In an ecosystem enthralled with private capital and delayed public debuts, Bill Gurley has been something of a maverick. The former dot-com equity analyst and long-time partner at Benchmark has pushed hard for companies to go public and “grow up,” including at his portfolio company Uber, where he was formerly a board member. Earlier this… Continue reading Benchmark and Tiger double down on going public
The JBL Eon One Pro is a powered sound system for speakers and performers
As a speaker I often find myself mumbling into a microphone with little thought about the sound system powering it. While most PAs are massive affairs requiring a soundboard operator and lots of wiring, I’ve also had to hoot into portable PAs, a practice I rarely relish. But who was I to judge the quality… Continue reading The JBL Eon One Pro is a powered sound system for speakers and performers
GreyOrange raises $140M to develop fully-automated robotics for warehouses
GreyOrange, a Singapore-headquartered firm that develops robots for warehouses, has pulled in a $140 million Series C funding round as it targets more expansion and growth. The company was started in 2011. Today it has five regional offices across the world — covering India, Singapore, Japan, Germany, and the U.S. — three R&D centers and more than 60… Continue reading GreyOrange raises $140M to develop fully-automated robotics for warehouses
PagerDuty raises $90M to wake up more engineers in the middle of the night
PagerDuty, the popular service that helps businesses monitor their tech stacks, manage incidents and alert engineers when things go sideways, today announced that it has raised a $90 million Series D round at a valuation of $1.3 billion. With this, PagerDuty, which was founded in 2009, has now raised well over $170 million. The round… Continue reading PagerDuty raises $90M to wake up more engineers in the middle of the night
Fido Alliance adds a biometrics certification program to help fight spoofing
In a move aimed at upping standards across biometric user verification systems, the industry consortium, Fido Alliance, has launched a certification program for biometrics systems. “The goal of the Biometric Certification Component Program is to provide a framework for the certification of biometric subsystems that can in turn be integrated into FIDO Certified authenticators,” it writes on its… Continue reading Fido Alliance adds a biometrics certification program to help fight spoofing
Microsoft commits to fixing custom apps broken by Windows 10 upgrades
Microsoft wants to make life easier for enterprise customers. Starting today, it is committing to fix any custom applications that may break as a result of updates to Windows 10 or the Office 365 product suite. Most large companies have a series of custom applications that play a crucial role inside their organizations. When you… Continue reading Microsoft commits to fixing custom apps broken by Windows 10 upgrades
Apple’s Shazam acquisition cleared by EU regulators
European regulators have given the green light to Apple’s December 2017 acquisition of music and image recognition discovery firm Shazam. Apple Music is the second largest music streaming service in Europe, after Spotify . While Shazam offers what has been described as “a leading music recognition app” in the region (and globally). TechCrunch broke the… Continue reading Apple’s Shazam acquisition cleared by EU regulators
Salesforce updates Sales Cloud ahead of Dreamforce with increased automation
Dreamforce, Salesforce’s massive customer conference is coming later this month to San Francisco, but the news is starting already well ahead of the event. Today, the company announced updates to its core Sales Cloud with an emphasis toward automation and integration. For starters, the company wants to simplify inside phone sales, giving the team not… Continue reading Salesforce updates Sales Cloud ahead of Dreamforce with increased automation
Southeast Asia’s Fave raises $20M and adds mystery strategic investor from China
So you thought group-buying was dead?! Not in Southeast Asia where Fave, a company that aims to connect local merchants with customers using discount sales, has closed a $20 million Series B round as it explores expansion opportunities. The startup began as fitness subscription service KFit, but it pivoted group-buying and coupons after it acquired Groupon’s… Continue reading Southeast Asia’s Fave raises $20M and adds mystery strategic investor from China
Location marketing platform Uberall raises further $25M and acquires competitor Navads
Berlin-based location marketing startup Uberall has raised a further $25 million in funding — adding to a $25 million Series B raised earlier this year — and acquired competitor Navads. Terms of the acquisition remain undisclosed, with Uberall claiming that the deal makes it the second biggest location marketing platform behind U.S. rival Yext. Navads… Continue reading Location marketing platform Uberall raises further $25M and acquires competitor Navads