September 28, 2021 (Reuters) – Facebook Inc said Tuesday it will ask its independent Oversight Board for recommendations on how to improve its cross-check system, an internal program the social media company says is used to double check enforcement actions against certain users. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported https://ift.tt/3lmJ9XQ millions of Facebook […]
U.S. SEC names new general counsel to begin role on November 1
September 28, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top U.S. securities regulator on Tuesday named Dan Berkovitz, a Commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to begin the role of general counsel from November 1. The statement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said John Coates will leave that post in October to return […]
U.S. Senate’s Schumer to seek vote to increase the debt limit, on a majority vote
September 28, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he will ask later Tuesday for unanimous consent for the chamber to hold a vote to increase the nation’s debt limit on a majority vote, which would skip the procedural step that normally requires a supermajority for legislation to advance. (Reporting by […]
‘A four-alarm fire’: Tight Virginia governor’s race holds warning signs for Democrats
September 28, 2021 By Joseph Ax and James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Almost a year after President Joe Biden trounced Donald Trump in Virginia, the state’s unexpectedly tight race for governor has alarmed Democrats and left Republicans hopeful they can win back crucial suburban voters who left the party during Trump’s tumultuous presidency. With early […]
Federated Genomic data startup Lifebit raises $60M round led by Tiger Global
Genomic data is considered to be the key to unlocking so-called ‘precision medicine’. Some estimates suggest that by 2025, 500 million human genomes will have been sequenced, but only a fraction of it is being utilized for drug discovery and precision medicine. One of the key startups to emerge in the space is Lifebit, which […]
Five questions for venture capital in Q3
Somehow the third quarter of 2021 is coming to a close. Instead of a period filled with family and friends and fun, in many parts of the world, the COVID era dragged on, leaving us largely working from home and executing more phone calls than impromptu brunches. Alas. But in the last handful of quarters, […]
UK marketing-led group takes antitrust complaint against Google’s Privacy Sandbox to the EU
A coalition of digital marketing firms and others has taken its lobbying against Google’s plan to phase out tracking cookies — by replacing them with alternative technologies which the tech giant claims will protect user privacy — to the European Union, lodging a formal complaint with the bloc’s antitrust regulators. The self-styled ‘Movement for an […]
Netflix is launching a trio of members-only casual games in Poland, Italy and Spain
Netflix is expanding its mobile gaming push with the launch of three more gaming titles which will become exclusively available to Netflix members in select European markets. The company today is introducing a trio of casual games — “Shooting Hoops,” “Teeter Up,” and “Card Blast” — to Netflix members in Spain and Italy, as well […]
Heartcore Capital bets on Europe with a $200M fund for consumer tech startups
Heartcore Capital, one of the few VCs to focus on consumer technology, has raised a $200 million early-stage fund for those kinds of startups across Europe. Heartcore IV, the firm’s flagship investment vehicle, will be supported by Heartcore Progression Beta, a $50 million ‘opportunity fund’ for follow on rounds in consumer tech. The firm said […]
Highnote emerges from stealth with $54M and a plan to take on Marqeta in the world of card issuing as a service
Fintech startups have thrown a curve ball into the world of financial services, by building more flexible, cheaper and user-friendly tools to businesses and consumers, who in turn are walking away from older incumbents and taking their custom to newer providers. In the latest development, a startup called Highnote is launching with ambitions to make […]
GM’s electric commercial vehicle unit BrightDrop introduces second, smaller van for Verizon
General Motors’ BrightDrop continues its breakneck pace to market as the automaker takes aim at last-mile commercial and cargo delivery market segments. BrightDrop on Tuesday said it would add a second delivery vehicle to its lineup, with telecom giant Verizon as its first slated customer. In addition, GM said it had completed the first production […]
Tens of thousands expected in Lisbon for November’s Web Summit
September 28, 2021 LISBON (Reuters) – Around 40,000 people from around the world are expected to attend Europe’s biggest technology conference, the Web Summit, in Lisbon in November, after the event was held online last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers said on Tuesday. “Earlier this year it was unclear if the Web Summit […]
Google’s browser cookies plan anti-competitive, advertisers tell EU
September 28, 2021 By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Google’s plan to block a popular web tracking tool called “cookies” is anti-competitive, a group of advertisers, publishers and tech companies said in a complaint to EU antitrust regulators. The grievance could boost the European Commission’s investigation opened in June into Alphabet unit Google’s Privacy […]
Tesla seeks COVID rules waiver to host 9,000 at Berlin ‘Giga-Fest’
September 28, 2021 BERLIN (Reuters) – Tesla, well-versed in German bureaucracy as it tries to build a huge factory near Berlin, is seeking a waiver from COVID-19 rules on mass gatherings to host up to 9,000 people at a “Giga-Fest” to showcase its plans. The electric vehicle maker, which began construction in the town of […]
Factbox-Partners or rivals? Russia and Turkey navigate awkward alliance
September 28, 2021 ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s defence purchases from Russia have alarmed Ankara’s NATO partners but the two countries remain rivals in wars from the Middle East to the Caucasus, highlighting the faultlines running through their awkward alliance. Turkey has bought Russian missile defence systems and could buy more equipment from Moscow. It imports […]
China’s power crunch dwarfs Evergrande’s troubles in investors’ eyes
September 28, 2021 By Samuel Shen and Alun John SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s power supply crunch, that has shut factories across the country, may pose a much bigger threat to the economy than the debt crisis at Evergrande Group, prompting investors to shun industries vulnerable to power shortages such as steelmaking and construction. China is […]
Angle Labs raises $5 million to build stablecoins based on derivatives
Angle Labs, the company behind the Angle Protocol, has raised a $5 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The small team has been working on a euro stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain. Other investors in the round include Fabric VC, Wintermute, Divergence Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Alven, Julien Bouteloup and Frédéric Montagnon. “I was […]
Rize raises $11.4M to scale its embedded fintech service
Rize, a fintech-as-a-service company that provides services to other firms, announced an $11.4 million Series A this morning. The funding event was led by Alpha Edison and Morpheus Ventures. A number of the startup’s prior backers also participated in the round. Rize is an interesting company in a competitive space; the market for building financial […]
RunX announces $4.1M seed to simplify cloud infrastructure deployment for developers
RunX, an early stage startup that wants to make it easier for developers to deploy cloud infrastructure, announced a $4.1 million seed investment led by Unusual Ventures and a group of individual angel investors. Company co-founder and CEO Ankur Dahiya says that as organizations deploy modern applications built on microservices and Kubernetes, the complexity in […]
Carrot, a plug-in that automatically categorizes what you’ve added to a cart, raises $5.5 million
While the recent growth of e-commerce has left us browsing online more than ever, it doesn’t mean we’re actually buying as much as you’d expect. In fact, the Baymard Institute, as cited by Shopify, says that about 70% of shopping carts are abandoned on desktop, a number that only goes up on mobile and tablet. […]