Customer experience startup Clootrack raises $4M, helps brands see through their customers' eyes

Getting inside the mind of customers is a challenge as behaviors and demands shift, but Clootrack believes it has cracked the code in helping brands figure out how to do that. It announced $4 million in Series A funding, led by Inventus Capital India, and included existing investors Unicorn India V

SimpliFed serves up $500,000 pre-seed toward infant nutrition support

Feeding babies can take many different forms, and is also an area where parents can feel less supported as they navigate this new milestone in their lives. Enter SimpliFed, an Ithaca, New York-based company providing virtual lactation and a baby feeding support platform. The startup announced Frida

Zip acquisition of Payflex means Africa is ripe for BNPL disruption

Australian buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Zip this week acquired South Africa-based BNPL player Payflex for an undisclosed amount. It’s a piece of news that once again highlights the hype around BNPL services and the quest for global dominance among the leading players. Thi

For VCs, the game right now is musical chairs

In many ways, there has never been a better time to be a venture capitalist. Nearly everyone in the industry is raking in money, either through long-awaited exits or because more capital flooding into the industry has meant more money in management fees  — and sometimes both. Still, a growin

Firefly launches its first rocket, but loses the launch craft in midflight explosion

Firefly launched its first rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and on board it carried a number of payloads with an intended destination of low-Earth orbit. The rocket took off as planned, and seemed to be doing fairly well during the initial portion of the launch, before experie

DoorDash workers protest outside CEO Tony Xu’s home demanding better pay, tip transparency and PPE

California DoorDash workers protested outside of the home of DoorDash CEO Tony Xu on Thursday, prompted by a recent California superior court judge ruling calling 2020's Proposition 22 unconstitutional. Prop 22, which was passed last November in California, would allow app-based companies like

Bangkok-based insurtech Sunday banks $45M Series B from investors like Tencent

Sunday, an insurtech startup based in Bangkok, announced it has raised a $45 million Series B. Investors include Tencent, SCB 10X, Vertex Growth, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, Granite Oak, Quona Capital, Aflac Ventures and Z Venture Capital. The company says the round was oversubscrib

BMW Group’s Neue Klasse lineup to focus on circular economy to achieve reduction in CO2 emissions

The BMW Group announced Thursday its intentions to commit to a 50% reduction from 2019 levels in global carbon dioxide emissions during the use-phase of its vehicles by 2030, as well as a 40% reduction in emissions during the life cycle of the vehicle. These goals, including a plan to focus on the

Startups should look to state-of-the-art tech to tackle diseases affecting women

Startups devoted to reproductive and women's health are on the rise. However, most of them deal with women's fertility: birth control, ovulation and the inability to conceive. The broader field of women's health remains neglected. Historically, most of our understanding of ailments come

Daily Crunch: 8 Indian banks launch Account Aggregator to centralize consumers’ financial data

To get a roundup of technewss's biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Thursday, September 2, 2021. technewss is largely off tomorrow thanks to a pan-Yahoo corporate reprieve. But don't worr

FAA grounds Virgin Galactic amidst investigation into July mission

Remember that story we posted earlier today about Virgin Galactic's first commercial flight scheduled to launch in September? We may have spoken too soon. This afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was grounding all Virgin Galactic flights until further notice, pending the resu

Roli is rebooting as Luminary, following financial struggles

I was fascinated by Roli the first time I saw founder/CEO Roland Lamb bending the keys of the Seaboard back at SXSW in 2013. Over the years, the London-based company has continued to offer creative musical solutions, including 2016's modular Blocks system. Of course, creativity and runaway star

Get your pitch-off on with our Disrupt Startup Alley companies on upcoming episodes of Extra Crunch Live

Disrupt is right around the corner, and this year the show is packed to the brim with incredible panels and conversations, an absolutely stacked Startup Battlefield cohort of companies launching on our stage, investor insights and a virtual expo hall full of exciting new products and services in th

Nikola and Bosch ink deal for hydrogen fuel cell modules

Beleaguered electric truck developer Nikola Corp. has inked a new agreement with Bosch for its hydrogen fuel cell modules. The modules will be used to power two of Nikola's hydrogen-fueled semi-trucks, the short-haul Nikola Tre and Nikola Two sleeper. “This announcement is the result of a mu