Genflow nabs $11M investment from BGF

Genflow, a London and LA-based brand-building agency that offers an e-commerce and mobile tech platform to let influencers start companies, has raised $11 million in funding. Leading the round is U.K. investor BGF. The injection of capital will be used by Genflow to further scale its offering and f

Daily Crunch: Trump pardons Anthony Levandowski

On his way out the door, President Donald Trump pardons a former Googler, Jack Ma reappears and Wattpad gets acquired. This is your Daily Crunch for January 20, 2021. The big story: Trump pardons Anthony Levandowski Although Donald Trump is no longer president of the United States a

Curtsy, a clothing resale app aimed at Gen Z women, raises $11 million Series A

Curtsy, a clothing resale app and competitor to recently IPO’d Poshmark, announced today it has raised $11 million in Series A funding for its startup focused on the Gen Z market. The app, which evolved out of an earlier effort for renting dresses, now allows women to list their clothes, shoe

African edtech startup uLesson lands a $7.5 million Series A

ULesson, an edtech startup based in Nigeria that sells digital curriculum to students through SD cards, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. The round is led by Owl Ventures, which closed over half a billion in new fund money just months ago. Other participants include LocalGlobe and existi

Amazon offers Biden resources for COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Following Joseph Biden's swearing in as the 46th president of the United States, Amazon is offering help in the administration's stated goals for rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine. In a letter provided to technewss, Worldwide Consumer CEO Dave Clark congratulates Biden and Vice President Ka

Dear Sophie: What are Biden's immigration changes?

Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies. “Your questions are vital to the spread of knowledge that allows people all over the world to rise above borders and pursue their dreams,” says

TikTok’s new Q&A feature lets creators respond to fan questions using text or video

TikTok is testing a new video Q&A feature that allows creators to more directly respond to their audience’s questions with either text or video answers, the company confirmed to technewss. The feature works across both video and livestreams (TikTok LIVE), but is currently only available

Remote workers are greener, but their tech still has a real carbon cost

The massive shift to remote work due to COVID-19 has resulted in a huge reduction in emissions from vehicles and other sources, but it comes with costs of its own. A new study puts tentative carbon costs on the connectivity and data infrastructure that make working from home possible — and gives

Miami-based Ironhack raises $20 million for its coding bootcamps as demand for coders continues

Ironhack, a company offering programming bootcamps across Europe and North and South America, has raised $20 million in its latest round of funding. The Miami-based company (with locations in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, Mexico City, Miami, Paris and São Paulo) said it will use th

Hello, Extra Crunch community!

First and foremost, thank you for subscribing to Extra Crunch. I hope you feel like you've been getting value from the content our writers and guest contributors are creating, the events we're producing and the podcasts we're … podding. You truly are a member of our team. It's tim

White House, dark mode: Biden admin refreshes presidency’s website, vows accessibility

WhiteHouse.gov, the official website for all presidential actions and efforts, is among the first things to be changed up under the freshly inaugurated President Biden. A fashionable dark mode appeared, as well as a large text toggle for straining eyes, and the webmaster has committed to making the

Monzo founder Tom Blomfield is departing the challenger bank and says he’s 'struggled' during the pandemic

Monzo founder Tom Blomfield is departing the U.K. challenger bank entirely at the end of the month, staff were informed earlier today. Blomfield held the role of CEO until May last year when he assumed the newly created title of president and resigned from the Monzo board. However, having been give

EU chief warns over ‘unfiltered’ hate speech and calls for Biden to back rules for big tech

In a speech to the European Parliament today marking the inauguration of U.S. president Joe Biden, the president of the European Commission has called for Europe and the U.S. to join forces on regulating tech giants, warning of the risks of “unfiltered” hate speech and disinformation be

Joe Biden’s new gig

After serving as Obama-Biden campaign manager and White House deputy chief of staff and now living in San Francisco and working with the tech sector, I am hopeful about the Biden-Harris administration’s ability to put in place smart policies and regulatory stability to further unleash the ind