Nigerian digital freight provider MVX lands $1.3M to help shippers move cargoes faster

In Africa, chartering vessels and processing ocean freight can be challenging. The sector is largely inefficient and fragmented. Merchants also struggle to access finance to perform cross-border trade in the continent. A couple of digital freight companies are tackling this problem, like Nigerian-based MVX. The company today is announcing its $1.3 million...

2h

Dataiku gets $400M at a $4.6B valuation, led by Tiger Global

Data science platform Dataiku announced today it has raised a $400 million Series E, bringing its valuation to $4.6 billion. The round was led by Tiger Global, with participation from returning investors like ICONIQ Growth, CapitalG, FirstMark Capital, Battery Ventures, Snowflake Ventures and Dawn Capital. New investors included Insight Partners, Eurazeo,...

2h

Nubank co-leads $45 million investment in Indian neobank Jupiter

Industry veteran Jitendra Gupta’s neobank for consumers in India — Jupiter — has raised $45 million in a new financing round as the Bangalore and Mumbai-based startup gears up for its platform’s public launch in about a month. The new financing round, a Series B, was co-led by Brazil-based Nubank, Global Founders Capital, Sequoia Capital and Matrix...

2h

Oh, Facebook changed its privacy settings again

Ever considerate of its users, Facebook has determined that its privacy settings needed a bit of a shuffle to keep things clear and easy to find. To that end they’ve taken the “privacy settings” settings and scattered them mischievously among the other categories. “We’ve redesigned our entire settings menu on mobile devices from top to bottom to make...

11h

Uber CEO calls Massachusetts gig economy ballot measure the ‘right answer’

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi expressed his support Wednesday for a ballot initiative in Massachusetts that would keep gig economy workers classified as independent contractors, fulfilling a promise he made nearly a year ago to push for laws that preserve its business model. “In the state of Massachusetts, we think the right answer is our IC+ model, which...

11h

5 factors founders must consider before choosing their VC

Kunal Lunawat Contributor Share on Twitter Kunal Lunawat is the co-founder and managing partner of Agya Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on proptech, travel, hospitality and the future of the built world. Though 2021 is far from over, it’s already witnessed a record level...

11h

Daily Crunch: Second-day trading surge launches Robinhood stock into meme territory

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for August 4, 2021. It’s been hectic: Robinhood’s stock lost its mind. Facebook made another chunk of the internet mad. And a new unicorn wants to go public? It’s been a great day for...

11h

What’s the board’s role in an early-stage startup?

Gregg Adkin Contributor Share on Twitter Gregg Adkin is vice president and managing director at Dell Technologies Capital, the global venture capital investment arm of Dell Technologies. What’s the board’s role in an early-stage startup? Startup founders frequently ask me...

11h

HubSpot CEO moving to exec chairman role as company promotes Yamini Rangan to CEO

Boston-based CRM company HubSpot announced today that co-founder and CEO Brian Halligan would be stepping into the executive chairman role and CMO Yamini Rangan would be taking over as CEO next month (on September 7). Rangan joined the company in January 2020 after stints at Dropbox, Workday and SAP. Her strong background in engineering, sales and...

11h

TikTok confirms pilot test of TikTok Stories is now underway

Twitter may have shut down its Stories features known as Fleets, but the Stories format will continue to invade other social platforms. TikTok today confirmed it’s piloting a new feature, TikTok Stories, which will allow it to explore additional ways for its community to bring their creative ideas to life. The company notes the new feature will be...

14h