I could spend hours discussing early-stage startup operations and community-based marketing, but deal flow is my blind spot. But when investment banking firm UBS picked up financial robot-advisor Wealthfront for $1.4 billion in an all-cash deal this week, I noticed. “At those prices, the company’s exit price is a win in that it represents a…
The 2020-2021 trading and investing boom lifted a number of companies’ revenue growth, fundraising and narrative strength. Some of the best-known even went public on the back of a global trend that made their businesses shine. Now that shine is fading, and the value of select fintech concerns is in free-fall. The best example of…
African cities, particularly sub-Saharan ones, have the fastest global urban growth rate. But with challenges around overcrowding, congestion, infrastructure, power and poor governance, these cities are maxed out in what they can provide to the average African living in urban environments. Some experts think charter cities offer a solution. They are granted a special jurisdiction…
Moglix has more than doubled its valuation to about $2.5 billion from $1 billion just eight months ago as the Indian industrial business-to-business marketplace aggressively scales its offerings in many parts of the world. Alpha Wave Global (formerly called Falcon Edge Capital), which led the seven-year-old startup’s previous funding, has returned alongside Tiger Global to…
Assaf Harel leads the research and innovation activities at Karamba Security, where he oversees a broad IP portfolio of innovative products and services. The buzz about 19-year-old Tesla hacker David Colombo is well deserved. A flaw in third-party software allowed him to remotely access 25 of the world’s leading EV manufacturer’s vehicles across 13 countries.…
The IPO market is flatlining at an awkward moment. While private markets remain heavily risk-on, a key avenue for startup exits – and investor liquidity – is seemingly shut. Our first indication that this was the case was the Justworks IPO delay in the United States, which pulled the plug on its debut close to…
Lamborghini is dipping its supercar toe into the non-fungible token pool. But unlike the primate-based computer-designed Twitter avatars that have come to represent the NFT community, the automaker is bridging the physical and digital world for its crypto offering. Well, off-world to be exact. The automaker — in partnership with NFT PRO and RM Sotheby’s…
Applying to colleges is one of the hardest parts of high school, especially for students who want to study abroad. Cialfo wants to make the process easier, with a platform that includes school research, communication tools for counselors and students, and Direct Apply, which helps international students find and apply to hundreds of programs with…
Black Sheep Foods, a foodtech company making plant-based heritage breed meats and wild game, took in $5.25 million in seed funding as it continues developing its patent-pending flavor compounds. Sunny Kumar, co-founder, told TechCrunch that where some plant-based meats fall short is relying on the taste to be generated by the mouth. Rather, his company…
Latin Americans seeking the ability to invest in companies trading on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange now have a new option in Vest, a startup that has launched a mobile-first brokerage app with zero-commission trading in the Americas. CEO and co-founder Aaron Polhamus said he, Miguel Arroyo and Jaime Rodas were driven to…
