Is EV charging the next gig for the gig economy? SparkCharge thinks so

Last week the mobile charging battery company SparkCharge announced a partnership agreement with AllState that expands the company’s reach into vehicle services, driving the company further down the road toward its goal of making electric vehicle charging the next gig economy job. The company

Flink, the Berlin-based grocery delivery startup that operates its own ‘dark stores’, raises $52M

The on-demand grocery delivery industry in Europe (and beyond) continues to heat up amidst the pandemic, including a plethora of startups taking a vertical approach by operating their own delivery only — or “dark” — stores. The latest to show its hand is Berlin-based Flink,

Nigerian founders-turned-investors are now running syndicate funds

The Future Africa Fund kicked off in 2015 when Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Nadayar Enegesi, co-founders of U.S.-based and African-focused talent company Andela, wrote checks to African startups as angel investors. This continued even as Aboyeji joined and left Flutterwave, the fintech company he co-found

TikTok calls in outside help with content moderation in Europe

TikTok is bringing in external experts in Europe in fields such as child safety, young people’s mental health and extremism to form a Safety Advisory Council to help it with content moderation in the region. The move, announced today, follows an emergency intervention by Italy’s data pr

Humaans raises $5M seed to make it easier for companies to on-board and manage staff

Humaans, a London-based HR startup, has raised $5 million in seed funding to accelerate the development of its employee on-boarding and management platform. Backing the round is Y Combinator, Mattias Ljungman's Moonfire, Frontline Ventures and former head of Stripe Issuing, Lachy Groom. A numbe

Czech on-demand grocery delivery startup Rohlik bags $230M to expand across Europe

Food delivery — whether it’s ready-made orders from restaurants, meal kits or groceries — has been one of the most-used services in this last year of living under the cloud of a global health pandemic, and today one of the companies with ambitions to build a pan-European empire in

Coupang may raise up to $3.6 billion in its IPO, at a potential valuation of $51 billion

According to an amended S-1 filing, South Korean e-commerce leader Coupang expects to price its initial public offering between $27 to $30 per share, potentially raising up to $3.6 billion. After the IPO, Coupang will have a total of 1.7 billion shares outstanding, including Class A and Class B. Th

Compass files S-1, reveals $3.7B in revenue on net loss of $270M

Compass, the real-estate brokerage startup backed by roughly $1.6 billion in venture funding, filed its S-1 Monday. The move comes just under one year after the New York-based company laid off 15% of its staff as a result of the shifting economic fortunes created by the global response to the novel

How China’s synthetic media startup Surreal nabs funding in 3 months

What if we no longer needed cameras to make videos and can instead generate them through a few lines of coding? Advances in machine learning are turning the idea into a reality. We’ve seen how deepfakes swap faces in family photos and turn one’s selfies into famous video clips. Now entr

Hyzon Motors’ hydrogen fuel ambitions include two US factories

Hyzon Motors plans to produce fuel cells, including a critical component required to power hydrogen vehicles, at two U.S. factories in a move aimed at kickstarting domestic production at a commercial scale. The hydrogen-powered truck and bus manufacturer has already leased a 28,000-square-foot faci

Square’s bank arm launches as fintech aims ‘to operate more nimbly’

Known for its innovations in the payments sector, Square officially now has a bank. Nearly one year after receiving conditional approval, Square said Monday afternoon that its industrial bank, Square Financial Services, has begun operations. Square Financial Services completed the charter approval

Kaltura files to go public on the back of accelerating revenue growth, rising losses

Kaltura, a software company focused on providing video technology to other concerns, has filed to go public. The Kaltura S-1 filing only partially surprised. technewss previously covered the company as part of our ongoing $100 million ARR series focusing on private companies that have reached mate

Apple alum's jobs app for India's workers raises $12.5 million

A startup by an Apple alum that has become home to millions of low-skilled workers in India said on Tuesday it has raised an additional $12.5 million, just five months after securing $8 million from high-profile investors. One-year-old Apna said Sequoia Capital India and Greenoaks Capital led the $

Daily Crunch: Klarna valued at $31B

A challenger bank raises funding at a massive valuation, Instagram adds Live Rooms and Google updates Workspace. This is your Daily Crunch for March 1, 2021. The big story: Klarna valued at $31B The Swedish challenger bank and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service has raised $1 billion a