Startups

Google’s Inbox experiment was a glorious thing while it lasted. Launched as an invitation-only service in 2014, it was the company’s next-gen email client. Because it was so good, it’s no surprise Google shut it down in 2019. Thankfully, though, a group of ex-Google/Firebase emplo

Early-stage fintech-focused venture firm Better Tomorrow Ventures has raised $225 million for its second fund — triple the amount it raised for its debut fund that closed in September of 2020. Founded by Sheel Mohnot and Jake Gibson in November of 2019, San Francisco-based Better Tomorrow Ven

Permit.io, a startup that provides a full-stack authorization framework to help other companies build permissions systems into their products, today announced that it has raised a $6 million seed funding round. The round was led by NFX, in addition to previous investor Rainfall Ventures and a numbe

Homebound started out to help people rebuild after their houses were destroyed by California wildfires in 2018. But over time, the company realized that its digital general contracting and “personalized” homebuilding services could be applied to non-disaster use cases as well — especially

Digital fitness and wellness company FitOn has raised $40 million in Series C funding led by Delta-v Capital, the company announced on Tuesday. FitOn is also expanding its reach in wellness by acquiring Tampa-based corporate wellness platform Peerfit. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Peer

Mundi, a financial services platform for cross-border trade, announced today it has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Union Square Ventures.  The investment marks Union Square Ventures's first B2B investment in Latin America, according to partner John Buttrick. The New York

While a world of internet users skeptically grapples with the rise of multimillion-dollar JPGs and crypto exchanges bankrolling celebrity-packed Super Bowl spots, a network of blockchain startups is trying to build friendlier consumer onramps into its vision of the crypto internet. Investors are be

Scrona AG caused a minor splash all the way back in 2015 when it snagged a Guinness World Record for the “smallest inkjet-printed color image.” The 80 × 115 micrometer picture of clownfish was a great talking point for a firm in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign. These days, the ETH Zurich s

During the worst throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, very few people could travel. Meanwhile, both 2021 and 2022 were predicted to be the years of “revenge travel” where people would do a great deal more. Or at least plan more. In the background was a site that allowed people to travel virtually,

Finland-based Swappie refurbishes and resells used iPhones, taking care of the entire process, and selling the refurbished devices via its own marketplace, with a 12-month warranty. Back in 2020, it closed a €35.8 million ($40.6 million) Series B to expand into new markets in Europe. It's now

Large merchants, particularly those that operate in more than one geography, have to support an array of payments methods. Each payment integration requires in-house technical work and the remodeling of one's platform to fit their plugins.  It's an extensive process that has seen some Big

Mental wellness startup MindFi operates throughout APAC, but wants to deliver “culturally competent” care in each of its markets. To do that, it develops programs for its app, available as an employee benefit, with local providers that take into account religion, gender stereotypes, racial repr

Based in Singapore with offices throughout Asia and Australia, Reebelo wants to make buying pre-owned tech as desirable as a brand new device. “What we have seen is that many younger generations are very much open to the idea of sustainable consumption,” co-founder Philip Franta told technewss

According to eMarketer, Japan and Korea's e-commerce markets were estimated at $144 billion and $121 billion, respectively, in 2021. Despite the large e-commerce market size, both countries have fewer e-commerce aggregators than other countries with smaller markets, South Korean e-commerce agg