Wed.Nov 25, 2020

article thumbnail

5 ways to convert digital customers to a sale this Black Friday (and every day)

Entrepreneurs' Organization

With many brick-and-mortar stores closed this Black Friday, businesses are gearing up for a digital shopping weekend unlike any in previous years. . Black Friday holds additional pressure—and opportunity—this year after the challenges many small businesses have experienced due to the pandemic. Traffic to the top 100 shopping sites increased by 137 percent on 2019 Black Friday and companies will be looking to capitalise on this surge in traffic and convert customers to make a sale.

article thumbnail

Tiger Global invests in India’s Unacademy at $2 billion valuation

TechCrunch

Unacademy, an online learning platform in India, has added two more marquee investors to its cap table. The Bangalore-based startup, which focuses on K-12 online education, said on Wednesday it has raised new funds from Tiger Global Management and Dragoneer Investment Group. The funding round, which is between $75 million to $100 million in size (according to a person familiar with the matter; Unacademy has not disclosed the figure), valued the four-and-a-half-year-old startup at $2 billion, up

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

How a Merger of Salesforce and Slack Would Change the SaaS Landscape

Tomasz Tunguz

The rumor mill churns with whispers Salesforce will acquire Slack. This combination would be strategic for both involved for three reasons. First, Salesforce and Slack share Microsoft as their most significant competitor. Microsoft Teams' rapid assault and consequent market power into the corporate instant messaging market transformed the market dynamics in less than 12 months.

article thumbnail

Enterprise investor Jason Green on SPAC hopefuls versus startups bound for traditional IPOs

TechCrunch

Jason Green has a pretty solid reputation as venture capitalists go. The enterprise-focused firm he co-founded 17 years ago, Emergence Capital , has backed Saleforce, Box and Zoom, among many other companies, and even while every firm is now investing in software-as-a-service startups, his remains a go-to for many top founders selling business products and services.

article thumbnail

From Curiosity to Competitive Edge: How Mid-Market CEOs Are Using AI to Scale Smarter

Speaker: Lee Andrews, Founder at LJA New Media & Tony Karrer, Founder and CTO at Aggregage

This session will walk you through how one CEO used generative AI, workflow automation, and sales personalization to transform an entire security company—then built the Zero to Strategy framework that other mid-market leaders are now using to unlock 3.5x ROI. As a business executive, you’ll learn how to assess AI opportunities in your business, drive adoption across teams, and overcome internal resource constraints—without hiring a single data scientist.

article thumbnail

6 Recession-Proof Side Hustles You Can Start Today to Bring in Extra Cash

StartupNation

With all of the economic changes underway, you’ve probably been experiencing plenty of uncertainty recently. However, there’s still hope for aspiring entrepreneurs, as the side hustle scene is alive and well. In fact, it’s thriving! StartupNation exclusive discounts and savings on Dell products and accessories: Learn more here. If you’re interested in testing the entrepreneurial waters, consider the following recession-proof side hustles that you can start today: Become a virtual assistant.

More Trending

article thumbnail

The 5 Lessons I Learned From a NY Times Bestseller and Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur's Handbook

A twenty-minute interview with Peter Shankman that provided a lifetime’s worth of lessons Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

article thumbnail

Cast.ai nabs $7.7M seed to remove barriers between public clouds

TechCrunch

When you launch an application in the public cloud, you usually put everything on one provider, but what if you could choose the components based on cost and technology and have your database one place and your storage another? That’s what Cast.ai says that it can provide, and today it announced a healthy $7.7 million seed round from TA Ventures, DNX, Florida Funders and other unnamed angels to keep building on that idea.

article thumbnail

How To Start a Company With Your Spouse And Save Your Marriage

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Building a business together — when done correctly — can create closeness rather than resentment. Here’s how. Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

article thumbnail

Remote-controlled delivery carts are now working for the local Los Angeles grocer

TechCrunch

Robots are no longer the high-tech tools reserved for university labs, e-commerce giants and buzzy Silicon Valley startups. The local grocer now has access too. Tortoise, the one-year-old Silicon Valley startup known for its remote repositioning electric scooters, has taken its tech and adapted it to delivery carts. The company recently partnered with online grocery platform Self Point to provide neighborhood stores and specialty brand shops with electric carts that — with help from remote teleo

article thumbnail

State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

article thumbnail

Form D: Often Forgotten, Never Optional

The Seraf Compass

When you are a mentor or board director to a company just finishing raising a round, it is tempting to take a breath and do a few high fives. But before you do, make sure someone has made the Form D filing with the federal and state securities regulators. This mandatory set of filings is very easy to do, but also very easy to forget.

article thumbnail

As e-bikes boom, FuroSystems raises its first venture funding round ahead of a new model launch

TechCrunch

With COVID-19 making commuters switch to bikes, and cities wanting cleaner air, the e-bike revolution is only just getting started. Further evidence of this is the news that today British e-bike manufacturer FuroSystems has closed its first institutional venture funding round of £750,000 with participation by TSP Ventures and European impact investment bank ClearlySo , as well as a number of angel investors.

article thumbnail

Exposure Notification Express

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

I have New York State’s exposure alerting app on my phone and check it every day. It gives me great statistics about what is going on in my location. You can download it here for iOS and Android. It will also notify me if anyone who is using the app and has been with me gets Covid. I have not gotten any alerts in the month or two since I have had it on my phone.

article thumbnail

Join us for a live Q&A with Sapphire’s Jai Das on Tuesday at 2 pm ET/11 am PT

TechCrunch

Sure, we’re heading into a holiday weekend here in America, but that doesn’t mean that the good ship TechCrunch is going to slow down. We’re diving right back in next week with another installment in season two of Extra Crunch Live , our regular interview series with startup founders, venture capitalists, and other leaders from the technology community.

article thumbnail

15 Modern Use Cases for Enterprise Business Intelligence

Large enterprises face unique challenges in optimizing their Business Intelligence (BI) output due to the sheer scale and complexity of their operations. Unlike smaller organizations, where basic BI features and simple dashboards might suffice, enterprises must manage vast amounts of data from diverse sources. What are the top modern BI use cases for enterprise businesses to help you get a leg up on the competition?

article thumbnail

Customer Retention Rate: What Is It & How To Calculate It?

Feedough

The economics of modern businesses like telecom, insurance, SAAS and other subscription-based businesses differs considerably from businesses operating on traditional business models. These businesses only work well when customers stay with them for an extended period paying recurring costs. In simple terms, customer retention is the key to modern business survival.

article thumbnail

WeGift, the ‘incentive marketing’ platform, collects $8M in new funding

TechCrunch

WeGift , the London-based startup that has built an “incentive marketing” platform that lets businesses easily issue e-gift cards and other digital rewards to customers, has raised $8 million in new funding. Dubbed a Series A extension, the round is led by AlbionVC. Existing investors including Stride.vc, SAP.iO fund and Unilever Ventures also followed on.

article thumbnail

7 Holiday Shipping Tips and Tricks for Online Entrepreneurs

StartupNation

The holiday season is often a busy time for entrepreneurs. With customers buying a tremendous number of gifts, business owners are likely feeling the stress of the shopping rush, and they want their items to arrive on time and in pristine condition. And this year, the pandemic has made online sales even more important for e-commerce entrepreneurs: about 75 percent of those surveyed in a recent Accenture study said they plan to do at least some holiday shopping online, while 43 percent said they

article thumbnail

Insurtech’s big year gets bigger as Metromile looks to go public

TechCrunch

In the wake of insurtech unicorn Root’s IPO, it felt safe to say that the big transactions for the insurance technology startup space were done for the year. After all, 2020 had been a big one for the broad category, with insurtech marketplaces raising lots, rental insurance startup Lemonade going public , Root itself debuting even more recently on the back of its automotive insurance business, a big round to help Hippo keep building its homeowners company and more.

article thumbnail

The GTM Intelligence Era: ZoomInfo 2025 Customer Impact Report

ZoomInfo customers aren’t just selling — they’re winning. Revenue teams using our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform grew pipeline by 32%, increased deal sizes by 40%, and booked 55% more meetings. Download this report to see what 11,000+ customers say about our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform and how it impacts their bottom line. The data speaks for itself!

article thumbnail

[data.world in Database Trends and Applications] How to Create a Data-Driven Culture

OurCrowd

At Data Summit Connect Fall 2020, Jon Loyens, co-founder of Data World, explored the question of what creates a data-driven culture and offered ips on how to build one. According to Loyens, a data-driven culture uses the data assets and the ecosystem that they’ve built around it analytics really effectively to drive decisions. Read more here. The post [data.world in Database Trends and Applications] How to Create a Data-Driven Culture appeared first on OurCrowd Blog.

article thumbnail

Coinbase disables margin trading following guidance from Commodity Futures Trading Commission

TechCrunch

Just a few months after launching margin trading on Coinbase Pro, the company is disabling the feature. Margin trading lets you trade on leverage. But it works both ways — margin trading lets you multiply your gains and your losses. Starting on November 25, 2pm PT, users won’t be able to place new margin trades. Existing margin positions will expire over the coming days and weeks.

article thumbnail

[Beyond Meat in Fortune] Why Beyond Meat’s CEO chose to fight climate change by going into business

OurCrowd

Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life when he was in college. But after a conversation with his dad, he realized that the biggest problem facing the world was climate change, and that the contributions made by a musician or doctor in an environmentally unstable world would be weakened. Read more here. The post [Beyond Meat in Fortune] Why Beyond Meat’s CEO chose to fight climate change by going into business appeared first on OurCrowd Blog.

article thumbnail

WJR Business Beat with Jeff Sloan: How to Think Like an Entrepreneur with Mike Morse (Episode 148)

StartupNation

On this morning’s WJR Business Beat, Jeff features Mike Morse, founder of Mike Morse Law Firm , the largest personal injury law firm in Michigan. In the segment below, Morse shares why everyone has to look at their entity like a true business, and how he’s learned to work on rather than in his business: For more information on Mike Morse, visit: Mike Morse ’s Bestselling Book For Law Firm Owners.

article thumbnail

How Top Tech CFOs Solve Annual Planning’s Biggest Challenges

Gearing up for 2025 annual planning? Our latest eBook from the Operators Guild is your ultimate guide. Discover real-world solutions and best practices shared by top CFOs, drawn directly from discussions within OG’s vibrant online community. Learn from senior executives at high-growth tech startups as they outline financial planning strategies, align CEO and board goals, and coordinate budgets across departments.

article thumbnail

[Nexa3D in ICN] Nexa3D unveils xCE-White for 20X faster production of parts and injection molding tools

OurCrowd

Nexa3D, the maker of ultrafast polymer production 3D printers, announced the immediate availability of a new photoplastic material called xCE-White, a functional polymer for producing end-use plastic parts and injection molding tools in minutes. xCE-White is the fastest single cure material in the company’s portfolio to date, helping deliver 20X productivity increases in AM and boasting high flexural strength comparable only to dual cure cyanate esters.

article thumbnail

[Zebra in The Times of Israel] Israel-UK teams to use AI to help flag patients at risk for osteoporosis

OurCrowd

Israeli startup Zebra Medical Vision and Scottish consultancy Storm ID will work with UK’s NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Israel’s Assuta to develop the models. Read more here. The post [Zebra in The Times of Israel] Israel-UK teams to use AI to help flag patients at risk for osteoporosis appeared first on OurCrowd Blog.

article thumbnail

[Klook in Web in Travel] FIVE TOURS & ACTIVITIES OPERATORS ANNOUNCED AS BOOKING PARTNERS FOR SINGAPORE’S DOMESTIC TOURISM CAMPAIGN

OurCrowd

FIVE operators ­– Changi Travel Services, Klook, Trip.com, GlobalTix, Traveloka have been named as authorised booking partners for Singapore Tourism Board’s SingapoRediscovers Vouchers (SRV) scheme following a competitive tender which closed early October. Read more here. The post [Klook in Web in Travel] FIVE TOURS & ACTIVITIES OPERATORS ANNOUNCED AS BOOKING PARTNERS FOR SINGAPORE’S DOMESTIC TOURISM CAMPAIGN appeared first on OurCrowd Blog.

article thumbnail

[OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved in The One Way Ticket Show] EP 218: JON’S ONE WAY TICKET IS TO 2048 WHEN THIS VIBRANT NATION CELEBRATES ITS 100TH BIRTHDAY.

OurCrowd

Jonathan Medved is a serial entrepreneur and according to the Washington Post (2007) “one of Israel’s leading high-tech venture capitalists”. In the 2008 NY Times Supplement “Israel at 60” Medved was named one of the top 10 most influential Americans who have impacted Israel. Read more here. The post [OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved in The One Way Ticket Show] EP 218: JON’S ONE WAY TICKET IS TO 2048 WHEN THIS VIBRANT NATION CELEBRATES ITS 100TH BIRTHDAY. appeared first on OurCrowd Blog.

article thumbnail

5 Ways You Can Win Faster with Gen AI in Sales

Incorporating generative AI (gen AI) into your sales process can speed up your wins through improved efficiency, personalized customer interactions, and better informed decision- making. Gen AI is a game changer for busy salespeople and can reduce time-consuming tasks, such as customer research, note-taking, and writing emails, and provide insightful data analysis and recommendations.