Grab, the $16 billion-valued ride-hailing firm that acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia business last year, is in talks with Alibaba’s Ant Financial and PayPal as it considers spinning out of its financial services unit to double down on its non-transportation business, TechCrunch has learned. The seven-year-old company’s coming-of-age moment was a deal to buy Uber’s regional […]
View More Grab is talking to Ant Financial and PayPal about spinning out its financial services businessCategory: funding
The FT is buying another media startup: Deal Street Asia
Fresh from picking up a majority stake in Europe-based The Next Web, the Financial Times is buying another tech blog. The newspaper, which was founded in 1888, is adding Singapore-based Deal Street Asia to its roster with a deal expected to close in April, according to three sources with knowledge of discussions. Founded in 2014 […]
View More The FT is buying another media startup: Deal Street AsiaBoundless gets $7.8M to help immigrants navigate the convoluted green card process
Foundry Group has led the round for Boundless, an information platform providing immigrants tools and support.
View More Boundless gets $7.8M to help immigrants navigate the convoluted green card processKong raises $43M Series C for its API platform
Kong, the open core API management and lifecycle management company previously known as Mashape, today announced that it has raised a $43 million Series C round led by Index Ventures. Previous investors Andreessen Horowitz and Charles River Ventures (CRV), as well as new investors GGV Capital and World Innovation Lab also participated. With this round, […]
View More Kong raises $43M Series C for its API platformOcean drone startup merger spawns SoFar, the DJI of the sea
What lies beneath the murky depths? SolarCity co-founder Peter Rive wants to help you and the scientific community find out. He’s just led a $7 million Series A for SoFar Ocean Technologies, a new startup formed from a merger he orchestrated between underwater drone maker OpenROV and sea sensor developer Spoondrift. Together, they’re teaming up […]
View More Ocean drone startup merger spawns SoFar, the DJI of the seaProxy raises $13.6M to unlock anything with Bluetooth identity
You know how kings used to have trumpeters heralding their arrival wherever they went? Proxy wants to do that with Bluetooth. The startup lets you instantly unlock office doors and reserve meeting rooms using Bluetooth Low Energy signal. You never even have to pull out your phone or open an app. But Proxy is gearing […]
View More Proxy raises $13.6M to unlock anything with Bluetooth identityArtiphon raises $2M round led by Warner Music
Artiphon, the startup behind the electronic instrument that it’s dubbed the Instrument 1, has raised $2 million in seed funding. We previously described the Instrument 1 as a symphony, rock band and DJ that you can hold in your hand. It’s a device that allows you to create the sounds of a guitar, violin, bass, […]
View More Artiphon raises $2M round led by Warner MusicGoodly replaces lame office perks with student loan repayment
There are better employee perks than a ping-pong table. 70 percent of Americans graduate college with student loan debt. That’s 45 million people who owe $1.6 trillion. So when employers use Goodly to offer $100 per month in student loan payback for a $6 fee, talent sticks around. The startup found 86 percent of employees said […]
View More Goodly replaces lame office perks with student loan repaymentAlibaba, Tencent and other major names form $1.45B ride-hailing venture
For the last two years, Didi has been the dominant car-hailing force in China and its success has spawned a handful of competitors initiated by both internet firms and old-school carmakers. Just last week, another notable challenger has stepped up. T3, which is short for “top 3”, officially launched after a dozen entities, including three […]
View More Alibaba, Tencent and other major names form $1.45B ride-hailing ventureAustralian influencer marketing startup Tribe raises $7.5M as it eyes U.S. expansion
Tribe, which helps brands acquire content from so-called “micro-influencers,” has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. The startup was founded in Australia in 2015 by TV and radio host Jules Lund, who told me he was responding to the growing demand for branded content. “Brands are desperate for content,” Lund said. “When you have […]
View More Australian influencer marketing startup Tribe raises $7.5M as it eyes U.S. expansionVlocity nabs $60M Series C investment on $1B valuation
As we wrote last week in How Salesforce paved the way for the SaaS platform approach, the ability to build extensions, applications and even whole companies on top of the Salesforce platform set the stage and the bar for every SaaS company since. Vlocity certainly recognized that. Targeting five verticals, it built industry-specific CRM solutions […]
View More Vlocity nabs $60M Series C investment on $1B valuationCross-border fintech startup Airwallex raises $100M at a valuation of over $1B
Australia-based Airwallex is the tech startup to enter the billion-dollar ‘unicorn club.’ The company announced today that it has closed a $100 million Series C round that values its business above $1 billion. Started in Melbourne in 2015 by four Chinese founders, Airwallex provides a service that lets companies manage cross-border revenue and financing in […]
View More Cross-border fintech startup Airwallex raises $100M at a valuation of over $1B