Piano raises $88M for analytics, subscription and personalization tools for publishers, adds LinkedIn as investor

As publishers face up to whatever might be their next existential crisis — there are so many options from which to choose, including Substack stealing all their writers; or Clubhouse pulling in people through audio-based conversations where news and analysis intermingle seamlessly with networ

Cortex snags $2.25M seed to build services catalog for development teams

One thing is clear in the cloud native world. Developers use a lot of services to create applications, and while service meshes define how these services work together, just getting a grip on the services a team uses is usually tracked manually in spreadsheets. That’s where Cortex, a new star

DuckDuckGo presses the case for true ‘one-click’ search competition on Android

When antitrust accusations close in on Google the tech giant loves to fire back a riposte that competition is just “one click away“. It’s a disingenuous retort from an online advertising behemoth whose power and profits stem from its expertise in capturing markets by manipulating

Artificial raises $21M led by Microsoft’s M12 for a lab automation platform aimed at life sciences R&D

Automation is extending into every aspect of how organizations get work done, and today comes news of a startup that is building tools for one industry in particular: life sciences. Artificial, which has built a software platform for laboratories to assist with, or in some cases fully automate, res

Insight Partners leads $60M growth round in cross-border payments startup Thunes

The world of digital payments is very fragmented, with different types of online bank accounts, digital wallets and money transfer services used in different countries. Singapore-based Thunes, a fintech focused on making cross-border money transfers easier, announced today it has raised a $60 milli

Facebook debuts ‘Live Shopping Fridays’ featuring beauty, fashion and skincare brands

Facebook wants to whet consumers’ appetite for live streamed shopping with this week’s launch of “Live Shopping Fridays” event series, which will see larger brands live streaming beauty, skincare, and fashion content on a weekly basis. The event begins Friday, May 22nd and r

Amazon’s market power to be tested in Germany in push for ‘early action’ over antitrust risks

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) is seeking to make swift use of a new competition tool to target Big Tech — announcing today that it’s opened a proceeding against e-commerce giant Amazon. If the FCO confirms that Amazon is of “paramount significance for competition acr

Gogoro strikes deal with Yadea and DCJ to build a battery-swapping network in China

Less than a month after announcing a partnership with India's largest two-wheeled vehicle maker, Gogoro is taking another big step in its global expansion plans. This time the market is China, where Gogoro's technology, including its swappable smart batteries, will be used in scooters made

Uptrust raises $2M to fight the billions of dollars wasted on useless mass incarceration

A technical violation is one of those Orwellian terms used by the U.S. government to occlude the absurd morass of process and procedure that is the modern criminal justice system in this country. After an offender has served their sentence, they are often placed under probation, which is accompanie

Pandemic helps Ordr’s simple POS platform for bars and restaurants raise $12M

“Order and pay” platform for bars and restaurants Ordr has raised a €10 million ($12 million) Series A round from Idekapital and OpenOcean. Launched in Norway in 2020 it now counts IKEA, Nordic Choice, REKOM and Color Line as customers. The company is now launching in Sweden, Finland, Denmark

Shein overtakes Amazon as top shopping app on US app stores

Shein‘s quiet rise has reached a crescendo as the fast fashion e-commerce app takes the crown from Amazon as the No.1 app in the shopping categories of iOS and Android in the United States, according to data from app tracking firms App Annie and SensorTower. Its ascent is quiet because the st

Creandum boosts team with new partner Sabina Wizander, and new principal Gemma Bloemen

Creandum, a European early-stage VC, is bringing on board two new key team members: Ex-Kry CSO Sabina Wizander joins as partner and Gemma Bloemen as principal. Both will join this summer. Creandum has previously backed the likes of Spotify, Klarna, Depop, Kahoot and Trade Republic, among others. Fo

Egyptian furniture marketplace Homzmart lands $15M Series A for MENA expansion

In most parts of Africa and the Middle East, a consumer journey and experience in buying furniture is not fun. A typical shopping process would entail looking for the best price and quality and asking for recommendations and checking offline stores, one after another. It is rare to find one-stop sh

Pinterest introduces Idea Pins, a video-first feature aimed at creators

Pinterest is expanding further into the creator community with today’s launch of a video-first feature called “Idea Pins,” aimed at creators who want to tell their stories using video, music, creative editing tools and more. The feature feels a lot like Pinterest’s own take