Cognixion’s brain-monitoring headset enables fluid communication for people with severe disabilities

Of the many frustrations of having a severe motor impairment, the difficulty of communicating must surely be among the worst. The tech world has not offered much succor to those affected by things like locked-in syndrome, ALS and severe strokes, but startup Cognixion aims to with a novel form of br

Personalized nutrition startup Zoe closes out Series B at $53M total raise

Personalized nutrition startup Zoe — named not for a person but after the Greek word for ‘life’ — has topped up its Series B round with $20M, bringing the total raised to $53M. The latest close of the B round was led by Ahren Innovation Capital, which the startup notes count

Avatar startup Genies scores $65 million in funding round led by Mary Meeker’s Bond

Over the past several years I’ve covered my fair share of upstart avatar companies that were all chasing the same dream — building out a customizable platform for a digital persona that gained wide adoption across games and digital spaces. Few of those startups I’ve covered in the

Head, tail, knees and trees (knees and trees)

Some fun ones this week, so let's get all of those pesky business transactions out of the way first, shall we? I mean, not that tens of millions of dollars changing hands for future robotics technology is boring, he said, tugging at his collar for comedic effect. Image Credits: Plus One Robotic

Botpress nabs $15M Series A to help developers build conversational apps

Botpress, a Montreal-based early-stage startup, wants to make it easier for developers to build conversational-based apps, meaning humans interact with the app by speaking instead of typing, clicking or tapping. Today it announced a $15 million Series A from Decibel and Inovia Capital. “We

Kaia Health grabs $75M on surging interest in its virtual therapies for chronic pain and COPD

New York headquartered Kaia Health, which offers AI-assisted digital therapies via a mobile app for chronic pain related to musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders and for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), has raised a $75 million Series C. The round was led by an unnamed leading growth equity

Kenya’s Ajua acquires WayaWaya to consolidate consumer experience play in African SMEs

Kenyan consumer experience platform for businesses in Africa, Ajua today announced that it has acquired WayaWaya, a Kenya-based AI and ML messaging and payments company. WayaWaya’s customers and partners include the likes of I&M Bank, Interswitch and MTN. The company offers a range of ser

Adobe launches a new, simplified digital asset manager

Adobe today announced the launch of a new asset management tool, Adobe Experience Manager Assets Essentials. That’s a mouthful, but while the company didn’t necessarily simplify the name, the idea here is to give teams that work with lots of digital assets an easier-to-use management ex

TikTok to open a ‘Transparency’ Center in Europe to take content and security questions

TikTok will open a center in Europe where outside experts will be shown information on how it approaches content moderation and recommendation, as well as platform security and user privacy, it announced today. The European Transparency and Accountability Centre (TAC) follows the opening of a U.S.

Kry closes $312M Series D after use of its telehealth tools grows 100% yoy

Swedish digital health startup Kry, which offers a telehealth service (and software tools) to connect clinicians with patients for remote consultations, last raised just before the pandemic hit in Western Europe, netting a €140M Series C in January 2020. Today it’s announcing an oversubscri

Daily Crunch: Meet Disney Imagineering’s new robot

We get up close with a robotic Groot, SpaceX has a successful astronaut launch and cryptocurrency prices tumble. This is your Daily Crunch for April 23, 2021. The big story: Meet Disney Imagineering’s new robot Disney Imagineering’s Project Kiwi represents a real robotic

Disney Imagineering's Project Kiwi is a free-walking robot that will make you believe in Groot

The black curtain pulls aside and a character straight out of the movies waves hello. This is not an uncommon occurrence when I'm around Imagineers, but this time is special. The character isn't a costume, it's a robot. And, unlike the m?any animatronic figures you've seen in the

5 emerging use cases for productivity infrastructure in 2021

When the world flipped upside down last year, nearly every company in every industry was forced to implement a remote workforce in just a matter of days — they had to scramble to ensure employees had the right tools in place and customers felt little to no impact. While companies initially adopte

Fraud prevention platform Sift raises $50M at over $1B valuation, eyes acquisitions

With the increase of digital transacting over the past year, cybercriminals have been having a field day. In 2020, complaints of suspected internet crime surged by 61%, to 791,790, according to the FBI's 2020 Internet Crime Report. Those crimes — ranging from personal and corporate data b