São Paulo’s QuintoAndar real estate platform raises $120M, now valued at $5.1B

Less than three months after announcing a $300 million Series E, Brazilian proptech QuintoAndar has raised an additional $120 million. New investors Greenoaks Capital and China's Tencent co-led the round, which included participation from some existing backers as well. São Paulo-based QuintoAn

A mathematician walks into a bar (of disinformation)

Disinformation, misinformation, infotainment, algowars — if the debates over the future of media the past few decades have meant anything, they've at least left a pungent imprint on the English language. There's been a lot of invective and fear over what social media is doing to us, from

Nvidia-ARM takeover raises serious antitrust concerns, finds UK’s CMA

The U.K.’s competition watchdog has raised serious concerns about Nvidia’s proposed takeover of chip designer, ARM. Its assessment was published today by the government, which will now need to decide whether to ask the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to carry out an in-depth pro

Cardiomatics bags $3.2M for its ECG-reading AI

Poland-based health tech AI startup Cardiomatics has announced a $3.2 million seed raise to expand use of its electrocardiogram (ECG) reading automation technology. The round is led by Central and Eastern European VC Kaya, with Nina Capital, Nova Capital and Innovation Nest also participating.

Greycroft leads $3.5M into Breef, an online marketplace for ad agencies

Breef raised $3.5 million in funding to continue developing what it boasts as “the world's first online marketplace” for transactions between brands and agencies. Greycroft led the round and was joined by Rackhouse Ventures, The House Fund, John and Helen McBain, Lance Armstrong and 640 Oxf

Rutter comes out of stealth with $1.5M in funding for its e-commerce API

Rutter, a remote-first company, is developing a unified e-commerce API that enables companies to connect with data across any platform. On Friday the company announced it was emerging from stealth with $1.5 million in funding from a group of investors including Haystack, Liquid 2 and Basis Set Vent

Communication software startup Channels takes on event management with text workflow

Three University of Michigan students are building Channels Inc., a communication software tailored for physical workers, and already racking up some big customers in the event management industry. Siddharth Kaul, 18, Elan Rosen, 20, and Ibrahim Mohammed, 20, started the company after finding some

Apple launches a new iOS app, ‘Siri Speech Study,’ to gather feedback for Siri improvements

Apple recently began a research study designed to collect speech data from study participants. Earlier this month, the company launched on the App Store a new iOS app called “Siri Speech Study“, which allows participants who have opted in to share their voice requests and other feedback

China passes data protection law

China has passed a personal data protection law, state media Xinhua reports (via Reuters). The law, called the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), is set to take effect on November 1. It was proposed last year — signalling an intent by China’s communist leaders t

Facebook launches program to help small Indian businesses secure loans

Facebook is launching a new program in India to help small and medium-sized businesses secure loans in the South Asian market as the company makes a further push to expand its presence among merchants. The social conglomerate said its new program, called Small Business Loans Initiative, addresses s

Alerzo raises $10.5M Series A to bring Nigeria's informal retail sector online

The process of digitizing the operations of mom and pop stores in Nigeria is serious business right now. In fact, it might be the second-best thing after fintech at the moment. Today’s news is from Alerzo, a little-known B2B e-commerce retail startup based in Ibadan, Nigeria. The company is a

Microsoft backs India’s Oyo ahead of IPO

Microsoft has invested $5 million in Indian budget hotel chain Oyo, according to a regulatory filing this week. The investment confirms a technewss scoop from last month. The new investment values Oyo at $9.6 billion, only slightly below the $10 billion implied valuation from the Indian startup

Top four highlights of Elon Musk’s Tesla AI Day

Elon Musk wants Tesla to be seen as “much more than an electric car company.” On Thursday's Tesla AI Day, the CEO described Tesla as a company with “deep AI activity in hardware on the inference level and on the training level” that can be used down the line for applications beyond self

Musk: The Tesla Bot is coming

Remember that weird Will Smith movie about robots? Yeah, neither do we. But Elon Musk does. Tesla is developing a 5'8” Tesla Bot, with a prototype expected sometime next year. The news comes during Tesla's inaugural AI Day, which was streamed on the company’s website Thursday night.