By Megan Rose Dickey

What’s the lifeblood of any early-stage startup? Money and media coverage. Opportunities to acquire both abound at Disrupt San Francisco 2019, our flagship tech conference that takes place on October 2-4. It’s all about networking and making the right connections to make your startup dreams come true, and there’s no better networking mecca than Startup Alley.

Buy a Startup Alley Exhibitor Package and plant your early-stage startup in the path of more than 10,000 attendees, including leading technologists, investors, 400 accredited media outlets and other leading influencers. The package includes one full exhibit day and three Founder passes.

You’ll have access to three days of Disrupt programming across the Main Stage, the Extra Crunch Stage, the Showcase Stage and the Q&A Stage. You can watch Startup Battlefield, our epic pitch competition, to see who takes home the $100,000 prize. You’ll also receive invitations to VIP events, like a reception with top-tier investors and global media outlets. (READ MORE)

By Shelagh Dolan

Retail banking, also known as personal or consumer banking, refers to the mass-market banking activities that serve the general public. Common retail banking services include checking and savings accounts, debit and credit cards, mortgages and loans, and certificates of deposit. (READ MORE)

Mark Coppock@thetechchatPOSTED ON08.15.19 - 6:56AM PST

The Asus Chromebook Flip C302CA was one of our favorite Chromebooks when it was released in 2017. Asus has finally replaced it for 2019, with the Chromebook Flip C434 that uses smaller bezels to fit a larger screen size into a reasonably small chassis while also including the latest components.

Asus sent us a midrange configuration, with an Intel 8^th-gen low-power Core i3-8100Y CPU, 8GB of RAM, 64GB of eMMC storage, and a 14-inch, 1080p display. The configuration costs $570, which sits in the midrange of how Chromebooks are priced these days.

The Chromebook market, just like the Windows 10 space, is getting crowded with 2-in-1 devices. Does the Chromebook Flip C434 offer anything to entice buyers away from the myriad of competitors? (READ MORE)

Sean O'Neill, Skift - Aug 16, 2019 1:00 am

AirPortr, which checks in and delivers bags for flyers, has closed its latest round of funding. It raised $8.6 million (£7.1 million) in a Series A.

Stobart Group and Hargreave Hale VCT (part of Canaccord Genuity Funds) led the round. Stobart’s chief operating officer joined AirPortr’s board.

Here’s how Airport’s service works: A passenger checks in online. The company collects the bags from their doorstep after confirming the person’s identity. The driver puts the bag in a coded, tamperproof, and trackable security bag, the company said. The driver delivers the luggage to the airport, where they check in the bag. (READ MORE)

By Harriet Torry and Sarah Chaney Updated Aug. 15, 2019 4:08 pm ET

WASHINGTON—American shoppers gave the U.S. economy a boost in July, countering manufacturing-sector weakness, while Wall Street continued to have jitters about faltering growth.

Retail sales, a measure of purchases at stores, restaurants and online, climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in July from a month earlier, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

The robust report—the strongest reading since March—is a positive signal for the U.S. economy, at least for now, amid warning signs of a global slowdown.

U.S. stocks stabilized after release of the sales figures. The government data came as Walmart Inc. reported sales rose in the second quarter, and the retail giant raised its profit forecasts for the year. J.C. Penney Co., however, fared worse in its latest quarter with sales down 9%. (READ MORE)

Lucas Matney@lucasmtny / 4:46 pm EDT • August 14, 2019 Sleeper is looking to take on fantasy league apps from major players like ESPN and has amassed venture funding from Silicon Valley investors to take them down.

The Bay Area startup is aiming to treat a fantasy football league more like a social platform than a loose jumble of league mechanics, distinguishing itself as a simple and free, ad-free option.

Sleeper  has done limited press as it has been ramping up its app over the past two seasons, but the team has been courting the interest of investors to scale the product, raising more than $7 million from VCs to date. The company closed a $5.3 million Series A late last year led by General Catalyst. In early 2017, the startup also closed a $2 million seed led by Birchmere Ventures with participation from Uber co-founder Garrett Camp’s startup studio, Expa. (READ MORE)

Published: Aug 15, 2019 10:29 a.m. ET

The numbers: Sales at U.S. retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy posted the biggest increase in July in four months, a sign Americans are still confident in the economy even as headwinds pick up.

Retail sales increased 0.7% last month, the government said Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.3% increase. (READ MORE)

Heidi Chung Reporter Yahoo Finance  August 14, 2019 It’s been a wild week for markets. On Thursday, investors will be looking to some key earnings reports and economic data being released for more clues on the health of the economy. Retail behemoth Walmart (WMT) and chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) will deliver quarterly results, and the Census Bureau will release retail sales data for July at 8:30 a.m. ET. As other parts of the economy, such as manufacturing, get hit by the trade war, consumer spending has remained a bright spot and the main driver of GDP growth in the U.S. (READ MORE)

Catherine Perloff Forbes Staff Billionaires

Start a company today, and there’s a playbook to follow. Need in-app messaging and phone calls? Plug in Twilio. Looking for the cheapest way to host your data and website? Go to Amazon Web Services or one of its rivals. But build something that runs on hardware, and you won’t find a one-stop shop — at least yet. (READ MORE)

By Suzanne Kapner and Aisha Al-Muslim Updated Aug. 14, 2019 10:01 am ET Macy’s Inc. M -14.15% lowered its full-year earnings outlook after missing profit expectations in the latest quarter, citing weak sales of women’s sportswear and warm-weather apparel as well as a slowdown in international tourism. (READ MORE)