Roundup of news and ideas from the world of startups – Week ending 17th Feb 2019
News you can use
Amazon invests in electric vehicle startup Rivian – Electric vehicle startup Rivian on Friday announced a $700 million investment round led by Amazon, which recently pumped money into a young self-driving car technology firm. Details of Amazon´s stake in US-based Rivian were not disclosed, but the company said it will remain independent. The potential Tesla rival late last year unveiled an electric pickup truck and an electric sport utility vehicle at an auto show in Los Angeles. The vehicles were to be manufactured at the startup´s plant in Illinois, with deliveries to customers expected to begin late in 2020.
E-pharmacies gaining strong foothold in India – Over the last few years, especially with the increasing use of e-prescription by hospitals coupled with internet penetration and enormous growth in the number of smartphone users, the e-pharmacy industry in India is slowly gaining significance. Instead of visiting brick-and-mortar pharmacies, there has been a rising demand for buying medicines online and one of the main reasons for this is convenience. Though the e-pharmacy industry is at a nascent stage in the country, according to Frost & Sullivan, the market, which is estimated to be around $512 million (Rs 3,500 crore) in 2018, is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 63% to reach $3.65 billion (Rs 25,000 crore) by 2022.
Corporate M&A
Facebook acquires visual shopping startup GrokStyle – GrokStyle, a retail computer vision outfit announced that it is being acquired by Facebook. A blog posted on its homepage explained “We built state-of-the-art AI and visual search technology to help consumers readily find, explore, and decide on purchases. Our team and technology will live on, and we will continue using our AI to build great visual search experiences for retail. As part of this next chapter, we are winding down our business.
Apple buys AI voice startup that helps companies build Alexa and Google Assistant apps – Apple has acquired a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup called PullString that specializes in helping companies build conversational voice apps, according to a report from Axios. Pullstring was founded back in 2011 by former Pixar employees — its CEO, Oren Jacob, is Pixar’s former chief technology officer. Up until now, PullString was most well known within the tech industry as the software backbone behind voice systems for popular toys, like Mattell’s talking Hello Barbie doll. It’s not clear what Apple will be getting out of the deal, which is said to be worth under $100 million, but well over the $44 million in venture capital funding PullString has amassed thus far. But beyond toys, PullString has also worked on the enterprise end to help companies build skills and apps for Amazon’s Alexa platform and Google Assistant. In that sense, Apple could be acquiring PullString to help accelerate the growth of Siri-powered apps and features, which are sorely lacking compared to the tens of thousands of integrations, skills, and actions Amazon and Google offer.
Apple Acquires U.K.-Based Digital Marketing Startup DataTiger – Apple Inc. acquired startup DataTiger in a move that could boost the company’s digital marketing and make it more relevant to customers. The U.K.-based startup says its technology can “optimize the marketing journeys” of customers by using data to more accurately send materials to consumers as well as push notifications. On his LinkedIn profile, DataTiger Chief Executive Officer Philipp Mohr said his firm wants to “bring the stale era of ‘email-list thinking’ and slow, campaign-based marketing to an end.” A regulatory filing in December shows that Apple now controls Operatedata Ltd., the legal name of DataTiger. An Apple spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment and an email sent to DataTiger wasn’t returned.
Datadog acquires French AI-powered app-testing startup Madumbo – Datadog, a heavily funded cloud monitoring platform for applications and infrastructure, has acquired under-the-radar French startup Madumbo, which develops an AI-powered web app-testing service. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2010, New York-based Datadog offers a DevOps toolset that enables developers to monitor everything in their stack, aggregating metrics and events across all of their databases, servers, apps, and more under a single unified view. The company claims some big-name clients, such as Twitter, Sonos, Airbnb, WeWork, Medium, Nokia, Ubisoft, Samsung, and Zendesk.
Walmart tech incubator Store No. 8 launches VR startup Spatial& – Walmart’s tech incubator Store N°8 today launched its next startup, a VR merchandising company called Spatial&. The company offers VR experiences that enable customers to connect with merchandise, and is kicking things off by collaborating with DreamWorks Animation VR tour. At select Walmart locations across the U.S., Spatial& will set up a VR experience in the parking lot, allowing customers to visit DreamWorks’ “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” through VR. Afterwards, customers are directed to a branded, physical gift shop where they can make purchases. The experience is meant to help DreamWorks market their film ahead of its February 22 release, while Walmart gets to hawk film merchandise to its customers.
Amazon to acquire Wi-Fi mesh network startup Eero – Amazon is getting into home networking. The Seattle retailer today announced that it’s entered into a “definitive merger agreement’ with Eero, under which it will acquire the Wi-Fi mesh network company for an undisclosed price. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year. Nothing will change for existing Eero customers, an Amazon spokesperson told VentureBeat.
Failed Startups
Google Fiber shuts down Louisville service, impacting businesses and telecommuters – In a blow to faster internet speeds for businesses and telecommuters, Google Fiber will shutter its operations in Louisville, Kentucky, after the city experienced the fastest launch from construction announcement to signing up customers in the network’s history, Google announced in a Thursday blog post.
Dutch computer retailer MyCom files bankruptcy, shuts down all stores – It seems that the dark clouds of financial catastrophe have already engulfed the Dutch computer retailer MyCom. Kijk Up, the company behind the electronics chain has filed for its bankruptcy and its application can be found on the official website of MyCom. All the stores are closed
All the MyCom stores have been found closed after the latest press release. At the beginning of the year 2019, MyCom had shut down seven stores in the Netherlands including Amstelveen, Arnhem, Den Bosch, Den Helder, Helmond, Leiden and Zeist.