony Goldbloom declined to… Read More
from TechCrunch
Grocery delivery startup Instacart has raised approximately $400 million in a new round of venture funding at a valuation of $3.4 billion according to sources familiar with the deal. Axios broke news that Instacart was in talks to close this mammoth venture deal last week. Instacart executives declined to comment for this story. Over the past year, Instacart has weathered controversies… Read More
from TechCrunch
Wrapify, the startup that will pay you to wrap your car with an advertisement, has raised $3M in seed funding. As a refresher, the startup provides a two-side marketplace that matches up drivers wanting to make some extra money with brands looking for a unique way to advertise. Eligible drivers will get their car wrap installed (and removed) for free, and on average are paid $450 a month for… Read More
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GV (formerly known as Google Ventures) and DBL Partners co-led a $40 million investment in Farmers Business Network Inc., the company announced on Tuesday. FBN started out as something of a professional network for farmers and other agronomists. It allowed people working in agriculture to anonymously share information about what they were paying for seeds, fertilizers, and other… Read More
from TechCrunch
Lemnos, a seed-stage, hardware-focused venture firm in San Francisco, is today announcing the close of its third and newest fund, with $50 million in commitments. It’s a proud moment for co-founder Jeremy Conrad, whose pitch for Lemnos wasn’t met with a lot of enthusiasm when the firm was founded in 2011, but whose passion for hardware now resonates with plenty of investors. Read More
from TechCrunch