Nine years after launching its online magazine, and three years after diversifying into the subscription box business, FabFitFun has raised $80 million in a growth round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from its previous investors Upfront Ventures and NEA. The Los Angeles-based company has steadily expanded its retail and lifestyle empire through […]
View More FabFitFun raises $80 million for its growing lifestyle brandCategory: money
Chat app Line’s mobile payment service is getting its own Visa card
Brown, Cony and the gang are coming to a credit card near you in Japan. Line, the messaging app company behind the cute sticker characters, announced today that it is bringing its payment service to plastic through a tie-in with Visa. Line is Japan’s largest chat app with an estimated 50 million registered users. The cards […]
View More Chat app Line’s mobile payment service is getting its own Visa cardStarting with data centers, Carbon Relay is slashing energy costs and emissions using AI
Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn International is backing Carbon Relay, a Boston-based startup emerging from stealth today, that’s harnessing the algorithms used by companies like Facebook and Google for artificial intelligence to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the technology industry’s own backyard — the datacenter. Already, the computing demands of the technology industry are responsible for […]
View More Starting with data centers, Carbon Relay is slashing energy costs and emissions using AIMillions of bank loan and mortgage documents have leaked online
A trove of more than 24 million financial and banking documents, representing tens of thousands of loans and mortgages from some of the biggest banks in the U.S., has been found online after a server security lapse. The server, running an Elasticsearch database, had more than a decade’s worth of data, containing loan and mortgage […]
View More Millions of bank loan and mortgage documents have leaked onlineA private equity bet in Latin America proves the strength of fintech investments there
Latin America is getting another fintech unicorn thanks to Advent International’s acquisition of a 51 percent stake of Prisma Medios de Pago, an Argentine payments company formed as a joint venture between Visa International and local banks. The deal, which values Prisma at $1.42 billion, is yet another sign of Latin America’s growing prominence for […]
View More A private equity bet in Latin America proves the strength of fintech investments thereDigital Garage teams up with Blockstream to develop blockchain financial services in Japan
The global crypto market may have tanked last year, but notable names have joined forces to develop Bitcoin and blockchain financial services in Japan, which has emerged as one of the world’s most crypto-friendly markets. Blockstream, a blockchain startup founded by Bitcoin contributors, announced this week that it has launched a joint venture in Japan […]
View More Digital Garage teams up with Blockstream to develop blockchain financial services in JapanRedpoint Ventures is raising another $400M to invest in Chinese companies
Redpoint Ventures is doubling down on China. The firm, headquartered in Menlo Park, has filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $400 million across two new China-focused funds. The firm has set a $300 million target for its second flagship China fund, a significant increase from the $180 million it garnered […]
View More Redpoint Ventures is raising another $400M to invest in Chinese companiesFlutterwave and Visa launch African consumer payment service GetBarter
Jake Bright Contributor Jake Bright is a writer and author in New York City. He is co-author of The Next Africa. More posts by this contributor Harley Davidson reveals more about its push into electric vehicles Venture capital, global expansion, blockchain and drones characterize African tech in 2018 Fintech startup Flutterwave has partnered with Visa to launch […]
View More Flutterwave and Visa launch African consumer payment service GetBarterContabilizei raises $20 million to ease Brazilians’ tax pain
Online tax filing and accounting service, Contabilizei, has raised $20 million in a new round of financing led by Point72 Ventures, the early stage investment arm associated with hedge fund guru Steven Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management. Smart money in both the venture and private equity space has been long Brazil for a bit, and the new investment […]
View More Contabilizei raises $20 million to ease Brazilians’ tax painAmerican Express acquires Japan-based restaurant booking service Pocket Concierge
American Express has made an acquisition in Japan after it picked up restaurant booking service Pocket Concierge in an undisclosed deal. The acquisition was announced in Japanese and in English by James Riney, the head of 500 Startups Japan which invested in Pocket Concierge as one of its first deals in the country. The service was launched in […]
View More American Express acquires Japan-based restaurant booking service Pocket ConciergeStartups Weekly: Will Trump ruin the unicorn IPOs of our dreams?
We explore the government shutdown’s connection to tech IPOs, recount the demise of a well-funded AR project and introduce readers to an AI-enabled self-checkout shopping cart in this week’s startups weekly.
View More Startups Weekly: Will Trump ruin the unicorn IPOs of our dreams?Crypto mining giant Bitmain is reportedly getting a new CEO as its IPO plan stalls
Bitmain, the Chinese crypto miner maker, looks like it has reached an interesting point in its pathway to going public. There’s been little heard since the company filed to go public in Hong Kong in September, but now it appears that a new CEO has been hired and its two founders are leaving. That’s according […]
View More Crypto mining giant Bitmain is reportedly getting a new CEO as its IPO plan stalls