Uzum, an e-commerce startup offering online shopping, fintech and food deliveries to millions of customers in Uzbekistan, has raised $114 million in funding, becoming the country’s first unicorn with a valuation of $1.16 billion.
Fintech startups dominated the market with a 30% share, followed by e-commerce startups at 27%, according to estimates (PDF) by the Asian Development Bank.
“We want to expand the products, enhance the infrastructure of our e-commerce, and fund our fintech,” Djumaev said.
By the end of this year, Uzum plans to combine all its businesses into two super apps: one for its consumer-focused offerings, and another for its business-focused products.
However, he doesn’t see any competition in Uzbekistan, as Uzum has the advantage of enjoying different margins across products, and can make higher margins by combining its e-commerce and fintech services.
The company has offered accessibility-focused Xbox peripheral for some time and has introduced the Adaptive line of computing peripherals roughly this time last year.
The Adaptive line got a refresh and a couple of new entries at this week’s virtual Windows event.
This round brings back the Adaptive Mouse, which features thumb support and custom tails 3D printed by Shapeways.
The Adaptive Hub is effectively an adaptive accessory for the other adaptive accessories, allowing for up to three devices and four Adaptive Buttons to be connected wirelessly.
Rounding out Microsoft’s new accessibility accessories is a Surface Pro Keyboard with brighter backlighting and bolder text for users with vision impairments.
The United States Department of Justice this morning filed a lawsuit accusing Apple of monopolistic smartphone practices.
Apple swiftly countered by arguing that — if successful — such a suit would inhibit its ability to compete in the crowded smartphone market.
This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets.
We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it.
At the same time, Apple has also been embroiled in lawsuits from Epic Games, challenging its App Store revenue practices.
A new app from a startup called Cherry is aiming to transform the online shopping experience with its AI assistant that allows users to discover products across the internet using just a screenshot or image.
Cherry helps you find products that you’ve come across while scrolling through social media or have seen in real-life.
“My motivation for creating Cherry stemmed from a personal frustration with the time-consuming process of finding and comparing products online,” Kim told TechCrunch.
Plus, users can also share their search results with their friends or on social media.
“While Google Lens offers general image-based search capabilities, Cherry is specifically tailored for the shopping experience,” Kim said.
ShopMy, a marketing platform for content creators to connect with brands and monetize their content, announced today that it raised $18.5 million.
To date, creators have earned “tens of millions in commissions” on the platform, the company tells TechCrunch.
“He observed a significant disconnect in the social media ecosystem: influencers struggled to monetize their product recommendations effectively, and their followers didn’t have an easy path to purchase.
Chris viewed ShopMy as the solution, a bridge that transformed how influencers share and monetize their product recommendations,” Rein explains.
Even Instagram has embraced creator marketing, launching a marketplace tool for paid partnerships in 2022.
Save for fintech and cleantech, B2B e-commerce and retail was the leading destination for venture capital dollars over the last five years.
Most B2B e-commerce startups have struggled to keep subsidizing their products and expanding operations, leading to retreats, closures, downsizing and mergers.
Building a B2B e-commerce business in tech winterB2B e-commerce platforms provide convenience to FMCG manufacturers like Unilever and P&G for distributing their products to the last mile.
As a result, many B2B e-commerce startups have opted for asset-heavy models to reach their customer base.
The Lagos-based B2B e-commerce startup is currently in the middle of securing a new round of equity and debt to propel its expansion.
Smart fitness ring maker Oura announced a partnership with Amazon today to sell its products through the e-commerce site.
The Heritage ring starts from $299 and the Horizon ring starts from $399.
The most distinctive difference between the two is that Heritage rings have a flat top and Horizon rings don’t have that.
Since Oura launched the Oura Ring 3, India-based startup Ultrahuman released two rings including Ultrahuman Air last year.
Last year, Oura launched the Circles feature to encourage users to share their stats with friends and family.
How strongly a technology good or service resonates with potential customers is often called “product-market fit,” or PMF.
Jess Lee is coming to TechCrunch Early Stage in Boston this year to help founders looking to reach, or refine, their current PMF guide their upstart tech companies in the right direction.
Early Stage is shaping up to be possibly our best-ever shindig for early-stage founders, with NFX’s James Currier, Underscore’s Lily Lyman, and of course Lee herself coming ’round to talk shop.
As with all Early Stage events, audience Q&A will be a critical component of every session, so bring your notebook, several pens, and I’ll see you on April 25!
Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024?
In 2021, the company says it used 214 million or so pounds of single-use plastic in its packaging.
Nonprofit ocean conservation firm Oceana, on the other hand, put that figure at approximately ~700 million pounds.
Take for example, its ongoing efforts to reduce package weights and replace plastics with paper products.
The first is a robot that is primarily deployed in recycling facilities to sort through different materials.
We’ve also received a pretty significant grant from the Michigan Department of Environment for further deployments of our technology.
When you think about commerce platforms, chances are the first names that come to mind are big names like Adobe Commerce or Salesforce Commerce Cloud.
That’s why a French startup called Catalog wants to build a software-as-a-service product that seamlessly manages B2B sales across several sales channels.
But these tools don’t necessarily work well for B2B companies.
This way, the company hopes it can handle the majority of B2B orders for companies that have decided to use Catalog.
By focusing on small and medium businesses, Catalog could start offering a wide range of services that are specifically tailored for these small manufacturing and commerce companies.
