In one of the latest developments, Danish company Flatpay, which builds payment solutions for small and medium physical merchants like shops, restaurants and salons, has raised €45 million ($47 million) led by Dawn Capital.
Founded in 2022, Flatpay currently has just 7,000 customers across its current footprint of Denmark, Finland and Germany.
Perhaps most interestingly, on the sales side, despite its focus on streamlined technology, Flatpay only sells via live sales visits.
No online sales (although there are specialists who will help arrange those in-person sales visits and handle support), no virtual visits, and no plans to introduce either.
And the only way they could understand the products really well was by the company paring down the products themselves.
DCVC wanted to raise $500M for its first climate fund, but the market had other plansDCVC’s target for its first climate-focused fund, DCVC Climate Select, has been all over the place and highlights the roller coaster venture fundraising conditions of the last few years, and how LPs aren’t as quick to back new strategies from established managers.
The Silicon Valley VC firm launched the fund in December 2022 with a $500 million target, according to a SEC filing.
This climate fund is targeting climate startups at the mid-stages where the firm thinks the climate startup ecosystem is currently underfunded, according to materials from a recent New Mexico State Investment Council meeting where the GP presented.
Tiger Global’s latest fund raised $2.2 billion of its $6 billion target.
In the first half of 2023, firms including Founders Fund, Insight Partners and TCV all slashed their fund targets.
During Target’s investor event on Tuesday, the retail giant announced it is launching a paid membership program, Target Circle 360, on April 7 to compete with rivals Amazon and Walmart.
Target Circle 360 acts as the paid version of its free loyalty program Target Circle, which has existed since 2019.
Additionally, it’s renaming Target RedCard credit and debit cards to Target Circle, which will now give customers an extra 5% off purchases.
However, if you have a Target Circle credit card, it will still cost $49.
Walmart also sees success from its paid membership, Walmart+, which debuted in 2020 for $98/year.
But the Ring Car Camera?
You do have to know who your customers are, though, and that’s where the Ring Car Camera found itself straddling multiple domains without a clear foothold in any.
Ring Car Camera did have some exciting innovations.
Moreover, discontinuing the Ring Car Camera may prompt a reassessment of consumer expectations regarding dash cams and automotive security devices.
The discontinuation of the Ring Car Camera is likely the final nail in the coffin of that project, too.
Google researchers say they have evidence that a notorious Russian-linked hacking group — tracked as “Cold River” — is evolving its tactics beyond phishing to target victims with data-stealing malware.
Cold River, also known as “Callisto Group” and “Star Blizzard,” is known for conducting long-running espionage campaigns against NATO countries, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom.
Researchers believe the group’s activities, which typically target high-profile individuals and organizations involved in international affairs and defense, suggest close ties to the Russian state.
Google says that on discovery of the Cold River malware campaign, the technology giant added all of the identified websites, domains, and files to its Safe Browsing service to block the campaign from further targeting Google users.
Google researchers previously linked the Cold River group to a hack-and-leak operation that saw a trove of emails and documents stolen and leaked from high-level Brexit proponents, including Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of the U.K. foreign intelligence service MI6.
Hyperexponential, a London-based insurance technology (insurtech) startup that serves the property-casualty (P&C) insurance industry with “decision intelligence” for pricing, has raised $73 million in a Series B equity round of funding.
Boston-based venture capital (VC) firm Battery Ventures led the round, with participation from existing investor Highland Europe and Andreessen Horowitz (A16z).
Moreover, that Hyperexponential is bringing in high-profile U.S. VC firms points to an international roadmap, with the company confirming plans to expand beyond its current operations in the U.K. and Poland to the lucrative U.S. market.
“We’ve focused on building a capital-efficient, independent business that was both high-growth and sustainable from the outset,” said Hyperexponential co-founder and CEO Amrit Santhirasenan, in a statement.
The company also said that it plans expand into adjacent markets, including SME insurance.
In the fight against Methane, a key GHG, Valley investors have hit upon an unusual target: Cow burpsWhat do iconic Valley investors Zachary Bogue and Chris Sacca have in common?
And one of the bigger issues at the most recent COP meeting was a pledge to reduce methane emissions, which are growing rapidly.
And a major UN report said “urgent steps” are necessary to reduce methane if global warming is to be kept within a manageable limit.
Mootral says its current Ruminant supplement can reduce methane emissions from dairy cows by up to 38 percent on commercial farms.
CH4 Global — which is backed by the aforementiioned Zachary Bogue of DCVC — employs seaweed in cow feed to reduce their methane emissions.
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