TechCrunch Startup News

Lenskart has signed a definitive agreement to raise $500 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, they said Wednesday, at the height of the market slump as the Indian eyewear retailer bulks up its offerings and scales to international markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Masaya Aso worked on autonomous driving technology at Bosch in Japan and Germany, he realized that “many tasks were still manual as over 85% of warehouses have almost no automation at all.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Medwing, a European startup building a recruitment marketplace for healthcare workers, has raised €44 million ($47 million) in a Series C round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You’d think that an industry like manufacturing had its own software stack, but in a lot of cases, a huge amount of getting-things-made is managed through Excel spreadsheets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Companies moved en masse to the cloud during the pandemic, under pressure to digitally transform. According to a 2021 survey from O’Reilly, cloud adoption steadily rose across industries, with 90% of organizations using cloud computing compared to 88% in 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Global payroll provider Deel plans to provide $120 million of its own cash off its balance sheet to support startups’ payroll operations in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank shutting down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Signature Bank is the second casualty of the ongoing banking crisis in the U.S. The New York-based financial institution stopped operating abruptly on Sunday — customers will be made whole. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bach, an app for planning bachelorette trips and group travel experiences, has announced $9 million in Series A funding led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Synctera, a banking-as-a-service startup, has raised an additional $15 million as it expands into Canada. NAventures, the corporate venture arm of National Bank of Canada, led the financing, which brings Synctera’s total raised to $60 million since its June 2020 inception. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For years, Phil George was the executive sponsor of a mentoring program at McMaster-Carr, an industrial hardware supplier, where he spent weeks trying to match program participants with only scant information about them to go on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brussels-based startup Cowboy has been in the news lately for its cash burn rate. But the company wants to control its narrative again with some product and business news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon rules the roost when it comes to e-commerce, with its marketplace outpacing everyone else when it comes to gross merchandise value, reach and market capitalization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Garin Hess, a tech entrepreneur based in Utah, experienced what he calls the “demo bottleneck” at a previous software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup while pitching to potential customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cash management — tracking who needs to pay an invoice and whether it’s been done — can make or break a business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company uses machine learning and predictive analytics along with science-of-aging and essential human support to offer retirement products and programs. Â Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wunderkind, a platform that enables brands to target web visitors through emails, texts and other digital advertising formats, today announced that it raised $76 million in a Series C round led by Neuberger Berman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While a partner at a VC firm, Nicolas Sharp took on the project of finding customer relationship management (CRM) software for the firm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Japanese marketing tech firm Geniee, part of the SoftBank Group, has paid about $70 million in cash to acquire the revenue optimization platform Zelto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

VCs see a rich opportunity in tools to manage the contract lifecycle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hexa, a 3D asset visualization and management platform, today announced that it closed a $20.5 million Series A round from Point72 Ventures, Samurai Incubate, Sarona Partners and HTC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Austin-based venture firm 8VC, led by controversial Palantir founder Jon Lonsdale, has raised $880 million in its fifth fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

StudentFinance, a European fintech that funds educational programs for individuals through so-called income share agreements, has raised €39 million ($41 million) in a Series A round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Una Brands, a Singapore-based e-commerce aggregator, has raised $30 million in pre-Series C financing just five months after announcing its $30 million Series B funding that was raised in September of last year.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet Cycle, a French startup that is building a collaboration tool for product managers where they can collect data from various tools, work on the next product iterations and close the feedback loop with the most engaged customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With global digital payments revenue expected to reach $14.79 trillion by 2027, payment infrastructure has arguably never been more critical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices