At the Intersection of AI, Governments, and Google - Tim HwangAirbnb to Buy Background-Check Startup Trooly to Root Out Scams
Airbnb Inc. is purchasing background-check startup Trooly Inc. in an effort to protect its guests and hosts from bad actors. Los Altos, California-based Trooly has been helping Airbnb authenticate user identities since 2015. By analyzing data from public records, social media and other sources, Trooly’s technology could help Airbnb track various customer violations, such as side deals between guests and hosts. [ Bloomberg] From fleeing Vietnam in a refugee boat to becoming Uber’s CTO: the journey of Thuan PhamIt was in 1979 that Thuan Pham left on a refugee boat from Vietnam, a country torn by a two-decade long war. On the 60-meter boat were 10-year old Thuan, his mother, a young brother, and about 370 other people, with no life jackets. When they landed in Malaysia, Thuan and his family were rejected as refugees. Unwilling to go back to war-ravaged Vietnam, Thuan’s mother decided to take her two kids on another boat, to the island of Letung in Indonesia, where they spent 10 months. [ Tech In Asia ] 1500+ startups graduate Y Combinator’s first online Startup SchoolToday is the world’s biggest startup demo day ever, but it’s not happening in Silicon Valley. It’s happening all over the world as 1,584 companies complete Y Combinator’s online Startup School Founders Track program. 797 of them have posted demo videos anyone can watch. That’s out of 2,820 startups accepted from the 13,321 companies that applied to Y Combinator’s 10-week program of one-on-one mentorship from past YC startup founders, virtual office hours with a group of fellow students, and an online lecture series. [ Tech Crunch ] Novartis, Verily back $300M Medicxi biotech growth fundNovartis and Verily have helped Medicxi raise $300 million (€268 million) to invest in late-stage drug developers. The fund sees Medicxi move beyond its original focus on early-stage biotechs to give European companies with drugs in phase 2 and beyond an alternative to selling up or partnering. [ Fierce Biotech ] Mobile Games Maker Scopely Banks $60 Million With Valuation Over $600 MillionScopely, the mobile game developer whose titles include a hit spinoff of “The Walking Dead,” announced $60 million in a Series C financing. The latest round brings Scopely to $160 million raised to date, and comes less than a year after it pulled in $55 million. The L.A.-based company says it has a valuation over $600 million and is profitable, after growing revenue ninefold over the past nine quarters. [ Variety ] This Founder Grew Up on Food Stamps. Now He Runs a Digital Money Manager for the Middle ClassAmazon Strategy Teardown: Building New Business Pillars In AI, Next-Gen Logistics, And Enterprise Cloud AppsConviva Adds $40M in Strategic Funding RoundCzech Tech - Why Enterprise Solutions Company Y Soft Moved Into Venture CapitalAirbnb CMO Jonathan Mildenhall tells Sheryl Sandberg that diversity progress is ‘too slow'These Indian Entrepreneurs Upcycle Leftover Religious Flowers Into Useful ProductsAmazon-Whole Foods deal roils Wall St.; energy shares gain |