Partech has doubled its Africa VC fund to $143 million and opened a Nairobi office to complement its Dakar practice. The Partech Africa Fund plans to make 20 to 25 investments across roughly 10 countries over the next several years, according to General Partner Tidjane Deme. The fund has added Ceasar Nyagha as …
Read More »FabFitFun raises $80 million for its growing lifestyle brand
Nine years after launching its online magazine, and three years after diversifying into the subscription box business, FabFitFun has raised $80 million in a growth round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from its previous investors Upfront Ventures and NEA. The Los Angeles-based company has steadily expanded its …
Read More »How business-to-business startups reduce inequality
When considering the structural impact of technology companies on our economy and society, we tend to focus on questions of scale and monopoly. It’s true that the FAANG companies and more recent winners (Airbnb, Uber) have surfed a combination of network effects, preferential access to capital and classic efficiencies …
Read More »WhatsApp Business app adds customer service features to its desktop and web apps
A year ago, Facebook-owned WhatsApp officially introduced its standalone app aimed at small business customers. Today, the WhatsApp Business app has grown to reach 5 million business customers, the company says. And now it’s making the app easier to use on the desktop and the web by porting over …
Read More »Groww, an investment app for millennials in India, raises $6.2M
Groww, a startup hoping to make saving and investment opportunities more widely available to young people in India, has closed a $6.2 million Series A to grow its business. Founded in 2017, the Bengaluru-based company was part of Y Combinator in the U.S. last year and it went on to …
Read More »Fresh tickets and New VC partners for the TechCrunch Winter Party
We’ve got a double dose of exciting news for you, startup fans. First, we’re thrilled to announce that investment firms August Capital, SV Angel and Uncork Capital have partnered with us for the 2nd Annual TechCrunch Winter Party at Galvanize on February 8. And second, today we released into …
Read More »Reserve your demo table today for the TechCrunch Winter Party at Galvanize
There are just three short weeks until Silicon Valley’s startup community takes a night off to relax, connect and get down at the 2nd Annual TechCrunch Winter Party at Galvanize. It’s not just an opportunity to have a great time — although you will. It’s also the chance for …
Read More »Backing Culture Genesis, T.I. launches Tech Cypha, an investment syndicate for tech deals
With an inaugural investment into the Los Angeles-based entertainment startup Culture Genesis, Clifford Harris Jr., who’s better known as “T.I.”, has launched a new syndicated investment vehicle called Tech Cypha. Launched by the music and cultural impresario with more hustle than hustle and his business partner Jason Geter, the new collaborative investment …
Read More »Startups Weekly: Squad’s screen-shares and Slack’s swastika
We’re three weeks into January. We’ve recovered from our CES hangover and, hopefully, from the CES flu. We’ve started writing the correct year, 2019, not 2018. Venture capitalists have gone full steam ahead with fundraising efforts, several startups have closed multi-hundred million dollar rounds, a virtual influencer raised equity funding and …
Read More »LG Research Study Claims Xbox Players Are ‘Better’ At Games than PC and PS4 Players– Game Rant
Tech huge LG just recently performed a study in collaboration with video game publisher Activision where its objective was to identify if PC, PS4, or Xbox users were “better “players. According to LG, the outcomes of the research study show that Xbox players are” much better “at video games than …
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