Novakid’s investors bet $35M that it can teach kids English

If you're trying to develop fluency in a non-native tongue, language immersion is a crucial part of the learning process. Surrounding yourself with native speakers helps with pronunciation, context building, and most of all, confidence. But what if you're an eight-year-ol

Demand Curve: Questions you need to answer in your paid search ads

Around 15% of website traffic comes through paid search ads. But to turn passive searchers into active shoppers, your ads should answer their question and entice them to click. We’ve tested thousands of paid search ads at Demand Curve and through our agency Bell Curve. This post breaks down 1

Planted raises another $21M to expand its growing plant-based meat empire (and add schnitzel)

Swiss alternative protein company Planted has raised its second round of the year, a CHF 19 million (about $21 million at present) “pre-B” fundraise that will help it continue its growth and debut new products. A U.S. launch is in the cards eventually, but for now Planted’s exclus

MGA Thermal raises $8M AUD led by Main Sequence for its modular energy storage blocks

"attachment_2184449" aria-describedby="" style="width: 680px">MGA Thermal co-founders Erich Kisi and Alex Post. Image Credits: MGA Thermal MGA Thermal wants to help utility companies transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources with shoebox-sized thermal energy storage blocks. The compan

Amazon will pay you $10 in credit for your palm print biometrics

How much is your palm print worth? If you ask Amazon, it’s about $10 in promotional credit if you enroll your palm prints in its checkout-free stores and link it to your Amazon account. Last year, Amazon introduced its new biometric palm print scanners, Amazon One, so customers can pay for go

Can your startup support a research-based workflow?

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology predicts that U.S. companies will spend upward of $100 billion on AI R&D per year by 2025. Much of this spending today is done by six tech companies — Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM, Facebook and Apple, according to a recent st

Google is building its own chip for the Pixel 6

Google just dumped a whole bunch of news about its upcoming Pixel 6 smartphone. Maybe the company was looking to get out in front of August 11's big Samsung event — or perhaps it's just hoping to keep people interested in the months leading up to a big fall announcement (and beat addi

Salesforce steps into RPA buying Servicetrace and teaming it with MuleSoft

Over the last couple of years, robotic process automation or RPA has been red hot with tons of investor activity and M&A from companies like SAP, IBM and ServiceNow. UIPath had a major IPO in April and has a market cap over $30 billion. I wondered when Salesforce would get involved and today th

All-electric 2022 Audi e-tron GT and RS e-tron GT provide a pop of tech in understated packaging

Luxury, technology and a whole lot of flash often go hand in hand. In the age of space-faring billionaires, we all expect the latest wiz-bang gadget to look like something from the future, right? Not in Audi’s view. The 2022 Audi e-tron GT and RS e-tron GT are a pair of all-electric grand tou

Google gives the world its first official glimpse of the Pixel 6

While the company isn’t revealing everything about it just yet, this morning Google gave the world its first official peek at its next flagship phone: the Pixel 6. Here’s what we know so far: It’ll come in two forms: Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. The base 6 will have a matte aluminum

The next generation of global payments: Afterpay + Square

Sunday was a big day in fintech: Afterpay has agreed to merge with Square. This agreement sets two of the most admired financial technology companies in recent history on a path to becoming one. Afterpay and Square have the potential to build one of the world's most important payments networks.

Lilium in talks with Brazilian airline for $1B order

German electric aircraft startup Lilium is negotiating the terms for a 220-aircraft, $1 billion order with one of Brazil's largest domestic airlines, the companies said Monday. Should the deal with Azul move forward, it would mark the largest order in Lilium's history and its first foray in

Cloud infrastructure market kept growing in Q2, reaching $42B

It’s often said in baseball that a prospect has a high ceiling, reflecting the tremendous potential of a young player with plenty of room to get better. The same could be said for the cloud infrastructure market, which just keeps growing, with little sign of slowing down any time soon. The ma

Tech leaders can be the secret weapon for supercharging ESG goals

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors should be key considerations for CTOs and technology leaders scaling next generation companies from day one. Investors are increasingly prioritizing startups that focus on ESG, with the growth of sustainable investing skyrocketing. What’s dri