Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate that looks after the firm’s hugely popular Alipay service, is reportedly gearing up for an enormous funding round that could take its valuation to $100-$150 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ant is in talks to raise upwards of $9 billion at the $100 ...
Read More »Google Home and Google Home Mini smart speakers go on sale in India
Google’s two smart speaker products — the Google Home and Google Home Mini — and its Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones are now available in India following a launch event in the country. The devices are priced at Rs 9,999 ($154), and Rs 4,499 ($69), respectively, and Google confirmed that they are ...
Read More »A well-fed workforce is a happy workforce — City Pantry raises £4M for its catering marketplace
City Pantry, the office catering marketplace to make it easy to order in food for staff, company events and meetings, has restocked its funding. The London-based startup has raised a new £4 million round led by Octopus Investments with participation from existing investors and Newable Private Investing — capital it ...
Read More »Snapchat brings back chronological Stories feed for some
Snapchat has undone its controversial redesign’s most significant change in an update to some users today. A tab that shows Stories in reverse chronological order, replacing the redesign’s algorithmically sorted feed for many people. We’ve reached out to Snap Inc and haven’t heard back. Showing the most recent Stories first ...
Read More »Massterly aims to be the first full-service autonomous marine shipping company
Logistics may not be the most exciting application of autonomous vehicles, but it’s definitely one of the most important. And the marine shipping industry — one of the oldest industries in the world, you can imagine — is ready for it. Or at least two major Norwegian shipping companies are: ...
Read More »Grab delays shuttering Uber app as Singapore probes merger deal
Fans of Uber in Singapore will have a little more time to continue using the app after Grab, the rival that is acquiring Uber’s business in the region, agreed to extend the life of the app until April 15 while the country’s competition commission reviews the merger deal. Grab had ...
Read More »News startup Knowhere aims to break through partisan echo chambers
It’s become a common complaint that social media allows everyone to limit their news consumption to stories that reinforce what they already believe. But the team at Knowhere says it’s found a solution: News stories written by machines. The idea is that Knowhere’s technology can eliminate some of the in-built human ...
Read More »500 Startups takes strategic investment from Abu Dhabi Financial Group
500 Startups, the U.S.-headquartered VC firm hit by scandal last year after co-founder Dave McClure resigned following allegations of sexual misconduct, has announced an unconventional deal that sees Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) take a stake in its parent company. It is normal for VC firms to work closely with ...
Read More »Skyscanner adds train travel booking, starting in UK
UK-based travel search engine Skyscanner has expanding its offering with a train ticket booking feature that lets users of iOS app book UK train journeys. The feature is slated as coming to UK Android users shortly. The company’s travel booking platform already offers flight, hotel and car hire. The ability to search ...
Read More »COSMIQ maker Deepblu launches a booking platform it calls the “Airbnb of diving”
After it took James Tsuei a month of research and emails to plan a dive in Indonesia, he decided it was time for his startup, Deepblu, to launch a booking platform for divers. Planet Deepblu bills itself as “the Airbnb for diving” and is the latest piece of the diving ...
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