Goldman Sachs leads $45M investment into auto fintech startup MotoRefi

MotoRefi has raised another $45 million in a round led by Goldman Sachs just five months after investors poured $10 million into the fintech startup to help turbocharge its auto refinancing business. The startup developed an auto refinancing platform that handles the entire loan process, including

Café helps hybrid organizations schedule in-office time

Meet Café, a new French startup founded by two brothers that wants to help companies switch to a hybrid remote-and-office workplace model. Café isn't a traditional desk-booking tool. Instead, the company helps you see when people in your team are coming to the office so that you can plan when

Amazon is now letting Indians read magazine articles in its shopping app

Amazon, in its ever-growing desire to become a super app in India, is testing a new category to persuade users to spend more time on the shopping service: Feature articles. The American e-commerce giant has quietly launched “Featured Articles” on its shopping app and website in India that showc

Middle East and Africa will reap benefits from Nuwa Capital’s newest fund

Nuwa Capital, a venture capital firm based in Dubai and Riyadh, announced the first close of its $100 million NVFI fund in February. The close was three-quarters of the target and was done in less than a year following the firm’s launch in February 2020. According to the firm, the second clos

Penfold closes $8.5M to provide a full-stack pension in an app aimed at freelancers

Penfold, a startup that offers a full-stack pension in a smartphone app, has closed an $8.5 million (£6 million) funding round, $4 million of which was from a crowdfunding campaign. The company is now approved by the FCA to operate a pension itself rather than relying on third parties and is aimed

Brazilian proptech startup QuintoAndar lands $300M at a $4B valuation

"speakable-summary" dir="ltr">Fintech and proptech are two sectors that are seeing exploding growth in Latin America, as financial services and real estate are two categories in particular dire need of innovation in a region. Brazil’s QuintoAndar, which has developed a real estate marketplace

Gillmor Gang: Nothing was delivered

Somehow it’s Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday this week. Some of you may not think that’s a big deal, but I do. The fact of his talent pretty much drowns out most other ideas of what to write about, but here’s to the birthday boy. Keep up the good work. Back then,

Tesla has activated its in-car camera to monitor drivers using Autopilot

Tesla has enabled the in-car camera in its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles to monitor drivers when its Autopilot advanced driver assistance system is being used. In a software update, Tesla indicated the “cabin camera above the rearview mirror can now detect and alert driver inattentiveness whil

Dismantling the myths around raising your first check

As startups and venture capital grow in tandem, fundraising has gone from a formal affair on Sand Hill Road to a process that can happen anywhere from Twitter to Zoom. While fundraising may no longer require a trip to California, it might depend on whether you got an invite to a private audio app.

Daily Crunch: Saving-investing app Acorns files to go public in $2.2B SPAC deal

Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Thursday, May 27. From the home desk, technewss has a few notes to share. First, we're hosting a virtual meetup in Pittsburgh as part of our national tour spotlighting neat startup markets. And if you are a super early-stage founder, you can still apply to

Darryl Finkton Jr. closes $200M to go from asset management to poverty eradication

"speakable-summary" dir="ltr">Darryl Finkton Jr. is a man on a mission. He believes there's enough money in the world to help put an end to poverty. But only if it's distributed differently than it is today. Earlier this year, the investor left a career in asset management to

Box beats expectations, raises guidance as it looks for a comeback

Box executives have been dealing with activist investor Starboard Value over the last year, along with fighting through the pandemic like the rest of us. Today the company reported earnings for the first quarter of its fiscal 2022. Overall, it was a good quarter for the cloud content management com

On-demand grocery startup Food Rocket launches in the Bay Area, goes up against delivery giants

On-demand grocery startups like Gorillas are invading Europe right now, but although on-demand-everything is kinda old-hat in the Bay Area, a new startup thinks it might just be able to do something new. Food Rocket says it has raised a $2 million investment round from AltaIR Capital, Baring Vostok

FM Capital steps up automotive investments with new $150M fund

First Move Capital, the Boulder-based venture firm that has invested in used car marketplaces Frontier Auto Group and Vroom as well as mobility-as-a-service startup Via, has closed a new $150 million fund that will focus on the automotive and transportation sectors. Existing strategic investors suc