TechCrunch Startup News

Don’t call it a pivot, exactly — but it’s a fascinating journey, nonetheless. Umaro Foods, which is set to release a seaweed-based bacon replacement, entered the world as Trophic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lead generation is a critical cornerstone in the world of sales — in a seemingly infinite sea of potential customers, you need to know who wants to buy, or who might buy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A bit more than a year after private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in Lengow, the company is expanding its product offering with the acquisition of Netrivals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yesterday, Amazon announced that Agility Robotics is one of the five initial startups benefitting from the company’s $1 billion innovation fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MadEats, Y Combinator alum, claims to be the first “‘full-stack’ delivery-only startup in the Philippines,” with their own virtual storefront, ghost kitchens and fleet of drivers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Skyflow, which sells data privacy tools for corporate customers, this morning announced a partnership with Plaid, a unicorn that helps pass fintech data between parties through an API. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The firm invests in the manufacturing, transportation and logistics sectors, which, they say “represent over half our country’s GDP and have not been tech-enabled.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Morado, a two-month-old Colombian startup aiming to digitize beauty salons in Latin America, has raised $5 million in a pre-seed round from a bevy of global investors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ordinary Folk, a Singapore-based telehealth startup dedicated to men and women’s health issues, has raised $5 million in pre-seed funding from Monk’s Hill Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Demostack, a San Francisco, California-based startup creating a “demo experience” platform for software-as-a-service (SaaS) sales teams, today announced that it raised $34 million in a Series B round led by Tiger Global Management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For sales reps, commission plans are often complicated and lack transparency, leading to accounting errors and frustration. Everstage, a sales commission platform, solves that, letting sales rep see exactly how much they earned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Planetary aims to bring all of the alternative protein production planets into orbit with its scaling technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a bid to position its brand as more tech-forward — and, in the process, foster new culinary innovations — Chipotle today announced the launch of Cultivate Next, a venture fund run by Curt Garner, the restaurant chain’s chief technology officer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Its first product is a crispy, plant-based riff on chicken nuggets that is made with just seven ingredients. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if you could buy a Peloton with pre-tax dollars? How about vitamins and supplements? Skincare products? Or even mattresses and massages? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The founders of Speckle, an early-stage startup based in London, are both trained architects and engineers, probably a rare combination. It enabled them to see and understand firsthand the issues associated with exchanging large proprietary 3D files from vendors like Autodesk and Trimble. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the bulk of the past two years, the pandemic has put the kibosh on corporate travel of nearly any kind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shared micromobility company Luup has raised $8 million (1 billion yen) in debt and asset financing to meet the growing demands of Japan’s micromobility market, which according to a recent report, is projected to reach $11.6 billion in 2030. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

E-commerce retailers of all sizes can have that supply chain coordination layer that enables them to provide fast and cheaper shipping, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Snap’s in-house Yellow accelerator program, which invests in startups, has debuted its fifth batch of investments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hookdeck founders Alexandre Bouchard and Eric Tran were working on a product to help manage webhooks in 2020 when they became discouraged and decided to step away to gain some perspective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet Montonio, an e-commerce checkout solution created by a small startup based in Tallinn, Estonia. The company just raised a $12 million Series A funding round (€11 million) led by Index Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Consolidation is moving ahead in the world of autonomous driving, with the latest development coming out of Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Proton, the Geneva, Switzerland-based startup behind the eponymous E2E encrypted webmail service ProtonMail, has acquired French startup SimpleLogin, which offers a freemium, open source service for creating email aliases to let people shield their actual email address when they sign up for digital services. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s hard to think of a product category that is less sexy than window air conditioning units. Windmill begs to differ, bringing a breath of fresh air to an industry that’s been steadfastly clunking away in the corner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices