Month: June 2019

Open, a Bangalore-based startup that operates a “neo-bank” to help businesses automate and run their finances, has bagged $30 million in a new funding round as investors look to replicate a globally tried and tested business idea in emerging markets.

The Series B financing round for the two-year-old startup was led by Tiger Global with Tanglin Venture Partners Advisors and existing investors 3one4 Capital, Speedinvest, BetterCapital AngelList Syndicate also participating in it. The new round valued Open at $150 million, a person familiar with the matter said. The startup has raised about $37 million to date.

Open operates as a neo-bank that offers nearly all the features of the bank with additional tools to serve the needs of a business. Millions of small and medium sized businesses in India struggle with maintaining multiple bank accounts, bookkeeping of their daily spending, and bandying out payments to employees.

Open offers them a platform that automates much of this task. It lets them keep track of each transaction — who it came from, where it is going, and what sales it made across accounts.

“We have a small business owner from Ahmedabad on our platform. They see 59 transactions from their customers in its bank account every few hours. Prior to using our service, they were juggling all day to figure out where these transactions originated from or went to,” he explained. “Because on their bank statement, they only see one-line description of a transaction’s detail.”

Traditional banks have either not addressed these small needs, or charge huge amount for their own solutions that is not feasible for a small business, he added.

The startup says it already has over 100,000 customers, with as many as 20,000 coming onboard each month of late. It processes about $3.5 billion in transactions each year.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Anish Achuthan, founder and CEO of Open, said the startup saw an opportunity to serve the businesses and wanted to open a better bank. “But building a bank in India comes with its own set of regulatory challenges, so we looked at what fintech startups were doing in other parts of the world for inspiration,” he said.

And it found that inspiration quickly enough. One of its early investors is Speedinvest, which has funded Tide and N26 ‘neo-banks’ in European markets. In India, Open has partnered with ICICI Bank, one of the biggest banks in the nation, for creation of accounts. On ICICI Bank’s internet banking website, Open has integrated its tools including a payment gateway, Achuthan explained.

Achuthan said the startup will use the fresh capital to significantly expand its business — build more products, and sign up more customers. Open will soon also launch Open+ card, a business credit card with a 30-day interest-free credit line for venture backed startups, and Layer, a programmable bank account for developers.

Open raised its Series A of $5 million earlier this year. When asked if it’s a very capital intensive business, Achuthan said they needed the money to get a first-mover advantage. The startup was in talks with another investor to raise an additional $20 million, but Achuthan said they did not need that much money at this stage.

Open today competes with a handful of startups including InstantPay, but Achuthan said much of the market remains untapped.

KoinWorks, an Indonesian startup that helps small and medium-sized businesses secure financial services through its online peer-to-peer platform, has raised $16.5 million SGD ($12 million USD) in a new funding round as money continues to flow in what has become a hot space for investors.

The Series B round for the three-year-old startup was led by EV Growth and Quona Capital . Existing investors — Mandiri Capital Indonesia, Convergence Ventures, Gunung Sewu, Beeblebrox and Quona Capital — also participated in the round, the startup said in a statement. The new round means KoinWorks has raised more than $28.5 million to date.

SMEs have historically struggled with securing loan and other financial services from banks — creating a big opportunity for middlemen lending platforms. KoinWorks operates an online platform that uses machine learning to provide low interest loans to these small and medium sized enterprises. It identifies the businesses that are eligible to make the return eventually and connects them with lenders.

The platform has amassed more than 300,000 users, it claimed. More than 60% of the lenders are millennials and for 70%, it is their first time investment. Willy Arifin, a founder and CEO of KoinWorks said the startup aims to “democratize finance in Indonesia while fostering financial inclusion.”

Surprisingly, KoinWorks raised a bigger amount — $16.5 million (USD) in its Series A round in the second half of last year. Arifin insisted that the round was intentionally oversubscribed, suggesting that the existing shareholders of the startup were unwilling to overly dilute their stake. The new round “does not reflect the true appetite of investors in KoinWorks,” he added.

KoinWorks competes with a number of local startups including Akseleran, Investree, Reksadana, Amartha, and Modalku. It also fights with Funding Societies, which received $25 million last year to expand its business in several Southeast Asian markets. Soon, it will have a new competitor in Validus Capital, which raised $15 million earlier this year and announced its plan to enter Indonesia this quarter.

The new round comes at a time when Indonesia is pushing strict regulatory changes for peer-to-peer lending businesses in an attempt to ensure that the chaos in China does not seep into Indonesia.

At its NEXTGen event in Munich, BMW today announced that it is running ahead of schedule in its efforts to offer at least 25 electrified vehicles. Previously, the German luxury car manufacturer was shooting for 2025, but it now says that it will offer these 25 vehicles by 2023.

As BMW’s Klaus Fröhlich stressed at a press event ahead of today’s announcement, BMW will continue to offer a full range of vehicles that span from fully-electric to hybrids and standard combustion-engine powered cars for the foreseeable future. More than half of the 25 vehicles the company is talking about today, though, will be fully electric.

“We are moving up a gear in the transformation towards sustainable mobility, thereby making our company fit for the future: Over the past two years, we have consistently taken numerous decisions that we are now bringing to the roads,” said BMW CEO Harald Krüger. “By 2021, we will have doubled our sales of electrified vehicles compared with 2019.”

The company expects that its electrified car sales will continue to grow by more than 30 percent per year up to 2025. Indeed, it expects to have sold more than half a billion fully-electric or plug-in hybrids by the end of 2019. That’s a tough goal to achieve, Krüger admitted. He also noted that BMW plans to power all of its plants with renewable energy from next year onward.

Right now, that number is definitely driven by sales of the somewhat quirky i3, with 150,000 on the roads today. Then, over the course of the next few years, the i3 will be joined by a fully-electric Mini, iX3 and then the i4 and iNext.

By 2020, all of these plug-in hybrids will also feature a new tool that will make driving them in cities that ban combustion engines from their city centers: BMW eDrive Zones. This feature will automatically detect when you enter a zone where only electric vehicles are allowed and then switch to running on batteries until you leave.

BMW has a long history of building motorcycles, but it hasn’t done all that well in the electric motorcycle department. Clearly, though, this is something the company is thinking hard about and today, at its inaugural NextGen event, the company showed its newest electric concept bike, the BMW Motorrad Vision DC Roadster.

As usual, there’s no guarantee that this concept will ever come to market. Indeed, it’s likely that it won’t, but it will provide the inspiration for what will eventually go into production.

Going electric is a hard move to make for a company and that has been associated with its 2-cylinder boxer engine for ages. If it wants to produce a successful electric motorcycle, then it needs to be able to offer buyers not just performance (something they get by default with an electric engine and the torque it produces), but also something that retains the brand image buyers associate with BMW motorcycles.

Edgar Heinrich, the Head of Design for BMW Motorrad, argues that the Vision DC Roadster does just that. “The boxer engine is the heart of BMW Motorrad – an absolute stalwart of its character,” he said. “But BMW Motorrad stands for visionary zero-emissions vehicle concepts, too. In view of this, one question that arises is: what would happen if we were to replace the boxer engine with an electric motor and the required battery? The Vision Bike shows how we’re able to retain the identity and iconic appearance of BMW Motorrad in distinctive form while at the same time presenting an exciting new type of riding pleasure.”

Where a typical BMW motorbike would usually have its engine, the Vision roadster has a battery pack with coolers. Throughout the concept, the company’s designers used familiar design elements fro previous generations of the brand’s motorcycles.

In addition to the motorcycle, BMW also today showed off a new concept vehicle, the BMW Vision M Next, a new electrified sports car. The idea here is to provide a counterpart to the existing iNEXT concept that focuses more on performance than ease of use.

“Where the BMW Vision iNEXT illustrated how autonomous driving is set to transform life on board our vehicles, the BMW Vision M NEXT demonstrates how state-of-the-art technology can also make the experience of driving yourself purer and more emotionally engaging,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design. “In both models, the focus is firmly on the people inside. Design and technology make the ‘EASE’ and ‘BOOST’ experiences more natural and more intense.”

In line with this idea, the new concept vehicle promises to be able to go from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in three seconds and offer a range of about 62 miles (which isn’t all that much). To get access to more power, drivers can also hit a BOOST+ button.

With the M Next, BMW is also showing off some new user interface designs. The interface now adapts to the speed you are driving at, for example, and will automatically give you less information as you drive faster, in order to let you focus as you head down the autobahn at 120 mph.

Motorway, the U.K. used car marketplace, has raised £11 million in Series A funding. Leading the round is Marchmont Ventures, the fund managed by Hugo Burge and Alan Martin (the former CEO and CFO of Momondo Group, respectively), along with participation from existing backer LocalGlobe.

Founded by the team behind Top10 — the mobile and broadband comparison site that exited to uSwitch in 2011 — Motorway has set out to make it easier to sell your used car online. The website lets car sellers instantly see live offers from multiple car buying services and specialist dealerships. You can compare headline offers, buyer reviews, and fees and collection options to find the best deal.

It competes with a number of other used car selling options including having to visit multiple car dealers to negotiate a sale, or list privately on websites like AutoTrader or eBay. The other option is to use one of a number of online car buyers, such as WeBuyAnyCar, that provide a quick disposal option but where prices paid are typically low. Motorway says that by comparing offers, consumers can get up to £1,000 more than going direct to one buyer.

The London and Brighton-based company has also launched a dedicated product for dealers, dubbed “Motorway Pro”. Sellers complete a detailed online profile of their car and if it is relatively new or higher priced they have the option to make it accessible to dealers on the Motorway Pro platform. Dealers then have 24 hours to bid for the vehicle, after which the winning dealer is connected to the seller to complete the transaction.

The Pro platform is built on mobile messaging: dealers get alerted about vehicles that fit their requirements via text message or WhatsApp. “The process removes middlemen from the sale process, making it much more efficient, resulting in a better deal for both the car seller and the dealer,” says Motorway.

Meanwhile, Motorway co-founder and CEO Tom Leathes tells me the startup is now driving over 100,000 sales enquiries per month — a sales enquiry every 30 seconds, apparently. A year ago that sat at 25,000 per month, representing 4x growth. “We’ve closed over £130 million in completed car sales,” he adds.

To help achieve this, Motorway on-boarded online buyers to the site, including Arnold Clark and Motor Depot. The startup also has partnerships with major car buying websites such as motors.co.uk and Parkers. Last month, Motorway’s first TV ad launched too.

Technology never stops evolving and neither do we. That’s why we’re excited to tell you about the new Extra Crunch Stage at Disrupt Berlin 2019. Our premiere tech conference dedicated to early-stage startups takes place 11-12 December. Now’s the time to book your super early-bird ticket, because the earlier you buy, the more you save.

Okay, it’s time to get extra crunchy. We named the Extra Crunch Stage after the eponymous how-to content we create for our most engaged readers. It offers in-depth exclusive content on topics like startup building fundamentals, resources and recommendations, unicorn deep dives, and much more.

The Extra Crunch Stage replaces last year’s Next Stage, but with more programming. You’ll still hear fireside chats and panel discussions focused on founder and investor success. You’ll also see and hear lots of how-to content and take away practical insights — the kind of advice you can actually use when the conference ends and the real work begins — from the folks who’ve done the hard work of getting things done.

If you want to glean every speck of startup knowledge from the Extra Crunch Stage programming, you’ll need to buy an Innovator, Founder or Investor pass. You’ll also have access to the speakers, panelists and founders on the Main Stage, the Showcase Stage in Startup Alley and the Q&A Stage.

Don’t miss all the action that Disrupt Berlin offers. Starting with our legendary pitch competition, the crown jewel of Disrupt — Startup Battlefield. Where else can you find bold, innovative, and dare we say unique, startups competing for $50,000 cash, glory and the Disrupt Cup? We’re not kidding about unique. A startup called Legacy won the Battlefield at Disrupt Berlin 2018, with its focus on addressing reduced sperm motility.

Join more than 3,000 attendees from more than 50 countries as they flow through Startup Alley, our exhibition floor. Hundreds of boundary-pushing, early-stage startups will display their talent, products, platforms and services.

Come ready to network, because you never know when or where you’ll meet that special someone who can change your business trajectory. And with a crowd that size, you’ll be relieved to have CrunchMatch, our free business networking platform, to help you connect with the specific people who share your business goals, criteria and interests.

Disrupt Berlin 2019 takes place on 11-12 December. Come check out the new Extra Crunch Stage and all the other opportunity just waiting for you. We have super early-bird tickets priced for every budget, and the sooner you buy your passes, the more you save.

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt Berlin 2019? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

SpaceX has succeeded in launching its third mission with the Falcon Heavy high-capacity rocket it first launched successfully last year. The rocket’s STP-2 mission took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida towards the end of a four-hour launch window that opened at 11:30 PM EDT on Monday, with liftoff taking place at 2:30 AM EDT on Tuesday after the launch was pushed back so that the ground crew could complete “additional ground system checkouts.”

The launch was a first for SpaceX in a number of different ways – it’s the first night launch for Falcon Heavy, which treated observers to a unique light show. It’s also the first time SpaceX has launched the Falcon Heavy with flight-prove boosters, and it used two: The boosters on either side of Falcon Heavy’s central rocket were used on the Arabsat-6A mission that launched on April 11.

Finally, it’s the first time that Falcon Heavy has carried a payload for crucial SpaceX customers – including the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense, NASA and more. To accomplish its mission, it’ll continue carrying out a series of maneuvers over the next several hours to deploy its payload of 24 different spacecraft into their three separate target orbits. You can follow along as the stream updates the mission progress below, and we’ll update this post with the ultimate results.

Key missions include four separate NASA technology research missions, including JPL’s demonstration of an ultra precise and compact atomic clock designed for deep space use that could transform space navigation. Crowdfunded spacecraft LightSail 2 is also going up on this ride, launched by Bill Nye-led space exploration non-profit The Planetary Society.

SpaceX will now attempt to land and recover all three boosters, and it’ll also be trying to catch the fairing from the Falcon Heavy’s cargo capsule using a barge positioned at sea that will attempt to navigate a net under it as it falls back to Earth. All three boosters separated as planned from the Falcon Heavy second stage, and the second stages both landed at LZ-1 and LZ-2, the ground-based landing zones SpaceX maintains at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Base.

The third, centre booster was travelling so fast for this launch that it had to attempt the most challenging landing yet for a SpaceX booster, landing much further at sea and dealing with a lot more speed than ever before. This attempt was not successful, and you can see in the clip below that it missed off the side of the SpaceX drone landing ship and exploded on impact with the ocean.

The second stage did reach orbit, however, which is a successful launch in terms of Falcon Heavy’s primary mission. Check back later for updates on how each satellite payload deployment went.

Developing…

FedEx is suing the United States Department of Commerce, claiming that it has been “essentially deputize[d]” to enforce its trade blacklist. The lawsuit comes a month after Huawei said it is reassessing its relationship with the delivery giant after several packages meant for shipment within Asia were instead diverted, or erroneously marked for delivery, to the U.S. FedEx claimed the packages (which Huawei said did not contain any technology covered by the trade ban imposed against it by the Trump administration) had been misrouted by accident.

In a statement today about the lawsuit, FedEx said that the current export ban “places an unreasonable burden on FedEx to police the millions of shipments that transit our network every day.” Filed on Monday, the lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia to stop the Department of Commerce from enforcing prohibitions in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) against FedEx.

FedEx said in its court filing that it has “developed a sophisticated proprietary risk-based compliance system” to adhere to U.S. export laws by screening for senders or recipients on the list of entities believed to pose a national security risk. Huawei, which was not mentioned by name in either FedEx’s announcement or its complaint against the U.S. government, was added to that list last month. But FedEx says the U.S. government expects it to perform a “virtually impossible task, logistically, economically, and in many cases, legally” since it handles million of packages each day and most of them are sealed by customers before being given to the company. Therefore, the company argues that EAR violates its rights to due process under the Fifth Amendment.

China is an important growth market for FedEx, but earlier this month its future there was put in jeopardy when the Chinese government said it was under investigation for violating laws and regulations after the incident involving Huawei’s packages. Last year the company was forced to cut its 2019 earnings guidance. FedEx’s chairman and CEO Frederick Smith blamed “bad political choices” around the world, including Brexit, state-owned enterprises and China and U.S. tariffs, for hurting its business.

The logistics division of JD.com, Alibaba’s closest e-commerce competitor in China, has raised 1.5 billion yuan (about $218 million) to invest in logistics-related companies and technology. Limited partners in the new fund include JD Logistics and JD.com, as well as undisclosed listed companies and government-led funds, reported Reuters.

JD Logistics, which became a standalone subsidiary in April 2017, has a lot to prove. The unit raised $2.5 billion last year from Hillhouse Capital Group, Sequoia Capital and Tencent, among other investors, in its first major outside funding at a valuation of about $13.5 billion and is also eyeing a potential public offering.

But two months ago, JD.com CEO Richard Liu said in an internal memo that JD Logistics would enact several cost-cutting measures after losing 2.8 billion yuan (about $420 million) last year. These include getting rid of a basic salary for its couriers and instead pay them based on how many packages they deliver. JD.com owns a 81.4 percent stake in the business.

JD Logistics competitors include Alibaba’s Cainiao, which raised undisclosed funding at a reported valuation of $7.7 billion in 2016. Ensuring speedy, cost-efficient deliveries is especially important to JD.com’s business because it carries its own inventory and performs both in-house logistics and service for third parties.

TechCrunch has reached out to JD.com to ask about possible investments. JD Logistics has focused on testing drone deliveries, furthering logistics automation and smart vehicles and backed several companies in Southeast Asia.

Amazon is preparing for its longest Prime Day ever. The company announced today it will host a 48-hour Prime Day sales event this year, starting at midnight on Monday, July 15 and extending for two full days. The Amazon sales holiday — its own version of a Black Friday-type sale — will feature over a million deals worldwide, including what it claims will be the biggest Prime Day discounts on Alexa devices to date.

On prior Prime Day sales events, Amazon has heavily slashed prices on its own hardware — essentially giving away devices at cost or even less in a reach for market share. These deals help draw in the crowds, making Prime Day a constant record-breaker in terms of sales. Last year, for example, Prime Day became Amazon’s biggest-ever sales day even despite a number of serious glitches at its start. And its top sellers were the Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote.

Amazon also last year put its own devices on sale 12 hours early. It has now apparently learned from that success with this new decision to make Prime Day 2019 a 48-hour sale. And to kick things off, Amazon is today putting a Fire TV Edition Smart TV on sale by offering $120 off on the Toshiba HD 43-inch Fire TV Edition Smart TV ($179.99), through June 30 or while supplies last.

In addition to sales on its own devices, Amazon promises other limited-time offers, plus new entertainment and exclusive launches, both online and in-store. It’s touting new Lighting Deals from big-name brands, too, and “big surprises” from top talent across Prime benefits Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Twitch Prime.

There will also be collaborations with actors, musicians, athletes and top brands including new Prime Day Launches and exclusive deals. Starting today, Jordan Peele’s “Us” is on sale for $2.99.

Prime members will also have access to 24 new JoJo Siwa products including a scooter, roller skates, bow bundle, and fashion line. Meanwhile, Levi’s teamed up with Pro Football Player Sterling Shepard, and model Chanel Iman Shepard to customize Levi’s Iconic 501 for him and Levi’s 721 High Rise for her.

There will also be a special-edition electric bike from Schwinn, a limited-edition natural canvas tote from FEED, and a new organic line of clothing for baby, Moon and Back by Hanna Andersson.

Other Alexa devices available today include the Jabra Elite85h wireless headphones and the iOttie Easy One Touch Connect smartphone car mount.

“Get ready, as we pull back the curtain to reveal exclusive products, special performances and two full days of phenomenal deals this Prime Day,” said Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer, in a statement. “Our vision is that Prime Day should be the absolute best time to be a member – when you can enjoy shopping, savings, entertainment and some of the best deals Prime members have ever seen. Stay tuned as we reveal exclusive savings at Whole Foods Market, thousands of new product launches, as well as world-class entertainment and more, leading up to Prime Day on July 15 and 16.”

Prime Day 2019 will run for the first time in the United Arab Emirates, which joins other participating markets including the U.S., U.K., Spain, Singapore, Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium, Austria, and Australia.