Ingrid Lunden
TechCrunch
United Kingdom
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Recent articles by Ingrid:
PQShield raises $7M for quantum-ready cryptographic security solutions –
A deep tech startup building cryptographic solutions to secure hardware, software, and communications systems for a future when quantum computers may render many current cybersecurity approaches useless is today emerging out of stealth mode with $7 million in funding and a mission to make cryptographic security something that cannot be hackable, even with the most sophisticated […] → Read More
Uber confirms it is acquiring Postmates in an all-stock, $2.65B deal –
Competition continues to heat up in the food delivery wars. In the latest development, Uber today announced that it has acquired Postmates in a $2.65 billion, all-stock deal. It plans to run the business alongside its own food delivery business, Uber Eats, keeping the Postmates app running while merging some of the tech and delivery […] → Read More
Extra Crunch Live: Join Jason Green of Emergence Capital for a live Q&A on July 9 at 2 pm EDT/11 am PDT –
2020 may feel so far like the year of living dangerously, but for many of us it has also been the year of working remotely. Led by the stick of COVID-19 rather than the carrot of the benefits of more flexible work life, a lot of organizations, and the people who power them, have only […] → Read More
SEC filing indicates big data provider Palantir is raising $961M, $550M of it already secured –
Palantir, the secretive big data and analytics provider that works with governments and other public and private organizations to power national security, health and a variety of other services, has reportedly been eyeing up a public listing this autumn. But in the meantime it’s also continuing to push ahead in the private markets. The company […] → Read More
The Mom Project raises $25M for its job site aimed at women returning to work –
Women have long had the short end of the stick when it comes to employment, regularly finding themselves struggling to break through the glass ceiling for promotions and on average getting paid less than their male counterparts. That situation often gets compounded when the woman in question is a parent, balancing the needs of professional […] → Read More
Capital raises $9M for its AI-based ‘capital as a service’ funding platform for startups –
In 2019, in the US alone, more than 10,000 startups raised more than $133 billion in venture funding, with a large proportion of that equity investments. Today, a company building a platform to help startups consider alternative routes to financing — specifically less dilutive options that give up less or no equity in the process […] → Read More
Artlist raises $48M led by KKR for its royalty-free music, video and sound effect library –
Like it or loathe it, video has proven to be the most engaging of all mediums across the web, and today a company out of Israel called Artlist — which provides royalty-free libraries of music, sound effects and even video itself to enhance video content — is announcing a significant growth round of $48 million, […] → Read More
Rasa raises $26M led by A16Z for its open source conversational AI platform –
As chatbots and other AI-based services like interactive voice apps continue to become more ubiquitous, a startup that’s built software to help create and — critically — improve how they work over time is announcing a significant funding round to continue expanding its business. Rasa, which has developed an open source-based platform for developers to […] → Read More
Microsoft confirms acquisition of CyberX to boost security in its IoT business –
Another big acquisition out of Israel this week points to how bigger tech companies are using the economic slowdown to focus on their longer-term strategies and shore up assets to support that. Today Microsoft announced that it would be acquiring CyberX, a security startup that focuses specifically on detecting, stopping, and predicting security breaches on […] → Read More
Checkout.com, the UK payments startup, raises another $150M, now valued at $5.5B –
E-commerce has been on a growth tear in the past few months, a result of more people opting to shop and pay for goods online to adhere to COVID-19 social distancing rules. To underscore the surge of business, a company that provides services to online merchants to help run and manage their transactions is today […] → Read More
Payfone raises $100M for its mobile phone-based digital verification and ID platform –
As an increasing number of daily and essential services move to digital platforms — a trend that’s had a massive fillip in the last few months — having efficient but effective ways to verify that people are who they say they are online is becoming ever more important. Now, a startup called Payfone, which has […] → Read More
SiriusXM acquires Simplecast to double down on podcasts with distribution and analytics tools –
Podcasting continues to see a strong trajectory in the world of streamed audio content, and today comes the latest development on that front. SiriusXM, owner of Pandora and backer of Soundcloud, said that it is acquiring Simplecast, a podcast management platform used by creators to publish and distribute podcasts, and subsequently analyse how they are […] → Read More
Outreach nabs $50M at a $1.33B valuation for its sales engagement tools –
CRM software has become a critical piece of IT when it comes to getting business done, and today a startup focusing on one specific aspect of that stack — sales automation — is announcing a growth round of funding underscoring its own momentum. Outreach, which has built a popular suite of tools used by salespeople […] → Read More
Zycada emerges from stealth with $19M and a bot that speeds up e-commerce and other interactive services –
Shopping cart abandonment — when a person shopping online moves away from a site or mobile app before completing a sale — remains one of the biggest hurdles to e-commerce, with some 70% of all visits with an intention to buy never resulting in actual transactions. Now, a startup called Zycada is emerging from stealth […] → Read More
Stockwell, the AI-vending machine startup formerly known as Bodega, is shutting down July 1 –
Stockwell AI entered the world with a bang but it is leaving with a whimper. Founded in 2017 by ex-Googlers, the AI vending machine startup formerly known as Bodega first raised blood pressures — people hated how it referenced and poorly ‘disrupted’ mom-and-pop shops in one fell swoop — and then raised a lot of money. But ultimately, it […] → Read More
WhatsApp finally launches payments, starting in Brazil –
WhatsApp said on Monday it has started to roll out a payments service to its users in Brazil in a move that it described was aimed at helping businesses accept digital money. Users in Brazil will be able to use the payments service on WhatsApp to make purchases from local businesses without leaving their chat, […] → Read More
UK competition watchdog launches investigation into Facebook’s $400M acquisition of Giphy –
Facebook wants to be the go-to platform for all of your social needs, but a big move it made last month to take ownership in the world of GIFs — the short, looping videos that people use to convey sentiments in online conversations — may not go as it hopes. The UK Competition and Markets […] → Read More
Kahoot raises $28M for its user-generated educational gaming platform, now valued at $1.4B –
As schools stay closed and summer camp seems more like a germscape than an escape, students are staying at home for the foreseeable future and shifted learning to their living rooms. Now, Norwegian educational gaming company Kahoot — the popular platform with 1.3 billion active users and over 100 million games, most of which have […] → Read More
Twitter appears to be testing a wider range of reactions to Tweets –
When it comes to Twitter tweaks, the focus in the last several months seems to have been more on working on ways to make its platform less prone to being abused by people who use it to spread false and misleading information and harassment, and generally weaponise it for aims that are ultimately harmful. But […] → Read More
Sentropy emerges from stealth with an AI platform to tackle online abuse, backed by $13M from Initialized and more –
Online abuse in its many forms on social media is in the spotlight these days as it has never been before: Not only can strong and hateful words be directly harmful to individuals, but their use fans the flames around hate groups and other extremists, fomenting even stronger (and often tragic) responses offline, too. Today, […] → Read More