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Give InKind’s smarter giving platform brings in surprise $1.5 million in pre-seed funding Nov 22, 2019

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Helping out a friend in need online can be surprisingly difficult. While giving cash is easy enough, that’s often not what people need most — so Give InKind aims to be the platform where you can do a lot more than write a check. The idea is such a natural one that the company tripled its goal for a pre-seed round, raising $1.5 million from Seattle investors.

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Splice teaches AI to sell Similar Sounds as users double Nov 22, 2019

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Splice is blowing up like a hit song. The audio sample marketplace has doubled revenue and user count in a year, and now reaches 3 million musicians. 70% of those visit weekly to hunt down the freshest and trendiest sounds that give their tracks that special something, and many pay $7.99 for unlimited access. But words can’t always describe music. Searching by genre and subjective tags can take forever and leave artists frustrated when the sounds they find they don’t resonate right.

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Bandit opens a ‘mobile-only’ coffee shop in New York Nov 21, 2019

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If you wander into the Bandit coffee shop in Midtown New York, you won’t be able to just walk up to the counter and order something. Instead, you’ll need to download a mobile app. I experienced it for myself yesterday afternoon, when I — along with several other customers — pulled my phone out, downloaded the Bandit app, then used the app to create a profile, order and pay. A couple minutes later, a barista called me up to the counter and handed me my (pretty good) coffee.

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Brava, a smart oven maker with big names attached, just sold to an industrial equipment company Nov 21, 2019

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Brava had a lot of things working in its favor as startups go. It was founded in 2015 by serial executive John Pleasants, whose past stints have included as co-president of Disney Interactive Media Group, COO of Electronic Arts, and CEO of Ticketmaster.

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Bunch, the Discord for mobile games, raises $3.85M from Supercell, Tencent, Riot Games Nov 20, 2019

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Growing up, Selcuk Atli spent a good deal of his free time playing video games with his friends. And when I say with his friends, I mean actually with them. They’re called LAN parties, where everyone brings over their consoles and the group gets to play together virtually and in real life, all at the same time. Atli, a grown man now, still loves games, but misses the memories made during LAN parties. That’s how Bunch was born. Bunch is a lot like Discord, but for mobile games.

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Ohi raises $2.75M to power same-day delivery for brands that aren’t Amazon Nov 20, 2019

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The world has gotten so much faster. Amazon has made two-day shipping the standard and same- or next-day shipping commonplace. And that doesn’t even include the collection of on-demand players that can get us everything from groceries to alcohol to services like concierge storage and in-home cleaning with the press of a button.

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Playbuzz becomes Ex.co and expands its content marketing platform – TechCrunch Nov 19, 2019

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SmartNews raises $92M at a $1.2B valuation – TechCrunch Nov 18, 2019

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Nigeria’s Interswitch confirms $1B valuation after Visa investment Nov 18, 2019

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Nigerian digital payments firm Interswitch confirmed today it has reached unicorn status after Visa acquired a minority equity stake in the firm. “The investment makes Interswitch one of the most valuable African fintech businesses with a valuation of $1 billion,” Interswitch said in a release to TechCrunch. The Visa investment could create the first of two market distinctions for Interswitch — as it shouldn’t change the Lagos-based company’s plans to go public.

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Less than 72 hours left to buy early-bird passes to Disrupt Berlin Nov 15, 2019

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Pull your heads out of the trenches, startup fans. You have just 72 hours to save up to €500 with early-bird pricing on passes to Disrupt Berlin 2019. When the clock strikes11:59 p.m. (CEST) on Friday, 15 November, the early bird is no more. Three days will fly by in a flash, so don’t wait. Take 10 minutes now, buy your early-bird passand save today. Disrupt Berlin offers two programming-packed days of opportunity and education.

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