African B2B e-commerce giant Wasoko marked down to $260M after VC halves stake
VNV Global, a Swedish investment firm that backs startups in mobility, health and marketplaces, slashed the value of its holding in Wasoko, an African B2B e-commerce startup, by 48%, according to its annual report for 2023. In its annual report, VNV set Wasoko’s fair value at around $260 million as of
Read moreRabbit partners with ElevenLabs to power voice commands on its device
Hardware maker Rabbit has tapped a partnership with ElevenLabs to power voice commands on its devices. Rabbit is set to ship the first set of r1 devices next month after getting a ton of attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the start of the year. The Rabbit r1
Read moreMarissa Mayer’s startup just rolled out photo sharing and event planning apps, and the internet isn’t sure what to think
When Marissa Mayer co-founded a startup six years ago in Palo Alto, Ca., expectations were sky high for the former Yahoo CEO and early Google employee. When that startup, Sunshine, revealed that its first app centered around subscription software for contact management, people wondered if something more ambitious might be
Read morePayPal backs Indonesian insurance startup Qoala in $47M funding
PayPal Ventures’ latest investment is in an Indonesian startup that provides personal insurance products covering a variety of risks, including accidents, phone screen damage, and ticket cancellations. Qoala has secured $47 million in a new round co-led by PayPal Ventures and MassMutual Ventures, the five-year-old startup said Wednesday. MUFG Innovation
Read moreRobinhood’s new credit card goes after Apple Card with ability to invest cash-back perks
Eight months after acquiring credit card startup X1 for $95 million, Robinhood announced today the launch of its new Gold Card, with a list of features that could even give Apple Card users envy. Robinhood, better known for its brokerage app aimed at the everyday investor, is touting all sorts
Read moreElon Musk says all Premium subscribers on X will gain access to AI chatbot Grok this week
Following Elon Musk’s xAI’s move to open source its Grok large language model earlier in March, the X owner on Tuesday said that the company formerly known as Twitter will soon offer the Grok chatbot to more paying subscribers. In a post on X, Musk announced Grok will become available
Read moreDiscipulus Ventures mentors young founders to revive a Norman Rockwell vision of America
Scores of accelerator programs run every year with the aim of identifying and cultivating founders in the earliest stages of building a company. Only a fraction seek out founders who are explicitly aligned with some set of values — let alone classically conservative values like family, patriotism and faith. Discipulus
Read moreIn the Gundo, Discipulus Ventures is bringing together a cohort of founders to accelerate America
Scores of accelerator programs run every year with the aim of identifying and cultivating founders in the earliest stages of building a company. Only a fraction seek out founders that are explicitly aligned with some set of values — let alone classically conservative values like family, patriotism and faith. Discipulus
Read moreHow to turn off Instagram’s political content filter
It’s election season in the U.S., and Instagram has changed the way that it recommends political content. On both Instagram and the newer X competitor Threads, this change won’t impact what you see from accounts you already follow. But the platforms won’t proactively recommend content about politics, which could limit
Read moreFacebook snooped on users’ Snapchat traffic in secret project, documents reveal
In 2016, Facebook launched a secret project designed to intercept and decrypt the network traffic between people using Snapchat’s app and its servers. The goal was to understand users’ behavior and help Facebook compete with Snapchat, according to newly unsealed court documents. Facebook called this “Project Ghostbusters,” in a clear
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