Football (or soccer) fans wanting to attend UEFA Super Cup 2017 in Skopje last week found that many of their hotel rooms were cancelled and rebooked at astronomical rates – sometimes 500 to 900 GBP for a hotel room that was originally a fraction of that. In order to fight back against a tarnished global image (and because they are cool people), a group in Skopje, WeTalkIT, created a… Read More
SoundCloud is on shaky financial footing, saying it only has enough money to last a few more months unless someone buys or invests in it. That’s sure to cause anxiety in content creators with their life’s work stored on SoundCloud. Now some new startups are nipping at SoundCloud’s heels by focusing on podcasting in ways the music streaming service never did. Anchor is a… Read More
August 1st is almost upon us and the great Bitcoin “hard fork” is about to confuse the heck out of the casual cryptocurrency observer. Here’s what you should know. Quite simply, if you are using an exchange that is explicitly in support of the Bitcoin Cash or you control your own private keys then you are fine. If you are keeping your bitcoin on an exchange, like Coinbase,… Read More
We use the 25th and final episode to sit down and ask each other 10 questions, similar to those we’ve been asking our guests over the past 24 weeks. From how we both got started as designers, to the lessons that have had the most profound impact on our careers. Ghoshal breaks down the three things he takes into consideration when accepting — or even considering — a potential… Read More
And it’s about time. Giphy, the four-year-old search engine for GIFs, is going to finally start testing monetization. According to a source close to the company, Giphy will begin testing sponsored GIFs within messaging experiences. This means that users who search for GIFs may be served a sponsored GIF within the messaging tab. There are some obvious use-cases here: A search for… Read More
Fintech startup N26 is trying to build the bank of the future. It is slowly but surely adding features to provide everything you’d expect from a bank. N26 already offers consumer credit loans in Germany if you’re a creditworthy employee. And starting today, N26 users who are self-employed, freelancers, students and more can also request a loan thanks to Auxmoney. If you’re… Read More
Fintech startup Revolut just raised a ton of money. But grabbing $66 million from respected VC firms wasn’t enough (£50 million). For the second time, Revolut asked its user base to invest in the startup. Revolut was looking for $5.3 million on Seedrs (£4 million), but 40,000 customers said that they were interested in the investment opportunity. If Revolut took all the money, it… Read More
For many, Pokémon GO is so summer 2016. But at least 20,000 people are still die-hard fans of the game, as proven by their participation in Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago’s Grant Park last week. Unfortunately, the event was a disappointment to many attendees, who could not get data service and ended up waiting on long lines without the AR-based game to keep them entertained. And beyond… Read More
Carwow, a platform to that helps you buy a new car, has closed $39 million in Series C funding. The round was led by new investor Vitruvian Partners, with existing investors Accel Partners and Balderton Capital also participating. At today’s exchange rate it brings total funding to approximately $62.6 million. Read More
In an insurer’s ideal world, there’d be a profitable policy for every conceivable risk. Click once, and you’re covered. But in the real world, insurance hasn’t kept up with the changes of recent years. The millennial generation has entered adulthood intent on completing — online — any complex transaction in a couple of minutes. But insurance policies look… Read More
I’m gearing up for another trip, but instead of taking a sleep pod bus, I’m flying (like a normal person) to Berlin. I’m going with my mom, who has never been out of the country, so I want to make sure it’s a good trip. That’s where Journy, founded by Leiti Hsu and Susan Ho, comes in. Journy is essentially a travel startup for millennials that is designed to… Read More
Journalists wanting a neat way to back up and showcase their writing should take a look at Authory: a new service that promises to save your work from tumbling into a digital abyss — i.e. being buried 10,000 leagues down, folded under the ceaseless deluge of new data, where few eyeballs stray. Read More
Dear Floyd Mayweather, While perusing Facebook, I chanced across your post drumming up interest in the upcoming Stox initial coin offering (ICO). I understand your motivations in wanting to diversify your portfolio of investments, but I caution that your actions are reckless and potentially financially damaging to you and your fans. Read More
In an unsurprising move by credit card thieves police have found a new credit card skimmer that sends stolen data via SMS. By tearing apart cheap phones, crooks are able to send credit card information to their location instantly without having to access the skimmer physically or rely on an open Bluetooth connection. Brian Krebs received images of the skimmer from an unnamed source. They… Read More
Foxconn CEO Terry Gou and President Trump recently announced a plan to bring 3,000 jobs to Wisconsin at what appears to be a flat screen manufacturing plant. The political press ate it up, alternatively excoriating the program for costing too much in tax breaks and crowing a win for Wisconsin’s conservative governor, Scott Walker. I wouldn’t encourage either party to hold their… Read More
Alistair Goodman, CEO of mobile marketing company Placecast, said location data is the “next frontier” when it comes to ad measurement and verification. For example, Goodman pointed to a study by Factual and the Mobile Marketing Association that found that 40 percent of marketers are concerned about the quality of location data. He said there are a number of different… Read More
Stitch Fix has filed confidentially for an initial public offering, setting itself up for another big test for the IPO market in the near future, sources tell TechCrunch. While we don’t know exactly when Stitch Fix will go public, we do know that a handful of companies are planning to go between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Stitch Fix only recently hired its CFO, Paul Yee, in June —… Read More
CocuSocial was founded on a simple premise: traditional cooking classes, while fun, are usually way too expensive and intensive. This means that many potential customers may be scared away by thinking they can’t afford a cooking class or it’s going to be geared towards participants with a higher skill set. And this is partially true – classes at places like Sur la Table can… Read More
Mesh WiFi router company Eero wants to provide an easy way for consumers to connect and connect with all the smart devices in their home. As it looks to build more intelligence around how those devices interact, the company has acquihired the team behind smart home management app Thington. Read More
Most would agree that the worst part of traveling is timing the hotel check in. Either you get off a redeye and have to figure out what to do all day while waiting to check in, or you arrive late at night and waste money paying for a room you didn’t get to use all day. Enter HotelFlex. Part of Y Combinator’s summer 2017 batch, the startup wants to change the way hotels operate… Read More
Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman wants everyone to know that’s not going to Uber. Bloomberg and Recode had reported that she was on the short list for the CEO spot, but she took to Twitter to make it clear that it’s not happening. In a three-part tweet, she concluded that the “rumors” have “become a distraction,” so she wants everyone to know… Read More
Purple, a Utah-based mattress startup announced today it will merge with Global Partner Acquisition Corp (GPAC) in a deal that would value the company at $1.1 billion. Purple was already well on its way to that valuation when we got to take a sneak peak at operations at the company’s headquarters in the small town of Alpine, Utah and its giant factory an hour away in rural Grantsville… Read More
Dropbox may be taking another step in its very slow shuffle toward an IPO, and is now working with Goldman Sachs to prepare documents that could be filed as soon as this year, according to a report by Bloomberg. The company is expected to hire Goldman Sachs as the lead advisor of the IPO process, according to the report. Getting another coveted “lead left” on the Dropbox IPO would… Read More
Ding, a London-based hardware startup, has raised more than £263,000 (~$345k) via the Seedrs equity crowdfunding platform as it works to get its first product — a wi-fi connected doorbell — to market this year. 
SimplyCook, the recipe kit with a flavoursome difference, has raised £2 million in further funding. Investors in the round are Maxfield Capital, Episode 1 Ventures, 500 Startups, and a handful of unnamed U.K. angels. 