Lost item finder Tile grabs another $25 million in funding

 Tile, the company that makes connected devices – which you add to keychains, bags, suitcases, laptops, or keep in your wallet in order to track items when they go missing – today announced it has raised a Series B-1 round of new funding, led by Bessemer Venture Partners. In addition, Tile noted it has now hit two major milestones for its business: $100 million in revenue in 2016,… Read More

To stop hackers from invading self-driving cars, Karamba Security raises $12 million

 By 2020, an estimated 75 percent of cars will be internet-connected worldwide, according to estimates from the FBI, Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That connectivity will allow drivers to tap into life-saving safety features and make self-driving cars a reality. But it also makes vehicles vulnerable to malicious hackers. Read More

Symphony, a messaging app backed by Wall St, gets $63M at a $1B+ valuation

 Symphony, a secure messaging app that counts 15 of the world’s biggest banks among its investors and 200,000 paying customers, has raised a new tranche of funding to fuel its expansion into new markets. Symphony has closed in on $63 million; and according to sources close to the company, the startup is now valued at over $1 billion — confirming our reporting from December. This… Read More

AOL co-founder Steve Case on why VCs need to look beyond Silicon Valley

 AOL co-founder Steve Case took to the stage at Disrupt New York this morning to discuss myriad issues, from his former company’s merging with one-time competitor Yahoo (pro) to a potential run for Congress (naw). It’s clear, however, that Case’s current passions lie in his organization, Rise of the Rest, which seeks to shine a light on startups outside of a few key tech hubs.… Read More

Razer gets backing from Horizons Ventures, inks phone JV with Three

 Razer, the gaming company that acquired the Robin smartphone maker Nextbit earlier this year, is now opening the curtains on the next steps to make a deeper move into the mobile space. Razer has announced a strategic partnership with Three, the Hong Kong-based mobile phone carrier owned by Hutchison Whampoa, in which the companies will sell co-branded, gaming-centric handsets and phone… Read More

VCs see fertile ground in agtech

 Agriculture startups that raised seed rounds in recent years are blossoming into businesses sought after by later stage investors. Investment in the agtech space is up sharply this year, driven by a spike of rounds at Series B and later stages, according to Crunchbase data. Altogether, agtech startups raised more than $320 million in 2017 so far, a more than three-fold increase over the… Read More

Our favorite startups from 500 Startups’ 20th class

 41 startups graced the stage at 500 Startups’ 20th demo day at the Parc55 hotel in downtown San Francisco. The event came complete with mascots, a summer of love theme and a diverse array of early-stage companies.
This time around, 500 focused in heavily on health startups. A number of the founders demoing presented businesses in the interest of the public good &#8212… Read More