The Latest from Romain Dillet
X1 Card raises $12 million for its credit card with limits based on your income
X1 Card is raising a $12 million funding round. The company is building a credit card that sets limits based on your current and future income, not your credit score. Spark Capital is leading the roun
Gemini is launching a credit card with bitcoin rewards
Cryptocurrency exchange company Gemini is acquiring Blockrize and announcing a new product today based on Blockrize’s work. Later this year, the company is launching a credit card that works like a
Upgrade launches checking accounts and debit cards
Fintech startup Upgrade has been positioning itself as a neobank. And yet, the company has mostly been focused on personal loans and more recently credit cards. You couldn’t just replace your ba
Iziwork raises $43 million for its temporary work platform
French startup Iziwork has raised a $43 million funding round. Cathay Innovation and Bpifrance’s Large Venture fund are participating in this funding round. The company has been building a platform
Apple announces new projects related to its $100 million pledge for racial equity and justice
Last June, Apple committed $100 million to a Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI). Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, is leading the initiativ
Molotov starts its international expansion with seven African countries
French startup Molotov provides an OTT TV streaming service in France with live TV, premium channels, a cloud DVR and on-demand content. While the service has managed to attract 13 million users in Fr
Checkout.com raises $450 million and reaches $15 billion valuation
Payments company Checkout.com is raising once again. The company has closed a $450 million Series C round with Tiger Global Management leading the round — Greenoaks Capital and all existing investor
Revolut applies for UK banking license
It’s hard to believe that fintech startup Revolut doesn’t have a proper banking license in its home country. But this is about to change, as the company has applied for a banking license in the U.
Orange spins out Orange Ventures with $430 million allocation
Telecom company Orange is making some changes to its venture capital arm. Orange Ventures is becoming a separate legal entity and Orange itself is allocating $430 million (€350 million). With this n
Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now are coming to LG TVs
LG spent a good chunk of its CES press conference talking about its lineup of TVs for 2021. You can expect bigger, slimmer and brighter TVs. I’m not going to list the specifications of new models. B
Too Good To Go raises $31 million to fight food waste
Too Good To Go, the startup that lets you buy food right before it goes to waste, is raising a $31.1 million round; blisce/ is leading the round and investing $15.4 million. Existing investors and emp
Pennylane raises $18.4 million for its accounting service
French startup Pennylane has raised $18.4 million (€15 million) for its accounting service that combines automated processes with human accountants. Existing investors Global Founders Capital and Pa
Fintech startups are increasingly focusing on profitability
This year’s economic downturn has been a challenge for the current class of fintech startups: Some have grown nicely, while others have struggled, but the vast majority of them have changed their fo
Cloudflare launches Cloudflare Pages, a platform to deploy and host JAMstack sites
Cloudflare is launching a new product today called Cloudflare Pages. It competes directly with Netlify or Vercel, two cloud hosting companies that let you build and deploy sites using JAMstack framewo
PhotoRoom launches background-removal app on Android
French startup PhotoRoom is launching its app on Android today. The company has been working on a utility photography app that lets you remove the background from a photo, swaps it for another backgro
Lydia raises another $86 million to build a European financial super app
French fintech startup Lydia has extended its Series B round. Accel is leading the extension with all major existing shareholders also participating. Lydia first raised $45 million in January 2020 —
Google Stadia is now available on iOS
A few weeks after announcing that iOS support was on the way, Google’s cloud gaming service now supports the iPhone and iPad. As expected, the company is using a web app to access the service. Googl
Bitcoin passes $20K and reaches all-time high
After reaching a previous all-time high on November 30th, 2020 and December 1st, 2020, bitcoin is now trading well above $20,000 and has surpassed its previous peak price. Bitcoin’s value has rapidl
Revolut launches mid-tier subscription plan
Fintech startup Revolut is tweaking its subscription plans with a new mid-tier offering called Revolut Plus — it costs £2.99 per month. Like N26 Smart and Monzo Plus, the new plan is a pandemic-pro
Dott to expand beyond e-scooters with bike-sharing service
Dott is better known for its electric scooter service that is available in a few cities across Europe. But the company is working on electric bikes and wants to launch a bike-sharing service in London