China’s ride-hailing giant is delisting from the New York Stock Exchange

China’s ride-hailing behemoth Didi has begun the procedure of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange and applying to list in Hong Kong instead, the company announced via a Weibo post on Friday morning. The decision came days after Bloomberg reported the Chinese government had asked Didi to delist from the U.S. out of security […]

Plume raises $300M as it passes 1.2B devices in 35M homes using its smart WiFi service

Plume — a communications startup that partners with carriers to provide smart mesh WiFi to improve broadband connectivity in homes, and then offers other smart home services on top of that network — has been in the middle of a massive boom in its business fueled by the rapid uptake, use, and complete reliance on […]

SoftBank sinks $200M into Andela, propels company into unicorn territory

CEO Jeremy Johnson sees more competition coming into the global tech talent hiring space as he saw the number of Andela applicants increase 5x in the past six months.

Affinity, a relationship intelligence company, raises $80M to help close deals

Affinity is focused on industries like investment banking and venture capital, where there aren’t CRMs or networking platforms that cater to the specific needs of the long-term relationship.

Humane, a stealthy hardware and software startup co-founded by an ex-Apple designer and engineer, raises $100M

A stealthy startup co-founded by a former senior designer from Apple and one of its ex-senior software engineers has picked up a significant round funding to build out its business. Humane, which has ambitions to build a new class of consumer devices and technologies that stem from “a genuine collaboration of design and engineering” that […]

Peak raises $75M for a platform that helps non-tech companies build AI applications

As artificial intelligence continues to weave its way into more enterprise applications, a startup that has built a platform to help businesses, especially non-tech organizations, build more customized AI decision making tools for themselves has picked up some significant growth funding. Peak AI, a startup out of Manchester, England, that has built a “decision intelligence” […]

Why global investors are flocking to back Latin American startups

The Latin America startup ecosystem is having a great year, with mega-rounds being announced at breakneck speed and new unicorns minted almost monthly. This is mostly due to the clearly maturing startup scene in the region, with proven successes such as Nubank, Cornershop, Gympass and Loggi helping to bolster LatAm’s credibility. Interestingly, many of the […]

African fintech OPay valued at $2B in SoftBank Vision Fund 2-led $400M funding

Chinese-backed and Africa-focused fintech company OPay raised $400 million in new financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Bloomberg reported Monday, valuing the company at $2 billion. The round, which marks the Fund’s first investment in an African startup, drew participation from existing investors like Sequoia Capital China, Redpoint China, Source Code Capital, and Softbank […]