It was a light week for the Experts program, but what we missed in quantity, we made up for in quality: Joey Noble, community manager for DemandCurve, shared a teardown of Zapier’s homepage that contains insights you can use to improve the storytelling techniques on your own website, including more effective copywriting and calls to…
Back when most commerce took place on the local high street, shoppers who exchanged personally identifiable information with merchants received something in return. Shops kept track of customers’ hat, shoe and dress sizes, along with their birthdays, anniversaries and personal preferences. In return, buyers got a first look at new products and service that anticipated…
The global venture capital market is increasingly active, but few locales are seeing the sort of investment acceleration that African startups are enjoying this year. New data indicates that African startups have already outraised all known prior years, meaning 2021 is sure to be a record. But, more importantly, the pace at which African startups…
Lorna Mitchell Contributor Lorna Mitchell is head of Developer Relations at Aiven, a software company that combines the best open source technologies with cloud infrastructure. With World Mental Health Day just behind us, I thought about how the tech industry can be a difficult place to stay mentally well. Working remotely, especially under unprecedented circumstances,…
Lorna Mitchell Contributor Lorna Mitchell is head of Developer Relations at Aiven, a software company that combines the best open source technologies with cloud infrastructure. With World Mental Health Day just behind us, I thought about how the tech industry can be a difficult place to stay mentally well. Working remotely, especially under unprecedented circumstances,…
Instagram added two features to Reels yesterday: text-to-speech and voice effects. These features are popular already on TikTok, but now, creators can use them on Instagram too. This marks yet another effort from Instagram to keep up with TikTok when it comes to short-form video, as Instagram offers big reels bonuses to incentivize creators, Text-to-speech…
We last heard from Ometria, an “AI-powered” customer marketing platform allowing brand and retailers to personalize marketing messages, in 2019 when it raised $21 million in a Series B. It’s now completed a $40M Series C round, led by InfraVia Growth, with participation from existing investors Octopus Ventures, Sonae IM, Summit Action, Adjuvo, Columbia Lake…
Indonesia-based startup GoTo Group announced today it has secured more than $1.3 billion in the first close of its pre-IPO funding. The latest round was led by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), with participation from Avanda Investment Management, Fidelity International, Google, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), Primavera Capital, SeaTown Master Fund, Temasek, Tencent and Ward Ferry.…
The fall hasn’t been kind to Disney’s streaming ambitions. Disney+ added just 2.1 million subscribers in its fourth quarter, giving it a total of 118.1 million customers. That’s in line with the company’s already cautious estimate (in the “low single-digit millions”) and 60 percent more total customers than a year earlier, but well below what some…
Ample, a startup developing battery swapping technology for electric vehicles, has scored another $30 million from The Blackstone Group and Spanish multinational financial services company Banco Santander. The San Francisco-based company should be at or near unicorn status, considering its valuation back in August was $890 million, according to Pitchbook. Unicorn status means a company…
