Roundup of news and ideas from the world of startups – Week ending 7th October 2018
News you can use
Chinese robotics startup cracks the code for Western markets – At a primary school in Tokyo, a Chinese robotic startup is reshaping the future of Japanese children. “Remember that we’ve learned how to move forward, backward and turn around?” asks Masayuki Yasuda, a teacher with a class of nearly 40 pupils. “Now let’s try to make your robot move in the way you want.” As soon as he finishes the sentence, the children grab robots and start coding.
Corporate M&A
Google acquires AI chatbot startup Onward – The tech oligopoly — Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft – have been working on cutting edge technologies (ref – Top 10 technology trends to watch). They have been investing in their own R&D while also supplementing their research by acquiring promising startups.In a latest M&A in this space, Onward, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence chatbot startup announced that it was being acquired by Google. Onward offers an AI-powered chatbot, called Agent Q that is automated to answer simple questions by grabbing answers from a database.
ShopRunner to Acquire Fashion Startup Spring – Two-day shipping service ShopRunner plans to acquire fashion retailer startup Spring, potentially creating the Amazon.com equivalent of the fashion world, Recode reports.
Goldman Sachs Invests $25 Million Funding Round for Blockchain Payments Startup Veem – Goldman Sachs, the U.S. based banking giant has invested a $25 million strategic funding round for blockchain led payments startup Veem with the formal announcement of participation confirmed as per the valid source of Cointelegraph from Silicon Valley Bank on 27th September. Veem that utilizes digital ledger technology to enhance the efficiency of small business payments as stated in their recent press release where the funding round has also acquired participation from GV (formerly Google Ventures), Pantera Capital, Extol Capital, Trend Forward Capital, Kleiner Perkins among others investors.
Singapore-based Startup to Launch P2P Payment Device which it Claims to End Currency Notes, Coins, ATMs, Mobile Payments – Future Age Solutions (FAS), a Singapore-based disruptive products innovation startup, is about to launch an innovative product called Digital Wallet, a payment device enabling peer-to-peer payments that works without Internet, reaching even the remotest areas of the world.The Digital Wallets will eliminate or minimize the needs of worldwide printing of currency notes, minting of coins, ATMs, and Internet based phone payment options. In addition, worldwide counterfeit currency business will come to an end, says Vinod Khillan, Vice President FAS.
Failed Startups
Bitcoin exchange, Zebpay shuts but promises to keep its wallet functional for users – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had released a statement in April directing all regulated entities, including banks, e-wallets, and payment gateway providers, to stop dealing with individuals and businesses in the partially banned crypto-currencies. Following this, Zebpay had asked its users to withdraw money before the deadline following RBI mandate.
Rethink Robotics, Pioneer of Collaborative Robots, Shuts Down – The premier robotics companies based in New England has shut down, according to reports by The Robot Report and The Boston Globe. Rethink was founded as Heartland Robotics 10 years ago. The startup was focused on developing collaborative factory robots, had raised more than $130 million in venture funding.