Singapore’s Saleswhale, which uses AI to automate sales emails, raises $1.2M

 Saleswhale, a Singapore-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to let companies automate their sales emails, has raised a $1.2 million seed round. The capital was provided by VC firms Monk’s Hill Ventures, Gree Ventures and Wavemaker Partners with a number of angel investors. Those include early Dropbox hire Albert Ni, Pieter Walraven (who founded now Google-owned… Read More

Europe funds another data accelerator to get startups tackling societal problems

 A new European Commission funded startup accelerator, Data Pitch, is being launched today with the aim of connecting established businesses and organisations with lots of data with startups who might be able to help them unlock the value of the info they hold and thereby tackle industrial and societal challenges. Read More

A $150 million fund, The Engine, will back startups others find ‘too hard’

 A fund and accelerator for advanced technology startups, The Engine, closed its debut fund at a robust $150 million this week, according to its President, CEO and Managing Partner Katie Rae. Last year, TechCrunch reported that MIT was investing $25 million into The Engine, becoming the anchor LP for the fund. While The Engine is not owned and operated by the private, research university, it… Read More

Waiting for the new new thing

 The smartphone wars are over, and everybody won. Life without our phones is almost unthinkable. I just spent the last five days on a couple of remote Pacific islands, and every so often I’d look up and see a flower-garlanded local child immersed in a Samsung tablet – and this seemed wholly unremarkable. But now that the gold rush is over, and we’ve entered the mopping-up… Read More

A short list of executives who made less money than Anthony Noto last year

 Executives at Twitter make a lot of money. But it’s not just like they make a lot of money relative to you or me, or compared to lower-level employees within the organization. A couple of executives at Twitter make a lot of money compared to their peers at public companies in general, tech or otherwise. Read More

Gig economy stalwart TaskRabbit is contemplating a sale

 One of the earliest and most prominent startups of the so-called “sharing economy” or “gig economy” is evaluating the possibility of selling itself. As reported by Recode, freelance work marketplace TaskRabbit acknowledged that it is contemplating a sale after receiving inbound interest from a possible strategic buyer. Read More

Netflix’s long-time chief product officer Neil Hunt is leaving the company

 Streaming video provider Netflix is making a change in its senior management, as the company announced long-time chief product officer Neil Hunt will be leaving in July. International executive Greg Peters will be taking Hunt’s place in the lead product role. Read More

Alleged NSA hack group Shadow Brokers releases new trove of exploits

 Shadow Brokers, the group behind last year’s release of hacking exploits used by the National Security Agency, has dropped another trove of files. In a Medium post today, the hacker group offered up a password giving free access to files it had previously tried to auction off. Read More

Spotify Premium Director Robert Lamvik leaves company for meditation app Headspace

 Meditation app Headspace recently brought on Robert Lamvik, Spotify’s now-former director of its premium service, and Dr. Megan Jones Bell, former chief science officer at mental health startup Lantern. Their respective roles at Headspace are head of growth and chief science officer — two new roles at the company. Read More