Amazon appears to have rowed back from a public threat to end support for Visa payments in the UK in a dispute over payment fees. The ecommerce giant sent an email to users of Amazon.co.uk today informing them that the “expected change” — which was due to take place on January 19 — will not […]
Gradient, 10xFounders back Zowie’s no-code, e-commerce customer service tool
Customer service tickets tend to fall into the same few buckets — returns, refunds or quality control questions. Not only are these repetitive, but it leaves little time for customer engagement on more complex requests, like relaying information on products or helping a customer find the best product for them. Maja Schaefer and Matt Ciolek, […]
Fresh round of $355M lifts online checkout company Bolt into decacorn territory
This newest raise comes just three months after Bolt took in a sizable $393 million in Series D funding.
Kenyan BNPL startup Lipa Later eyes more African markets after raising $12 million
Lipa Later, a Kenyan tech-led consumer credit platform, is planning to expand to new markets in Africa after raising $12 million in pre-Series A funding. The equity and debt funding round saw the participation of Cauris Finance, Lateral Frontiers VC, GreenHouse Capital, SOSV IV LLC, Sayani Investments and Axian Financial Services. The startup, a buy-now-pay-later […]
After talking to marketing leaders for a year, here’s my advice for CEOs
Marketing makes or breaks a company. When I am asked what is the No. 1 thing that I would do to help a company scale massively, it is focusing on marketing. Period.
Record number of unicorns and IPOs: Indian startups raised $39B in 2021
In late March last year, as the virus started to spread across India, investors began to worry about the impact a potential pandemic could have on their portfolio firms. They exchanged notes, and on April 1, penned a joint open letter to the local startup ecosystem, advising firms to “prepare for the worst.” In the […]
Not every creator economy startup is built for creators
The inherent tension within the creator economy lies between the promise of financial freedom and the realization this freedom comes at a cost.
How Meituan is redefining food delivery in China with drones
On a congested sidewalk next to a busy mall in Shenzhen, a 20-something woman uses a smartphone app to order a milk tea on Meituan, a major food delivery company. In under ten minutes, the pearl-white drink arrives, not on the back of one of the city’s ubiquitous delivery bikes, but descending from the cloudy […]
India’s GlobalBees joins unicorn club for its Thrasio-like house of brands
GlobalBees, which raised one of the largest Series A financing rounds in India earlier this year, has entered the unicorn club as the New Delhi-headquartered firm scales its Thrasio-like house of brands. Premji Invest, the investment firm controlled by Indian tycoon Azim Premji, led the nine-month-old startup’s Series B financing round, the young firm disclosed […]
Amazon workers at two Chicago warehouses walk out to demand better treatment
This morning, dozens of warehouse workers at two Amazon facilities near Chicago staged a pre-Christmas walkout during the busiest time of the year to demand better treatment and higher wages. “We have been passed over for raises. We are being overworked, even when there is sufficient people to work here,” a worker at the DLN2 […]