startups News of 04/09/20

Bessemer’S Tess Hatch On The Evolving Aerospace Market And COVID-19 Adjustments

The aerospace market is evolving quickly and merging with other segments of tech, making it an exciting space for both startups and investors — but the complications of the global pandemic are being felt by both. Bessemer Venture Partners investor ...

Original Content Podcast: We Have Mixed Feelings About Quibi

Quibi , the short-form, mobile-focused video service that Hollywood executive Jeffrey Katzenberg first hinted at in 2017 , officially  launched on Monday . After years of star-studded content announcements , not to mention $1.75 billion in ...

TechCrunch Live: Join USV Managing Director Albert Wenger For A Live Chat Thursday At 9am PDT

Startups big and small, across all industries, are affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic. From Etsy to MongoDB, from Twilio to Foursquare, these companies are looking for ways to capitalize and ultimately thrive in what has become a survivalist ...

How One European VC Firm Is Reacting To The Economic Crisis

Public markets around the world have been tanking for the past few weeks, and many companies simply can’t operate during a lockdown. Sheltering in place has had some terrible economic consequences, with a record number of Americans getting laid off, ...

Talking Venture, b2b And Thesis-Driven Investment With Work-Bench’S Jon Lehr

Earlier this week, the Equity crew caught up with Work-Bench investor Jon Lehr to get his take on the current market, and how his firm goes about making investment decisions. The conversation was a treat, so we cut a piece of it off for ...

France Is Officially Working On ‘Stop Covid’ Contact-Tracing App

France’s health minister Olivier Véran and digital minister Cédric O have officially announced that the French government is working on a smartphone app to slow the spread of coronavirus. The government is putting a stamp of approval on the ...

Twine Aims To End Social Isolation With Its Video Chat App For Deep Conversations

A new startup called twine wants to help people feel less isolated and alone. Though the project has been in the works for around six months, it’s launching at a time when people are struggling with being cut off from family, friends, ...

Fintech’S Uneven New Reality Has Helped Some Startups, Harmed Others

Fintech startups were hot news before the COVID-19 era, but the pandemic hasn’t bumped the sector out of the headlines. Companies that were pitching optimistic news a few weeks ago are now cutting staff. Others are facing a surge of users ...

Thrive Gives Loans To Students Based On Summer Internships And Job Offers

Thrive , founded by Twitter alumni Deepak Rao and Siddarth Batra, wants to fund student expenses by looking at job offer letters as a way to evaluate loans. Today, it launched its loan platform and is accessible to students on over 400 campuses ...

Founder Worries Increase As Investors Pump The Brakes

Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. So far, 2020 has proven to be a year of surprises and disappointments. Over the past month, we’ve seen companies like Toast ...

Apply Today To Be A TC Top Pick At Disrupt SF 2020

Opportunity’s a hot currency, and every early-stage startup founder’s on the lookout for it. Anything and everything that can help bring the dream to fruition, right? You’ll find three days packed with opportunity at TechCrunch Disrupt San ...

Move Fast, Make Things – UK Fintech’S Response To The Coronavirus Crisis Continues

The U.K.’s fintech’s response to the coronavirus pandemic so far might best be described as “move fast, [and] make things,” as multiple and sometimes impromptu teams roll out financial technology solutions to help combat the ...

Programmable Fintech Payments Startup Sila Raises $7.7m Seed To Wipe Out ACH

Fintech is white hot these days, with major acquisitions and funding rounds galore . It’s also a relatively new space, with startups only really breaching the thicket of regulations that defines the modern banking and finance world in the past ...

Visa Backs Open Banking And Compliance Platform Railsbank

Railsbank , the open banking and compliance platform, has picked up further investment, following the company’s $10 million Series A in September 2019. This time backing comes from Visa — a strategic investment, if you will — ...

Phos, The UK Fintech That Offers A Software-Only POS For Smartphones, Raises €1.3m

Phos , the U.K. fintech that offers a software-only PoS so that merchants can accept payments directly on their phones without the need for additional hardware, has raised €1.3 million in funding. The round was led by New Vision 3, an early-stage ...

MyBuddy.Ai, A Virtual Tutor For Kids Learning English, Raises $1 Million Seed Round

MyBuddy.ai , a startup that develops virtual tools to help kids learn English, announced today that it has raised $1 million in seed funding from LETA Capital. The capital will be used to expand into new markets and develop new features including ...

Hong Kong Fintech Startup Neat Raises $11 Million Series A To Give Small Companies More Banking Services

Neat , a Hong Kong-based fintech startup, announced today that it has raised a $11 million Series A to help small businesses do cross-border banking. The round was led by Pacific Century Group, with participation from Visa and MassMutual Ventures ...

Tyto Care Raises $50 Million As It Looks To Buy And Build New Services During COVID-19 Demand Surge

Tyto Care , the provider of a home health diagnostic device and telemedicine consultation app, said it has raised $50 million in a new round of funding. The round was led by Insight Partners, Olive Tree Ventures, and Qualcomm Ventures, ...

Restaurant Management Platform Toast Cuts 50% Of Staff

Last valued at $5 billion, restaurant management platform Toast has joined the sweep of startups laying off employees due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Toast reduced the size of its staff by 50% through layoffs and furloughs, ...

New Email Service, OnMail, Will Let Recipients Control Who Can Send Them Mail

A number of startups over the years have promised to re-invent email only to have fallen short. Even Google’s radical re-imagining, the Inbox app, finally closed up shop last year. Today, another company is announcing its plans to build a ...