Softbank and Saudi Arabia have inked a $200b agreement for the world’s largest solar project
The government of Saudi Arabia and investing giant Softbank have formed a partnership to build the world’s largest-ever solar project. Estimated to cost over $200b, the plant will surpass the entire world’s current solar capacity, and will triple the amount of electricity generated by Saudi Arabia alone today.In a potential IoT shakeup, Foxconn has acquired Belkin and Linksys
After years spent reliant on a select number of companies (such as Apple) for its massive manufacturing orders, Foxconn is branching out into the direct-to-consumer space. The firm recently purchased Belkin, Linksys, and Wemo, signaling that it intends to expand into consumer product and potentially integrate its new networking technology into future IoT-related products.
Dropbox’s early investors are set for a big payday upon its IPO this week – here’s how they did it
Dropbox’s IPO is set to launch this Friday, and its early investors (Sequoia in particular) are likely to see a huge payday. Some of the company’s largest investors were also its earliest, and were willing to spend even more cash than they’d originally committed so that no dilution of their ownership shares occurred in the process of securing additional funding.
Drone maker DJI has announced a new enterprise development kit to drive new innovations
In a significant move that will open up the drone maker to a whole range of new opportunities, DJI has rolled out a new enterprise development kit that will allow 3rd party developers to run additional software or hardware on the drones themselves. Its new adapter, called the “Skyport”, could create an entirely new set of commercial applications for consumer drones as well.
Oscar Health has just raised a new $165m round of funding, at a $3.2b valuation
The high-tech health insurance startup has raised a fresh round of funding led by Alphabet and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. The company is looking to disrupt the health insurance industry by rolling out a health application platform, as well as gearing its services towards individual buyers rather than large corporations.
There are major lessons to be learned from the cyber attack that’s hobbling Atlanta right now
The city of Atlanta has been crippled in recent weeks by an unprecedented ransomware attack, and security researchers are taking notice. While few details have surfaced to date, many corporations are taking notice of Atlanta’s response to the situation, as the hacking group that attacked it appears to be focused primarily on organizations that serve the public good (such as schools, hospitals, and the like).
Here’s why Softbank is raising the stakes for VC investors globally
Softbank’s new mega fund has changed the landscape of VC investing for good. In addition, many startups are staying private for longer, meaning that investors need to be willing to part with more capital than ever in order to see a quality return on their investment and avoid dilution of their shares in the companies they invest in.
AR startup Ubiquity6 has just closed a $10m Series A round of funding
The service, which allows users to collaborate on augmented reality experiences through their smartphones, recently closed a $10m round of funding that it will use to accelerate product development and hire for its engineering team. Ubiquity6’s platform is aimed at users that want to collaborate on visual editing projects in the digital space, with an augmented reality component as well.
Meet the team making it easy for anyone to invest in startups
Republic is a New York-based startup that’s developing a platform which allows anyone to become a startup investor. The platform is making significant strides towards democratizing the world of angel investing, and allows startups to pitch users for funding in addition to running more traditional pitch sessions with institutional investors.
BioCatch closes a $30m funding round to further develop its behavioral biometrics tech
The Israel-based startup has just closed a fresh round of funding that will allow it to accelerate R&D efforts around its “behavioral biometrics” technology, which allows high-transaction firms to stop online fraud before it even takes place, using an algorithmic analysis of online customer behavior. The funding round was led by Maverick Ventures and American Express. |
