March 28, 2024

Web and Technology News

Former web3 gaming founders raise $2.5M for their NFT marketplace to retain users even when there ‘isn’t money to be made’

Even though NFT sales volume is still down 88% from 2022 all time-highs (and down 38% year-to-date), Pallet Exchange is building a new type of NFT marketplace focused on user retention. And it’s doing it on a blockchain less known for NFT trading: Sei….

Pollen is a professional development platform for tech workers, by tech workers

Meet Pollen, a new French startup that wants to provide a better way to learn new skills. Instead of working with full-time teachers, Pollen invites business executives and top performers in the tech industry so that they can host a class with a small group of people. Behind the scenes, Pollen was co-founded by Julie […]

FBI seizes Genesis Market, a notorious hacker marketplace for stolen logins

U.S. law enforcement agencies have seized Genesis Market, a notorious hacker marketplace used to acquire compromised credentials and digital browser fingerprints. The takedown, dubbed “Operation Cookie Monster,” has not yet been announced by the FBI, but Genesis Market domains now display a notice stating that the U.S. law enforcement officials have executed a seizure warrant. […]

FBI seizes Genesis Market, a notorious hacker marketplace for stolen logins by Carly Page originally published on TechCrunch

After bootstrapping for 15 years, energy renovation company Effy raises $22 million

Effy is at a crossroads. The energy renovation company based in France is doing well, but it is addressing a market that is much bigger than anticipated. That’s why it is making a bet. The company just closed a €20 million funding round (roughly $22 million at today’s exchange rate) from Felix Capital. This is […]

After bootstrapping for 15 years, energy renovation company Effy raises $22 million by Romain Dillet originally published on TechCrunch

Magic Eden launches Bitcoin marketplace as Ordinal inscriptions continue to grow

Magic Eden, one of the largest cross-chain NFT platforms, launched a Bitcoin marketplace for digital artifacts, the company shared on Tuesday. “We are already a multichain platform and believe that adding Bitcoin will connect us to a deep community of people and a rapidly growing collectibles market thanks to Ordinals,” Zhuoxun Yin, COO and co-founder […]

Magic Eden launches Bitcoin marketplace as Ordinal inscriptions continue to grow by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

A look at the budding market for the text that prompts AI systems

Move over, software. Prompts may well be the new oil. Writing the text strings that instruct AI systems like ChatGPT and DALL-E 2 to generate essays, articles, images and more has become a veritable profession, commanding salaries well into the six-figure range. Anyone can come up with prompts, of course. But only certain prompts (e.g. […]

A look at the budding market for the text that prompts AI systems by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

Wikifarmer uses its agricultural knowledge base to bring people to its marketplace

Meet Wikifarmer, an agriculture-focused startup based in Athens that has an interesting two-sided strategy. On the one hand, Wikifarmer is a source of knowledge with high-quality content translated into 16 languages to help farmers all around the world. On the other hand, Wikifarmer is a B2B marketplace to buy and sell agricultural products. And this […]

Wikifarmer uses its agricultural knowledge base to bring people to its marketplace by Romain Dillet originally published on TechCrunch

Fashinza, a B2B supply chain marketplace for fashion brands, raises $100M

The pandemic has majorly affected the global supply chain, with 60% of U.S. adults in an August 2021 Gallup survey saying that they’ve been unable to get a product they wanted in the past two months because of shortages. Bearing the brunt of the impact is the fashion industry, which employs millions of workers at […]

Clipboard Health, which matches health workers with facilities, raises $80M

Clipboard Health, an app-based marketplace that matches nurses with open shifts at nearby healthcare facilities, today announced that it raised $80 million over two unannounced rounds, a $50 million Series B round in 2021 and a $30 million Series C round this year, at a $1.3 billion valuation post-money. CEO Wei Deng says that the […]

London startup Weaver gets $4M to build out a vetted marketplace for home renovations

Weaver, a London-based marketplace and SaaS contract negotiation platform for matching homeowners/architects planning major home renovation projects with vetted contractors, has closed a $4 million seed round to expand nationally. The round was led by European VC btov Partners, with participation from FJ Labs, Enterprise Fund (a syndicate of former Atlassian & Docker executives) and […]

London startup Weaver gets $4M to build out a vetted marketplace for home renovations

Weaver, a London-based marketplace and SaaS contract negotiation platform for matching homeowners/architects planning major home renovation projects with vetted contractors, has closed a $4 million seed round to expand nationally. The round was led by European VC btov Partners, with participation from FJ Labs, Enterprise Fund (a syndicate of former Atlassian & Docker executives) and […]

Freelancer marketplace Malt acquires consulting marketplace Comatch

It’s consolidation time in the freelancer marketplace industry. French startup Malt is acquiring Comatch, a competing marketplace focused on consultants and industry experts. Comatch originally started in Germany, which means that Malt is also doubling down on the German market with this acquisition. Terms of the deal are undisclosed but it involves a mix of […]

Sokowatch rebrands to Wasoko as it raises $125M Series B from Tiger Global and Avenir

Informal retail is king in Africa, with hundreds of billions of dollars of consumer goods sold through its channels yearly. Yet its industry remains highly fragmented as shop owners and kiosks still have issues around access to capital and getting goods regularly and on time from suppliers and distributors. B2B retail and e-commerce platforms have […]