Productfy Inc., a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform that aims to build “DeFi for traditional finance,” has raised $16 million in a Series A round of funding led by CM Ventures. Existing backers Point72 Ventures, 500 Startups and Envestnet | Yodlee also participated in the financing, which brings its total raised since its 2018 inception to nearly […]
Why Techstars is doubling down on Europe
As we get into our dive into Q3 2021 venture capital numbers, one region in particular has our attention: Europe.
Community is the new AI
Natasha and Mary Ann and Alex were all aboard this week with Grace on the dials, which meant that we had a flat lovely time recording Equity for you. Of course, Equity is TechCrunch’s venture capital focused podcast where we dig into the most critical funding rounds, and natter about the key news items impacting startups. Before we hop into […]
Alpha Paw brings in $8M to carve out its niche in the pet wellness space
Alpha Paw offers pet products for dogs and cats like food and supplements that are customized with pet breed in mind.
Guestio brings podcasters closer to their next big ‘get’
Users can either book someone for podcasts and other events or advertise their willingness to be a guest.
Graneet thinks construction companies should switch from Excel to its tool
Meet Graneet, a French startup that just raised a $2.8 million seed round (€2.4 million) led by Point Nine and Fondamental. Graneet is a vertical software-as-a-service startup focused on the construction industry and the myriad of small and medium companies in this industry specifically. It wants to build the definitive financial management solution so that […]
Tiger Global in talks to lead over $100M investment in India’s Slice
A number of high-profile investors are chasing to invest in Slice, a fintech startup that is attempting to expand the market for credit cards in India. Tiger Global is in advanced stages of talks to lead a round of over $100 million in the Bangalore-based startup, sources familiar with the matter told me. A number […]
Upmesh wants to build a community-driven discovery app for Southeast Asian live commerce
The founders of Upmesh were building a game on top of Twitch’s API when they realized something about another group of livestreamers. Even though selling through Facebook Live has been gaining popularity in Southeast Asia for years, many vendors are still going through their comments afterward and using pen-and-paper to collect orders. Upmesh was created […]
SoftBank-backed Korean edtech startup Riiid acquires Langoo, expands in Japan
Riiid, a South Korea-headquartered AI-powered edtech company, acquired its Japanese distribution partner Langoo to expand its Japan footprint. The acquisition comes after the company’s latest $175 million Series D round from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 in May. Riiid has said it will continue to fuel its global expansion with the funding. Langoo, Riiid’s partner in […]
Pluton Biosciences looks to nature for cutting-edge biotech solutions, raising $6.6M seed
Many of the problems we face today in biology and agriculture have been faced before — but not by humans. Somewhere in nature there is a microscopic creature that accomplishes naturally and efficiently what chemists and bioengineers are struggling to do at all — and Pluton Biosciences claims to have pioneered a way to find […]