Roundup of news and ideas from the world of startups – Week ending 1st Sept 2019
News you can use
Study: German logistics sector fails to benefit from startup technologies – In a poll conducted by Germany’s high-tech association, Bitkom, nine out of 10 companies involved in goods transportation said they are not working with startups to improve their operations. “Digitalization offers enormous opportunities, especially in logistics,” said Bitkom President Achim Berg. He added in a press release that these new technologies can both reduce costs and lower CO2 emissions resulting from goods deliveries.
Startup Merger and Acquisitions
Cisco acquires Microsoft-backed customer analytics startup CloudCherry – Though best known for its networking and data center gear, Cisco Systems Inc. is also a major player in the contact center technology business. The company’s products support more than 3 million customer service agents worldwide, a market presence it hopes to further strengthen with the newly announced purchase of Customer Analytics Technologies Inc., better known as CloudCherry.
WeWork just acquired a startup that converts empty New York and San Francisco restaurants into coworking spaces – The We Company, the parent company of popular coworking space provider WeWork, just acquired Spacious, a startup that allows workers to rent out space in restaurants in the hours before they open.
As Airbnb Acquires Another Startup, A Look At The Travel Startup Market – About $1.4 trillion dollars are spent on corporate travel every year. So, as they often do, scrappy startups and eager founders are working to tackle the pain points within the industry, from expensing to 24/7 support in case your hotel key doesn’t work. And a few months before this acquisition, Airbnb scooped up HotelTonight, a San Francisco startup that helps corporate travelers make last-minute bookings. The company, which claims it will go public eventually, has bought more companies this year already than it did in total last year.
Formant, a Pittsburgh robotics company has been acquired by another based in San Francisco – Formant, a robot fleet management software company based in San Francisco, announced Tuesday in a press release that it had acquired the Pittsburgh-based robotics company, Formation. Formation, based in Shadyside, was founded by a small team last year. The company focuses on the remote control of robotics. In the press release, Formant said they planned to incorporate Formation’s teleoperation technology into their own offerings, allowing their customers to more easily manage thousands of robots. “Many early stage robotics companies struggle to get past having 10 engineers for every robot — our mission is to flip that ratio by allowing one person to manage many robots. Formation’s teleoperation technology will be key to making that happen,” Format CEO Jeff Linnell said in a prepared statement.
Startups failures
South Korean Crypto Exchange Prixbit Shuts Down – The South Korean exchange recently announced it would stop operations due to financial difficulties. The founder said: “Due to negative internal and external influences, management difficulties could not be overcome and normal operation became impossible.”