ByteDance’s video editor CapCut is the latest to top the US App Store
From time to time, we see a Chinese app climbing to the top of Google Play and App Store in a host of Western countries. It might be a utility tool like a selfie beautifier or some casual video game, which have universal appeal and require little localization effort. But most of them tend to be a b
Seed-stage accelerator Flat6Labs closes $13.2M fund for startups in Egypt
Investment activities in Egypt continue to gain steam, not for startups only but also the funds backing them. Today, seed accelerator Flat6Labs announced the second close of its Egypt fund to support early-stage startups and provide follow-up investment. The fund had a target for EGP50 million (~$3
Aurora Solar aims to power the growing solar industry with a $250M round C
Aurora Solar had one of those pitches that seemed obvious in retrospect. Instead of going to a house and measuring its roof manually for a solar panel installation, why not use aerial scans and imagery of the whole region? That smart play earned them a $20 million A round, a $50 million B round and
Emitwise raises an extra $3.2M from ArcTern Ventures for its greenhouse gas emissions platform
Emitwise, a startup that claims its AI platform can measure greenhouse gas emissions from companies and their supply chains, has added to its seed funding round by $3.2 million, bringing its total seed funding raised to $6.6 million. ArcTern Ventures led the $3.2 million raise. Also participating w
Nigeria’s Mono raises millions to power the internet economy in Africa
In February, Nigerian fintech startup Mono announced its acceptance into Y Combinator and, at the time, it wanted to build the Plaid for Africa. Three months later, the startup has a different mission: to power the internet economy in Africa. It has closed $2 million in seed investment toward that
British AI startup Faculty raises $42.5M growth round led by Apax Digital Fund
British artificial intelligence (AI) company, Faculty has raised £30 million ($42.5. million) in growth funding from the Apax Digital Fund (ADF). The startup has now raised a total of £40 million ($56.6 million) to date.
In April this year, the company announced it had won a contract to work with
Taking Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 4 for a spin
These days, the path of least resistance in laptop design is straight-up knocking off the MacBook. We've certainly seen our share of egregious cases over the years. Microsoft, however, has defiantly forged its own path with industrial design across the board. Its products are largely interestin
Air India passenger data breach reveals SITA hack worse than first thought
Three months after air transport data giant SITA reported a data breach, we are still learning about the damage.
Air India said this week that personal data of about 4.5 million passengers had been compromised following the incident at SITA, Indian flag carrier airline's data processor. The sto
Billboards? Nah, just buy a media company instead
Startups used to be obsessed with billboards. It was the first thing I noticed when I moved to San Francisco: venture-backed companies including Eaze, Airbnb, and notoriously, Brex, would post large billboard advertisements all over the city to grab attention and eyeballs. When I dug into it more,
Extra Crunch roundup: Jam City SPAC, startup PR, telemedicine market map, more
For this morning’s edition of The Exchange, Alex Wilhelm studied information recently released by mobile gaming studio Jam City as it prepares to go public in a $1.2 billion blank-check deal with DPCM Capital.
“Jam City is a bit like Zynga, but unless you are a mobile-gaming aficionado,
Daily Crunch: Snap spends more than $500M to acquire AR display startup WaveOptics
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.
Welcome to Daily Crunch for May 21, 2021. Closing out the week, bitcoin dropped sharply today on (more?) news from China about possible restrictions on cryptocurr
Develop a buyer's guide to educate your startup’s sales team and customers
Every company wants to be innovative, but innovation comes with its share of difficulties. One key challenge for early-stage companies that are disrupting a particular space or creating a new category is figuring out how to sell a unique product to customers who have never bought such a solution.
T
White House teams up with dating apps to give vaccinated users free perks
With vaccination rates slowing in the U.S., the White House is getting creative about getting shots in arms. Beyond protecting yourself and others from a deadly disease, the latest incentive to get vaccinated could help you find love (or get laid).
The White House COVID-19 response team announced F
The first electric Popemobile will be a Fisker Ocean SUV
Fisker Inc., the EV startup-turned publicly traded company, is working on a modified version of its all-electric Ocean SUV for Pope Francis.
The company said Friday that it plans to deliver to the Vatican late next year a Popemobile based on its upcoming Fisker Ocean SUV. An initial agreement was