Cockroach Labs announces $27M Series B and enterprise tier for its reliable database

 “A database that replicates itself and is meant to survive” — that was the connection that Cockroach Labs CEO Spencer Kimball made between the startup’s memorable name and its value proposition. Despite entering a crowded market, Cockroach has been able to gain the favor of some of the most well known VCs in tech. Today’s $27 million Series B is being led by… Read More

Ceres Imaging raises $5 million to pinpoint crop stress for farmers

 Oakland, Calif.-based Ceres Imaging has raised $5 million in a Series A investment led by Romulus Capital. The startup uses cameras, sensors and software to pinpoint crop stress in the field for farmers, so that they can apply herbicides, pesticides and irrigation just where it’s needed. Ceres, like several other startups, started out with the notion to build a drone just for… Read More

Mya raises $11.4M Series A to streamline recruiting for retail, warehouse and call center jobs

 Recruiting is miserable. The experience lacks so many things: transparency, fairness, timeliness and so on that solutions to date have only addressed part of the problem. LinkedIn made the resume digital and put people in (mostly) one place. Others have created labor marketplaces and educational resources to “fix” hiring, but last time I checked hiring was still broken. With… Read More

Kreditech raises €110M from Naspers’ PayU in strategic financing partnership

 Kreditech, the German startup backed by Peter Thiel, Rakuten and the IFC that creates credit ratings and provides finance to people who may not otherwise have credit histories, has raised another round of funding from one of its strategic partners. PayU, the payments company owned by Naspers that is known by some as the “PayPal of emerging markets” — its business is mainly… Read More

Startups, you must raise this much to join the 1%

 Joining the exclusive club of one-percenters is hard, and, by definition, nearly every company fails to gain entry. For founders and investors alike, the heartening thing is that, in most cases, even a small seed and Series A round puts your company in the top half of startups founded in or after 2003. And there’s one good thing about being middle of the pack — you have plenty… Read More