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What happens if a pandemic hits? What happens if a Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic hits? It’s time to at least start asking that question. What will the repercussions be, if the virus spreads worldwide? How will it change how we live, work, socialize, and travel? Don’t get all disaster-movie here. Some people seem to have the notion that a pandemic will mean […] |
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BharatPe raises $75M to help Indian merchants accept digital payments and secure working capital BharatPe, a New Delhi-based startup that is enabling hundreds of thousands of merchants to accept digital payments for the first time and also providing them with access to working capital, has raised $75 million in a new financing round as it looks to scale its business in the nation. The Series C round for the […] |
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Rallyhood exposed a decade of users’ private data Rallyhood says it’s “private and secure.” But for some time, it wasn’t. The social network designed to help groups communicate and coordinate left one of its cloud storage buckets containing user data open and exposed. The bucket, hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), was not protected with a password, allowing anyone who knew the easily-guessable […] |
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How do we connect a child to technology? We are now onto the fifth short story of nine in Ted Chiang’s collection Exhalations. This one is a very short one at only a couple of pages, but despite its brief length, it explores some of the most fundamental issues facing us as a society today: technology, children, love, and the meaning of connection […] |
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Investors and startups are seeking ways to entertain and protect kids online As streaming services like HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ plus vie for subscription dollars and YouTube, Xumo, Kanopy, Tubi TV, Vudu and Pluto TV try to take more ad revenue from traditional television, entertainment for kids — and the tech tools that manage their screen time — are becoming more important. On the streaming side, […] |
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China Roundup: Amid coronavirus, tech firms offer ways to maintain China’s lifeblood The coronavirus outbreak is posing a devastating impact on people's life and the economy in China, but there's a silver lining that the epidemic might have benefited a few players in the technology industry as the population remains indoors. |
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Sensors are the next big thing in space, not starships Understanding the opportunities available in the space industry — especially for early-stage companies and new founders — isn’t easy. The pool of people who have deep aerospace technical expertise isn’t huge, and like any community that requires a high degree of specialist knowledge, it’s a tightly-knit field that relies on social connections. But space is […] |
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Startups Weekly: What the E-Trade deal says about Robinhood How well do Robinhood's financials stack up against incumbent online brokerages? While we wait for the seven-year-old company's long-planned IPO, Alex Wilhelm examined Morgan Stanley's big $13 billion purchase of E-Trade for fresh data comparison points. |
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This Week in Apps: HQ Trivia’s dramatic death, Android 11, Apple mulls a more open iOS This week we look at the sad, strange death of HQ Trivia, spying app ToTok getting booted from Google Play, an enticing Apple rumor and much more. |
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Fintech startups raised $34B in 2019 Financial services startups raised less money in 2019 than they did in 2018 as VC firms looked to back late stage firms and focused on developing markets, a new report has revealed. According to research firm CB Insights’ annual report published this week, fintech startups across the world raised $33.9 billion* in total last year […] |
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Original Content podcast: Netflix’s ‘Locke & Key’ offers spooky delights At times, it can be hard to tell exactly who “Locke & Key” was made for. Adapted from a comic book series written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, the show tells the story of the Locke family after they move into the mysterious Keyhouse, where they soon discover hidden keys that can […] |
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Do phones need to fold? As Samsung (re)unveiled its clamshell folding phone last week, I kept seeing the same question pop up amongst my social circles: why? I was wondering the same thing myself, to be honest. I’m not sure even Samsung knows; they’d win me over by the end, but only somewhat. The halfway-folded, laptop-style “Flex Mode” allows you […] |
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Investors in LatAm get bitten by the hotel investment bug as Ayenda raises $8.7 million Some of Latin America’s leading venture capital investors are now backing hotel chains. In fact, Ayenda, the largest hotel chain in Colombia, has raised $8.7 million in a new round of funding, according to the company. Led by Kaszek Ventures, the round will support the continued expansion of Ayenda’s chain of hotels in Colombia and […] |
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SpaceX said to be seeking around $250 million in funding, boosting valuation to roughly $36 billion SpaceX is looking to raise around $250 million in new funding according to a new report from CNBC’s Michael Sheetz. The additional cash would bring SpaceX’s total valuation to around $36 billion, according to CNBC’s sources — an increase of more than $2.5 billion versus its most recently reported valuation. The rocket launch company founded […] |
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Trump’s Election Day YouTube takeover plan feels very different in 2020 According to a report from Bloomberg, the Trump campaign called dibs on some of the most prized ad space online in the days leading up to the 2020 U.S. election. Starting in early November and continuing onto Election Day itself, the campaign will reportedly command YouTube’s masthead, the space at the very top of the […] |