TechCrunch Startup News

This year, Amara produced its Yogurt Smoothie Melts, which CEO Jessica Sturzenegger touts as “the only melt-in-mouth snacks for babies and toddlers without any added sugar.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Workday announced this afternoon that it intends to acquire VNDLY, a Mason, OH startup that helps companies manage external workforce personnel for $510 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An electric vehicle is, essentially, just ‘software on wheels’, and requires lots of moving parts, not physical but, of course, virtual. That software needs to continually optimize the performance, efficiency, and safety of the EV it’s running. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kandji, the startup building an Apple device management business, has been doing pretty well for itself with rapidly growing revenue, a fat valuation and lots of investment capital rolling in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Practice ignition, an Australia-based client engagement and commerce platform for professional service businesses, has raised $50 million (65 million AUD) in a Series C round to accelerate its growth and expand globally. It brings the startup’s total raised to $75 million, said Guy Pearson, CEO and founder of Practice Ignition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The firm touts this fund as “the largest institutional Texas-focused, early-stage venture fund in the past decade” at a time when funding to companies within the state is at an all-time high. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fintech company Upgrade has raised a Series F round just four months after raising its previous round. Today, the company is announcing $280 million in new funding at a $6 billion pre-money valuation. In August, the company announced its Series E round — $105 million at a $3.325 billion valuation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Luxury Presence, a startup selling marketing software to real estate brokerages, announced today it has raised $25.9 million for its Series B round. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round alongside fellow existing investors Toba Capital and Switch Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

French startup Lifen has raised a $58 million (€50 million) funding round. The startup has been working on digital infrastructure for the healthcare industry, starting with medical reports. 600 healthcare facilities are using the product to send and receive medical documents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Doola, a startup that aims to help global entrepreneurs form a U.S. business, has raised $3 million in seed funding. Doola actually started its life in 2020 as StartPack as a pivot from another startup called Standups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Husband-and-wife co-founders Daniel and Brenna Stitzel have developed a way for foodies to monetize their culinary creations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Salesforce users tend to have a similar complaint in the amount of time it takes to update records, but Weflow aims to conquer this form of “Salesforce fatigue.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When we last checked in with Alt back in March, it had just raised $31 million for its alternative asset platform — a platform, thus far, used primarily by those looking to research, trade, and securely store high-value sports cards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hive levels the logistics playing field by streamlining fulfillment so that DTC companies get the same inventory management, cost structure and customer notifications that big brands use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People subscribe to music so why wouldn’t they subscribe to carbon offsetting to alleviate their conscience about the climate crisis? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

General Partner Claire Chang’s plan is to deploy capital into 30 new investments and keep some back for follow-on investments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Health tech startup Color has raised $100 million in Series E funding, bringing the company’s valuation to $4.6 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Drivers who spend any time commuting in a new car or truck have likely experienced ping ponging — a phenomenon when a vehicle equipped with an advanced driver assistance system has trouble centering itself in a lane and bops back and forth until it finds that sweet spot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The biggest players in the Earth observation industry use imaging satellites to deliver intelligence and analytics, but startup HawkEye 360 is taking a different tack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

JUMO, a South Africa- and London-based company that offers financial services to entrepreneurs and businesses in emerging markets, has raised $120 million in a new round of funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While few would argue over the need for a tech-enabled solution to make parenting easier, the demand is more obvious than the execution. Parenting is hard and requires support for a whole range of moments, from when your kid accidentally eats a button to early signs of depression during the remote school day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company offers a recurring subscription, and 50% of every dollar spent goes back to farmers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Earlier this year I wrote about Gwoop, a team out of Minnesota building a collection of browser-based games meant to help you get better at video games overall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The new office will serve as its first in Europe and will be operational in March, initially staffing up to 50 by the end of next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Take a dollop of machine learning, a handful of radar sensors and a market that is clamoring for autonomous cars not mowing down hordes of pedestrians, and you’ve got yourself a particularly frothy fundraising environment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices