Ingrid Lunden
TechCrunch
United Kingdom
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Recent articles by Ingrid:
WordPress management site WP Engine acquires Flywheel as it moves to a $1B valuation and IPO –
WordPress now accounts for 34 percent of all websites globally, and today one of the key companies that helps handle the creation and management of some of those WP-hosted sites is getting a little bigger through some consolidation in the wider ecosystem. WP Engine, which works with businesses to build and manage their WordPress-hosted sites, […] → Read More
Creandum closes $300M fund for early-stage investments out of Europe –
As one European VC raises a fund to double down on bigger growth rounds in Europe, another has closed a fund to continue focusing on early-stage investments. Stocklhom-founded Creandum, an early backer of companies like Spotify and iZettle, has closed a fifth fund €265 million ($300 million). The plan is to use the money to […] → Read More
Slack opens at $38.50, a pop of 48% on its first day of trading on NYSE as WORK –
Slack, the workplace messaging platform that has helped define a key category of enterprise IT, made its debut as a public company today with a pop. Trading as “WORK” on the New York Stock Exchange, it opened at $38.50 after setting a reference price last night of $26, valuing it at $15.7 billion, and then […] → Read More
SaaS data protection provider Druva nabs $130M, now at a $1B+ valuation, acquires CloudLanes –
As businesses continue to move more of their computing and data to the cloud, one of the startups that has made a name for itself as a provider of cloud-based solutions to protect and manage those IT assets has raised a big round of funding to build its business. Druva, which provides software-as-a-service-based data protection, […] → Read More
Dawn Capital closes $125M Opportunities Fund to double down on its biggest bets –
Dawn Capital has made a name for itself over the last several years for having a sharp eye when it comes to spotting interesting B2B startups in Europe before they become big, with companies like iZettle (acquired by PayPal last year for $2.2 billion), Mimecast (IPO’d and now worth $2.8 billion), Collibra and Showpad among […] → Read More
Kano, the kids-focused coding and hardware startup, inks deal with Microsoft, launches $300 Kano PC –
Kano, the London-based startup that builds hardware designed to teach younger people about computing and coding, is taking a significant step forward in its growth strategy today. The startup has inked a partnership with Microsoft that sees Kano launching the Kano PC, a new 11.6-inch touch-enabled, Intel Atom-powered computer, its first to run Windows — […] → Read More
Fluent acquires AdParlor, a social ad specialist previously owned by Adknowledge, for $10M –
The old guard of advertising networks continues to swap hands. In the latest development, marketing company Fluent has announced that it is buying AdParlor, a company that built early inroads into advertising and advertising strategy on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter. According to an 8-K filing, the deal is valued at $10 million: $7.5 million in […] → Read More
Blue Prism acquires UK’s Thoughtonomy for up to $100M to expand its RPA platform with more AI –
Robotic process automation — which lets organizations shift repetitive back office tasks to machines to complete — has been a hot area of growth in the world of enterprise IT, and now one of the companies that’s making waves in the area has acquired a smaller startup to continue extending its capabilities. Blue Prism, which […] → Read More
Roli’s newest instrument, the Lumi, helps you learn to play piano with lights –
There has been a longstanding gulf between the consumption music and the creation of it: not everyone has the time or money to spend on lessons and instruments, and for those in school, many music education programs have been cut back over the years, making the option of learning to play instruments for free less […] → Read More
Amazon’s Twitch acquired social networking platform Bebo for $25M to bolster its esports efforts –
While Facebook makes a bold move into cryptocurrency to capitalise on its multi-billion user base, a social network that was once a credible competitor to it has quietly been snapped up by a subsidiary of Amazon. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Bebo, one of the earlier platforms to let people share thoughts and media […] → Read More
Symphony, a messaging app that’s been a hit with Wall Street, raises $165M at a $1.4B valuation –
Slack’s rapid rise and upcoming IPO are clear signs of the ripe opportunity to be had in the field of enterprise messaging. Today, a startup that’s built a messaging product specifically for the financial services vertical is also proving that out. Symphony, which offers secure messaging and other collaboration tools for bankers and those who […] → Read More
RapidAPI nabs $25M led by Microsoft as its API marketplace cracks 10K APIs and 1M users –
APIs — the lightweight programming interfaces used by developers to integrate other applications with theirs, or to help their apps integrate with others — have become an essential building block of our software-powered world, with a majority of organizations building and working with them and, by some estimates, upwards of 50,000 of them in circulation […] → Read More
Uber rival Bolt returns to London 21 months after a TfL investigation shut it down –
Bolt, the Uber rival formerly known as Taxify, is taking a significant step this week in its effort to build out its transportation-on-demand business across the biggest cities in Europe and Africa, which currently covers 25 million users in 30 countries and 100 cities: it’s finally opening for business again in London, the biggest ride-hailing […] → Read More
Salesforce is officially making Seattle its second HQ after its Tableau acquisition –
Here’s an interesting by-product the news today that Salesforce would be acquiring Tableau for $15.7 billion: the company is going to make Seattle, Washington (home of Tableau) the official second headquarters of San Francisco-based Salesforce, putting the company directly in the face of tech giants and Salesforce frenemies Microsoft and Amazon. “An HQ2, if you […] → Read More
Salesforce is buying data visualization company Tableau for $15.7B in all-stock deal –
On the heels of Google buying analytics startup Looker last week for $2.6 billion, Salesforce today announced a huge piece of news in a bid to step up its own work in data visualization and (more generally) tools to help enterprises make sense of the sea of data that they use and amass: Salesforce is […] → Read More
Depop, a social app targeting millennial and Gen Z shoppers, bags $62M, passes 13M users –
The rising popularity of omni-channel commerce — selling to customers wherever they happen to be spending time online — has spawned an army of shopping tools and platforms that are giving legacy retail websites and marketplaces a run for their money. Now, one of the faster growing of these is announcing an impressive round of […] → Read More
Step raises $22.5M led by Stripe to build no-fee banking services for teens –
The smartphone revolution has well and truly disrupted the world of banking. A wide range of startups have cropped up that have completely removed the need to make visits to physical branches to open accounts, make deposits, pay for things, and ask for loans: you can now do all of these on the go by […] → Read More
Sources: Bird is in talks to acquire scooter startup Scoot –
Consolidation is afoot in the micro-mobility industry. → Read More
Alibaba, Mail.Ru, Megafon form AliExpress Russia JV to double down on e-commerce in CIS –
After announcing plans in September 2018 to build a joint venture together, today Russian internet giant Mail.ru, Megafon and China’s Alibaba announced that the deal has closed. With support also from Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF, the three are forming a new operation called AliExpress Russia JV — which will include business assets and investment […] → Read More
LinkedIn to shutter Chitu, its Chinese-language app, in July, redirects users to LinkedIn in Chinese –
LinkedIn has long eyed China as an important country to offset slowing growth in more mature markets. But now it’s calling time on a localized effort after failing to see it pick up steam. The company has announced that it will be shutting down Chitu — a Chinese-only app it had built targeting younger people […] → Read More