Australian lidar maker Baraja collects $31M B round to illuminate the future of autonomy

Lidar companies across the planet are going SPAC, but Baraja isn’t in a hurry to go public. The Australian lidar maker has raised a $31 million B round to continue the deployment and development of its “unique and ingenious” imaging system, with participation beyond the usual VC s

Pacaso raises $75M, goes from launch to unicorn in 5 months

"speakable-summary" dir="ltr">Pacaso, a less-than-one-year-old startup that is out to give more people a chance at second home ownership, announced Wednesday that it has received $75 million in growth funding at a $1 billion valuation. Greycroft and Global Founders Capital co-led the $75 million in

India antitrust body orders investigation into WhatsApp’s privacy policy changes

WhatsApp’s planned policy changes aren’t sailing smoothly in India, the instant messaging service’s biggest market by users. Indian antitrust body Competition Commission of India on Wednesday ordered (PDF) an investigation into WhatsApp’s privacy policy changes, saying that

SpaceX launches 60 more Starlink satellites, making 240 launched this month alone

SpaceX has added yet more Starlink satellites to its existing constellation on orbit, with a successful delivery of 60 spacecraft this morning from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The mission used a Falcon 9 with a flight-proven booster that served on five previous launches, and a cargo fairing cover ma

Motosumo scores $6M to spin up a challenge to Peloton

Denmark-based Motosumo has scored a $6 million Series A raise led by London’s Magenta Partners, alongside existing investors. The new funding will go on doubling its network of spin class instructors across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, expanding its tech team and upping its mark

Elon Musk declares you can now buy a Tesla with bitcoin in the US

Tesla made headlines earlier this year when it took out significant holdings in bitcoin, acquiring a roughly $1.5 billion stake at then-prices in early February. At the time, it also noted in an SEC filing disclosing the transaction that it could also eventually accept the cryptocurrency as payment

Berlin’s Blacklane raises $26M to expand its high-end chauffeur-driven sustainable car service

As the Ubers of the world continue to scale, a smaller on-demand transportation startup has raised some funding in Germany, underscoring the opportunities that remain for startups in the space targeting specific service niches. Blacklane — the Berlin startup that provides on-demand black-car

Hopper raises $170M and partners with Capital One on a new cardholder travel booking portal

Canadian travel startup Hopper has raised a $170 million Series F round, led by Capital One. The U.S. banks and credit card company is also coming on board as a strategic partner, to launch Capital One Travel, which is the first instantiation of Hopper’s new B2B platform, Hopper Cloud. This i

Indian fantasy sports app Dream11’s parent firm raises $400 million

Dream Sports, the parent firm of fantasy sports app Dream11, has secured $400 million in a new financing round as the Mumbai-headquartered firm builds what it calls an “end-to-end sports tech company” in the cricket-loving nation, which is also the world's second-largest internet market. Th

Neighbor raises $53M for self-storage marketplace after 5x YoY revenue growth

Neighbor, which operates a self-storage marketplace, announced Wednesday that it has raised $53 million in a Series B round of funding. Fifth Wall led the financing, which notably also included participation from returning backer Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and new investors DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and

Feedzai raises $200M at a $1B+ valuation for AI tools to fight financial fraud

On the heels of Jumio announcing a $150 million injection this week to continue building out its AI-based ID verification and anti-money laundering platform, another startup in the space is levelling up. Feedzai, which provides banks, others in the financial sector, and any company managing payment

Nigerian fintech of the unbanked Bankly raises $2M led by Vault

Nigeria remains a largely cash-dominated country. There are more than 100 million adult Nigerians, of which more than half have little or no access to financial services.  Today, Bankly, a Nigerian fintech startup digitizing cash for the unbanked, announced that it has closed a $2 million seed rou

Indonesian social commerce app KitaBeli gets $10M led by Go Ventures

"attachment_2129497" aria-describedby="" style="width: 2560px">Indonesian social commerce app KitaBeli's team, including founders Prateek Chaturvedi (seated, right front row and Ivana Medea Tjandra (center front row). Image Credits: KitaBeli KitaBeli, an Indonesian social commerce app for group

Lime launches app-less rides and no fee reservations to get more people riding

Lime is rolling out several new features, including the ability to rent electric scooters without downloading the app, in an effort to attract more riders.  The micromobility company announced Wednesday a series of product features designed to remove barriers to entry for new users, while increasi