THE BUSINESS OF TECHNOLOGY
Most often, CEOs are hired to replace a predecessor in times of troubles with the mandate to fix things. Once again, the British-based startup Shazam is an exception. Founded in 2000, the last 13 years have brought both traction and a venerated position in pop culture’s mobile hall of fame as an all-time, top 10 most downloaded iPhone app. The … [Read more...]
Baidu, the Chinese web titan behind the country’s search engine that works similarly to Google, will enter the television with its own smart TV as the company forays into the expanding online video industry. Dubbed TV+, the company’s first smart TV will be produced by TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Ltd, with a 48-inch screen costing 4,567 yuan … [Read more...]
Real estate kingpin Zillow has acquired StreetEasy, a go-to New York real estate listing service with over 1.2 million unique monthly visitors. The $50 million sale gives Zillow a local presence to leverage the market in New York City, one of the largest and most concentrated real estate markets in the world. StreetEasy, for its part, can now … [Read more...]
Apigee, which provides an API platform to simplify the creation of apps, has landed $35 million in a Series E sizable enough it could carry the company to an IPO. The round was led by a fund under management by a subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc ., with participation from Accenture, Bay Partners, Focus Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), SAP … [Read more...]
Gamer and developer Tasneem Salim wanted in on her country’s gamer conventions. The only problem? No girls allowed. So Salim and her two co-founders, Felwa Al Suwalim and Najla Al Arifi, created their own, girls-only version: GCON. The event, sponsored by tech titans Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, brought 3 thousand women together in Riyadh, Saudi … [Read more...]
While some consider Singapore a market in miniature, online commodities shop Redmart has used it as a platform for tremendous growth. Its success depends on logistics and proper scaling; and while the company learned to walk in Singapore, it’s almost ready to run. For folks in the Western Hemisphere who might not know, Redmart’s a Singaporean … [Read more...]
Baidu has just announced the biggest deal in its history. China’s premier search engine plans to pay $1.9 billion for 91 Wireless, a major developer of app stores in China that has downloaded more than 10 billion apps to date. It’s a sign of the search giant’s push towards mobility as it struggles to transcend the shift from desktops to mobile … [Read more...]
Amid reports of 10 percent employee layoffs and financial losses, Australian online retailer THE ICONIC has received $26 million in funding. The fashion site, a venture by German-born incubator Rocket Internet, lined its pockets with capital from Verlinvest and previous-round investors Summit Partners and Kinnevik earlier this week. With $46 … [Read more...]
Coursera, the online education startup, has raised a $43 million round to further propel its burgeoning growth as it takes its platform international and multi-lingual. The Series B round was led by GSV Capital Corp. (GSVC), Learn Capital, Laureate Education Inc. and International Finance Corp., the investment arm of the World Bank, with … [Read more...]
KakaoTalk, a 3-year-and-change-old Korean messaging app, has eclipsed Facebook’s popularity in South Korea and Japan. The company leverages its simple, all-under-one-roof social media infrastructure and immersive, visual communication strategy––enhanced by digital content like custom themes and emoticons––to hook users. KakaoTalk has made great … [Read more...]