The NFT world collectively seems to be trying to turn internet memories into one big game — with a lot of cash involved of course. The original “Doge” image sold for $4 million back in June, the original “Pepe” comic image sold for $1 million in April, in short, people are becoming meme millionaires. Buying […]
Guardian owner invests in Unlock, an NFT protocol designed for subscriptions and memberships
Monetization for the creator economy continues to be a huge issue and opportunity, but creators mostly have to lock themselves into platforms like Patreon to realize their value. A better method would be to have a membership system for creators which sat across several platforms. Now, GMG Ventures (parent company of The Guardian newspaper) has […]
Ex-Apple designer’s ultra-premium audio hardware startup Syng raises $48.75 million
Audio startup Syng has been building on quite a bit more hype than the average fresh hardware startup, largely because of the team behind it. Founder and CEO Chris Stringer was Jony Ive’s first hire at Apple and worked at the company for 21 years. In an interview, Stringer referred to the first time he […]
Vyne raises $15.5M seed round to grow its merchant-focused open banking solutions
Open banking — a new approach to payments and other financial services that disrupts traditional card-based infrastructure by linking directly into banks — is having a moment. On the heels of open banking startup TrueLayer hitting a $1 billion valuation in its latest round after seeing strong traction for its services, today another open banking […]
Jscrambler raises $15M Series A to help defend against website attacks
Jscrambler, a Portugal-based startup specializing in cybersecurity products that protect organizations against web data exfiltration attacks, has secured $15 million in Series A funding. The investment, which comes two years after the startup secured $2.3 million in seed funding, was led by Ace Capital Partners and backed by existing investors Sonae IM and Portugal Ventures. Jscrambler […]
Facebook’s CTO to step down after 13 years at the company
Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer just announced that he will stepping down from the role next year and transition to a part-time position as a “Senior Fellow” at the company. It’s one of the biggest leadership departures for Facebook in recent memory. He will be replaced in the role by long-time executive Andrew Bosworth […]
Stairwell secures $20M Series A to help organizations outsmart attackers
Back when Stairwell emerged from stealth in 2020, the startup was shrouded in secrecy. Now with $20 million in Series A funding, its founder and CEO Mike Wiacek — who previously served as chief security officer at Chronicle, Google’s moonshot cybersecurity company — is ready to talk. As well as raising $20M, an investment round […]
Instacart shopper activist group asks customers to delete the app until demands for better conditions are met
Yesterday, the Gig Workers Collective — representing a body of about 13,000 Instacart shoppers — launched a #DeleteInstacart campaign, urging customers to delete the Instacart app as a show of solidarity with workers advocating for better treatment. The collective of shoppers asked that customers refrain from reinstalling the app until five demands are met. They […]
Post-pandemic shifts means Patch will take co-working to UK small towns and suburbs
It would be fair to say the pandemic has had enormous effects on the world of work, but it has come at a time when other factors were already ongoing. The decline of main-street shopping due to e-commerce has only been hastened. The shift to remote working has sky-rocketed. And people no longer want to […]
UK’s MarketFinance scores $383M to fuel its online loans platform for SMBs
Small and medium businesses regularly face cashflow problems. But if that’s an already-inconvenient predicament, it has been exacerbated to the breaking point for too many during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, a UK startup called MarketFinance — which has built a loans platform to help SMBs stay afloat through those leaner times — is announcing a […]