Roundup of news and ideas from the world of startups – Week ending 17th March 2019
News you can use
Toilet seat that detects congestive heart failure getting ready to begin commercialization – Researchers developed the seats to measure biometrics during ‘natural’ processes. With 1 million new cases of congestive heart failure diagnosed each year, a revolutionary product is making it easier for hospitals to monitor patients with the condition in the comfort of their own homes.
Google and Udacity launch free machine learning course – Google and Udacity have launched a free course designed to make it simpler for users to grasp the fundamentals of machine learning. The online learning hub Udacity is extremely popular among software developers and others who need to continually stay on top of new technologies. Udacity regularly co-creates content with leading technology providers like Amazon, facebook, Google, IBM and others. The free introductory course course designed by Google is aligned closely with TensorFlow, the open-source library for deep learning software developed by Google.
Corporate M&A
Overstock’s Medici Acquires Stake in Blockchain Banking Startup – Medici Ventures, the blockchain investment arm of Overstock, has acquired a 5.1 percent equity stake in blockchain banking startup Bankorus. Announcing the news on Monday, Overstock said Bankorus’ blockchain platform allows individuals and institutions to “securely” buy, sell, store and lend digital assets. “The addition of Bankorus to Medici Ventures’ portfolio of companies will further our work in building the foundation of a blockchain-based technology stack for society,” said Jonathan Johnson, president of Medici Ventures.
Norwegian clean energy startup Otovo acquires French solar panel startup In Sun We Trust – Norwegian startup Otovo is making green energy more accessible for residents in the Nordics, by making it easy for them to install solar panels on their roofs. The startup was the winner of the Oslo Innovation Award 2018, and raised €10.5 million last November. Otovo has now acquired the French solar panel installation startup In Sun We Trust for €3.7 million. Together, the two startups will form a company of 65 employees with offices in Paris, Stockholm and Oslo, and have a combined valuation of €64 million.
The startup that secretly runs the internet just got acquired by one of its biggest rivals for $670 million – Nginx (pronounced “engine-X”), the company behind the very popular open source web server software of the same name, has been acquired by F5 Networks, a rival, which is valued at about $9.6 billion on the public market. In a press release on Monday, F5 says that it plans to acquire all shares of Nginx in a deal that values the company at $670 million, “subject to certain adjustments,” and that Nginx CEO Gus Robertson and its cofounders Igor Sysoev and Maxim Konovalov will all be staying on as employees of F5 after the acquisition closes.
Apple acquires Laserlike, an ML startup. Hopes to make Siri smarter – Apple has acquired Laserlike, a small machine learning startup. According to an article in The Information, Apple purchased the four-year-old Silicon Valley-based startup, which was founded by three former Google engineers at the end of 2018. The article adds: “An Apple spokesperson confirmed the acquisition of the four-year-old startup, which was founded by three former Google engineers, Anand Shukla, Srinivasan Venkatachary and Steven Baker, and had raised more than $24 million from Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures, according to CrunchBase.”
Failed Startups
Lead qualification startup Riley shuts down – Riley, a tech-oriented lead-qualification startup that had raised millions in funding, announced this week that it was closing down and returning what remains of its cash to investors. The CEO and co-founder of Riley, Daniel Ahmadizadeh announced the shutdown in a detailed LinkedIn post.
ZopNow shuts down operations; founder floats e-comm enabler ZopSmart – One of the early evangelisers of online grocery in India – ZopNow has shut down operations in all cities. The Accel-backed firm has been downscaling operations for over past seven months and has seemingly halted business last month. Currently, its website redirects to ZopSmart. This is a new venture by its founder Mukesh Singh that provides tools to build e-commerce businesses, omnichannel businesses and pure play e-tailing for conventional retailers.
South Florida startup shuts down, seeks buyer – According to South Florida Business journal, Skillied Teacher Partnerships is shutting down