Author: GPosting
In a sign that pure equity financing is getting harder to come by, cybersecurity firm Arctic Wolf, which last July raised $150 million at triple its previous valuation ($4.3 billion), opted for all debt in its latest funding round. The company today announced that it secured $401 million in convertible notes from Owl Rock, with participation from new and existing investors Viking Global Investors, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Neuberger Berman. Should an initial public offering (IPO) come to pass, as was at one point Arctic Wolf’s plan, the debt will convert to shares at a premium to the…
AC Venture’s Fund III has been actively investing since its first close in March 2020, and has now completed 30 out of its 35 targeted investments. It said it is on track to deploy over $100 million by the end of 2021. All of its investments were in pre-Series A startups. The firm said many portfolio companies gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some, like Shipper, Stockbit, Ula, Aruna, Bukuwarung and Colearn, reaching “centaur” status, or a valuation of at least $100 million. AC Ventures also said Fund III is delivering strong early returns, with a MOIC (multiple on…
Some seven years after selling his previous company to Google, Jacob Bank is preparing to launch his next project, this time with a focus on automating mundane, repetitive tasks. Bank was previously co-founder and CEO at Timeful, a smart scheduling app that helped users make better use of their time through automatically prioritizing their various commitments. After selling up to Google in 2015, Bank joined Google’s ranks and set about integrating core Timeful technology into Gmail and Google Calendar, before transitioning into various roles at the tech giant — including product lead for Gmail, Calendar, Google Chat and Google Workspace.…
U.S. president Joe Biden has signed an executive order attached to reupping a flagship data transfer agreement with the European Union — with the goal of making life easier for businesses that need to export EU user-data to the U.S. for processing. The White House announced the development in a statement today — saying that the “Executive Order on Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities” would “direct the steps” that the U.S. will take to implement its commitments under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF), as the new arrangement is being called. The new framework is intended…
You no longer need an always-on PC or any other network-attached hardware in order to use Plex’s media player. The popular service, which allows you to watch TV and movies from your own collection, including those you’ve recorded via an attached digital antenna, is making itself more accessible to mainstream users via a new online option, called Plex Cloud. Instead of installing Plex software on a local device, Plex has partnered with Amazon Cloud Drive to host your files so you can stream from the cloud. This is a significant departure for Plex, which has historically focused on turning a…
Today, Seppinni LLP, the employment law firm representing both plaintiffs, filed amended complaints on behalf of each in federal court in the Southern District of New York, where the case is being tried. The amended complaints, from ex-NFL player Teyo Johnson, who worked as Everyrealm’s director of strategic partnerships, and Katherine Yost, the company’s former HR director, contain several new allegations of sexual harassment that they claim occurred at the company. If the judge overseeing the proceedings determines that these allegations constitute a sexual harassment dispute under a bipartisan law that President Biden signed in March to end forced arbitration…
You’ll swear there’s a V8 in the Polestar 1. And that’s a good thing. Put your foot down, and the car plows forward with the confidence of internal combustion. The power delivery is not digital with an on-or-off feeling familiar in electric vehicles, but rather, it’s organic and fluid. Hit 45, and the torque seemingly increases, mimicking the soul of a balanced gas engine. The Polestar 1 feels more like a Corvette than a Tesla Roadster. And to me, for the first time, I have hope that the future of motoring can be efficient and enjoyable. The Polestar 1 is…
Update September 30, 2022, 6:48 PM ET: A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch via email that the company has discontinued Google Translate in mainland China “due to low usage.” Perhaps there were ulterior motives, but it’s likely there’s some truth to the statement — in China, Google services usage is a sliver of that of homegrown tech giants like Baidu and Alibaba. The original story follows. Google appears to have disabled access to Google Translate in parts of China, redirecting visitors to the Hong Kong domain — which isn’t accessible from the mainland. According to users on Reddit and site archives…
Spotify announced today it’s updating its recently launched shared-queue feature, Group Session, to support remote usage. Essentially a “party mode,” the feature first debuted in May, offering a way for participants contribute to a collaborative playlist in real-time and control what’s playing across everyone’s devices. Spotify explained at the time that, despite social distancing measures, the feature could still be useful to small groups, like families quarantining together, for example. But today’s update brings Group Session into the COVID-19 era where people continue to spend apart. Now, Premium users will be able to tune into the same playlist or podcast…
Fintor, a fintech startup making it easier for non-accredited investors to invest in real estate properties, has just launched its mobile app for both iOS and Android. It also just raised a $6.2 million extension funding round from its existing investors, including Public.com, Hustle Fund, 500 Global, VU Ventures, Graphene Ventures and angel investors such as Manny Khoshbin, Andy Madadian, Cindy Bi and Marcus Ridgway. This latest round values Fintor at $80 million, founder and CEO Farshad Yousefi exclusively told TechCrunch. With the fresh funding, Fintor says it has now raised a total of $9 million from investors. The Palo…