TechCrunch Startup News

For the past few years, Mojo Vision has had a small presence at CES, offering up glimpses into the potential of its augmented reality contact lenses. Every year, the picture seems a little closer, if still far away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Organizing information from providers, insurers and patients not only takes a lot of time, but increases private healthcare costs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Most artificial intelligence models are trained through supervised learning, meaning that humans must label raw data. Data labeling is a critical part of automating artificial intelligence and machine learning model, but at the same time, it can be time-consuming and tedious work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As someone who covers Southeast Asia startups and funding stories, the best word I can think of to describe 2021 is “whoa!” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The future of lidar is uncertain unless, as Voyant hopes to do, its price and size are reduced to fractions of their current values. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Koko Networks, a Kenya-based bio-fuel technology enterprise has extended its business to cover other fast-moving consumer goods, through a new tech platform that will capitalize on its established distribution networks in low-income neighborhoods. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Autonomous trucking startup TuSimple has completed its first autonomous truck run on open public roads without a human in the vehicle, according to the company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GlobalBees, which raised one of the largest Series A financing rounds in India earlier this year, has entered the unicorn club as the New Delhi-headquartered firm scales its Thrasio-like house of brands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After seven years in the production of electronic gadgets, under his company Imose Technologies, Osayi Izedonmwen took leave to explore an idea that he had toyed with for some time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Industry veteran Jitendra Gupta’s consumer-focused neobank Jupiter has raised about $86 million in a new financing round as the Bangalore-based startup gears up to offer its customers lending and wealth management services. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Automation Anywhere, which is best known for its robotic process automation (RPA) software, plans to expand the platform. This morning, the company announced that it intends to acquire process discovery startup FortressIQ. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Skio, a startup that aims to take the pain out of selling subscriptions for brands on Shopify, has raised $3.7 million in a seed funding round. Kennan Davison, an engineer who previously worked at Hulu and Pinterest, founded the startup in April. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brazilian construction tech startup Ambar announced it has raised a large Series C round of R$204 million, approximately $36 million, to boost the digitization arm of its business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Short video app Triller is set to go public via a reverse merger with video-tech company SeaChange International, the two companies announced on Wednesday. The combined entity will be valued at approximately $5 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ampla Technologies, a startup which provides financing to small-to-medium sized consumer-facing businesses, announced today it has raised $40 million in a Series A round of funding co-led by VMG Partners and Forerunner Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Airtable today announced that it quietly acquired Walrus.ai, a no-code software testing platform, earlier this year. ‘Acquired’ may be overstating things a bit, though. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rocket Companies announced this morning that it will purchase Truebill for $1.275 billion in cash. Rocket Companies is best known for its Rocket Mortgage product, while Truebill is a consumer-facing app that helps consumers manage subscriptions, automate savings and budget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Australian edtech start-up Vivi has raised $20 million from education investor Quad Partners, funds that it intends to use to improve its platform, upgrade its operational infrastructure, and hire more sales and marketing teams in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GDevelop is a game engine that lets you develop a video game without any specific development experience. While the ‘no-code’ trend has been quite popular this year, GDevelop has been around for a few years already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two years ago, a group of entrepreneurs in Pakistan began surveying the market to understand why financial services weren’t reaching the majority of merchants in the world’s fifth most populous nation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Capital may help someone take the jump into entrepreneurship, but what about the activation energy to let them think that big in the first place? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Instant grocery — where urban-dwelling consumers buy food and other essentials and can get them delivered in 15 minutes or less — continues to be a big business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With e-commerce becoming increasingly globalized, a company called Taxdoo, which builds API-based tools to help e-commerce companies with tax compliance and other accounting needs, is announcing a round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Almost three million Americans a year are denied a mortgage. Most don’t even know where to start or understand what would qualify them. The system has become complex and confusing, causing people to never make it onto the housing ladder at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Less than a year after raising an $80 million Series C round, Anchorage is announcing that it has raised a $350 million Series D round. With today’s funding round, the company has reached a valuation of more than $3 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices