Near Space Labs Nabs $20M to Take its High-Res Imaging Swift Robots into the Stratosphere
April 29, 2025
When it comes to creating images of Earth from above, satellites, drones, planes, and spacecraft are what tend to come to mind. But a startup called Near Space Labs has a very different approach to taking high-resolution photos from up high. Near Space Labs is building aircraft, called Swift, that are raised by helium balloons and then rely on air currents to stay up, move around to take pictures from the stratosphere, and eventually glide back down to earth. On the back of significant traction with customers using its images, the startup has now raised $20 million to expand its business.
The Founder Who Turned a Near-Death Experience into a PCOS Solution
April 15, 2025
When I moved to the U.S., I never questioned my doctors. I believed the American healthcare system was the best in the world—so if something was prescribed, I took it,” explained Mila Magnani. The result was a flurry of pills that she took throughout her teen years: antibiotics for acne, antidepressants for mood regulation, birth control for her cycle, and spironolactone for facial hair…
How Podcasts Are Becoming Hollywood’s New Development Pipeline
January 30, 2025
Audio storytelling is emerging as a powerful tool for testing and developing film and television content, as evidenced by a growing number of podcast adaptations. Latino-focused podcast network Sonoro has taken note and is leading the charge. The entertainment industry has long mined various media for adaptation opportunities, from novels to comic books. The strategy has paid off handsomely…
Spindrift Agrees Sale to PE Firm Gryphon Investors; Dave Burwick Named CEO
January 14, 2025
Spindrift Beverage Company has reached an agreement for San Francisco-based private investment group Gryphon Investors to acquire a majority stake in the sparkling water brand, and is tapping experienced CPG executive Dave Burwick as its new CEO. The deal, expected to be closed sometime in Q1 of this year, will see Spindrift founder and current CEO Bill Creelman retain a “significant equity stake” in the company while shifting into a new role as chairman of the board.
Affiniti Raises $62 million to Empower America’s Backbone Industries
November 13, 2024
Affiniti, the financial stack built for America’s backbone industries, announced its public launch Wednesday. Serving America’s essential small businesses—local coffee shops, medical practices, cleaning services, fitness centers, and more—Affiniti provides a full-suite small business credit card and modern spend management platform tailored for business owners like the pharmacist in Pennsylvania, the foot doctor in Nebraska, and the auto shop owner in Arkansas, all of whom have long been overlooked and underserved.
This simple carbonated water gadget could upend the beverage industry
August 27, 2024
I love carbonated water, but I hate the waste of packaged carbonated water. And while a Sodastream might have been a solution a decade ago, it doesn’t allow you to refill your bottle when the water is gone and you are 12 subway stations and two transfers away from your kitchen. Which is why I’m excited about the Aer1, a portable bottle that sparkles the hell out of your favorite liquid—anywhere, anytime, at the the push of a button.
How this entrepreneur launched a cool baby brand despite having no kids
August 12, 2024
Tokyo’s Mandarin Oriental hotel is an odd place to be passing around diapers, Frank Yu, 33, will admit. It was there, in 2016, that he met some friends who were fresh from a baby shower. They’d been gifted diapers that felt nothing like the plasticky ones in the United States. These felt soft–similar to cashmere, even. The gears of Yu’s strategic brain, trained by London Business School, sent him hurtling into a years-long quest to design a fabric-like disposable diaper for the American market.
Telly is Seeing Social Budgets Coming into CTV
May 1, 2024
Of all the innovative companies in the TV advertising space, one of the most distinctive businesses is Telly, the US startup that offers users a free dual-screen TV with ads delivered on the second screen. Today the company makes its debut at the IAB NewFronts in New York to announce a new suite of ad products, including T-commerce capabilities and synchronized ad formats. One of the challenges of bringing shoppable ads to TV has been getting viewers to shop for products when they’re trying to watch TV…
Cyvl.ai is bringing data-driven solutions to transportation infrastructure
March 27, 2024
In the summer after his freshman year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an engineering school in Worcester, Massachusetts, Cyvl.ai co-founder and CEO Daniel Pelaez needed a job. He went home and worked at his local public works department, where he noted that there was very little software for tracking road repairs. He was told to go out, drive around, find issues and fix them. “I was filling in potholes, fixing signs and cutting down trees. And during my time there, I quickly saw firsthand they had no data on anything,” Pelaez told TechCrunch.
Prevu’s home sale process gives credit to home buyers with cash-back rebates
December 14, 2023
The traditional role of the real estate agent has long been challenged as the internet has made it easier for people to search for, and tour, homes. Historically, agents have received 6% commission on home sales — a practice that is increasingly being called into question. The argument against it is that oftentimes buyers have already done much of the legwork when identifying a home to purchase so the work of an agent is not what it once used to be pre-internet days…
Correcto grabs $7M to build out its ‘Grammarly for Spanish’
September 25, 2023
The generative AI boom has put a spring in the step of Correcto, a Madrid-based language writing tool startup focused on Spanish speakers that’s today announcing $7 million in seed funding. The round is led by London-based Octopus Ventures, with Carya Venture Partners and River Park Ventures also contributing. The founding team began work on their idea to build a Grammarly-style auto-editing tool for correcting written Spanish at the back end of 2021 — before generative AI tools like ChatGPT…
Real-time flight rewards search engine Point.me raises $10M
September 5, 2023
Point.me, an online search engine and concierge service that makes it easy to discover real-time reward flight options, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by by Thayer Ventures. The platform checks for flights on 33 loyalty programs across more than 150 airlines to uncover real-time award flight options. The New York-based startup was founded in 2019 by point.me CEO Adam Morvitz and president Tiffany Funk. Since the platform’s launch in February 2022, Point.me has surpassed 1.5 million users and 7.8 million searches.
Petal raises $35M, spins off data unit ‘to bring credit scores into the 21st century’
May 10, 2023
The United States credit system as it exists today has been around for decades and many would argue it’s long been in need of an overhaul. In the meantime, a number of startups have emerged in recent years to offer consumers more options when obtaining credit. Petal is one such company. The New York-based startup, which offers three Visa credit card products aimed at underserved consumers, has said its goal is to help people “build credit, not debt.”
Transit Tech Company Via Raises $110M at $3.5B Valuation
February 13, 2023
On-demand shuttle service and transit tech company Via has raised another $110 million, bringing the company’s total funding to around $1 billion. The fresh capital pushes Via’s valuation up to $3.5 billion at the same price per share as the company’s previous financing in November of 2021. Via intends to use the funds to further its vision of being “able to provide every city in the world access to this end-to-end digital infrastructure, where they can plan, operate, analyze and continue to optimize their transit networks…
After raising $2.5 million for Voyce.Me, a Gen Z founder is building a home for “English original manga”
November 10, 2022
An up-and-coming platform is providing amateur manga creators with a space where their Voyces can be heard. Voyce.Me, established in 2020 by 21-year-old founder Dylan Telano, just raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Torch Capital, with participation from RiverPark Ventures, M13 Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Clearview Media Partners, and Red Sea Ventures…
Redesign Health raises $65 million to build healthcare startups
September 13, 2022
Redesign Health, a company that builds other healthcare startups, tells Fast Company it has raised $65 million in fresh capital as it pushes forward in its goal to create dozens more startups in the next five years. The round brings the company’s post-money valuation to $1.7 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the funding.
Tablz closes $3.2 million CAD to bring premium seating to the restaurant industry
June 28, 2022
After completing its pilot—which saw over 2,500 tables booked through its platform—and raising its first round of financing, Tablz is ready to cater to restaurants across North America. Tablz has closed $3.2 million CAD ($2.5 million USD) in pre-seed funding from hospitality-focused New York investors to bring a new revenue stream to the restaurant industry. Unlike other restaurant reservation apps and table management systems like San Francisco-based OpenTable…
Babycare brand Coterie raises $23.8 million in Series A funding round, including investment from Ashley Graham
June 1, 2022
Taking care of a baby has changed quite a bit in recent years—sleep sacks are in, swaddling is out, and baby powder is a big no-no. But even as medical recommendations shift, cultural expectations evolve, and the babycare market is met with more devices than one could know what to do with, one category has remained largely the same: diapers. Despite the fact that the average baby uses more than 2,000 diapers in the first year of life alone, with their bare skin in near-constant contact, the vast majority of diapers in the United States haven’t changed since 1985.
This ‘E-ZPass for news,’ a Philly startup called NICKLpass, thrives on corporate subscribers
May 17, 2022
NICKLpass is a growing Philadelphia-based start-up that offers discounted subscription packages to news websites, video services, podcasts and other media. NICKLpass created software and a browser extension that acts as a sort of “E-ZPass for subscriptions,” according to the company, as it grants corporate clients access to news and other content without requiring individual logins each time, for a lower price. Companies can offer the service to employees as a benefit and cost-saver for workers who need to stay informed. Employers get discounted bundles on news subscriptions…
Inside Redesign Health’s Bid to Change the Healthcare Innovation Cycle
May 12, 2022
Typically, a story starts with what a company is. In the case of Redesign Health, perhaps it’s best to start with what it isn’t. Redesign Health is not a venture capital (VC) firm, despite the fact that it’s often listed among other VCs in funding press releases. It’s not a startup studio or accelerator, even though it’s named as a partner in building many early-stage healthcare companies. Instead, Redesign Health styles itself as “a company that powers innovation in healthcare by developing technologies, tools, and insights that lower the barriers to change across the industry.”
AdTech Platform Lets Merchants Tempt Consumers to Turn Payouts Into Rounded-Up Gift Cards
March 31, 2022
Pretty much everyone knows inflation eats away at purchasing power. A dollar today is “worth” several percentage points less in the grocery store aisles, at the electronics store and certainly at the pump. We get less gas in the tank and less chicken on the plate for the same dollar tendered at checkout. Getting some extra dollars’ worth of value in the digital wallet, spendable across everyday activities, or even a splurge, would seem a tempting offer for most consumers.
Disco gets brands to boogie together on customer acquisition
March 4, 2022
As more companies establish an e-commerce presence, the stakes have never been higher for brands to cut through the clutter to land new customers. Disco, formerly known as Co-op Commerce, doesn’t think the cost of acquiring costs should be so reliant on Big Tech platforms. Instead, Conner Sherline, founder and CEO, says that when independent brands come together across partnerships, data and merchandising, they have the buying power to produce results for everyone.
Petal nears unicorn status with fresh $140M in capital to upend ‘broken’ traditional credit system
January 5, 2022
In recent years, there has been a growing number of startups trying to make credit more accessible to consumers. One such startup, Petal, announced today that it has raised a $140 million Series D round of funding. The company’s new valuation is $800 million — more than triple what Petal was valued at when it announced a $55 million Series C round in September of 2020, according to a source familiar with the transaction…
A cut above: Porter Road is changing how we get our meat
September 30, 2021
To understand the relationship at the heart of Porter Road Meats, the Nashville butcher shop that’s become an internet success story, you first have to understand that a business partnership can be a lot like a marriage. There are highs, there are lows, and there are things that partners share that almost no one else can understand. And in the fall of 2016, the partnership between Chris Carter and James Peisker was leaning toward a divorce.
How this Shell-backed unicorn is rewiring transit in key cities like Miami and Los Angeles
September 30, 2021
Daniel Ramot has the kind of marquee education—degrees in math, physics and electrical engineering, capped by a PhD in neuroscience from Stanford—that readies people for careers in science, medicine, tech or AI. “My mother says, ‘with all this education, you ended up a taxi dispatcher?’ And I always say, ‘No I’m not. I’m actually a bus dispatcher,’” he jokes. A decade ago, Ramot and long-time friend Oren Shoval, who has a PhD in systems biology…
Carrot, a Plug-In that Automatically Categorizes What You’ve Added to Cart, Raises $5.5 million
September 28, 2021
While the growth of ecommerce has left us browsing and shopping more than ever, that doesn’t mean we’re actually buying all that much. In fact, the Baymard Institute, as cited by Shopify, says that about 70 percent of shopping carts are abandoned on desktop, with that number only going up on mobile and tablet. Carrot, the latest venture out of Bobby Ghoshal and his cofounder Ramin Bozorgzadeh, is looking to make a dent in that number.
Ocrolus lands $80M at a $500M+ valuation to automate document processing for fintechs and banks
September 23, 2021
If you’ve ever had to take out a loan, you know just how many documents are involved in the approval process. It’s a lot. The process is tedious and time-consuming, and in many more cases than you’d expect — still manual. Ocrolus is a startup that is hoping to change that with an automation platform that it says analyzes financial documents with over 99% accuracy.
As Clear Secure Takes Off in $4.5 Billion IPO, CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker Eyes a ‘Frictionless’ Future
June 30, 2021
When Covid lockdowns took hold last March and sent the global travel industry to a sputtering halt, Caryn Seidman-Becker was not entirely surprised. The cofounder and CEO of biometric screening company Clear Secure had been watching the virus unfold around the world and knew she had to prepare for a time in which a fast-pass through the airport security line might not be a traveling priority.
Co-op raises $5.8M to help online merchants land customers for less
June 29, 2021
Ask anyone looking to sell online about their customer acquisition costs compared to a few years ago, and you’ll hear a tale of woe. Channels that were once a cost-effective ground for acquiring customers, like various social networks, have become increasingly pricey real estate. Facebook’s recent broaching of the $1 trillion market cap threshold attests to the fact. But co-op wants to shake up how online sellers find new customers, and it wants to do so with a spirit of collaboration at a discount.
Woflow is a Platform for Marketplaces to Automate Their Merchant Data Processes
June 2, 2021
Digitizing a restaurant’s food catalog is a tedious, manual process for a majority of food delivery platforms. Providing this structured data in an automated fashion could yield billions of dollars in value for these marketplaces. Will Bewley and Jordan Nemrow created Woflow to seize this potentially lucrative opportunity. Woflow is the “world’s first Merchant Data Platform” that automates and maintains the merchant data lifecycle
This Company 3D-prints Your Favorite Vitamins Into a Single Gummy
May 11, 2021
Like many wellness-minded people, Melissa Snover used to have a strict vitamin routine. Seven a day, self-curated according to her needs. But keeping track of the combinations was confusing. She’d have to buy separate bottles of different vitamins, usually with varying pill quantities, and often from different stores, making the mixing-and-matching a hassle. She traveled a lot, which added further annoyance. “I used to have to carry a disgusting ziplock bag full of random vitamins,” she says.
Serial Fiction App Radish Acquired by Kakao Entertainment for $440M
May 10, 2021
Serialized fiction app Radish will be acquired by Kakao Entertainment in a transaction valued at $440 million. Kakao Entertainment is owned by Kakao, the South Korean internet giant whose services include its eponymous messaging platform. Radish founder Seungyoon Lee will hold onto his role as its chief executive officer, while also becoming Kakao Entertainment’s global strategy officer to lead its growth in international markets…
How Slice is Empowering Local Pizzerias in the Digital Age
April 15, 2021
Pizza tops peoples’ list of favorite takeout and delivery options in the best of times and its popularity soared further in 2020 as restaurants around the country closed to indoor dining and consumers sought safe, tasty and affordable alternatives to their own home cooking. U.S. pizza restaurants generated about $46.2 billion in sales last year, with independents accounting for about 40% of the total, according to Statista…
The Peloton of Home Cooking? Amid Pandemic Growth, Tech-Enabled Meal Kit Company Tovala Lands $30M Series C
February 4, 2021
“The Peloton of” may just be the new coveted term across industries, given Peloton’s rocketship growth, no doubt fueled by changing pandemic behaviors. The tech-enabled home fitness company tripled its paid subscriber base between 2019 and 2020. In food, there are few companies that parallel Peloton’s offering, combining an all-in-one tech-enabled experience with premium content and aspirational partnerships, all in the comforts of home…
Crisis Management: How a Bad Q1 and a Small Assortment Turned into a Good Year for Mack Weldon
January 5, 2021
Mack Weldon CEO Brian Berger thinks of the pandemic in three stages: triage, the new normal and the steady state. Not every retailer’s path through the pandemic is the same, but just about every business can identify with the first of those stages, when U.S. retailers closed their doors in rapid succession, made tough decisions on employee furloughs and layoffs, and struggled for breathing room on rent and other costs…
International Shipping Startup Raises $12M Series A
December 17, 2020
Passport, a technology startup that helps brands with all aspects of cross-border shipping, announced on Thursday it has raised $12 million in Series A funding. Leading the round was M13, with participation from Resolute Ventures, Precursor, Kleiner Perkins, RiverPark and Republic. In an interview with FreightWaves, CEO Alex Yancher described Passport as a “modern international shipping carrier” built for e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands…
LA-based MarketerHire upgrades its service matching remote marketers with companies
October 28, 2020
MarketerHire, a Los Angeles-based startup backed by a slew of executives from some of the city’s hottest startups, launched its new service matching freelance marketing experts with open jobs listed on its platform. “Today’s startup economy depends on the expertise of industry specialists as much or more than full-time generalists,” said Nick Green, co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market, a MarketerHire customer and investor, in a statement…
How Ocrolus CEO Sam Bobley built his document analytics company into a $100 million fintech firm
October 9, 2020
If you’ve ever answered CAPTCHA questions to prove you’re not a robot, you were probably unwittingly helping Google analyze print documents to turn them into digital ones. Ocrolus, one of the leading document analysis companies in financial services, uses similar tech to digitize financial documents…
Valar triples down on Petal, leading $55M Series C round into the credit card disruptor
September 24, 2020
Sometimes raising venture capital can be as simple as talking to your existing investor and having them wire over another check. When we last caught up with Petal in January 2019, the startup was hot off its $30 million Series B round and was accelerating its mission to take on the world of credit cards…
Softbank, Kakao Give Radish $63M Series A Boost to Build New Story Content
August 4, 2020
Serialized fiction app Radish landed $63.2 million in Series A funding, led by SoftBank Ventures Asia and Kakao Page, to tap into Hollywood’s storytelling community. The new investment brings Radish’s total funding to more than $68 million, co-founder Seung Yoon Lee told Crunchbase News. The company last raised funds in 2017, including a $3 million seed round, according to Crunchbase data…
Tovala Gobbles Up $20M for its Smart Oven + Meal Kit Service
June 2, 2020
Meal kits have had a rush of interest in recent months, with people turning to them to vary the pace of (and in some cases, completely replace) making meals at home, or ordering take out, at a time when many of us are spending a lot of time at home. Now a startup that has combined the concept of meal kits with that of smart ovens to do the cooking is announcing some funding to help expand its business.
Slice Raises Another $43M to Help Local Pizzerias Drive Business Online
May 12, 2020
New York City has had a long and well-documented love affair with pizza. In fact, the first pizzeria in the US is said have been founded in 1905 by Gennaro Lombardi, who sold pizzas from his grocery store on Spring Street. 115 years later and the demand for pizza is stronger than ever, with each person having their own opinion on where to get the best pizza. Slice is the end-to-end ordering and marketing platform that helps local pizzerias enable and build their digital and online presence.
On-demand Shuttle Startup Via Hits $2.25 Billion Valuation on Latest Funding Round by Exor
March 31, 2020
On-demand shuttle startup Via has hit a $2.25 billion valuation following a Series E funding round led by Exor, the Agnelli family holding company that owns stakes in PartnerRe, Ferrari and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The Series E funding round, which included other investors, totaled $400 million, according to a source familiar with the deal…
Hilary McCain Gives a ‘Sweet Reason’ to Try Her CBD-Infused, All-Natural Sparkling Waters
November 20, 2019
What happens when a background in food and beverage and a passion for cannabis collide? Well, in Hilary McCain’s case, you combine both and launch a company — which she decided to do with her line of CBD-infused, zero-sugar, all-natural sparkling waters called Sweet Reason…
Credit card start-up Petal raises $300 million debt round from Jefferies
September 18, 2019
Credit card start-up Petal just completed a new financing round. The New York City-based company announced a $300 million debt round from Jefferies on Tuesday, adding to existing venture capital investments from names like Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures…
New York City’s school buses will now be automatically routed and tracked using Via’s algorithm
August 21, 2019
The yellow school bus is an iconic feature of the American streetscape—their rumbling presence through neighborhoods signals the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year for kids. But as nostalgia-inducing as they are, yellow school buses are not exempt from the wave of disruption sweeping transit in the U.S…
Something To Smile About: Candid Raises $63 Million To Be The Warby Parker Of Braces
April 16, 2019
What started as two twentysomethings’ desire to bring straight teeth to everyone is turning into a better way to do braces, especially with a mouthful of new cash. Candid is an orthodontics company that gives customers the power to buy a clear orthodontist-created alignment plan online—at 65% less than traditional braces….
We Tried it: the Cardio Dance Workout 305 Fitness
November 30, 2018
Described as “an addictive cardio party,” 305 Fitness is one of New York City’s most popular workout classes. Celebrities Miley Cyrus and Hailey Baldwin are fans of 305 Fitness, and NBA star Kevin Durant is an investor. The franchise has quickly expanded into Boston and Washington, D.C., and has a Los Angeles pop-up…
The company turning Ubers into product distribution channels raises $22.5M in Series A
September 27, 2018
New York-based sundries-for-sale-in-your-Uber concept Cargo announced today that it completed a Series A round this month. The $22,499,997 Founders Fund-led investment by something of a motley crew ranging from Zynga founder Mark Pincus to Def Jam Recordings CEO Paul Rosenberg to Schwarzenegger children Patrick and Christina…
How Mack Weldon Utilizes Data and Technology to Inform All Key Aspects of Business
August 29, 2018
The sheer pace of change in fashion has compelled brands and designers alike to exhaust traditional product offerings like no other period that we have witnessed in menswear before. As a result, a mans choice of clothing became an ongoing theme each season.Unlike modern menswear lifestyle collections…
Metabolism Hacking Company Lumen Scores Big with Diet Planning Device
July 24, 2018
Lumen, an Israel-based company offering a metabolism tracking and nutrition device, has blown through its crowdfunding target on Indiegogo within four hours of listing last week. By now the company has raised almost $580,000 from 2686 backers, 1159% of its goal, and the campaign still has a month to go…
Can Future Family Fix the Infertility Experience?
April 30, 2018
How much do you know about fertility? Specifically, your own. It’s a question that’s starting to move into the mainstream as more women than ever wait to have a baby; In 2016, the number of women in their 30s having babies officially surpassed the birth rate among women 25 to 29, according to CDC data…
Why Former NBA Player David Robinson Is Investing in a $5 Million Round for SidelineSwap to Battle Against Amazon and eBay
April 24, 2018
An online marketplace called SidelineSwap, where athletes buy and sell sports gear and equipment is announcing a $5 million Series A financing round today that is led by Global Founders Capital with participation from former NBA player David Robinson’s Admiral Capital, Peak6 Sports, RiverPark Ventures, FJ Labs and The Player’s Impact, which is a syndicate of pro athlete and Olympians…
Pizza Unchained: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online And Fight Back Against Domino’s
April 10, 2018
Ilir Sela likes to call himself “third-generation pizza.” A 38-year-old Albanian immigrant, his extended family has owned so many pizzerias he has trouble counting them all. So when he launched a business, in 2010, to offer independent pizzerias the technology to compete with the likes of Domino’s, Little Caesars, Papa John’s and Pizza Hut, the first thing he did was to sign up his brother-in-law, his cousins and his friends…
VIA RAISES $250M LED BY DAIMLER TO BRING ITS CARPOOLING TECHNOLOGY TO EUROPE
September 4, 2017
As outsized ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft continue to build out their taxi-style marketplaces largely based around connecting individual passengers to individual drivers, a startup focused squarely on the carpooling opportunity has raised a large round of funding to expand outside of the U.S. Via — which has developed a shuttle-based carpooling service that it…
Ollie, a Purveyor of ‘Human Grade’ Pet Food, Just Landed $12.6 Million in Fresh Funding
August 23, 2017
Ollie, a two-year-old, New York-based subscription service that sells what it calls human-grade pet food, has raised $12.6 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Canaan Partners, with participation from WME Ventures, Rosecliff Ventures, RiverPark Funds, Correlation Ventures and earlier backers Primary Venture Partners and Lerer Hippeau Ventures…
How KeyMe is Taking Over the $7.5B Locksmith Industry
June 20, 2017
When Greg Marsh moved to NYC for business school, he and his wife got locked out of their new home. They had a horrible experience, as an unscrupulous guy showed up in an unmarked van and charged $300 to drill the lock. This experience got Marsh thinking about the locksmith industry and, later, to start KeyMe…
