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There is infinite money for stock-trading startups

13 Feb 2021/0 Comments/in /by

By Alex Wilhelm

Welcome back to The TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It’s broadly based on the daily column that appears on Extra Crunch, but free, and made for your weekend reading. Want it in your inbox every Saturday morning? Sign up here.

Ready? Let’s talk money, startups and spicy IPO rumors.

Earlier this week TechCrunch broke the news that Public, a consumer stock trading service, was in the process of raising more money. Business Insider quickly filled in details surrounding the round, that it could be around $200 million at a valuation of $1.2 billion. Tiger could lead.

Public wants to be the anti-Robinhood. With a focus on social, and a recent move away from generating payment for order flow (PFOF) revenues that have driven Robinhood’s business model, and attracted criticism, Public has laid its bets. And investors, in the wake of its rival’s troubles, are ready to make it a unicorn.

Of course, the Public round comes on the heels of Robinhood’s epic $3.4 billion raise, a deal that was shocking for both its scale and speed. The trading service’s investors came in force to ensure it had the capital it needed to continue supporting consumer …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Extra Crunch roundup: Metromile CEO interview, Oscar Health’s IPO plans, our 2-year anniversary, more

13 Feb 2021/0 Comments/in /by

By Walter Thompson

Extra Crunch turns two second anniversary image: a cake with two candles and the EC logo

I’m very proud of the work we’re doing here at Extra Crunch, so it gives me great pleasure to announce that today is our second anniversary.

Thanks to hard work from the entire TechCrunch team, authoritative guest contributors and a very engaged reader base, we’ve tripled our membership in the last 12 months.

As Extra Crunch enters its third year, we’re putting our foot on the gas in 2021 so we can bring you more:

Full Extra Crunch articles are only available to members
Use discount code ECFriday to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription

To be completely honest: Eric and I wavered about posting this announcement. Both of us would prefer to show the results of our work than make a list of future-looking statements, so I’ll sum up:

I’m proud of the work we’re doing because people around the world use the information they find on Extra Crunch to build and grow companies. That’s big!

Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch; have a great weekend.

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

Image Credits: Bryce …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Extra Crunch roundup: Metromile CEO interview, Oscar Health’s IPO plans, our 2-year anniversary, more

13 Feb 2021/0 Comments/in /by

By Walter Thompson

Extra Crunch turns two second anniversary image: a cake with two candles and the EC logo

I’m very proud of the work we’re doing here at Extra Crunch, so it gives me great pleasure to announce that today is our second anniversary.

Thanks to hard work from the entire TechCrunch team, authoritative guest contributors and a very engaged reader base, we’ve tripled our membership in the last 12 months.

As Extra Crunch enters its third year, we’re putting our foot on the gas in 2021 so we can bring you more:

Full Extra Crunch articles are only available to members
Use discount code ECFriday to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription

To be completely honest: Eric and I wavered about posting this announcement. Both of us would prefer to show the results of our work than make a list of future-looking statements, so I’ll sum up:

I’m proud of the work we’re doing because people around the world use the information they find on Extra Crunch to build and grow companies. That’s big!

Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch; have a great weekend.

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

Image Credits: Bryce …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Does SoftBank have 20 more DoorDashes?

12 Feb 2021/0 Comments/in /by

By Natasha Mascarenhas

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s biggest tech happenings. This week felt oddly comforting from a tech news perspective: Facebook is copying something, early-stage startup data is flawed enough to talk about and sweet DoorDash is buying robots for undisclosed sums.

So, here’s a rundown of the tech news we got into (as always, jokes aren’t previewed so you’ll have to listen to the actual show to get our critique and Award Winning Analysis*):

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Pngme, a financial data platform, closes $3M seed to accelerate growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

11 Feb 2021/0 Comments/in /by

By Tage Kene-Okafor

Since M-Pesa’s mobile money infrastructure came into play in 2007, there has been a proliferation of fintech services ranging from wallets to savings and loans. With this mobile money ecosystem growing in double-digits year-on-year, a lot of data is being created in the process. But this has left some fragmentation, where one person’s information is diverse and can be accessed via multiple channels.

For banks and financial institutions, it becomes difficult to understand and provide insights from users’ data. Over the past three years, some platforms have looked to solve this problem. They aggregate users’ financial data and share it with these financial players through APIs driving more data-driven insights and value-added products. One such platform is Pngme.

Today, the Africa-focused but U.S.-based unified financial data platform announced its seed round of $3 million. The investment, led by Radical Ventures, Raptor Group, Lateral Capital and EchoVC was closed in Q3 2020 and came after the fintech startup raised $500,000 in pre-seed two years ago. It further reflects the continued customer growth from banks, fintechs, credit bureaus and microfinance banks in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.

Founded by Brendan Playford and Cate Rung, Pngme started primarily as …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Klarna launches bank accounts in Germany

10 Feb 2021/0 Comments/in /by

By Romain Dillet

Fintech startup Klarna is turning its mobile app into a banking app in Germany. Customers living there can now open a consumer bank account and get a Visa debit card.

For now, Klarna is launching bank accounts for a limited number of users. The company expects to roll it out more broadly in the coming months.

What you get is a full-fledged bank account with a German IBAN to receive money, set up direct deposits and debits. The debit card works with Google Pay and Apple Pay. You get two free ATM withdrawals per month.

With today’s launch, Klarna wants to build a financial super app. Klarna started as a payment method for e-commerce websites. It lets you pay for expensive goods over multiple installments. Merchants get paid when the initial transaction occurs, with Klarna transparently managing credit lines for customers.

With the company’s mobile app, you can track your past purchases and your upcoming payments. The app also lets you access a marketplace of stores, track deliveries and set up price-drop notifications.

But you couldn’t get a full overview of your finances with this data. Adding a bank account provides full visibility in everything that lands on your bank account and leaves your …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Tesla summoned by Chinese regulators for quality concerns

09 Feb 2021/0 Comments/in /by

By Rita Liao

Tesla, which is seeing rapid growth in China as it ramps up local manufacturing capacity, has been called upon by the Chinese government for talks over quality issues in its electric cars.

A group of Chinese authorities, including the country’s top market regulator, cyberspace watchdog and transportation authority, held talks with Tesla after consumers complained about acceleration irregularities, battery fire, software upgrade failures and other vehicle problems, according to a government notice posted late Monday.

Tesla said on microblogging platform Weibo that it “sincerely accepts the government departments’ guidance” and will “strictly comply with Chinese laws.” It will also work to strengthen its “internal operational structure and workflow” under the direction of the regulators in order to ensure safety and consumer rights.

While its popularity surged in China over the past few years, Tesla has made a series of recalls due to faulty parts or functions in the country. Just before its meeting with the government, the American EV giant recalled 20,428 imported Model S vehicles and 15,698 units of imported Model X, China’s market regulator announced last week.

China is an increasingly important and the second-largest market for Tesla. The Gigafactory in Shanghai, where Tesla enjoys tax breaks granted by …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Google-backed Dailyhunt and Josh’s parent firm raises over $100 million

08 Feb 2021/0 Comments/in /by

By Manish Singh

VerSe Innovation, the parent firm of popular news and entertainment app Dailyhunt and short video app Josh, said on Monday it has raised over $100 million as part of a Series H financing round from Qatar Investment Authority and Glade Brook Capital Partners.

The announcement follows another $100 million+ investment the startup secured from Google, AlphaWave, and Microsoft in December last year. That tranche of investment, also part of Series H, had turned Dailyhunt into a unicorn (giving it a valuation of $1 billion or higher). The startup has to-date raised about $430 million.

Dailyhunt, co-run by Virendra Gupta and former Facebook India head Umang Bedi, is a popular news and entertainment app that serves more than 285 million users each day in 14 local languages in India. Its reach in India, the world’s second largest internet market, would explain why Twitter last month partnered with the Indian firm to bring Moments to Dailyhunt.

VerSe Innovation expanded to short form videos last year, with Josh, after New Delhi banned TikTok and created a theoretical void for snacking content in the country. Scores of large giants and startups — including MX Player and ShareChat — have attempted to try …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Hasselblad X1D II 50C: out of the studio and into the streets

06 Feb 2021/0 Comments/in /by

By Veanne Cao

Hasselblad X1D II shotlist

We crawled into an abandoned school bus, trespassed through dilapidated hallways, dodged fleeting thunderstorms and wandered through empty streets of Chinatown late into the evening. For two summery weeks, I couldn’t have been happier.

New York City was in lockdown. I’d been quarantined in my dinky apartment, disheartened and restless. I was anxious to do something creative. Thankfully, the Hasselblad X1D II 50C arrived for review, along with approval from the studio heads for socially-distanced, outdoor shoots.

Taking pictures of the mundane (flowers, buildings, and such) would’ve been a disservice to a $10,000 camera kit, so instead, my friends and I collaborated on a fun, little project: we shot portraits inspired by our favorite films.

Image Credits: Veanne Cao

Equipped with masks and a bottle of hand sanitizer, we put the X1D II 50C and 80mm F/1.9 lens (ideal for close-ups without actually having to be close up) through its paces in some of NYC’s less familiar backdrops.

Before I get into any trouble for the last photo – Alex and Jason are professional stuntmen and that’s a rubber prop gun. They were reenacting the penultimate scene from <a target=_blank href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infernal_Affairs" target="_blank" rel="noopener …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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As location becomes irrelevant, Greek VCs eye local talent and spread their wings

06 Feb 2021/0 Comments/in /by

By Mike Butcher

According to a recent report on Greece’s startup ecosystem by management consultants Found.ation, venture capital and venture debt have continued to grow in the country, although its angel scene remains low-key.

Oddly enough, 2020 was a banner year, with the sale of InstaShop to Delivery Hero valuing the company at $360 million, making it the largest exit for a Greek-founded startup with operations in Greece.

The pandemic has meant Greek investors and startups realize that if they can work from anywhere and hire from anywhere, then Greece is not such a bad place to be. And the Greek VC market benefits as the diaspora returns from the mega cities of the West. The nation’s startup ecosystem is also attracting more outside investors, who see low capital costs, an educated workforce and the move to remote working/hiring.

Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Venture Partners and FJ labs are all backing Greek startups, and Microsoft completed its first acquisition in the country.

Greek startups and investors are also extending collaboration with near neighbors in Cyprus, Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

Investors in our survey said they were excited by sectors such as infrastructure, agtech, cybersecurity, proptech, efficient software, renewable tech and platforms aimed at helping the recovery of …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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