Category: News

Tal Nathanel Forbes Councils Member Forbes New York Business CouncilCOUNCIL POST | Paid Program Entrepreneurs

We’re in the height of the so-called retail apocalypse, and I’m loving it. As major retailers continue to close stores nationwide, more and more brands are being forced to innovate their retail strategies and come up with creative new ways to attract shoppers. And it’s ultimately making the retail space much more interesting.

In reality, retail isn’t dying; it's the traditional consumer that's dead. And as the needs of today’s consumer evolve, retail is just trying to catch up, and retail strategies are evolving with it. At my store, we’ve embraced this change by adhering to five principles that make up “consumer commerce.” In other words, we identified what customers want today: convenience, community, curation, connection and content. These are the five components of retail that are of the utmost importance when it comes to attracting consumers and, in turn, creating a thriving business. (READ MORE)

BY TAYLOR SOPER on September 4, 2019 at 10:51 am

Microsoft didn’t have to go far for its latest acquisition. The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant today announced that it acquired Movere, an 11-year-old Seattle-area cloud migration startup. Microsoft will use the deal to help customers move their existing applications and infrastructure to Azure. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. (READ MORE)

The men and women of Raytheon are driven by a singular objective: to make the world a safer place. How we approach this is as critical as the objective itself. Our strength comes from our diverse backgrounds and ideas; our values guide how we work together as one global team to support our inclusive culture. (READ MORE)

TechStartups Team POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

YouTube agrees to pay $170 million to settle claims it violated child privacy laws. Back in April, we reported that Google’s YouTube was accused of illegally collecting children’s data by consumer advocacy groups. Now, the video platform giant has agreed to pay $170 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission (FCC) and the New York attorney general that it earned millions by illegally collecting personal information from children without their parents’ consent. As part of the settlement, YouTube is required to pay $136 million to the FTC and $34 million to New York for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Swiss IoT startup Astrocast secures $9.2M in Series A funding. Astrocast, a Switzerland-based IoT Nanosatellite Network, has secured $9.2 (€8.3M)  Series A round of funding to accelerate production of IoT modules, to begin commercial phase and deployment of the its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) IoT Network. To date, Astrocast has raised CHF 16.6M in total funding. Founded in 2014 by the developers of SwissCube, one of the longest lasting, operational nanosatellites in space and led by Fabien Jordan, CEO, and José Achache, to develop an advanced nanosatellite network for the Internet of things (IoT). Airbus and Astrocast have developed a low-cost ASIC and module that provides efficient satellite modem for IoT applications. The constellation will consist of 64 CubeSat satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and will provide low latency global coverage.

Fintech startup CrowdBureau closes $1.1 million Series A equity funding with $9.7M valuation. CrowdBureau Corporation, a fintech startup and index provider, has closed $1.1 million Series A equity funding to expand its series of benchmarks and launch a pilot program for its patent-pending regulatory technology product. The round, which values the company at $9.7 million, was led by Clydagh Limited, Estuary Holdings Ltd. and Alpama Limited along with existing investors. Founded by Kim Wales, a securities-based crowdfunding pioneer, the New York City-based CrowdBureau offers asset and risk management tools for market players seeking more transparency in marketplace peer-to-peer lending and securities crowdfunding.

Real estate startup Cazizo announces the beta launch of its listing platform. Cazizo,  a New York City-based real estate startup, aiming to give NYC residents a revamped and more thoughtful real estate searching experience, formally announced the beta launch of its real estate listing platform. Founded by a team of well-seasoned vets of the NYC real estate game, Cazizo aims to become a pillar of the city’s real estate community. Cazizo isn’t reinventing the wheel, it’s just giving it a much-needed overhaul.

Israeli biotech startup PolyPid raises $50M Series E-1 financing. PolyPid, an Israeli clinical-stage biopharmaceutical startup focused on developing and commercializing novel, locally administered therapies, closed a $50M Series E-1 financing round to advance the clinical development of its lead product D-PLEX100 into two phase 3 pivotal registration trials. The round was led by existing institutional shareholders and included US-based high-net worth investors. Founded in 2008 and located in Israel, PolyPid is a privately held, development stage company that has developed a platform technology for the healthcare industry that enables a controlled and prolonged release of any active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). (READ MORE)

See More Sales Humor

By DALTON BARKER  September 03, 2019 04:01 PM

Camping World is moving away from its strategy of acquiring outdoor retail stores to create business synergies with its existing RV outlets.

In a statement, the Lincolnshire-based company said it will “strategically shift away” from its existing locations that do not have the ability to sell and service recreational vehicles. The move could mean 27 to 37 stores are either sold, closed, relocated or repurposed. That would represent a roughly 22 percent elimination of Camping World’s total outlets, with 165 locations currently able to sell or service RVs. “We believe the sale and/or servicing of recreational vehicles is our core and most important offering and, with the RV and outdoor consumer crossover, we believe there is an opportunity to continue growing our market share and improve our financial performance through the operation of locations with RV sales and/or service and, when feasible, our hunting, fishing and camping products,” CEO Marcus Lemonis said in a statement. “We will continue to operate our RV sales and/or service locations under three banners: Camping World, Gander RV and Outdoors, and Gander RV.” (READ MORE)

By SHAAD D'SOUZA - June 25, 2019

When it comes to the 2019 pop landscape, “identity crisis” seems to be the order of the day. Old heavyweights are floundering, and newer voices are largely struggling to cement themselves as versatile, bankable names. Katy Perry and Taylor Swift are waging a largely unsuccessful war of unrelenting positivity after crass flirtations with hip-hop, while Post Malone and Khalid keep threatening to drown in the ennui cascading from their angsty hits. (READ MORE)

By Lucas Matney@lucasmtny / 2:14 pm EDT • September 3, 2019 Each unhappy startup may be unhappy in its own way, but there’s still wisdom in understanding what drives employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction across companies.

Culture Amp is just one the companies aiming to help employees anonymously express how they feel about their place of work, but the Melbourne company is using the anonymized employee survey data from thousands of customers to help them learn from each other and chart what initiatives made a dent. (READ MORE)

By Emiko Terazono in London

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Heightened interest in effective alternatives to toxic chemical pesticides has helped a French pheromone start-up to raise €60m. Pheromones are naturally produced substances released by animals, especially insects, which affect the behaviour of other animals in the same species. M2i is developing pheromones for biological protection of crops to control invasive insects. The funding round has been led by ADM Capital, a London-based private equity firm, which is also a backer of other food and agritech start-ups including Aerofarms, the US indoor farming company. The capital raising will help M2i, which sells more than 60 products across 25 countries, to broaden its product range and extend its international presence. Its products include biological protection for apple trees, vineyards, tomatoes, banana trees and in bulk crops such as corn and cotton. It also manufactures specialist products for gardens, parks and forests, protecting box trees, palm trees and pine trees from invasive insects. (READ MORE)

 

Jeezy understands his place in the culture as a real G, someone who is ten toes down on the same streets that made him. In every hood, Jeezy’s legend of moving weight and holding down his block has been told across America. Eventually, when you’ve done and seen it all as Jeezy has, there comes a time when you have to leave your trapping past behind to begin a new chapter. (READ MORE)