Industry News
Forests are a multitrillion-dollar asset. Vibrant Planet bets SaaS can save them
Vibrant Planet is definitely a software play — from its cloud focus to its per-seat licenses, it’s SaaS through and through — but its end goal is different from many others.
Cruise’s driverless autonomous cars start giving rides to paying passengers
The era of commercial autonomous robotaxi service is here — Cruise officially became the first company to offer faired rides to the general public in a major city as of late Wednesday. The milestone comes after Cruise received official approval from the California Public Utilities Commission in early June to operate driverless in a commercial […]
Zomato acquires Blinkit for $568 million in instant-grocery delivery push
Zomato has acquired Blinkit, a struggling 10-minute grocery delivery startup, in a $568.1 million deal as the loss-making food delivery firm looks to broaden its offerings at a time when its shares are trading far below its last year’s debut price and less than half of the all-time highs. The Gurgaon-headquartered firm — which reached […]
Leica’s new camera costs $20,000 and has zero megapixels
Okay, Leica, have a seat, we need to talk for a minute. I know you’re one of the iconic camera brands. I love my Leica M3 so much that I got a vasectomy so I wouldn’t have to give up my firstborn just to own one. And, yes, some of the best street photos in […]
Zendesk drama concludes with $10.2 billion private equity acquisition
Zendesk has had a difficult time over the last several months. It has been hounded by activist investors, Jana Partners. It turned down a $17 billion acquisition in February believing it was worth more. Its investors turned down a deal to buy Survey Monkey’s parent company, Momentive the same month. Today, the drama concluded when […]
3 views on why startup math may soon get a lot more creative
The terms are relative, and it’s the job of a journalist to get as close to the truth as possible (and push back when fluff is used as a replacement for truth).
Dublin-based corporate gifting platform &Open raises $26M Series A led by Molten Ventures
Last year we covered how “&Open” (yes, “ampersand open,” pronounced “And Open”) had raised a raised $7.2 million seed to make it easier for brands to send gifts to customers to boost loyalty and engagement. According to one study customers who feel emotionally connected to a brand after receiving gifts have a 306% higher lifetime […]
Parellelz brings a new approach to seamlessly convert native mobile apps to websites
Over the last few years, developers and authorities have questioned Apple and Google’s power over app distribution on mobile operating systems. If you have an Android app, there’s a chance that you can use alternative app stores like the Amazon app store. But if you have an iOS app, you have no option but to […]
Ro cuts 18% of staff despite narrowing focus, raising additional capital
Ro, a healthcare unicorn that last raised $150 million just months ago at a $7 billion valuation, has cut 18% of its staff to “manage expenses, increase the efficiency of our organization and better map our resources to our current strategy,” leadership wrote in an e-mail obtained by TechCrunch and confirmed by multiple sources. “Due […]