Fundings & Exits

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Walt Disney Co. reveals 9 new startups in the Disney Accelerator spanning robotics, cinematic VR and AI

bb8 The Walt Disney Co. is kicking off the third session of its corporate accelerator this week, and revealed 9 new companies admitted to the program. A full list follows at the end of this post.
The companies are developing everything from cinematic virtual reality and holographic content, to robots with human-like facial expressions.
Because alumni of the Disney Accelerator have scored big… Read More

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DIY Co. launches JAM to help kids learn what they don’t in school, with a little help from Cartoon Network

Julia Pott from the Cartoon Network teaches kids up to age 14 how to become an animator via JAM.com. DIY Co., the education tech startup led by Vimeo designer and co-founder Zach Klein, has launched a new online learning platform for kids called JAM.com. The company also quietly closed a $4 million round of venture funding led by Learn Capital, joined by Spark Capital, at the end of 2015 to support the development of JAM, Klein told TechCrunch. Courses on DIY’s new site JAM were… Read More

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Siris Capital to buy Polycom for $2B in cash, Polycom cancels its $1.96B Mitel merger

globe with arrows Here’s an interesting twist in one of the bigger enterprise acquisition stories of 2016. After Mitel earlier this year announced that it would acquire Polycom for $1.96 billion and consolidate the two companies’ enterprise communication businesses, today private equity firm Siris Capital has come in with a higher offer: it has agreed to acquire Polycom for $2 billion in cash and… Read More

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New reports confirm $1.15B leveraged loan raised by Uber at 5%

BERLIN, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 02:  In this photo illustration, a woman uses the Uber app on an Samsung smartphone on September 2, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. Uber, an app that allows passenger to buy rides from drivers who do not have taxi permits, has had its UberPop freelance driver service banned in Germany after a complaint by Taxi Deutschland, a trade association of taxi drivers in the country. The company, which operates in 42 countries over 200 cities worldwide, plans to both appeal the decision made by a court in Frankfurt as well as, at the risk of heavy fines, continue its services in Germany until a final decision has been made on the matter.  (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images) Two weeks ago, we reported that Uber was in talks to raise $1-2 billion in leveraged loans. The Wall Street Journal is circulating new information that the company has closed a $1.15 billion leveraged loan, with a 5 percent yield. This number comes in on the low side of our previous estimates. Last month, sources confirmed to TechCrunch that Uber had plans to raise $1-2 billion in… Read More

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Drupe reimagines the address book with $3 million in funding

Drupe04 The mobile phone has transformed quite a bit in the last ten years, but the heart of it — the address book — hasn’t changed much. Drupe, with brand new funding, is looking to accelerate the evolution of the Phone Book. The company today announced $3 million in new funding from Canaan Partners Israel and Sweet Capital, a fund that was spun up by the founders of Candy Crush… Read More

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Light raises $30M and announces L16 camera is delayed until 2017

prototype building If you were eagerly awaiting your “late summer” delivery of your pre-ordered Light L16 camera, today will bring an impatient tear to your eye. In parallel with announcing having raised $30 million from GV (nee Google Ventures), the company sent out an email to early supporters telling them they’d have to wait for a while longer — until “Early 2017,” that is. Read More

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Google buys French image recognition startup Moodstocks

DUBLIN, IRELAND - APRIL 19:  (FRANCE OUT) A general view outside the Google European headquarters, on April 19, 2016 in Dublin, Ireland.  (Photo by Vincent Isore/IP3/Getty Images) Two weeks after Twitter acquired Magic Pony to advance its machine learning smarts for improving users’ experience of photos and videos on its platform, Google is following suit. Today, the maker of Android and search giant announced that it has acquired Moodstocks, a startup based out of Paris that develops machine-learning based image recognition technology for smartphones whose APIs… Read More

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