Roundup of news and ideas from the world of startups – Week ending 25th Nov 2018
News you can use
Artist Connect takes first place at Startup Weekend Las Vegas 2018 – Local artist Andrea Cheaney was tired of struggling to find art equipment. Large tools like printing presses, pottery wheels and kilns are hard to find and expensive to own, she said. So the local artist decided to dip her toes in the entrepreneurial world. After graduating college and moving to Las Vegas in 2005, she “quickly realized that the resources just weren’t there,” she said. “You spend $20,000 on your education and you don’t even have the tools to do it. … It has only been through networking that I have been able to function as a full-time artist.”
Startup India’s latest Unicorn – online tutoring startup Byju’s – Indians value education and are willing to invest in educating their kids.Tuition and coaching centers have mushroomed across the country. This drive to invest in education has lead unique opportunities for digital startups like Byju’s. The online tutoring startup Byju’s expected to close an additional round of funding, valuing the company at about $3.5 billion. At this valuation, Byju’s will be ranked as India’s fourth most valuable startup (behind Paytm, ride sharing service Ola and Oyo Rooms. Byju’s started in 2008, and since then it has raised $240 million from Tencent Holdings, Verlinvest, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venutre Partners and Aarin Capital.
Corporate M&A
Apple acquires AI startup Silk Labs – Tech giant Apple (APPL) has reportedly acquired a startup called Silk Labs that works on Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based personal assistant technology for smartphones and smart home devices. According to The Information, the purchase took place earlier this year. Silk Labs is a machine learning company using on-device AI to empower businesses to build the next generation of intelligent connected devices. It is expected to be a natural fit for Apple’s privacy-centric approach to AI. After an unsuccessful foray into the smart home, Silk Labs developed on-device machine learning services.
GVC Scales In Australia With £52m Start-Up Acquisition – GVC Holdings, owners of betting giants Ladbrokes and Coral, has acquired Australian start-up Neds International in deal worth up to A$95million (£52m). Founded by former Ladbrokes Australia chief executive Dean Shannon, Neds is an online sports betting operator, founded in 2017 and expected to exceed A$100million in gross gaming revenue for 2018. Combining this business with Ladbrokes.com.au will elevate them into the top three in the market, as well as achieving annual synergies of around A$16m. The deal is expected to be earnings accretive from 2020 onwards.
Swedish startup Universal Avenue, a digitisation platform for SMEs, scales up with the acquisition of Varvet – Stockholm-based Universal Avenue, a business digitisation and customer acquisition platform, is scaling-up with the acquisition of the Swedish digital agency Varvet. The deal is a strategic move aimed at improving Universal Avenue’s technical platform. Universal Avenue has also secured €5.3 million in Series B funding through a convertible bond from MOOR Capital. We previously wrote about Universal Avenue, as one of the top Swedish startups to look out for it 2016.
Capital One buys tech start-up used by millions to price-check while shopping on Amazon – Capital One acquired Austin, Texas-based Wikibuy this month for an undisclosed amount, according to executives from the two firms. Two million members use Wikibuy to automatically find low prices and coupon codes and earn loyalty points, often while comparison shopping on Amazon.
Failed Startups
Meal Kit Startup JustAddCooking Shuts down – According to media sources, Just Add Cooking (JAC), the Boston, Mass based meal kit company specializing in locally-sourced meals from the New England has ceased operations. JAC was trying to capture the market for locally sourced foods
Shut down in 2016, IntroNet just got sold to a New York-based SaaS company – When IntroNet CEO Mike Krupit shut down his startup in 2016, the founding team kept on the lookout for an exit strategy for its assets. Turns out that such a deal just came together: On Thursday, a New York-based software company called SAM.AI announced it acquired IntroNet’s assets — primarily its software and intellectual property — in conjunction with a seed round investment led by Babinec’s investment firm UpVentures Capital.
Google News May Shut Down In EU Over ‘Link Tax’ – Google may soon be going to shut down its Google News services in the European Union if a proposed “link tax” for news stories which comes into the force in member countries, according to a report. According to a report which has been revealed by a new copyright directive, adopted by the European Parliament on 12th of September, tech Giant must pay for the work of journalist and artists which they use. To simply just put the rule changes into effect, some of the individual member countries would have to draft the local news.