Despite scrapped IPO, Babbel sees fast growth for its language learning service

Berlin-based language learning service Babbel was supposed to IPO on the Frankfurt stock exchange in late September. But only a few days before the initial listing the company pulled the plug with an eye on the developing Evergrande debt crisis that made the global stock markets very nervous. It ha

Apple’s App Store Connect will be open on Christmas: Can developers take advantage?

Apple is breaking with holiday tradition: The company announced early last month that its App Store will continue to review developer submissions over the holidays, welcome news for app developers facing their busiest season. Previously, an app that needed to release a bug fix or a critical update

Dear Sophie: What's allowed between a K-1 visa and a green card?

??Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies. “Your questions are vital to the spread of knowledge that allows people all over the world to rise above borders and pursue their dreams,”

AngelList just closed a $25M fund to back startups based on hiring velocity

Over the past year, AngelList has grown from a platform that connects angel investors with startups to an end-to-end suite of tools, working on everything from fund operations to founder cap table management. Throughout this growth, the company has quietly amassed millions of data points that show

Sage acquires remaining stake in retail management platform Brightpearl for $340M

Enterprise software giant Sage has acquired the remaining stake in Brightpearl, originally a U.K.-based startup in cloud retail management, for $340 million. Brightpearl provides a SaaS-based retail operating system, enabling real-time business insights. Sage previously owned 17% of the Bristol, U.

Carve out a place for your brand with a positioning statement

It's human nature to reflexively categorize and sort the information we encounter in our daily lives. To influence the way prospective customers understand your brand, you must present it in a way that helps them decide how to think about your brand. This process is called positioning, and it&#

Serial fintech founder raises $20M for Ant Money to make micro-investing even more accessible

Serial fintech entrepreneur Walter Cruttenden founded Acorns with his son, Jeff, in 2012 with the goal of helping low- and middle-income households invest and save responsibly. The pair wanted to simplify investing for the millions that have trouble getting started or continuing to invest. Then in

Amazon seeks India antitrust watchdog’s approval to buy Catamaran stake in Cloudtail-parent firm Prione

Amazon is seeking an Indian antitrust watchdog’s approval to buy Catamaran Ventures' stake in Prione, which operates one of the largest sellers on the e-commerce platform, months after the two firms said they won't renew their joint venture after May next year. The announcement comes

How does former Better.com CEO Vishal Garg still have a job?

With everything that has gone down at Better.com over the past 18 months, many of us are scratching our heads in wonder that CEO Vishal Garg remains employed. On December 10, employees of the digital mortgage lender were notified via email by the Better board of directors that Garg would be taking

The investment manager of the future

What does an investment management firm look like when it’s redesigned based on first principles and based on the true “jobs to be done” of an investment manager? “Even millennial-friendly platforms like Betterment, RobinHood and Wealthfront are only approaching their businesses

Array Ventures raises $56M to back tech-heavy enterprise software

Shruti Gandhi wants to clear up a misconception in first-check fundraising: Every founder doesn't need their early-stage investors to be a shoulder for them, they just need their investor to understand their business in a way that others don't. Most of the entrepreneurs in her portfolio for

Create target customer personas to develop successful growth strategies

To create successful growth strategies, relevant marketing campaigns and products that deliver real value to your customers, you must first understand your customers. Doing that requires studying them, talking to them and building target personas to help you make them real to your team. Developing

OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely steps down, appoints spokesperson as CEO

OnlyFans founder and CEO Tim Stokely is stepping down, Bloomberg reports. His successor is Ami Gan, the company’s former head of communications and marketing. This move comes after a tenuous year for OnlyFans, in which the company said it would ban the sex workers that thrive on the platform,

Calibrate Ventures raises $97M for second fund targeting AI, automation

Calibrate Ventures, a four-year-old early-stage venture capital firm backing startups leveraging artificial intelligence and automation, debuted its second fund, a $97 million vehicle that is about 25% higher than its previous fund. With Calibrate Fund II, the firm has $175 million in assets under