Make accessibility part of your startup’s products and culture from day one

Joe Devon Contributor Share on Twitter Joe Devon is the co-founder of Diamond, a digital agency that builds accessible experiences. He is also a co-founder of Global Accessibility Awareness Day and chair of the GAAD Foundation. The world of accessibility has experienced a tipping point thanks to the pandemic, which drove people of all abilities to do more tasks and shopping online. For the last year, the digital world was the only place brands could connect with their customers. A Forrester survey found that 8 in 10 companies have taken...

Read More

A founder’s guide to effectively managing your options pool

Allen Miller Contributor Share on Twitter Allen Miller is a principal at Oak HC/FT based in San Francisco. He invests in early- and growth-stage companies, with a particular focus on fintech. More posts by this contributor Amid the IPO gold rush, how should we value fintech startups? The last decade in real estate, and a peek into the next one There’s an old startup adage that goes: Cash is king. I’m not sure that is true anymore. In today’s cash rich environment, options are more valuable than cash. Founders have many guides on how...

Read More

Playbyte’s new app aims to become the ‘TikTok for games’

A startup called Playbyte wants to become the TikTok for games. The company’s newly launched iOS app offers tools that allow users to make and share simple games on their phone, as well as a vertically scrollable, fullscreen feed where you can play the games created by others. Also like TikTok, the feed becomes more personalized over time to serve up more of the kinds of games you like to play. While typically, game creation involves some aspect of coding, Playbyte’s games are created using simple building blocks, emoji and even images from your...

Read More

Playbyte’s new app aims to become the ‘TikTok for games’

{rss:content:encoded} Playbyte’s new app aims to become the ‘TikTok for games’ https://ift.tt/3DNjW10 https://ift.tt/3hZk84I September 03, 2021 at 03:51PM A startup called Playbyte wants to become the TikTok for games. The company’s newly launched iOS app offers tools that allow users to make and share simple games on their phone, as well as a vertically scrollable, fullscreen feed where you can play the games created by others. Also like TikTok, the feed becomes more personalized over time to serve up more of the kinds of games you like to play. While...

Read More

Barbershop technology startup theCut sharpens its platform with new $4.5M round

{rss:content:encoded} Barbershop technology startup theCut sharpens its platform with new $4.5M round https://ift.tt/3DL0Dp5 https://ift.tt/38EDUgk September 03, 2021 at 03:00PM TheCut, a technology platform designed to handle back-end operations for barbers, raised $4.5 million in new funding. Nextgen Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Elevate Ventures, Singh Capital and Leadout Capital. The latest funding gives theCut $5.35 million in total funding since the company was founded in 2016, founder Obi Omile Jr. told TechCrunch. Omile...

Read More

Extra Crunch roundup: cohort analysis, YC Demo Day recaps, building your supply chain

The ongoing fintech revolution continues to level the playing field where legacy companies have historically dominated startups. To compete with retail banks, many newcomers are offering customers credit and debit cards; developer-friendly APIs make issuance relatively easy, and tools for managing processes like KYC are available off the shelf. To learn more about the low barriers to entry — and the inherent challenges of creating a unique card offering — reporter Ryan Lawler interviewed: Michael Spelfogel, founder, Cardless Anu Muralidharan,...

Read More

Barbershop technology startup theCut sharpens its platform with new $4.5M round

TheCut, a technology platform designed to handle back-end operations for barbers, raised $4.5 million in new funding. Nextgen Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Elevate Ventures, Singh Capital and Leadout Capital. The latest funding gives theCut $5.35 million in total funding since the company was founded in 2016, founder Obi Omile Jr. told TechCrunch. Omile and Kush Patel created the mobile app that provides information and reviews on barbers for potential customers while also managing appointments, mobile payments and pricing on...

Read More

Customer experience startup Clootrack raises $4M, helps brands see through their customers’ eyes

Getting inside the mind of customers is a challenge as behaviors and demands shift, but Clootrack believes it has cracked the code in helping brands figure out how to do that. It announced $4 million in Series A funding, led by Inventus Capital India, and included existing investors Unicorn India Ventures, IAN Fund and Salamander Excubator Angel Fund, as well as individual investment from Jiffy.ai CEO Babu Sivadasan. In total, the company raised $4.6 million, co-founder Shameel Abdulla told TechCrunch. Clootrack is a real-time customer experience...

Read More

SimpliFed serves up $500,000 pre-seed toward infant nutrition support

Feeding babies can take many different forms, and is also an area where parents can feel less supported as they navigate this new milestone in their lives. Enter SimpliFed, an Ithaca, New York-based company providing virtual lactation and a baby feeding support platform. The startup announced Friday that it raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding led by Third Culture Capital. Andrea Ippolito, founder and CEO of SimpliFed. Image Credits: SimpliFed CEO Andrea Ippolito, a biomedical engineer and mother of two young children, had the idea for SimpliFed...

Read More

Bangkok-based insurtech Sunday banks $45M Series B from investors like Tencent

Sunday, an insurtech startup based in Bangkok, announced it has raised a $45 million Series B. Investors include Tencent, SCB 10X, Vertex Growth, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, Quona Capital, Aflac Ventures and Z Venture Capital. The company says the round was oversubscribed, and that it doubled its revenue growth in 2020. Founded in 2017, Sunday describes itself as a “full-stack” insurtech, which means it handles everything from underwriting to distribution of its policies. Its products currently include motor and travel insurance...

Read More

Startups should look to state-of-the-art tech to tackle diseases affecting women

Shahar Keinan Contributor Share on Twitter Shahar Keinan, co-founder and CEO of Polaris Quantum Biotech has over 20 years of extensive experience in computational and theoretical chemistry. Pek Lum Contributor Share on Twitter Pek Lum, co-founder and CEO at Auransa, has more than 20 years of genomics and drug discovery experience and is the chief architect behind Auransa’s technology. Startups devoted to reproductive and women’s health are on the rise. However, most of them deal with women’s fertility: birth control, ovulation and...

Read More

Online learning platform Class 101 bags $26M Series B to support growth

Everything is switching from offline to online mode, spurred by the pandemic, and that also has turned around things for the creative economy. Creative professionals continue to look for ways to monetize their talents and knowledge through online education platforms like Class 101 that bring stable incomes and improve opportunities. Class 101, a Seoul-based online education platform, announced today it has closed $25.8 million (30 billion won) Series B funding to accelerate its growth in South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. The Series B round was led...

Read More

Fintech startup Jeeves raises $57M, goes from YC to $500M valuation in one year

Last summer, Jeeves was participating in Y Combinator’s summer batch as a fledgling fintech. This June, the startup emerged from stealth with $31 million in equity and $100 million in debt financing.  Today, the company, which is building an “all-in-one expense management platform” for global startups, is announcing that it has raised a $57 million Series B at a $500 million valuation. That’s up from a valuation of just north of $100 million at the time of Jeeves’ Series A, which closed in May and was announced in early June. While the pace...

Read More