Merlon Intelligence raises $7.65 million in seed financing to combat money laundering

 OpenDoor, Oscar Health, Palantir and now Merlon Intelligence. Bradford Cross, founder of the venture capital firm Data Collective is joining the ranks of VCs who have caught the entrepreneurship bug, abandoning a cushy lifestyle for one with considerably more volatility. His latest startup, Merlon Intelligence, services banks, helping them cut down on risk and put a stop to money laundering. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

The FCC’s case against net neutrality rests on a deliberate misrepresentation of how the internet works

 The FCC has just published the notice of proposed rulemaking that would roll back the 2015 Open Internet Order establishing net neutrality. Their first and primary justification for doing this is a way of defining broadband access that’s so backwards it’s ridiculous. It would be funny if the future of the internet didn’t depend on this incredibly disingenuous maneuvering. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Blispay raises $12 million to help retail customers avoid payments for 6 months

 If you’re looking to buy something, but don’t want to pay for it yet, Blispay thinks it has the solution for you. The startup works with small and mid-sized businesses to help retail customers defer payments for six months. Baltimore-based Blispay has been gaining traction and raised an additional $12 million in funding after raising about the same amount last year. FirstMark… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Verizon CEO confirms company’s plan to launch a streaming TV service

 Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam confirmed the company’s plans to launch an over-the-top streaming service later this year, according to a report from Variety, citing remarks the CEO made at a telecom conference in Boston this week. Verizon (which owns TechCrunch parent company AOL), will use the combined platform of AOL and Yahoo – and their 1.3 billion users – to test the new… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Stanley Robotics is building robots that can park your car for you

 French startup Stanley Robotics just raised $4 million (€3.6 million) from Elaia Partners, Bpifrance and Idinvest Partners. The company is building giant robots that pick up your car at the entrance of a parking lot and park it for you. If you drive your car to the airport, you know how expensive it can be to leave your car at the airport for a week. Airport parking lots have turned into one… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Instagram Location Stories appear in Explore. Is Story Search Coming?

 It’s taking Instagram less and less time to copy Snapchat. Less than two months after Snapchat launched its Stories Search feature for seeing what’s going on at a location or related to a topic, Instagram is rolling out Location Stories to its Explore page. Last week, TechCrunch broke the news that Instagram was testing Location Stories, which aggregate the publicly posted… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Toyota pushes into blockchain tech to enable the next generation of cars

 On the same day that Ford officially ousted its chief executive in a bid to remake itself as future-focused vehicle manufacturer, Toyota announced its own steps to embrace technology’s next wave. Andwhile Ford is looking to catch up to the leaders in autonomous and electric vehicle manufacturing, Toyota (through the Toyota Research Institute) appears to be taking the next fork in the… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Amazon’s Echo Look companion app goes live

 Amazon’s odd foray into the world of selfie cameras via the Echo Look is now complete with the launch of a companion application for iOS and Android devices that works with the new connected camera. The app allows Echo Look owners to view live previews from the Look’s camera, take a picture, survey their outfits, mark favorites, compare styles and more. The company had… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Sayspring raises $1.5M for software that lets designers prototype and test voice apps without coding

 Sayspring, a startup that enables designers to create voice-enabled apps without code ahead of handing over projects to development, has just raised $1.5 million in funding for its efforts, the company is announcing today. The round was led by Compound (formerly Metamorphic Ventures), with participation from strategic angels including Scott Belsky, Alan Chung, and Peter Stern. The startup… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch