Roundup of news and ideas from the world of startups – Week ending 16th Dec 2018
News you can use
Google announces Adopt a Startup program finalists – Google recently announced 8 startups selected for Grand Finals from its Adopt A Startup contest. The grand Finals in The Foundry on December 11th, 2018. The startups from European Union (EU) include
- BidRecruit, Dublin
- Dashmote, EU
- Flexiwage, Meath
- JumpAGrade, Limerick
- Nasal Medical, Dublin
- TrustAp, Dublin
- Urban Volt, Dublin
- Wellola, Dublin
Corporate M&A
Google acquires Indian startup Sigmoid Labs, maker of “Where is my train” app – The team behind Indian AI startup, Sigmoid Labs, that built “Where is my train” app announced this week that it is is being acquired by Google. This is the second acquisition by Google in India. A year back it had acquired Bengaluru-based AI startup, Halli Labs.
Procter & Gamble has acquired the startup aiming to build the Procter & Gamble for people of color – Tristan Walker’s Walker & Company is the maker of Bevel shaving products and the Form haircare line. P&G has purchased Walker & Company Brands, maker of Bevel men’s grooming products and Form beauty products, and Walker will continue to run it as CEO. With the deal, Walker & Company will move its headquarters from the heart of Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, Calif., to Atlanta, Ga., where the startup’s largest customer base resides, where talent and living costs are more affordable and where Walker wants to raise his family.
Singapore start-up Gogoprint buys Indonesian printing business – Singapore-based Gogoprint has acquired Prinzio, an Indonesian printing start-up specialising in commercial printing outsourcing. Gogoprint said Prinzio has been operating in Indonesia since 2016 and is backed by principal investor East Ventures. The start-up has worked with clients including Google, e-payments platform Ovo and e-commerce firm Tokopedia.
Walmart Labs Acquires Artificial Intelligence Startup Int.ai – Earlier in the year it acquired the mobile analytics startup Appsfly.io and recently announced acquisition of Int.ai. In a recent announcement the startup founded in 2016 by Vinay Kumar NP and Praneeth Doguparthy posted that will soon join Walmart’s health and wellness portfolio.
Indigo Acquires Satellite Imagery Startup TellusLabs for ‘Living Map of World’s Food Supply’ – Indigo Agriculture, the microbial ag products startup-cum-agribusiness marketplace has acquired TellusLabs, a startup using satellite imagery to monitors the world’s croplands. Indigo will integrate TellusLab’s data into its growing digital agriculture platform that today predominantly consists of farm-level data from trials undertaken with partner farmers in its Indigo Research program.
Failed Startups
Crypto Market Crash Leaving Bankrupt Startups in its Wake – According to a bloomberg report, the plunge in the cryptocurrency market is weighing on the software-development community that spawned over 1,000 digital coins amid dreams of independence from traditional financial systems and instant wealth. ETCDEV, the startup that led development on Ethereum Classic, which is among the top 20 coins with a market capitalization of about $400 million, announced this week that it’s shuttering operations due to a funding crunch. Joseph Lubin’s ConsenSys, one of the largest crypto-related software startups based in New York, said Thursday that its workforce will be reduced by 13 percent as part of a reorganization.
mage: flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs
Cryptocurrency startup Basis shutters operations following SEC concerns – The volatile swings in crypto currency is leading to a lot of startups shutting down. Last week we saw news of Swiss Crypto Mining Firm Envion ordered by court to Shut Down. This week, Basis, Crypto’s Top Funded Startup announced that it was shutting down. Basis had bagged $133 million from top VCs announced that it is shutting down and also returning the money to investors.
Hyperloop startup Arrivo is shutting down as workers are laid off – The company, started by former Hyperloop One executives, furloughed all employees in November while it sought new funding. Futuristic transportation startup Arrivo shut down its operations this week, The Verge has learned. All of the company’s 30 or so employees were furloughed in late November, with about half being completely laid off at the end of that month, according to two employees who were granted anonymity because they signed non-disclosure agreements. Now, the Los Angeles startup is shutting down because it hasn’t been able to secure new funding, these people say.