Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week was a bit of a carryover from the one before as Bolt’s drama keeps unfolding — another story to be continued. But capital also flew […]
Fundraising is a lot easier when you have traction Read More »
A startup whose product competes with GitHub Copilot and other AI-powered coding assistants has achieved unicorn status. On Thursday, Codeium said it closed a $150 million Series C round led by General Catalyst that values the company at $1.25 billion post-money. The round, which also saw participation from existing investors Kleiner Perkins and Greenoaks Capital,
GitHub Copilot competitor Codeium raises $150M at a $1.25B valuation Read More »
Earlier this month, Google released a new feature with the Pixel 9 series phone to let users add the photographer in the group photo by swapping someone out and taking another photo. A new social network by a duo of Oxford PhDs is working on an app to let you add friends to a photo
Two Oxford PhDs are building an app to let you remix photos into memes Read More »
San Francisco-based data infrastructure startup Cribl has raised $319 million in a Series E funding tranche led by new investor GV (Alphabet’s corporate venture arm) with participation from GIC, CapitalG, IVP and CRV. Bringing Cribl’s total raised to $600 million, the cash injection values the company at $3.5 billion — up around 40% from Cribl’s
Data infrastructure startup Cribl raises $319M at a $3.5B valuation Read More »
The private equity realm has been pretty active so far in 2024, serving as a powerful “alternative” source of liquidity for technology startups and scale-ups in search of an exit. Just this month, TechCrunch reported that EQT had picked up a majority stake in cybersecurity firm Acronis at a valuation of around $4 billion, following
The 12 biggest take-private PE acquisitions so far this year in tech Read More »
This past week was a wild one in the world of fintech as Bolt surprised the industry with a leaked term sheet that revealed it is trying to raise $200 million in equity and an unusual, additional $250 million in “marketing credits.” As part of this deal, Bolt wanted a $14 billion valuation bolstered by
The fallout after Bolt’s aggressive fundraising attempt has been wild Read More »
VCs are increasingly buying shares of late-stage startups on the secondary market as they try to get pieces of the hottest ones — especially AI companies. But they are also increasingly doing so through financial instruments called special purpose vehicles (SVPs). Some of those SPVs are becoming such hot commodities that they are commanding premium
VCs are so eager for AI startups, they’re buying into each others’ SPVs at high prices Read More »
Live-shopping has grown into a massive sector in Asia, but the phenomenon is yet to see similar uptake in Western markets. But two tech founders are hoping the growth-hacking skills they learned at Revolt will power up their startup in the U.K. live shopping arena, and now they have the confidence of major investors. That
Tilt raises $18M Series A to build on its live-shopping app’s success Read More »
Small businesses and startups often lack a dedicated travel desk, forcing executives and founders to rely on human assistants or consuming and cumbersome travel apps. Expedia’s former SVP of consumer product, Michael Gulmann, is betting on AI to bridge the gap. His company, Otto, emerges from stealth Thursday, with plans to launch an alpha version
Former Expedia exec’s startup uses AI to help smaller companies book travel Read More »
Businesses across Africa face challenges managing payroll, especially in a landscape with different regulations, remote employees, and hybrid workplaces. About 80% of small and medium-sized businesses still use Excel and Google Sheets as they can’t afford or maintain complex payroll systems. Here’s why: On-site third-party solutions offer limited features, while software designed for large companies
Kenyan HR and payroll startup Workpay lands Visa as investor in $5M round Read More »
