Airship acquires SMS commerce company ReplyBuy
Airship is announcing that it has acquired mobile commerce startup ReplyBuy. The startup (which was a finalist at TechCrunch’s 1st and Future competition in 2016) works with customers like entertainment venues and professional and college sports teams to send messages and sell tickets to fans...
Endel raises $5M to create personalized ‘sound environments’ that improve productivity and sleep
The pitch for Berlin-based Endel is pretty straightforward, according to its co-founder and CEO Oleg Stavitsky. “The way I usually describe Endel is: This is a technology that is built to help you focus, relax and sleep,” Stavitsky told me. “Of course, the way we...
With $100M in funding, Playco is already a mobile gaming unicorn
Playco is a new mobile gaming startup created by Game Closure co-founder Michael Carter and Zynga co-founder Justin Waldron, as well as game producers Takeshi Otsuka and Teddy Cross. Although the Tokyo-headquartered company is only announcing its existence today, it’s already a unicorn — it...
Unity Software has strong opening, gaining 31% after pricing above its raised range
Whoever said you can’t make money playing video games clearly hasn’t taken a look at Unity Software’s stock price. On its first official day of trading, the company rose more than 31%, opening at $75 per share before closing the day at $68.35. Unity’s share...
As low-code startups continue to attract VC interest, what’s driving customer demand?
Investor interest in no-code, low-code apps and services advanced another step this morning with Airtable raising an outsized round. The $185 million investment into the popular database-and-spreadsheet service comes as it adds “new low-code and automation features,” per our own reporting. The round comes after...
Bambuser raises $45M after shifting focus to live video shopping
Bambuser is a name that you may not have heard in a while, but the Stockholm-headquartered company is announcing today that it’s raised $45 million in new funding this year, with $34.5 million of that amount raised during the pandemic. Bambuser’s history goes back more...
Dorian raises $3.1M for its no-code, interactive storytelling platform
With Dorian, co-founder and CEO Julia Palatovska said she’s hoping to empower fiction writers and other storytellers to create their own games. The startup is announcing that it has raised $3.15 million in seed funding led by March Capital Partners, with participation from VGames, Konvoy...
Google, Nokia, Qualcomm are investors in $230M Series A2 for Finnish phone maker, HMD Global
Mobile device maker HMD Global has announced a $230M Series A2 — its first tranche of external funding since a $100M round back in 2018 when it tipped over into a unicorn valuation. Since late 2016 the startup has exclusively licensed Nokia’s brand for mobile...
Special raises $2.26M to build a subscription platform for online creators
Special is a new startup offering online video creators a way to move beyond advertising for their income. The service was created by the team behind tech consulting and development firm Triple Tree Software. Special’s co-founder and CEO Sam Lucas told me that the team...
Serialized fiction startup Radish raises $63.2M from SoftBank and Kakao
Radish is announcing that it has raised $63.2 million in new funding. Breaking up book-length stories into smaller chapters that are released over days or weeks is an idea that was popularized in the 19th century, and startups have been trying to revive it for...
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