The Marijuana Industry And Its First Crossroads
Marijuana has come a long way in the United States since California launched its first-in-the-nation medical program 19 years ago. Today, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis to some degree, and public perception of the plant is clearly shifting. Medical marijuana is being used in treatment of a variety of illnesses including several types of seizures, cancer and… Read MoreHeadout Raises $1.8 Million For Its Travel App That Puts A Concierge In Your Pocket
Headout, a mobile travel application that functions as sort of a mobile concierge, helping you find tours, activities and tickets to local events in select U.S. cities, has closed on $1.8 million in seed funding in order to expand its business to new markets. Currently only live in New York and Los Angeles, the startup says it plans to utilize the funds to reach 12 more cities by… Read MoreJobscan Helps You Write Better Resumes
If you apply for a position at a large company, there is a chance that a human won’t even look at your resume. Many human resources department now use application tracking software (ATS) to help them sift through hundreds of applications. Read MoreWith Lydia, Pay For Your Online Purchases Using Your Apple Watch
Step by step, Lydia is unveiling its product strategy to handle all your payments. When I last covered the French startup, it was still mostly focused on growing its user base by providing a Venmo alternative for French users. But now, Lydia also lets you pay on e-commerce websites, starting with PriceMinister. The app is now also available on the Apple Watch so that you can just tap on your… Read MoreIndia’s UrbanClap Matches Customers With The Best Local Service Providers
Based in Delhi, UrbanClap wants to make finding good service providers as easy as, well, clapping your hands. With more than 1,000 service providers currently listed, including individuals and companies, UrbanClap claims to be the largest mobile-based services marketplace in India. The startup, however, aspires to be more than just a listings platform. Read MoreClassPass Acquires Competitor FitMob
If you were curious about potential consolidation in the fitness space (which I’m sure you were), look no further than this very article. ClassPass, the subscription service for unlimited monthly fitness classes, has acquired direct competitor FitMob for an undisclosed amount. ClassPass, a company that has raised more than $54 million in the past three years, is a subscription service… Read MoreIVP Raises $1.4B For Its 15th Fund
Institutional Venture Partners, better known as IVP, has raised a $1.4 billion 15th fund. The company’s last fund was a smaller $1 billion capital pool. I spoke to the firm’s Steve Harrick, a general partner, about the fund size, cadence, and investment strategy. According to Harrick, the fund was raised in a two month period. That matches other notes I’ve received from… Read MoreJetMe Launches ‘Name Your Price,’ A Tool To Help You Get That Private Flight
JetMe, a startup trying to make booking a private jet simpler and more affordable, released a new tool today called “Name Your Price.” The feature lets users request a private flight, and pick a price that they are willing to pay. JetMe informs you how likely it is that you’ll get that route, at your selected cost. The lower your bid, of course, the lower your chance… Read MoreCheddar Up Makes It Easier To Collect Money From Groups
Despite the shift away from paying with cash or check in favor of digital transactions in recent years, many smaller organizations, and even schools, still rely on old-school methods when it comes to collecting money from groups. Though it’s a hassle for both the organizer and the payer in the long run, checks are often easier than pointing users to online tools like PayPal or setting… Read More
Startup Writers
TCTV
Victorious Launches Its First Apps For Online Stars And Their “Superfans”
Victorious is launching mobile apps today built for Internet video stars Ryan Higa and The Young Turks. I assume this is good news if you’re a fan of Higa or The Young Turks, but even if you’re not, it’s the first public launch of apps from Victorious, making it the first real glimpse of what the company can do. Basically, Victorious works with stars from video platforms… Read MoreBeacon Marketer Swirl Raises $18M
Beacon marketing startup Swirl Networks has raised $18 million in Series C funding. The round was led by Hearst Ventures and SoftBank Capital, with a new strategic investment from Twitter Ventures and participation from previous backer Longworth Ventures. Read MoreCanon Acquires London-Based Family-Photo Sharing Startup Lifecake
London-based startup Lifecake, which offers a photo-sharing app aimed at parents with young children, has been acquired by Canon Europe. Read MoreAfter Raising $25M, U.K. Restaurant Delivery Startup Deliveroo Adds France And Germany To Its Menu
The premium take-out space in Europe continues to heat up as a number of startups target parts of the market that Just Eat, Foodpanda and Delivery Hero aren’t yet catering. Namely, food delivery from premium restaurants that don’t traditionally offer a take-out and delivery service. The best funded is the U.K.’s Deliveroo, which earlier this year raised a $25 million Series… Read MoreHipstamatic Unveils DSPO, Its New Social Photography App For iOS
Apps now let you imitate almost every kind of photography invented, from tintypes to disposable cameras. With all the tools out there, it’d be understandable if developers cried surrender and instead turned their focus to, say, stickers. Smartphone photography stalwart Hipstamatic, however, is trucking on with the release of iOS app DSPO. Read MoreFirst Look At Uber’s Co-Founder’s Shopping Concierge “Operator”
Operator wants to “unlock the 90% of commerce that’s not on the Internet”, CEO Robin Chan tells me. After two years in stealth, Chan was finally willing to give TechCrunch a peek at his startup, which he sees as the convergence of the biggest themes in tech: mobile, messaging, and the on-demand economy. Operator calls itself a “Request Network”. It’s an… Read MoreTwo New Apple Watch Apps, Knock And oneID, Let You Unlock Your Mac From Your Wrist (And More)
As mobile developers rush to release applications compatible with Apple’s new wearable device, the Apple Watch, many are still wondering what sorts of app experiences make sense for the small wrist-borne screen versus that of the smartphone. To some extent, where the Apple Watch really shines is with “invisible” apps – paying for items with Apple Pay, or using the Watch… Read MoreSimplilearn Raises $15M For Professional Training And Certification
Simplilearn, a company helping customers get certified in areas like PMP (project management) and Android development, has raised $15 million in Series C funding. The company offers courses both online and in classroom workshops and says there are more than 200 courses and 40 accreditations. Since launching in 2010, more than 400,000 people have been certified through Simplilearn courses. Read MoreBlink, Offering Vision Tests On-Demand, Launches In New York
Anyone who has transitioned from blurry vision to the perfect pair of corrective lenses or glasses knows just what a blessing clear vision is. But going to get your vision tested can be time-consuming and annoying. And to make matters worse, optometrists spend about an hour per patient doing routine steps to collect information for a vision test when they could be helping patients with… Read MoreBacked By $3.5 Million, SnowShoe Debuts Clever, Plastic “Stamps” That Unlock Content On Mobile Phones
Imagine being able to touch a toy figurine to your phone’s screen in order to see the character transported into your video game, or touching another small piece of plastic to the phone in order to unlock exclusive content, like a new video or iTunes download. A startup called SnowShoe has developed technology that does just this – it has created clever, plastic… Read MoreAssured Labor Raises $6.75M, Has Connected Workers With 100K Jobs In Latin America’s Informal Sector
Long before LinkedIn went public or before a plethora of on-demand startups began washing the Bay Area and other U.S. cities with services at the click of a button, there was this startup from an MIT grad called Assured Labor. David Reich started the company in 2008 to make informal labor markets in Latin America faster and more transparent for low-skilled workers. It was a social enterprise… Read More
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