all News of 02/24/20

China Said It Was Easing Wuhan’S Coronavirus Lockdown, Then Backtracked

China said an announcement that the quarantine of Wuhan would be eased was prematurely issued without approval from top officials. The lockdown of the Chinese city where the novel coronavirus emerged would remain fully in place, it said. The abrupt ...

Sony Announces Its First 5g Flagship, The Triple Lens Xperia 1 II

Sony announces its first 5G flagship, the triple lens Xperia 1 II image Sony has announced its first 5G smartphone: The Xperia 1 II — which, for the curious and/or confused, is pronounced ‘Xperia One, Mark Two’. Which isn’t at all confusing, er. “No one understands the entertainment ...

Europe’S Target Global Raises New €120m Early-Stage Fund

Target Global , the pan-European venture capital firm headquartered in Berlin, has raised a new €120 million early-stage fund, following what it claims was only 3 months of fundraising. Dubbed “Early Stage Fund II”, the new vehicle ...

Chattermill Raises $8m Series A To Enable Companies To Gain Customer Feedback Insights ‘At Scale’

Chattermill , the London startup that offers what it calls a “customer understanding” platform that uses machine learning to gain scalable insights into customer feedback, has raised $8 million in Series A funding. Leading the round is ...

Spain’S Cobee Raises €2.1m For Its Employee Benefits App And Payment Card

Spain’s Cobee raises €2.1M for its employee benefits app and payment card image Cobee , a Spanish fintech startup that has developed an employee benefit management app and accompanying card, has closed €2.1 million in “pre-Series A” funding. The round was co-led by Speedinvest, and Target Global. Other backers ...

Brickbat: Just Take A Car

The Washington (D.C.) Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has spent five years and $3.8 million trying to build bicycle racks  at two of its stations. The project was originally projected to cost $500,000 and be completed by December 2015. The ...

Petnet’S Smart Pet Feeder System Is Back After A Week-Long Outage, But Customers Are Still Waiting For Answers

Petnet’s smart pet feeder system is back after a week-long outage, but customers are still waiting for answers image Petnet , the smart pet feeder backed by investors including Petco, recently experienced a week-long system outage affecting its second-generation SmartFeeders. While the startup’s customer service recently tweeted that its SmartFeeders and ...

How South Korea’S Coronavirus Outbreak Got So Quickly Out Of Control

Buses and subways in Seoul, the normally crowded South Korean capital, were unusually quiet on Monday, and social media was filled with posts with the hashtag “work from home.” South Koreans work some of the longest hours in the world, ...

Created To Help Employees Figure Out Health Benefits, HealthJoy Raises $30 Million

HealthJoy , a platform designed to make it easier for employees to use their healthcare benefits, has raised $30 million in Series C funding led by Health Velocity Capital. Returning investors also participated, including U.S. Venture Partners, ...

India’S Modi Says ‘Namaste Trump’ As U.S. President Arrives For Whirlwind Visit

(AHMEDABAD, INDIA) — India poured on the pageantry with a joyful, colorful welcome for President Donald Trump who on Monday kicked off a whirlwind 36-hour visit that emphasizes pageantry over policy and a mega-rally to reaffirm U.S.-India ties ...

A New Generation Of Volunteers Emerges In The Chinese City At The Epicenter Of The Coronavirus Crisis

Black Chen, a 30-year-old tattooed bar owner, had never volunteered before the coronavirus outbreak hit his hometown of Wuhan, but he quickly stepped up. When hospital staff appealed for supplies, he and a group of friends started raising funds, ...

Malaysia’S 94-Year-Old Prime Minister Abruptly Resigns Amid Political Turmoil

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad abruptly submitted his resignation to the king on Monday after infighting in the ruling coalition over his successor came to a head, throwing the Southeast Asian nation into fresh turmoil. The statement from ...

1 In 3 Venezuelans Struggling With Hunger, U.N. Study Finds

(CARACAS, Venezuela) — One of every three people in Venezuela is struggling to put enough food on the table to meet minimum nutrition requirements as the nation’s severe economic contraction and political upheaval persists, according to a ...

Hardliners’ Victory In Iranian Elections Turns Back The Clock On Relations With The West

The victory by hard-liners in Iran’s election puts parliament back in the hands of people determined to turn the clock back on reconciliation with the West. Expect a retreat from commitments to the hollowed-out nuclear deal as the Islamic ...

Microsoft Launches 100X100X100 Program To Help Indian b2b SaaS Startups

As Indian startups begin to make inroads in the world of SaaS, Microsoft has taken notice. The American tech giant today launched 100X100X100, a program aimed at business-to-business SaaS startups. Microsoft said Monday that 100X100X100 will ...

Sokowatch Raises $14m To Digitize Africa’S Informal b2b Supply-Chain

Sokowatch raises $14M to digitize Africa’s informal B2B supply-chain image Kenya based B2B e-commerce startup Sokowatch has raised $14 million in Series A funding toward its mission of revamping supply-chain markets for Africa’s informal retailers. From Nairobi, the company has created a platform that connects ...

Protesting Haitian Police Exchange Gunfire With Soldiers Outside National Palace

(PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti) — Haitian police officers exchanged gunfire for hours Sunday with soldiers of the newly reconstituted army outside the national palace, in a dangerous escalation of protests over police pay and working conditions. At ...

Lightspeed Leads Laiye’S $42m Round To Bet On Chinese Enterprise IT

Laiye, a Chinese startup that offers robotic process automation services to several major tech firms in the nation and government agencies, has raised $42 million in a new funding round as it looks to scale its business. The new financing round, ...

What Happens If A Pandemic Hits?

What happens if a Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic hits? It’s time to at least start asking that question. What will the repercussions be, if the virus spreads worldwide? How will it change how we live, work, socialize, and travel? Don’t ...

BharatPe Raises $75m To Help Indian Merchants Accept Digital Payments And Secure Working Capital

BharatPe, a New Delhi-based startup that is enabling hundreds of thousands of merchants to accept digital payments for the first time and also providing them with access to working capital, has raised $75 million in a new financing round as it ...