Commerce

Fast-growing South African venture FARO raises $6M to source, refurbish and sell surplus clothing

Global fashion brands are struggling with billions of dollars worth of unsold inventory. Mostly, these brands avoid reselling in core markets like the UK and the U.S. to prevent market cannibalization. Meanwhile, emerging markets like Africa heavily rely on secondhand clothing imports, but 30% to 40% of these items are deemed unusable upon arrival, leading to […]

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eBay acquires Caramel to reduce risk and complexity of online car sales

E-commerce giant eBay has announced plans to acquire Caramel, a startup that helps car sellers and buyers complete the final steps of the transaction — including verification, financing, paperwork, ownership transfer, insurance, and more. As eBay has grown through the years, it has had to evolve to remain competitive — last year, for instance, the

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Snappy aquires swag-gifting startup Covver as it seks to roll-up players

It’s now broadly accepted that customers and employees who receive corporate gifts end up appreciating the brand much more, and for not a lot of outlay. The market for this has thus exploded. One market player, the New York-based Snappy, which has raised over $125 million to date, is now acquiring Covver, a corporate merchandise

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Automattic says it will reduce its contribution to WordPress core project to match WP Engine

It’s a new year, but drama in the WordPress community keeps going. Automattic, the company that runs WordPress.com, said that it would reduce its contribution to WordPress core, the open-source project that acts as the backbone of most of Automattic’s products and ensures the longevity of WordPress as a technology and community. Automattic CEO and

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Flipkart taps Dunzo founder to lead quick commerce push

Flipkart has hired Kabeer Biswas, co-founder of Indian delivery startup Dunzo, as the Walmart-owned e-commerce group expands its quick commerce business in the world’s most populous nation. Biswas will lead Flipkart’s quick commerce business, called Flipkart Minutes, a source familiar with the situation told TechCrunch. The move follows Flipkart engaging with Biswas over a potential

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Facebook Marketplace to display eBay listings to appease EU regulators

Meta is set to start displaying eBay listings in its own Facebook Marketplace classifieds platform, in an effort to appease European regulators. Back in November, Meta was hit with a €798 million fine by the European Commission (EC) in Europe for breaching antitrust rules. The EC contended that Meta created “unfair trading conditions” by connecting

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Online spending grew 3% to a record $1.2T over holiday period, says Salesforce

Online spending rose 3% to a record $1.2 trillion globally over the holiday period, with U.S.-sales, specifically, growing 4% to $282 billion. That’s according to a new report from Salesforce, which aggregated data from across its various cloud services, including Agentforce, Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Service Cloud, to garner insights into spending activity spanning

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Hindustan Unilever in talks to acquire Peak XV-backed Minimalist for up to $350M

Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever is in advanced talks to acquire four-year-old direct-to-consumer startup Minimalist for up to $350 million, according to two people familiar with the matter. An acquisition would add to the Unilever subsidiary’s buying spree in India, where it expanded into the health and wellbeing category by acquiring Oziva and Wellbeing Nutrition

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