Rocket startup Astra is going public via SPAC

Rocket launch company Astra, which just reached space this past December with a test launch from Alaska, will be going public on the Nasdaq via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) called Holicity. The recent SPAC craze has already extended to the New Space sector, and Virgin

China launched its national carbon trading market yesterday

Yesterday, China flipped the switch on a nationwide carbon trading market, in what could be one of the most significant steps taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 — if the markets can work effectively. China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and its share of

Oyster snaps up $20M for its HR platform aimed at distributed workforces

"speakable-summary" dir="ltr">The growth of remote working and managing workforces that are distributed well beyond the confines of a centralized physical office — or even a single country — have put a spotlight on the human resources technology that organizations use to help manage thos

Twitter quietly rolls out Revue newsletters shortcut on web

If you were itching to launch an email newsletter via Twitter following its acquisition of the Dutch newsletter platform Revue last month, you’ll have to wait a bit longer for a fully featured integration. But Twitter has quietly added a newsletter link to its web app — pointing users o

Seyna is building an insurance-as-a-service startup for the French market

French startup Seyna is getting a new CEO. Stephen Leguillon is joining the company as chief executive while Philippe Mangematin is stepping back from day-to-day activities for personal reasons — he'll become honorary chairman. If you're not familiar with the company, Seyna is an insurtec

Mono, a startup that wants to build Plaid for Africa, gets backing from Y Combinator

Prakhar Singh and ex-Paystack employee Abdul Hassan have known each other for seven years, building different tech products individually and collectively along the way. Before joining Paystack in 2018, Hassan co-founded payments startup OyaPay the year before. After leaving the Stripe-owned company

As contactless menu ordering becomes the norm amid COVID, China pushes back

Digital ordering and paying at restaurants was already gaining much ground in China before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The tap-to-order method on a smartphone is part of the greater development in China where cash and physical documentation is increasingly being phased out. Many restaurants across l

Kindred Ventures just closed its second fund with $100 million in capital commitments

Two years after launching its $56 million debut fund, Kindred Ventures, a San Francisco-based pre-seed and seed-stage venture fund founded by Steve Jang and Kanyi Maqubela, has closed its second fund with $100 million in capital commitments. Jang is himself a founder who later jumped into investing

Google to pay $2.59 million to settle allegations of discrimination

Google has agreed to pay $2.59 million to more than 5,500 current employees and former job applicants as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor over allegations of systemic discrimination as it relates to compensation and hiring. Google has also agreed to reserve $250,000 a year for

Former Asana employees want to take on Discord with a positive platform for creator communities

In a creator-economy world, if you're only as good as your last YouTube video, then your next YouTube video had better be bigger and louder than the last. Vibely, a new startup co-founded by Asana alumni Teri Yu and Theresa Lee, wants to turn the constant, and often exhausting, beast of content

Daily Crunch: Google shutters internal game studios

Google rethinks its gaming strategy, Microsoft rolls out its quantum computing platform and UiPath is now valued at $35 billion. This is your Daily Crunch for February 1, 2021. The big story: Google shutters internal game studios When Google announced its Stadia cloud platform, it a

Battery companies are the latest SPAC target as EVs get a huge regulatory boost

Batteries are the latest landing pad for investors. In the past week alone, two companies have announced plans to become publicly traded companies by merging with special purpose acquisition companies. European battery manufacturer FREYR said Friday it would become a publicly traded company through

Canon takes tentative step toward eliminating photographers with robotic PICK camera

Canon is embracing the AI-infused future with a strange new robotic camera called the PowerShot PICK. This little device swivels and keeps its subjects in view, taking commands or snapping shots on its own. It’s a bit like a smart security camera or Facebook’s Portal, but meant to be ta

Salesforce promotes former Vlocity CEO David Schmaier to president and CPO

Last year I penned a post positing that Salesforce's propensity to purchase mature enterprise companies not only provided new technology, but was also helping to produce a profusion of executive talent. As though to prove my point, the company announced today that it was promoting former Vlocit