Catch takes hold of $12M to provide benefits that aren’t tied to employers

Catch is working to make sure that every gig worker has the health and retirement benefits they need. The company, which is in the midst of moving its headquarters to New York, sells health insurance, retirement savings plans and tax withholding directly to freelancers, contractors or anyone uncove

Airtel Africa gets an extra $200M for its mobile money business from QIA

Three months ago, Mastercard invested $100 million in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV) — the mobile money business of telecom Airtel Africa. This was two weeks after it received $200 million from TPG’s Rise Fund. Today, the African telecoms operator said it has secured another investment

Introducing the Open Cap Table Coalition

On Tuesday, the Open Cap Table Coalition announced its launch through an inaugural Medium post. The goal of this project is to standardize startup capitalization table data as well as make it far more accessible, transparent and portable. For those unfamiliar with a cap table, it's a list of wh

Daily Crunch: Scarlett Johansson sues Disney, says streaming release of 'Black Widow' breaches contract

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 July 29, 2021. Between the IPO cycle and earnings it has been quite the day. And Nikola's founder was indicted on three

Another banner quarter as Chromebook shipments grow 75% YOY

Last quarter, Chromebooks saw 275% year-over-year growth up to 12 million units. The figure isn't quite as unwieldy for Q2, but a 75% year-over-year growth is still extremely respectable, with the category hitting 11.9 million shipments, per the latest figures from research firm, Canalys. Chrom

Varda Space Industries closes $42M Series A for off-planet manufacturing

Varda Space Industries has raised a $42 million Series A to bring to manufacturing a key capability that can only be found off-world: microgravity. The eight-month-old startup is looking to establish its first manufacturing facility in space as early as 2023, and by doing so, bring back to Earth ad

4 key areas SaaS startups must address to scale infrastructure for the enterprise

Startups and SMBs are usually the first to adopt many SaaS products. But as these customers grow in size and complexity — and as you rope in larger organizations — scaling your infrastructure for the enterprise becomes critical for success. Below are four tips on how to advance your company'

Robinhood’s stock drops 8% in its first day’s trading

Robinhood priced its public offering at $38 per share last night, the low end of its IPO range. The company was worth around $32 billion at that price. But once the U.S. consumer investing and trading app began to allow investors to trade its shares, they went down sharply, off more than 10% in the

Horizon Blockchain Games raises $4.5M for its NFT trading card game and wallet

Horizon Blockchain Games is — as the name implies — a company building games on the blockchain, along with tools to help others do the same. The company announced today that it has raised another $4.5 million, bringing its total raised to a little over $13 million. Horizon’

Biofourmis receives FDA breakthrough device designation for heart failure “digital therapy”

Kuldeep Singh Rajput, the founder of Boston-based Biofourmis, is imagining a future where heart failure patients go home with a prescription, a wearable sensor and an app. Today, a new FDA designation gets the company one step closer to that goal.  Founded in 2015, Biofourmis is a digital therapeu

Microsoft in talks to back India’s Oyo

Indian budget hotel chain Oyo may have lost a significant portion of its business to the pandemic, but it is inching closer to finding a new investor: Microsoft. Microsoft is in advanced stages of talks to invest in Oyo, valuing the Indian startup at about $9 billion, according to people with know

Livestream e-commerce: Why companies and brands need to tune in

What comes to mind when you think of livestreaming? In the U.S., most people would name their favorite celebrity leading a Q&A on Instagram or a gamer doing a speedrun on Twitch. In China, it's shopping, streamed live. Livestream e-commerce has taken off in China in the last

Scarlett Johansson files suit over Disney+ 'Black Widow' release

Update: Disney issued the following response to the suit, There is no merit whatsoever to this filing. The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson's co

Panic sells 20,000+ Playdate handhelds in under 20 minutes

As we’ve known for about a week, today was the day Panic’s charming/whacky/curious/all-of-the-above Playdate gaming device (and its crank!) went up for pre-order. The buzz around the little retro-inspired handheld seemed strong — but would that translate into actual sales? The answer,