Startup-Buzz Weekly Round-Up

It’s a Sunday morning; time to do a quick round-up of posts published on Startup-buzz media last week. If you were offline for any reason, this is a great way to catch up with the entire buzz!

INTERVIEW- Enjoy Our Interaction with Startup Founders

In Conversation with Doron Tal, Founder of “Articoolo” – Startup-Buzz recently had an interaction with the founder of Articoolo, Mr. Doron Tal.  Articoolo is an Israel-based startup, which has developed a content writing robot that can generate a unique, plagiarism-free article on any topic.

FUNDING – Checkout which startups raised funds

Brave Browser Raises $4.5M for development – Brave software gets $4.5M in seed funding for the development of its ad and other trackers blocking web browser.

Schedule And Time-Tracking Tools Startup, Homebase, Raises $6M – This San-Francisco based company has raised $6M in series-A funding. Khosla Ventures led the seed funding round.

European Startup, Deliveroo, Brings in $275M in Funding – An on-demand food delivery restaurant startup, Deliveroo, in Europe, received another $275 million in funding.

Women Job Portal Startup Sheroes Raises $1.8 mn – The investment was led by Lumis Partners along with participation from the HR Fund and angel investor Rajul Garg. Existing investor Raghav Bahl-led Quintillion Media also took part in the round.

Packaged Food Startup Secures Funds from Flipkart CEO  – Mumbai-based packaged food startup YumLane recently raises $1 million (INR 6.6 crore) in seed funding round led by Flipkart Co-founder and CEO Binny Bansal.

Farhan Akhtar-backed App, Flickbay Raises Funding – Recently, the celebrity-backed film discovery app, Flickbay raises $890,000 (around 6 crore) in seed funding from Paul Roy, Chairman of Dubai-based Riva Digital.

PayPal Invests in an Irish Startup, Pulsate – PayPal, government agencies as well as a leading investment fund backs an Irish startup, Pulsate with $ 1.5 Million in a funding round.

HealthKart Secures $12 Million – Recently, Healthkart raises $12 Million (INR 80 crore) in Series E round of funding from a bunch of existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Kae Capital and others.

Booze Delivery Startup Drizly Raises $1.5mn For Its E-commerce Platform – With this latest round of Series B financing led by Polaris Partners, Drizly’s total funding comes to $32.8 million

ACQUISITIONS – Checkout all startup acquisition and mergers news.

After Two Years of Rivalry, Uber Joins Hands with Chinese Rival, Didi Chuxing -Now, Didi would be acquiring Uber’s Chinese operations, thus putting an end to a battle that has cost Uber over two billion in the last two years.

Union of Big Bazaar & Paytm: A Huge Step in History of E-commerce Industry – Big Bazaar and Paytm has joined hands to start a trend of offline-online retail in the industry.

INNOVATION – Startup news on most innovative product or service.

Hear2Read Helps Visually Impaired To Hear Books In Their Native Language – Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) joined hands with Hear2Read project and developed text-to-speech software which will help visually challenged people to listen text in their native language.

Artisto Transforms Your Videos In to Art – After the latest buzz surrounding Prisma, app developers are working on video filters in their app. Artisto; video editing app already is doing it.

Mark Johnson’s Model Proves Game Changer in Crop Yield Prediction – Johnson’s Descartes Labs, a startup, launched in 2014 is using a machine learning algorithm and 4 petabytes of satellite imagery to survey the corn crop from space.

Already Embroiled in the Edison Controversy, Theranos Launches ‘MiniLab’ – On Monday, CEO and founder of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, unveiled a new product, which turned out to be another successor of Edison machines.

Sonic Blocks Launches Customizable Wireless Speakers – New York-based startup, Sonic Blocks introduces world’s first Modular Wireless Speakers that is easily customizable according to your needs and specifications.

Is It Possible To Use On-Demand Services Like Uber Without Smartphone?  Smartphones are still a challenge for seniors. It is not easy for elders to understand the latest apps and features. GoGoGrandparents provides an alternate solution.

Silicon Valley Startup, Selfycart, Helps You Avoid Long Queues At Grocery Stores – We all understand the pain of standing in long queues just to get billed. Now San Jose based startup, Selfycart, is stepping forward to make this waiting obsolete.

Chicago Startup Introduces Easy Web App Building For Front-End Developers – Chicago-based startup, Techstars comes up with a solution called BrightWork, a tool for software developers to build applications and programs more easily and quicker.

Flipkart introduces two new features; “Fliptech” and “Hobby Hub” – This is applicable for the content across categories of Electronics, Fashion, Mobiles and Home. Customers can now make informed purchases on Flipkart.

Chariot Launches New Service for People Who Work in San Francisco’s Residential Area -In a city where public service is not so reliable, Chariot hosts a service for people who don’t work downtown.

Instagram Stories For Sharing Your Day – Instagram recently introduces a new feature; Instagram Stories that allow users to share all their precious moments of the day with their loved ones not only by photos but through videos also.

Philips Launches Healthcare Gadgets To Fight Chronic Diseases – Philips has not only introduced a wearable health tracker but a whole range of smart healthcare devices. These devices are on par with the medical standards, tested in labs for accuracy and registered with FDA.

CouponDunia’s Latest Edge- Quick Card “Quirk” – The online coupon and cash back site CouponDunia introduced the Premium Lifestyle card recently with its media launch in Bangalore.

Yahoo Creates An Automated Abuse Detector For Offensive Online Comments  – Many abuse filters fail to spot an abuse as only blacklisted or common insults are detected. The Yahoo team has recently built an algorithm that could identify offensive comments more accurately.

Media Konnect, Platform for Talent Exchange – Media Konnect will be the first global online portal, providing end-to-end solutions for all filmmakers across the world irrespective of their country or the language

Startup News – Checkout the latest buzz.

Ex- Housing.com Employee Launches Pinvest, A Startup For Wealth Management – Jeeten Desai is the former employee of Housing.com launched Pinvest, wealth management startup.

Yepme Stratagem to Launch 400 Stores by the End of This Fiscal Year – Gurgaon-based online fashion retailer, Yepme is about to open 400 stores by March 2017

Line Introduces Pokémon Stickers for a Cause – Line, a messaging app, launched a latest set of Pikachu-themed stickers on Tuesday, whose all proceedings will go to the charity called Chance for Children.

Launch of Dropbox Paper- But what about the Competition?  Dropbox Paper is not new in the line of document editing apps available for users. It has to survive from Google’s Google Docs, Pages and Evernote are already existent in the market today.

Snapchat Brings Excitement To Its Users With Geostickers – Snapchat brings a high dose of excitement for users in the form of its new feature, Geostickers, which are same as geofilters.

Critical Privacy Issues Found In Glow Fertility Tracker App – After the investigation on glow app, a team found that the personal information of one user can be easily seen by other users through a privacy loophole that allows couples to share their personal data by linking their accounts.

Staying in the Loop with Google’s “Stay in the Loop” – Google’s latest pride is its new web app “Stay in the Loop” which allows users to keep track of how frequent their names are mentioned on the web.

Chinese Tech Giant Xiaomi Introduces Its First VR Headset – It has introduced its first entry-level virtual reality headset, Mi VR Play. The main idea behind the company’s low-pricing strategy is to democratize technology.

Google’s ‘Verne: The Himalayas’ Is Fun for Kids – Google’s new app, Verne: The Himalayas is an app that gives you the ability to explore the world in an entirely new way. The app is built using Google’s 3D imagery.

Google In A Family Pack: Enhancing Its Play Store Category – Google starts a new family affair by launching its unique and cool ’family library’ feature, allowing users to share apps, games, books and video purchases with their family members, across android devices.

Ratan Tata Is Set To Launch Joint Venture Capital Fund With University Of California – His investment firm, RNT Associates, partnered with the University of California to jointly fund startups for the next 10 years in India.

Flatchat Office Bunged By Quikr – After acquiring CommonFloor six months back, Quikr shuts down Flatchat office in Bangalore.

How Obama Shaped The Future Of Digital Health – It’s important to dwell upon one of the biggest initiatives by President Obama: Healthcare reforms i.e. Obamacare.

Press Releases- Have a glance at the media releases of some startups

Fastudent Launches India’s First B2B2C Platform for Education Supplies – Fastudent.com, India’s leading online platform for education supplies, is now India’s first and only B2B2C DIY education e-commerce platform.

nuTonomy Announces Partnership with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority to Begin Trials of an Autonomous Mobility-On-Demand Transportation Service – nuTonomy is the leading developer of state-of-the-art software systems for self-driving cars.

Startup-Buzz Blog – Collective set of articles filled with information.

HR Softwares Can Help Your Startup Go A Long Way – Most startups are low on funds and even if they have an investor backing, HR cost in terms of an in-house or outsourced team can burn a hole in their pocket. In such a scenario, HR softwares can be a boon.

Small Towns, Big Ideas – It is a known fact that the economy of small towns is not as buoyant as metros and Tier I cities. However, Indian startups belonging to small towns are trying to prove it wrong. This article provides a glance at successful big startup ideas from small towns.

An Insight into Startup India -The maturing Indian startup ecosystem is contributing to the Indian economy in a major way. Take a deep dive into the Startup India with this article.

Your Ticket to The Best Tech Startup Cities in the World – Silicon Valley is considered as the hub of tech industry by many. There isn’t one parameter that decides which city is the best. So, what makes a city livable? What inspires people to settle down? To know this, read further.

Startup-buzz updates for this week have come to an end. Now it’s Time to say Goodbye. See you with another weekly roundup, the following Sunday. Till then, have a great Weekend!