Roman is a cloud pharmacy for erectile dysfunction

 “When I was 17, I experienced erectile dysfunction.” My interviews with startup founders rarely start so candid. But to destigmatize the business of his new company Roman and empathize with customers, Zachariah Reitano is getting vulnerable. “I think in a good way I’ve become numb to the embarrassment” says 26-year-old Reitano. “I remember the embarrassment… Read More

Cardlytics filed for marketing analytics IPO

 Cardlytics has been on file for IPO, multiple sources tell TechCrunch. The Atlanta-based marketing analytics business filed its confidential S-1 last year and has been trying to determine the best time to go public. One source with knowledge of the business says that part of the delay is related to potential partnerships that would put the company in a better position for a market debut,… Read More

Southeast Asian e-commerce startup Carousell closes $70-$80M Series C round

 Singapore-based startup Carousell is in the money this week after it closed a Series C round of between $70-$80 million, two sources with knowledge of the deal told TechCrunch. Started by three graduates from the National University of Singapore in 2012, Carousell operates a mobile-first listings service for second-hand goods and services in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Prior to this… Read More

LG’s mobile business can’t stop losing money

 Korea electronics giant LG continues to show the world that making a profit, or even breaking even, from selling smartphones is no easy thing. LG Mobile has posted just one quarter of profitability over the last two years, that was six months ago during the first quarter of sales of its new flagship, the LG G6, when it eked out a $3.2 million profit. Previous to that, you have to go way back… Read More

HashiCorp raises $40M for its cloud infrastructure automation services

 HashiCorp is probably best known for Terraform, its open source tool for automatically provisioning infrastructure by describing it as code.  But the company also offers a whole range of additional open source security tools and products that enable multi-cloud deployments, as well as enterprise versions of these tools that add features for larger teams on top of these free version. Today,… Read More

Singapore-based Zuzu gets $2M seed to help small hotels compete with big chains

 Independently-owned hotels sometimes fall through the cracks of the hospitality industry because they struggle to compete with major chains, but don’t belong on Airbnb or HomeAway. Zuzu Hospitality Solutions bridges the gap in Asia by providing essential revenue management and marketing services to small hotels while allowing them preserve their own brands. The Singapore-based startup… Read More

GitHub’s scandalized ex-CEO returns with Chatterbug

 Translation earbuds might eliminate some utilitarian reasons to know a language, but if you want to understand jokes, read poetry, or fall in love in a foreign tongue, you’ll have to actually learn it. Unfortunately, products like Rosetta Stone leave people feeling burned after claiming the process should be easy while never helping you practice talking with a real native speaker. You… Read More

Grab raises $700M in debt to add more drivers to its ride-hailing service in Southeast Asia

 Grab is in the process of raising $2.5 billion for it ride hailing service in Southeast Asia, but that hasn’t stopped the Uber rival from tapping banks for $700 million in debt facilities to develop its business. The Singapore-based company said it had pulled in the financing from “leading global and regional banks” to expand its car rental fleet in Singapore and Indonesia,… Read More