Penta, the German ‘challenger’ bank that offers a digital bank account targeting SMEs, has raised €2.2 million in funding. The seed round is led by Inception Venture Capital, a new London-based VC firm with a heavy fintech focus, and will be used for further hiring, product development and to fuel growth. Read More
from TechCrunch
Is there a point when investors will turn off the spigots for giant unicorn funding rounds? If so, we haven’t reached that threshold yet. Here, we break down the leading locations for new and existing unicorns, top sectors for investment capital, exits and a few other trends affecting the space. Read More
from TechCrunch
Bustle, the everything blog for millennial women, is hustling to close on around $30 million in new funding as it goes on the prowl for new acquisitions. It’s a significant cash infusion for a company that has created a mini, millennial-focused media empire that reaches nearly 80 million unique monthly visitors across its sites. Read More
from TechCrunch
Tamatem, a startup backed by 500 Startups that creates localised versions of popular games so that they resonate better with users in Arabic speaking countries, has picked up $2.5 million in Series A funding. The round is led by Wamda Capital, with participation from Discovery Nusantara Capital, Raed Ventures, Vision Venture Capital, and Seed Equity Venture Partners. Read More
from TechCrunch
Meet Wildmoka, a French startup that wants to streamline video editing during live events. Wildmoka is particularly useful for broadcasting companies that want to share highlights of live TV programs on social networks.
The company just raised an $8 million Series A round led by Alven Capital, with existing investor Apicap also participating.
Clients tend to use Wildmoka for all sorts of… Read More
from TechCrunch
Print service CanvasPop has been making money inking photos onto all sorts of substrates, from canvas to cushions, for years. But the largely boostrapped Canada-based, 2009-founded company has just announced its first VC round — taking in $3.3M. Read More
from TechCrunch
Just about every startup has aspirations to be a platform play. One of the main issues companies typically face on that journey is that just because they build an API doesn’t mean developers are going to adopt it. German API startup CloudRail wants to help. It not only provides a set of tools to simplify implementing your API, but also offers a marketplace and a community of developers… Read More
from TechCrunch
Alibaba has added an additional angle to the announcement of its latest financial report today with news that it is taking a 33 percent stake in Ant Financial, its affiliated fintech business that operates Alipay and other financial services. The deal, which both parties said stems from an agreement made in 2014, will see Alibaba pick up newly issued shares in Ant. It will also mark an end to… Read More
from TechCrunch
Between smart speakers, mobile devices and a growing army of connected home products, voice interfaces are poised to continue growing at a rapid clip. We’re still very much in the early days, but Seattle-based startup Pulse Labs is hoping to be among the first to help build a more tailored experience for apps built on top of Alexa, Google Assistant and the like. Read More
from TechCrunch
Uberall, the Berlin-headquartered startup that has developed a cloud-based platform to let small and large businesses get listed and market themselves across multiple location-based services, has picked up $25 million in Series B funding. Read More
from TechCrunch