At first glance, GetScale’s cameras might seem like just another factory surveillance system. The startup, however, wants to make life easier for engineers and assembly-line workers by allowing them to communicate directly and record the entire manufacturing process.
This means hardware companies thousands of miles away from their factories get quality assurance and workers aren’t unfairly blamed for problems.
LittleBits, a maker of electronic components that both children and designers can snap together to create everything from toy robots to lightweight industrial products, has raised $44.2 million in Series B funding led by DFJ Growth, with managing director Barry Schuler joining the board.
Morgan Stanley, Alternative Investment Partners, Grishin Robotics and Wamda Capital also joined the round, along with earlier backers Foundry Group, True Ventures, VegasTechFund, Two Sigma Ventures and Khosla Ventures.
The financing is a big vote of confidence for the 90-person company, which sells its small, modular electronics in kits of varying sizes and had raised just $15.6 million from investors over four previous rounds.
Hello, the creator of the Sense sleep tracker, is valued between $250 million and $300 million as part of its latest funding round, sources tell TechCrunch. The company has raised $40 million in a round led by Temasek, according to a report by the Financial Times.
How do you say “big winner” in Portuguese? Or Mandarin?
VerbalizeIt, a startup that connects businesses with translators from around the world, was the big winner at the Colorado State University Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge on Saturday. The Boulder, CO-based startup took home the top prize of $250,000, along with access to mentoring and other professional services.
DataScience, a startup that relies on the labor of data scientists to provide a cloud service non-technical people can use to answer tough questions, announced today that it has taken on $6 million in funding.
Rather than just provide a self-service tool for instantly visualizing data that people upload, DataScience puts an emphasis on the time-consuming work that its experts do, including data cleaning and complex modeling.
“What we’re providing is data science to the business team, and this is something that’s drastically needed,” DataScience founder and chief executive Ian Swanson told VentureBeat in an interview.
HWTrek, a Taipei-based platform that connects hardware startups with manufacturers and other resources, has scored a $4 million series A. The funding was led by WI Harper and ITIC. Legend Star Capital (the investment arm of Legend Holdings, Lenovo’s parent company), Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com, and Tokyo venture capital firm Global Brain also participated.
The good news: It is not necessary to raise capital to build a successful startup – 17% of successful startups did not raise capital from investors
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The bad news: Investment does not a guarantee success for a startup – 41% of venture-backed startups shut down or are sold at a loss; and fewer than 9% prove successful
Guildery, an e-commerce company that’s putting technology to use by offering digitally printed fabrics and other home accessories like pillows, drapes, ottomans, and more, has closed on $2.1 million in seed funding from Forerunner Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, SoftTech and AOL’s BBG Ventures*.
Rentecarlo, the U.K. startup and graduate of accelerator Ignite100, is officially launching today with a P2P car rental marketplace that lets anybody rent out their own car. The idea, which the company’s three Danish founders have been toiling with since mid-2013 before quitting their jobs and studies last year to go full-time, is that can owners can make money on their car’s inactivity while providing car renters with a more convenient option.
We have already seen Screen Donor enable charitable smartphone users to donate their dormant screens to a good cause and now, Add My Window makes use of another unused surface: front windows.
