Grab co-founder says Southeast Asia still has plenty of competition despite Uber’s exitGrab may have bought itself a dominant position in Southeast Asia through its acquisition of Uber’s regional business, but the company still believes there’s competition in the ride-hailing space despite what consumers may feel. But Grab customers aren’t alone in feeling that the Grab-Uber deal is detrimental, the Competition and Consumer Commission Singapore (CCCS) last week expressed concern that the tie-up is hurting consumers and that a lack of competition will reduce innovation. [ Tech Crunch ] Lodgify, the SaaS for vacation rentals, books $5M in Series A fundingLodgify, the Barcelona-based SaaS for property owners to manage vacation rentals, today announced it has secured $5 million in Series A funding. Existing backers Nauta Capital, Howzat Partners, and a number of angels participated, in addition to new investor Intermedia Vermögensverwaltung. It brings total funding for the Spanish startup to $7.3 million yo date. [ Tech Crunch ] Ready for liftoff? Two flying taxi startups got Pentagon fundingTwo start-ups leading the race to build the first self-flying taxis are using money from the US military. Last year, Kitty Hawk and Joby Aviation received a total of nearly $2m from the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), a Pentagon organization founded to help America’s military make faster use of emerging technologies. Neither company, nor the DIUx, disclosed the funding at the time. JUST CEO Josh Tetrick created vegan mayo. Now, he wants to end world hungerFormerly named Hampton Creek, his seven year-old company sells a line of vegan products, including salad dressings, cookie dough and the aforementioned mayo, in stores across the US, Mexico and Hong Kong. But Tetrick wants to expand the offerings beyond that. [ CNN ] Lime raises $335 million, including from Uber, whose app will now offer scootersRed-hot mobility startup Lime announced it has raised a $335 million round of venture capital that is notable not only for its size, but also for the name of a critical participant: Uber. The troubled ride-hailing giant will now begin renting Lime’s scooters via its app in addition to pumping its money into the startup, which offers a range of dockless transportation options, including electric scooters and bikes, as well as traditional bikes. [ Venture Beat ] At Initialized Capital, Odd Couple Alexis Ohanian And Garry Tan Look To Do VC DifferentlyBrian Armstrong asked Garry Tan to sit down with him in Y Combinator’s Mountain View, California, offices to look at a chart. The price of a cryptocurrency called bitcoin, as Armstrong showed Tan, had just hit a milestone: $20, quadruple its price from a year before. Each morning that week, Armstrong told the investor, his app for buying and selling bitcoin, called Coinbase, was running out of its working cash to secure transactions by around 9 am. Tan, one of Coinbase’s first investors, and Armstrong agreed: The startup needed to raise more money, and fast—and Tan could help. [ Forbes ] Does Winner Take Most in SaaS?Startups Go Dumpster Diving With VC Funds The backer behind Bird, Sonos, and Deliveroo raised $1.65 billion for 2 new fundsJuul is a $15 billion company. So what’s so wrong with Silicon Valley investing in sin?Full transcript: Fog Creek Software CEO Anil Dash answers all the questions on Too Embarrassed to AskVenture Capital Deals Of The Week: Goldman Sachs Leads $250M In Robotics StartupInside The Global Q2 2018 Venture Market: New Records And Titanic Late-Stage RoundsE834: Geoffrey Woo HVMN 1st drinkable ketone, disrupting sugar, bio-hacking for optimal performanceE834: HVMN Co-founder & CEO Geoffrey Woo on creating world's 1st drinkable ketone, disrupting the sugar market, bio-hacking for optimal performance & super-fueling the future of human health |