Tom Brady NFT sale sparks warning to consumers from experts
Wednesday, February 28, 2024 by Freeman Lightner
An expert has warned those considering purchasing an NFT off the back of the Tom Brady $40.7k sale, as NFT marketplaces saw $38 million stolen by scammers last year.
The findings, pulled together by Smart Betting Guide, analyzed a database recording crypto scams and exploits to identify the most vulnerable platforms and blockchains over the last year - with NFT marke...
Emergency preparedness app Perci launches
Monday, January 15, 2024 by Richard Harris
In 2022, about 3.4 million Americans had to leave their homes because of natural disasters. Perci recently launched a comprehensive disaster readiness solution. It helps families plan for emergencies based on where they live and how many people are in their home.
Perci App and evacuation vest: An all-in-one emergency preparedness solution
93% of Americans liv...
Digital concierge app powered by GPT redefines luxury lifestyles
Monday, June 26, 2023 by Brittany Hainzinger
Perfect.Live announced that they raised $650,000 in a recent investment round. The funding is used to further develop and enhance their innovative GPT-powered concierge service, catering to individuals who seek access to exclusive services, and eliminating the time-consuming manual tasks like phone calls and emails, which are often hindered by the lack of available...
VCs will fly to quality in 2023
Tuesday, January 24, 2023 by Richard Harris
Andrew Lau, CEO, and co-founder of Jellyfish discusses his predictions for VCs in 2023, including why the days of easy money and endless budgets will come to an end, how the doors are opening for startups to recruit talent that has long been out of reach, and that firms will be deploying heavily once more by the second half of 2023.
VCs will fly to qua...
Developers and brands must make mobile apps far more secure
Tuesday, January 17, 2023 by Christian Hargrave
The bad guys are still breaking digital windows and kicking down digital doors, so to speak, and will continue well into 2023 and beyond!
Consumers through experience or gut instinct will demand that their mobile app providers deliver key security features including trying to stop the increasingly prevalent "man-in-the-middle" attacks. The latest techn...
Why leaders should not fear layoffs in 2023
Friday, January 13, 2023 by Richard Harris
Peter Pezaris from New Relic discusses his predictions for 2023, including why leaders should not fear layoffs, why we will see renewed investments by the end of 2023, how FOMO will unleash venture capital funding, and why founders should foster a network of VC insiders and entrepreneurs to get insights and perspectives.
Leaders should not fear layoffs
"Entre...
Game of Chains launches from Cosmos
Monday, November 28, 2022 by Richard Harris
The Interchain Foundation (ICF), a Swiss non-profit that funds, stewards, and advances the Cosmos Ecosystem has announced the details of Game of Chains, the third public incentivized testnet in the history of Cosmos, following Game of Stakes and Game of Zones. A global community effort set to help validators develop confidence around Interchain Security and provide a pu...
Vacation rental software solution Lodgify lands $30M
Monday, November 28, 2022 by Freeman Lightner
Vacation rental software startup Lodgify has secured $30 million in Series B funding. The investment round was led by Octopus Ventures with participation from Bonsai Partners, Aldea Ventures and ICF (Institut Català de Finances) as well as existing investors, Intermedia Vermögensverwaltung and Nauta Capital.
Lodgify will use the funds to acceler...
Casual gaming could get disrupted by social design
Tuesday, November 1, 2022 by Freeman Lightner
Turkish mobile games studio Magic Games has raised more than $5 million in seed funding led by Makers Fund, with participation by Firat Ileri, and Hummingbird Ventures. Founded by former Peak Games leaders Cagri Ozturk, Ruya Celikcan, and Mert Kasar, and joined by senior industry leaders Murat Ozcelik, Anil Sert, and Orhan Tuc, the team draws from deep experience creati...
Send money across 5 continents with IPSIPay app
Tuesday, October 11, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
Innovative Payment Solutions, Inc. announced that it has completed the key integration of its IPSIPay mobile application and back-end payment processing infrastructure through its commercial partners.
This major achievement allows IPSIPay users the ability to easily transfer money and make payments through the IPSIPay app throughout five continents for receipt a...
Metaverse avatar platform secures $56M in funding
Wednesday, August 24, 2022 by Freeman Lightner
Ready Player Me, a cross-game avatar platform that allows users to explore virtual worlds with one consistent identity, has closed a $56M Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from other notable investors including David Baszucki, co-founder of Roblox, Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch, Sebastian Knutsson & Riccardo Zacconi, King Games ...
Open Finance transformed by Klavi
Monday, August 22, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
Klavi has announced that they received $15M USD in capital contribution. The series A round was led by venture capital funds Iporanga Ventures and Parallax Ventures and included GSR Ventures (an investor in several unicorns, including Didi/99). The banking infrastructure provider CIP S.A. and Vivo Ventures, Vivo's Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) launched in April, a...
Supercell increases stakes in Space Ape Games
Thursday, August 4, 2022 by Richard Harris
Supercell has invested an additional $37M to acquire a larger stake in mobile game developer and publisher Space Ape Games increasing its stake in the London studio from 62.6% to 75%. This is on top of their original $56.6M investment from 2017. They have also extended their line of credit by a further $50M, bringing Supercell’s total debt and equity inv...
Chill Cowboy Country Club NFT collection lands
Friday, May 13, 2022 by Freeman Lightner
Bold visionaries and entrepreneurs Brian and Brittney Kelley have announced anticipated details about their limited NFT collection, Chill Cowboy Country Club (CCCC), exclusively with Forbes. Uniquely blending futuristic metaverse innovation with one-of-a-kind IRL (in real life) experiences to create an NFT that is truly groundbreaking, the mint date is slated for June w...
Playable NFT graphical novel Quantum Noesis lands
Monday, May 2, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
EVI (short for Electronic Virtual Intelligence) is on the verge of achieving sentience as the first true general Artificial Intelligence. But there are powerful forces at work to destroy her!
To safeguard the Noesis Network, EVI has gamified part of her security, transforming vulnerabilities in the code into audiovisual puzzles that are easier for the human mind to g...
Video editing SAAS platform lands $46M in funding
Wednesday, April 27, 2022 by Freeman Lightner
A video-editing SAAS platform formerly known as Toch.ai announced they have secured $46.8 million in Series B funding led by A91 Partners, Alpha Wave Global, and Binny Bansal, who is the former co-founder of Flipkart and a current investor in the company. Other investors include Innoven Capital, Pacific Western Bank, and Stride Ventures amongst others. Th...
NFT collection raises funds for environmental initiatives
Monday, April 18, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
The decline in marine biodiversity has propelled activists to seek new ways to shed light on such urgent issues. Ocean Collective, a global network of filmmakers will be collaborating with blockchain partner Polygon Studios and production company Eyeforce to launch digital artwork in the form of NFTs, which depicts animals from the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. T...
NFT and DeFi support from Umbria Network
Friday, February 11, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
Umbria is working with Polygon Alliance to ensure projects on the Polygon network have access to the Narni Bridge for the fastest and most cost-effective cross-chain transactions.
Polygon Alliance
A platform for the Polygon community to network, collaborate, learn, and grow - provides resources and support for projects in the space. It recommends Umbria’s Na...
Cryptocurrency donations for churches
Thursday, January 27, 2022 by Richard Harris
Each year, River Valley Church hosts an annual event called Kingdom Builders, where they ask church attendees to give generously to different projects including global missions, future leadership development, and local church investment. With eight campuses spread across the Twin Cities of Minnesota, River Valley Church recently partnered with Engiven, a leading cryptoc...
Cyber Yachts NFTs land
Friday, January 14, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
Bitcoin Latinum, the asset-backed cryptocurrency poised to revolutionize digital transactions has announced its acquisition of cyberyachts.com in partnership with three-time Grammy-nominated recording artist Quavo of Migos. Cyber Yachts will consist of NFT collections totaling 888 extraordinary yachts and will be exclusively offered on the UnicoNFT marketplace for ...
Artificial Intelligence authentication in 2022
Tuesday, January 4, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
Sanjay Gupta, Global Head of Product, at Mitek shares his 2022 predictions on the rise of touchless technologies, the impacts of digital banking, and the increasing use of voice and behavioral biometrics to verify identification.
Touchless technology will gain adoption in new industries
Technology designed to reduce friction in consumer behavior and improve t...
Low code platform Zenity lands $5M in funding
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 by Christian Hargrave
Zenity exited stealth mode with a $5 million seed funding round, led by Vertex Ventures and UpWest, and backed by top executives such as the former CISO of Google, Gerhard Eschelbeck, and former CIO of SuccessFactors, Tom Fisher. With Zenity, businesses can promote citizen development and adopt Low-Code/No-Code platforms while avoiding critical data exfiltration or disr...
Bitcoin Latinum announces partnership with Vast Bank
Thursday, November 18, 2021 by Russ Scritchfield
Bitcoin Latinum, the secure, next-generation, insured, asset-backed cryptocurrency has announced the commencement of a strategic partnership with Vast Bank, a trusted family-owned financial institution serving customers since 1982. The partnership will focus on opportunities for collaboration, deal flow, and integration among Vast Bank, Bitcoin Latinum, and Mo...
Nigel Green predicts Bitcoin record highs
Monday, November 8, 2021 by Christian Hargrave
Bitcoin could hit fresh all-time highs this week, which will bring upside to other cryptocurrencies, particularly those directly involved in fintech development.
This is the bullish prediction from Nigel Green, the CEO, and founder of deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory, asset management, and fintech organizations.
Nigel G...
Kubernetes operations platform gets more funding
Thursday, September 2, 2021 by Brittany Hainzinger
Rafay helps platform teams move beyond traditional Kubernetes cluster management to streamlined Kubernetes operations for modern applications.
Rafay Systems Kubernetes operations platform gets $25M in funding
Rafay Systems, the platform for Kubernetes Operations, has announced a $25 million Series B funding round led by ForgePoint Capital, with participation from ...
Lawsuit from US developers sways Apple
Friday, August 27, 2021 by Richard Harris
Apple has announced a number of changes coming to the App Store that, pending court approval, will resolve a class-action suit from US developers. The terms of the agreement will help make the App Store an even better business opportunity for developers while maintaining the safe and trusted marketplace users love. Apple appreciates the developer feedback and ideas that...
Intelligent support platform from TheLoops receives funding
Wednesday, June 23, 2021 by Freeman Lightner
TheLoops, an intelligent support operations platform, announced it has closed $8.5 million in a seed funding round led by Dell Technologies Capital, with participation from Tidal Ventures and Westwave Capital. The company will use the funds to scale its research and development and go-to-market operations to accelerate the adoption of its Intelligent support operations ...
YOP app makes DeFi access easier for everyone
Thursday, June 17, 2021 by Brittany Hainzinger
Yield Optimization Platform & Protocol (YOP) announces the official launch of the YOP App, the first all-in-one mobile app that makes it easier for everyone to access DeFi. The V0 version is now available for early access to testers ahead of the public launch at 4 pm UTC on 18 May.
YOP app makes DeFi access easier for everyone
YOP is an exciting new platform a...
Productivity APIs from Nylas get more funding
Thursday, June 17, 2021 by Freeman Lightner
Nylas, the communications API platform for modern email, scheduling, and work automation tools for developers and enterprises, announced it has raised $120 million in Series C funding. The investment brings Nylas’ total funding to $175 million, further accelerating the growth of both Nylas and the API economy.
The round was led by Tiger Global Management with p...
$10 million raised for decentralized commerce ecosystem
Thursday, March 11, 2021 by Brittany Hainzinger
Boson Protocol announced it has successfully closed the last round before its public sale, raising a total of $10m between all rounds. The presale round demonstrates continued support from existing investors, combined with new backers. The presale was 40x oversubscribed, showing strong interest for the project.
These funding rounds enable Boson Protocol to continue d...
Uncollateralized lending launched by TrustToken
Thursday, January 28, 2021 by Brittany Hainzinger
TrustToken launches TrueFi, the decentralized protocol for uncollateralized lending, hitting $35 million in total value locked within 24 hours of going live. The TrueFi protocol introduces a new approach to on-chain lending, letting TRU holders vote on incoming borrowers and uncollateralized loan requests; creating new ways for TrueCurrency users to generate stable, hig...
DeFi in 2021
Tuesday, January 26, 2021 by Freeman Lightner
Without a doubt, DeFi will be one of the most important drivers behind the industry in 2021. We are seeing more and more traditional financial institutions embracing the benefits of cryptocurrencies, and the blockchain and crypto worlds are highly likely to positively disrupt investment banking and capital markets in 2021. In order for the two worlds to be bridged effec...
Why blockchain is the future
Friday, January 15, 2021 by Richard Harris
The fears from the pandemic have naturally placed more focus on wearables helping us monitor our health, fitness, and keeping us better connected.
Companies such as Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, and others are flooding the market with health and fitness devices to help mankind to stay healthy and happier. I believe we will see even more companies entering this space and mo...
Blockchain regulations to look for in 2021
Saturday, January 9, 2021 by Richard Harris
Trends in the blockchain and crypto industries in 2021 are likely to be anchored around the growing demands of the decentralized finance space. Layer 2 and cross-chain solutions address current scalability issues. The UX and UI of dApps and wallets will also be improved. Even newer areas of interest like decentralized identity will likely see most of its' developmen...
Cryptocurrency investment predictions for 2021
Friday, January 8, 2021 by Freeman Lightner
The institutionalization of cryptocurrency has been the emerging theme of 2020. The investment focus has largely been focused on Bitcoin, up over 90% year to date, as digital gold (i.e. a hard money alternative to fiat), with broadening adoption from institutional investors. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, has seen some speculative investment but it will li...