Startup Monday #25: Latest tech trends and news happening in the global startup ecosystem!
Startups / Founders / Venture Capital / India
Startups in the USA
Simple, the Portland-based online banking company is shutting down due to the sale of banking giant BBVA USA. Founded in New York in 2009 and moved to Portland in 2011, the company was one of Portland’s most prominent tech startups. Simple was acquired for $117 million in 2014 by Spain’s BBVA, which announced in November that it was selling its U.S. business to PNC Financial Services Group for $11.6 billion. Read more
Startups that received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program last year and are looking to apply again face more stringent requirements this time around to qualify for another loan. Read more
Micromobility startup Tortoise, Micromobility data management platform Populus and Mobilyze, which provides a platform for city managers, utilities, automakers, and more are among the startups that have been named by the Smart Cities Dive as startups to watch in 2021. Smart Cities Dive has compiled a list of seven startups, based on our reporting and conversations with industry leaders, that represent compelling solutions to the mobility challenges that cities will likely encounter in 2021. Read more
Seven Bay Area startups raised more than $900 million in venture funding at the end of the first week of the year, including three that raked in more than $100 million each. Read more
Atlanta-based Text marketing startup Voxie raises $6.7Mn Series A funding — offers tools to help businesses automate and manage that process. Read more
The annual Blockchain 50 list recognizes the 50 most promising companies within the blockchain ecosystem. These top private companies are applying or analyzing blockchain technology to solve business or consumer problems across various industries, including payments, remittances, asset provenance, and compliance. The US was the most represented country in the 50 Blockchain list with 30 blockchain companies, or 60% of all 50 companies. The US is followed by Switzerland with four, the UK with three, and Luxembourg with two. Read more
Venture Capitals
Venture capital hits record high in U.S. in 2020 despite pandemic. While the investment total is up 14% from 2019, the number of deals is down 9% to 6,022. And so-called mega-rounds, deals that are $100 million or higher also hit a record amount and number with $63 billion raised in 318 deals. “What we’re seeing is a ‘rich get richer’ phenomenon where successful, high momentum technology companies are vacuuming up most of the financing,” CB Insights chief executive Anand Sanwal told Reuters by email. Read more
Leaps by Bayer has led a chunky $105 million series B round for next-gen gene therapy player Senti Biosciences. Nearly three years after its initial $53 million series A, Senti Bio now has now doubled its funding, adding Bayer’s VC arm into the mix and continuing in 2021 its ongoing mission to become a broad gene therapy player. Read more
While investment slowed down dramatically in the spring, VCs invested $36.5 billion in the third quarter of 2020, a seven-quarter high. Here are five deals that shed some light on what the next year might look like — for entrepreneurs, their customers, and their backers. Read more
Colorado Springs software developer Quantum Metric has landed $200 million in venture capital in a deal that values the company at more than $1 billion, making it the area’s first technology “unicorn.” Read more
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is transforming the health-care industry. From machine learning to robotics to wearable sensors used to detect disease, AI is reducing drug dosage errors, streamlining diagnosis, detecting fraud, and providing efficient solutions for some of health care’s greatest challenges. Washington Post Live convenes some of the nation’s top thinkers and innovators in the space who are overseeing the explosion of medical data analytics and machines that are transforming medical care as we know it, including in the fight against COVID-19. Read more
Amazon researchers have built an artificial intelligence algorithm to find roadless areas automatically. Currently, the algorithm is reaching about 70% accuracy, which rises to 87%-90% with some additional automated processing. Analysts then confirm potential roads by examining the satellite images. Thanks to the algorithm, experts should now be able to update their map every year with relative ease. The team also plans to share the algorithm with organizations in surrounding countries so roads can be mapped in other parts of the Amazon basin. Read more
Biotechnology
The global biotechnology services market is expected to increase from $142.92 billion in 2019 to $150.06 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.0%, according to Biotechnology Services Global Market Report 2020–30. The growth is mainly due to the COVID-19 outbreak that has led to an increase in research and development activities. The market is expected to grow further and reach $210.96 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 12.03%. Biotechnology services is the second-largest sector after biopharmaceuticals which is anticipated to emerge significantly due to increasing research and development activities. Read more
The “Marine Biotechnology — Global Market Trajectory & Analytics” report projects Marine Biotechnology global market size reached to US$5.4 billion for the year 2027. Read more
Startups in Europe
UK-based self-driving vehicles software company, Oxbotica, has raised $47M (approx €38.2M) in its Series B round of funding led by BP Ventures. Investors in this round also include BGF, Halma, HostPlus, IP Group, Tencent, Venture Science, and funds advised by Doxa Partners. With financial and strategic investors in Australia, China, UK, and the USA, Oxbotica is placed at the centre of a global autonomy ecosystem, claims the company. Read more
The Belgian start-up Urbeez, based in Brussels, has just managed to raise 2.5 million euro from investors specializing in logistics, to deploy its electric delivery vehicles throughout Belgium. Read more
Startups in India
Indian Business-to-business marketplace Udaan has raised $280 million from new and existing investors as the Indian startup builds a war-chest to accelerate its growth and fend off rivals. Read more
The Nasscom report also expects India to have a 50-plus Unicorn club in 2021. India added 12 unicorns in 2020, tech startups grew by nearly 10%. The Indian tech startup base witnessed a steady growth at a scale of 8–10% (year-on-year) with over 1,600 tech startups and a record number of 12 additional unicorns added in 2020 — the highest ever in a single calendar year, Nasscom said on Thursday. Nearly 14% of total investments in 2020 were in deep-tech startups, up from 11% in 2019. Read more
Startups in Israel
Tech companies reported declines of 30% in revenues, which led many companies to release their less-established workers. Salaries in Israel’s hi-tech sector fell by an average of 7% in 2020, the first decline in a decade, according to a survey by the Ethosia employment agency. Read more
The Rehovot-based logistics company Gadfin has come up with a trailblazing solution: air cargo drones. They are experts in constructing drone aircraft and providing the logistics and capabilities for autonomous drone delivery services between businesses, hospitals and work centers. Currently, they are in the midst of preparations for delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and are fitting their drones with a COVID-19 vaccine delivery-compliant compartment that can maintain -80° centigrade cooling for as long as three hours. Read more
Arbe, an Israeli startup developing radar systems for autonomous vehicles, is preparing for an initial public offering within a few months for trading on either Wall Street or the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange at a company valuation of $400 million-$450 million. Read more
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