Cargo ships are stacked up outside ports, and empty shipping containers are in short supply, as are the truck drivers who would take them to market. This is not the time for doing business as usual.
An inclusive new DTC beauty platform secures $3 million in funding — and a supercharged offline strategy
Earlier this week, Thirteen Lune, a direct-to-consumer beauty platform that was launched last year in LA with $1 million in seed funding from Diddy, Gwyneth Paltrow and Beautycounter founder Gregg Renfrew, announced $3 million in additional seed funding. We might not normally pause on this kind of development, especially in a market where dozens of […]
Kenya’s Twiga raises $50M to scale food solutions across Africa
Years ago, Americans spent most of their disposable income on food but consistent investment in retail infrastructure has changed that. Now, they only spend 6% of their household income on food and beverages. Africa still battles with this and it is not hard to see why. The continent’s retail markets are highly fragmented and mostly made up […]
Zepto, a 10-minute grocery delivery app in India, raises $60 million
Two 19-year-old entrepreneurs, who previously collaborated on a number of projects including a ride-hailing commute app for school kids and left Stanford last year to pursue a new startup, said on Sunday they have raised $60 million to disrupt India’s overcrowded and highly-competitive grocery delivery market. Glade Brook Capital led Zepto’s first institutional financing round, […]
ShipBlu bags $2.4M for its e-commerce and fulfilment service in Egypt
African e-commerce fulfilment startups backed by Y Combinator seem to be piquing investors’ interest this year for their niche e-commerce play. Summer batch graduate ShipBlu is the latest on that list and confirmed to TechCrunch that it has raised $2.4 million in seed funding. The company, founded by Ali Nasser, Ahmed ElKawass, Abdelrahman Hosny in […]
TechCrunch+ roundup: BNPL competition heats up, Bowery Farming TC-1, Silicon Valley dreams
Is Southeast Asia about to hit an inflection point for tech startups? Four hundred million people in the region already use the internet, but by year’s end, one estimate suggests that 80% of the population over the age of 15 in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam will be digital consumers. “As per […]
When should your B2C startup enter a new market?
The toughest questions most entrepreneurs face will involve international expansion. Whether to, when to, where to and how to expand all involve a wealth of complex considerations.
Luma raises $4.3M to make 3D models as easy as waving a phone around
When online shopping, you’ve probably come across photos that spin around so you can see a product from all angles. This is typically done by taking a number of photos of a product from all angles, and then playing them like an animation. Luma — founded by engineers who left Apple’s AR and computer vision […]
Predicting the next wave of Southeast Asia tech giants
Despite the impressive growth and stellar companies grabbing headlines and tons of capital, Southeast Asia is only just entering the next phase of development.
Daring Foods bites into third round in 12 months as plant-based chicken product enters Walmart
The company saw 900% growth over the past 12 months and will be using the new funding to support that growth and new innovation.