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“B2B Market Emerges as The Folklore Secures $3.4M Seed to Expand Brand Reach in Global Retail”

Amira Rasool 2024 Min
The capital, which brings total funding raised by the startup to $6.2 million, will enable it to serve more brands. For diverse brands in particular, there are a lot of economic hurdles that these groups face, which makes it even harder for them to access capital. Its other offering is a labor marketplace for brands not in a position to hire full-time teams but require talent occasionally. Its community of brands recommends the talent or manufacturer, who are listed on the marketplace after several stages of vetting. Brands gain access to the labor marketplace, capital and other resources, upon signing up (at a cost) on the startup’s main product, the B2B marketplace and SaaS product.

Pocket FM Secures Massive $103 Million Investment for International Growth Plans

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India-based audio platform Pocket FM has secured $103 million in Series D funding led by Lightspeed Ventures with participation from Stepstone Group. Pocket FM offers audio series with several short episodes and aim to become the “Netflix for audio” globally. That means you can’t use the coins you bought on Pocket FM to unlock content Pocket Novel products and vice versa. Pocket FM also has a limited audiobook vertical where it competes with the likes of Audible with a similar pay-to-unlock strategy. Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADIA has held talks with Pocket FM for a potential mega funding round, TechCrunch reported last week.

Sway (formerly Returnmates) Secures $19.5M Series A Funding for E-Commerce Return Management.

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Total returns for the industry amounted to $743 billion in merchandise in 2023, according to the National Retail Federation and Appriss Retail. Startups have also come in with new technologies to manage the delivery and return experience. Returnmates, now rebranded as Sway, is the latest to attract new venture capital for its approach to delivery and returns that focuses on the customer. The company rebranded to Sway as a way to show its evolution beyond returns to last-mile delivery capabilities, company co-founder and CEO Eric Wimer told TechCrunch via email. Sway is currently active in California, Texas, Washington, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, New York and Florida.