Monthly Archives: September 2017

 Credit score business Equifax revealed Thursday that 143 million people were compromised in a cyber attack. Social security numbers and other personally identifying information were accessed. And guess what, the stock market didn’t like it! The company lost about $2 billion in market cap Friday after tumbling nearly 14%.  Apparently, the company has known about the hack since July 29,… Read More

 After a pivot and months of speculation about the future of car valet and concierge startup Luxe, the company has finally found a home. Today, automaker Volvo Cars announced that it is acquiring the startup’s platform, technology, key staff and other assets, which it will use to put some fuel into its own digital services strategy. The terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed, but… Read More

 India-based OYO, a startup that pioneered and popularized the concept of budget hotel networks, has closed $250 million in new funding led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund. The startup was founded in 2013 by Thiel Fellow Ritesh Agarwal, now aged 24, and the concept centers around standardizing the quality of India’s wildly differentiated affordable hotels, and providing some structure… Read More

 Ed tech startup Labster whose software platform enables virtual simulations of laboratories for teaching life science to students, has closed a $10 million Series A round of funding led by early stage European VC firm Balderton Capital. Read More

 You can’t walk outside your door in San Francisco these days without seeing some tech worker or VC wearing a pair of Allbirds. The eco-friendly wool shoes have taken over the tech world since the startup’s launch a mere 18 months ago. Now, it plans to expand globally and develop new materials beyond its signature merino wool. Allbirds has a good amount of capital to go there as… Read More

 As outsized ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft continue to build out their taxi-style marketplaces largely based around connecting individual passengers to individual drivers, a startup focused squarely on the carpooling opportunity has raised a large round of funding to expand outside of the U.S. Via — which has developed a shuttle-based carpooling service that it offers directly… Read More

 Habito, a London startup that is bringing the entire mortgage process online, has raised £18.5 million in Series B funding. Atomico, the European VC firm founded by Skype’s Niklas Zennström, led the round. Read More

 At our TechCrunch China event in June we discussed the bright future that Hong Kong’s startup scene has, despite some big challenges. This week the country passed a notable milestone as it got its first $1 billion valued startup, better known as a unicorn.
The company in question is GoGoVan, a logistics on-demand provider that connects van drivers and customers for transporting goods. Read More