Startups
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Gamer chat app Discord hits 25 million users, can now be used in developers’ own games
Jason Citron, who previously founded and sold the early mobile social gaming network OpenFeint, returned to gaming startups with the launch of Discord in May 2015. This voice and text chat app for gamers — a challenger to incumbents like Skype and Teamspeak — has since grown to 25 million registered users, who are sending 100 million messages per day across its platform.… Read More
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Fading anonymous social network Yik Yak is reportedly laying off most of its employees
Yik Yak, the once universally recognized anonymous social network that virally took over college campuses back in 2014, is planning to lay off a “significant” number of employees, according to The Verge. The company is said to be retaining mostly engineers as it notified its team of about 50 employees earlier this morning.
Yik Yak was founded as I started college in 2013. I… Read More
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Sean Rad steps away from CEO role (again) to run Tinder’s new Swipe Ventures
Today, Tinder is launching a new M&A branch of the company called Swipe Ventures, which will be led by Sean Rad. As part of the launch, Rad will step down as Tinder CEO and become chairman of both Tinder and Swipe Ventures, with Match CEO and Chairman Greg Blatt swapping out as Tinder chairman to become Tinder CEO. He will remain chairman and CEO of Tinder parent company Match. Read More
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BuzzFeed hires Gilad Lotan as VP of data science
BuzzFeed has a new vice president leading its data science team.
Gilad Lotan has a long résumé in the field, having most recently served as chief data scientist at New York-based startup studio Betaworks, and before that working in data-related roles at SocialFlow, Microsoft and Endemol.
Publisher Dao Nguyen told me that this is a new role at BuzzFeed — the closest equivalent being… Read More
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Why edtech startups need to build for overlooked communities
The education world has been transformed thanks to the power of technology. But not all communities have been privy to the benefits; low-income students are still shut out of the edtech revolution. The digital divide is no longer just about connectivity. Many edtech startups are not designed with the specific needs of low-income, under-connected kids in mind. That’s where nonprofits come in. Read More
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Molotov activates the cloud DVR feature and raises $23.3 million
French startup Molotov launched five months ago, but a key feature had yet to go live. Molotov users can now bookmark TV shows and movies in the cloud so that they can watch them later. That’s not all, the startup has also raised $23.3 million (€22 million). I’ve already written quite a few words about Molotov, but it’s worth reiterating that it’s the best way to watch… Read More
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Joe Lonsdale pours $4.55M for alcohol IoT startup Nectar
Nationally, bars today lose billions of dollars from improperly managed alcohol inventory. These losses add up quickly as a result of oversized pours, spills and even theft. Nectar, a stealth connected-device startup operating out of a Palo Alto dentist’s office (of all places), just locked down a $4.55 million seed funding round from the likes of Joe Lonsdale (8VC + Palantir), Lior… Read More
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Osmo raises $24 million from Sesame, Mattel and other big names in toys and education
Hardware kits, internet-connected toys and robots that teach kids to code are now commonplace. But Osmo, an early entrant in IoT toys, is pulling ahead of the pack with funding and partnerships with top names in the field. Specifically, Osmo has raised $24 million in new venture funding from Mattel, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Collab+Sesame, the venture fund run in partnership by New… Read More
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Edtech startup Peergrade picks up backing from a supergroup of Nordic angels
Peergrade, a startup out of Denmark that enables students to grade each other’s work, has raised a modest $300k in seed funding. However, more newsworthy are its new backers. They comprise UK edtech accelerator Emerge Education, and Nordic Makers — which might be best described as a supergroup of Nordic angels. Read More
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Design and prototyping tool Marvel scores £4M Series A led by BGF Ventures
Hot on the heels of its acquisition of POP, design and prototyping platform Marvel is disclosing that it has raised £4 million in Series A funding. Leading the round is BGF Ventures, with participation from previous backers including Index Ventures, Connect Ventures, Inreach Ventures, Andy McLoughlin and Richard Fearn. Read More
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