In-store retailers are losing cash to e-commerce. Enter Millie, a life-size digital sales assistant whose computer vision pedigree is beyond compare. “You look like a rock star,” the sales assistant says, as…
AI Translator Unbabel Wins $60m Series C Funding Round
Unbabel, a Lisbon-headquartered “translation-as-a-service” platform that uses artificial intelligence and human translations, has won a $60 million Series C funding round that brings its total backing above $90m. The Portuguese firm, founded…
Honda Innovation’s Dennis Clark: “The Multinational-Startup Relationship is No Longer in Question”
As managing director of strategic partnerships at Honda Innovations, the venture capital wing of the world’s seventh-largest automaker, Dennis Clark is a keystone in the bridge between the corporation and its growing…
Acast Shoots for Germany’s Nascent Podcast Market
The popularity of podcasts is soaring. From last year the total number of pods has leapt from 550,000 to 700,000—with over 50% more episodes available this year than last. That equates to…
France’s Macron Heralds $5.5bn Late-stage Investment Pledge
French president Emmanuel Macron has announced that he has convinced institutional investors to plough €5 billion ($5.5bn) into late-stage VC funds and asset managers, as the country opens one of its tech…
So Long, MoviePass – We Won’t Learn our Lesson From You
Last night MoviePass powered down its servers, slapped a ‘Gone Fishin” sign on its homepage, and died. Few mourned its passing. Since 2011 the New York-based movie theater subscription platform (movie-theater-tickets-as-a-service?) had…
EdTech Startup AttainU Receives Angel Funding from Heavyweight Investors
Bangalore-based AttainU, an online platform offering live tuition courses, has won an angel investment funding round led by several of India’s leading tech lights. The backers include ex-Google India chief Shailesh Rao,…
Just How Disastrous will WeWork’s IPO Be?
WeWork, the global real estate company that has dressed itself as a tech startup, might not be worth $47 billion after all. Actually, it might not even be worth half. The New…
Dr Harvey Karp’s SNOO is a Titan of Baby Tech—And it’s Scaling Fast
In 2016, the year Dr Harvey Karp debuted his tech-enabled SNOO bassinet, CES mainstreamed the term ‘Baby Tech’ at a dedicated section of its Las Vegas show. Since then startups have rushed…
Three Ways Tech Could Save the Rainforest
In the freshest apocalyptic omen since last month, the Amazon rainforest is current on fire—tens of thousands of fires, deliberately started, and greenlit by Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right, populist leader. G7 heads…