HR tech startup Sense valued at $500 million in SoftBank Vision Fund 2-led funding

Sense, an HR tech startup that helps some of the world’s largest staffing and recruitment agencies timely find and hire talent, has grown its valuation to $500 million in a new financing round, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The San Francisco-headquartered startup has raised $50 million in its Series D financing round, […]

South African crowd-solving startup Zindi building a community of data scientists and using AI to solve real world problems

Zindi is all about using AI to solve real world problems for companies and individuals. And the South Africa-based crowd-solving startup has done that over the last three years they have been in existence. Just last year a team of data scientists under Zindi used machine learning to improve air quality monitoring in Kampala as […]

Playground launches in beta to help creators cultivate community

Launching today in beta, Playground is a social platform that seeks to help people discover and develop community while empowering creators to monetize their audience. Already, the website has a wide variety of users like the Museum of Modern Art, comedy host Alexis Gay, the Abolitionist Teaching Network, activist Nupol Kiazolu, and a Malaysian virtual […]

Hotel Engine raises $65M at a $1.3B valuation as corporate travel rebounds

With the pandemic heading into its second year, people all over the world are traveling more for work again. If you’ve flown anytime in the past few months, the packed planes are in part evidence of that. Further evidence that travel is rebounding lies in the number of people staying in hotels, and the money […]

Mexican BNPL player Kueski secures $202M in debt & equity as it nears $100M+ in ARR

Kueski, a Mexico City-based “buy now, pay later” and online consumer lender, announced today it has secured $202 million in equity and debt funding. StepStone Group (which recently acquired Greenspring Capital) led the $102 million equity round and Victory Park Capital led the $100 million debt financing. StepStone was joined by other new investors including […]

Kayak co-leads Life House’s $60M Series C to ‘reimagine’ the hotel experience

Life House, a boutique hotel operator that has built software aimed at helping independent hotel owners and operators, has raised $60 million in a Series C round of funding co-led by new investors Kayak and Inovia Capital. Existing backers Tiger Global, Derive Ventures, Thayer Ventures, JLL, Trinity Ventures, Sound Ventures and Cooley LLP, among others, […]