Tag: Funding

Capture investment opportunities created by megatrends

Insurtech capital markets: the ultimate progress indicator

Last few months have seen private market investors pouring capital into promising insurtech startups, while the public markets sent the value of recently public insurtech companies lower and lower. The decline in the value of public insurtech unicorns has been an oft-repeating theme. Contrarily, global insurtech venture activity has been hitting new highs. In 2021,…
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4 August 2022 0

Bzaar bags $4M to enable US retailers to source home, lifestyle products from India

Small businesses in the U.S. now have a new way to source home and lifestyle goods from new manufacturers. Bzaar, a business-to-business cross-border marketplace, is connecting retailers with over 50 export-ready manufacturers in India. The U.S.-based company announced Monday that it raised $4 million in seed funding, led by Canaan Partners, and including angel investors…
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20 September 2021 0

Nigerian agritech startup Releaf secures $4.2M to scale its food processing technology

The distance between their farms and the nearest processor is key for smallholder farmers who need to process their crops. And though Nigeria’s food processing systems have a keen resemblance to the West with respect to big factories and huge economies of scale in high-demand cities, farmers still suffer from poor logistics networks. With distance…
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15 September 2021 0

Logistics startup Stord raises $90M in Kleiner Perkins-led round, becomes a unicorn and acquires a company

When Kleiner Perkins led Stord’s $12.4 million Series A in 2019, its founders were in their early 20s and so passionate about their startup that they each dropped out of their respective schools to focus on growing the business. Fast-forward two years and Stord — an Atlanta-based company that has developed a cloud supply chain —…
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14 September 2021 0

SpotOn raises $300M at a $3.15B valuation and acquires Appetize

Last year at this time, SpotOn was on the brink of announcing a $60 million Series C funding round at a $625 million valuation. Fast forward to almost exactly one year later, and a lot has changed for the payments and software startup. Today, SpotOn said it has closed on $300 million in Series E…
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13 September 2021 0

Is it so bad to take money from Chinese venture funds?

Denis Kalinin Contributor Denis Kalinin works at venture fund Runa Capital as Asia Business development manager, devoted to connecting the Western and Asian VC worlds and bringing long-term value to both. China is becoming a superpower in the tech industry. According to Straits Times, China is the only place in the world where it takes…
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10 September 2021 0

Snyk snags another $530M as valuation rises to $8.4B

Snyk, the Boston-based late-stage startup that is trying to help developers deliver more secure code, announced another mega-round today. This one was for $530 million, with $300 million in new money and $230 million in secondary funding, the latter of which is to help employees and early investors cash in some of their stock options.…
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9 September 2021 0

Microsoft confirms investment in India’s Oyo in a multi-year strategic deal to co-develop travel and hospitality products

Microsoft has entered a “multi-year strategic alliance” with Oyo to work with the Indian startup to co-develop “next-generation” travel and hospitality products and tech. Thursday’s announcement confirms a late July TechCrunch report. TechCrunch had reported that Microsoft was in talks to invest in Oyo and was exploring ways to provide its technologies to the Indian…
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9 September 2021 0

Debt versus equity: When do non-traditional funding strategies make sense?

David Friend Contributor David Friend is a serial entrepreneur, six-time founder, and the current co-founder and CEO of cloud storage company, Wasabi Technologies. More posts by this contributor Brand power vs. product power The herd sours on unprofitable unicorns again The U.S. produces more new startups and unicorns each year than any other country in…
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8 September 2021 0

SimpliFed serves up $500,000 pre-seed toward infant nutrition support

Feeding babies can take many different forms, and is also an area where parents can feel less supported as they navigate this new milestone in their lives. Enter SimpliFed, an Ithaca, New York-based company providing virtual lactation and a baby feeding support platform. The startup announced Friday that it raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding led…
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3 September 2021 0