porsche Porsche Backs TriEye's Low-Cost Sensors for Autonomous Driving in Bad Weather Porsche takes a minority stake in Israeli startup TriEye, which develops short-wave infrared sensors to help self-driving cars navigate safely through fog, rain, and dust.
y combinator 82 Startups Showcase Innovations on Day Two of YC Summer 2019 Y Combinator wraps up its Summer 2019 Demo Days with 82 additional startups presenting disruptive solutions across biotech, logistics, and SaaS. The two-day event features a total of 166 companies aiming to transform their respective industries.
y combinator Y Combinator S19 Demo Day 1 Showcases 84 Startups Seeking Funding Y Combinator kicks off its S19 Demo Day with 84 startups pitching to Silicon Valley investors. Notable companies include a cloud-based Chrome streaming service and a radar device that sees through walls.
zhihu Chinese Q&A Giant Zhihu Secures $434 Million in Record Funding Round Zhihu, China's top question and answer platform, raises $434 million in a Series F round led by Kuaishou with participation from Baidu and Tencent. The company plans to use the funds for technology and product development while expanding its expert-driven content.
postmates Postmates Prepares to Go Public Amid Fierce Food Delivery Competition Postmates plans to release its IPO paperwork in September, aiming for a stock market debut by the end of the third quarter. The delivery company moves forward with its public offering despite ongoing industry consolidation and fierce competition from Uber and DoorDash.
3d printing 3D-Printed Vascular Tissue Accelerates Path to Commercial Organ Manufacturing Breakthroughs in 3D-printing living vascular tissue bring the reality of manufactured organs closer to commercialization. Companies like Prellis Biologics and Volumetric Bio are making significant strides in creating complex, functional blood vessel networks.
y combinator YC-Backed Trella Tackles Egypt's Costly and Opaque Trucking Industry Egyptian startup Trella uses an app-based platform to bring transparency and efficiency to the country's expensive trucking and shipping sector. Backed by Y Combinator, the company currently manages 1,500 loads per month for 20 shippers.
data Cultivated Data Emerges as the New Digital Gold Rush Startups are finding massive value by refining existing data into actionable insights, prompting large corporations to finally pay for these cultivated data sets.
scale ai Data Labeling Startup Scale AI Reaches Billion-Dollar Valuation Scale AI secures $100 million in Series C funding to expand its human-powered data labeling services for major tech companies. The round pushes the three-year-old startup past a $1 billion valuation.
dasha ai Dasha AI Raises $2M to Automate Repetitive Phone Tasks Dasha AI emerges from stealth with a $2 million seed round to build highly realistic, human-like voice AI for business automation. The startup targets the disruption of millions of global call center jobs by replacing robotic voices with natural conversational flows.
doordash DoorDash Acquires Square's Caviar for $410 Million DoorDash purchases the premium food delivery service Caviar from Square for $410 million in a cash and stock deal. The acquisition allows Square to focus on its core business ecosystems while expanding DoorDash's restaurant selection.
data privacy Startups Turn Data Ethics Into a Strategic Weapon Against Incumbents As the FTC issues record-breaking fines to major tech companies, resource-poor startups are leveraging agile data governance to build trust and gain a competitive edge.
xpeng Xpeng Views Nio's Stock Slump as a Cautionary Tale for EV Startups Chinese electric vehicle startup Xpeng takes Nio's recent financial struggles and stock drop as a wake-up call to prioritize capital efficiency. The company focuses on mass-market vehicles to avoid the heavy spending that plagues its luxury-oriented competitor.
vc 2019 VC Spending on Track to Surpass Last Year's Record High Venture capitalists invest $62 billion into U.S. startups in the first half of 2019, putting the market on pace to eclipse last year's record. Additionally, female-founded companies reach a new milestone by capturing three percent of total capital.
carbon 3D Printing Firm Carbon Secures $260 Million at $2.4 Billion Valuation Carbon raises a massive $260 million Series E round to expand its 3D printing manufacturing partnerships with major brands like Adidas and Ford. The funding signals a strong recovery for the 3D printing industry as the company focuses on industrial-scale production.