TechCrunch Startup News

Employee sentiment can be hard to gauge, even at smaller businesses. This can lead to burnout and attrition, when managers least expect it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pareto’s team of data experts offer actionable insights on everything from TikTok influencers to qualifying B2B sales leads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

French startup Fleet wants to become your IT department’s best friend by managing hardware as a service. Fleet clients can rent computers and smartphones for a flat monthly fee. If there’s a hardware issue, the startup handles returns and repairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Boston-based Zeta Surgical comes out of stealth this week, with the announcement of a $5.2 million seed round. The funding, led by Innospark Ventures, follows a $250,000 pre-seed featuring Y Combinator and Plug and Play Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stilt, which started its life as a provider of financial services for immigrants, has raised $14 million in Series A funding led by Link Ventures as it expands its focus to include a B2B offering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Despite the fact that we spend more on healthcare per capita, the U.S. leads the wealthy world in maternal mortality. And health inequity plays a big part. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Blink’s co-founders have been working in security and automation for a number of years, and they observed that there was a strong overlap between developer operations (DevOps) and security operations (SecOps) when it came to managing cloud infrastructure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Autonomous trucking startup Kodiak Robotics has partnered with Ceva Logistics to deliver freight autonomously between Dallas-Forth Worth and Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, the company said on Wednesday, marking its first publicly announced customer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The global thirst for an up-charged pair of Yeezy’s or limited edition Jordan’s combined with a growth in a digital ecosystem is creating new opportunities, particularly in the sneaker resale market, for companies like Kicks Crew, a Los Angeles- and Hong Kong-based sneaker and apparel platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fundrise will acquire warehouses ranging in size from 50,000 to 150,000 square feet that will house the new Saltbox locations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Online mortgage lender Better.com is poised to lay off roughly 50% of its staff of about 8,000 this week, according to sources familiar with internal happenings at the company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gecko Robotics’ mission statement is “To protect today’s critical infrastructure, and give form to tomorrow’s.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You can’t swing an ethically sourced, locally produced, sustainably raised dead fish these days without hitting a set of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals in a company’s board meetings or annual reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Volocopter, the startup out of southern Germany (Bruchsal) that has been developing electric VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft and a business model for operating them in taxi-style fleets in urban areas, has picked up another big round of funding as it inches closer to its first commercial launches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Blocknom, a crypto-earning platform in Y Combinator’s current batch, has aspirations to become the “Coinbase Earn for Southeast Asia.” Today the company announced it has raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding from Y Combinator, Number Capital and Magic Fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shares has closed a $40 million Series A funding round led by Valar Ventures. The company has been working on a mobile app that lets you easily buy and sell shares, but with a social twist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Microsoft has today announced plans to support 10,000 startups in Africa over the next five years through a series of initiatives including partnerships with accelerators and incubators across the continent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For fintechs to thrive in such a way that they remain meaningful to economies, a synergy between them and regulatory bodies is inevitable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Enterpret is building and deploying customer-specific models, based on customer feedback, for product development teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By using data and technology to accurately price the risk, Kin Insurance is able to remove some of the costs of traditional insurance firms, like agents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

European spend management startup Payhawk has added $100 million to its Series B round that I already covered back in November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Toronto-based Flashfood, a mobile marketplace that provides customers with access to discounted food nearing its best-by date, has raised $12.3 million in Series A funding led by S2G Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Better Dairy is using precision fermentation to produce cheeses that are molecularly identical to traditional dairy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Beam, a Singaporean shared micromobility operator, announced today that it has raised $93 million in a Series B round to accelerate growth into new countries in Asia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cococart's tools enable merchants to set up an online store in minutes with no code, no design and no app downloads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices