New initiatives emerge to help refugees

 Prompted by the ongoing refugee crisis affecting much of the western world, new initiatives have emerged to provide solutions to the many challenges facing the beleaguered masses. In a sea of clueless government bureaucrats and fearful citizens, these new startups want to tap into the potential of the newcomers. Privately funded initiatives may one day become the norm in helping tackle… Read More http://ift.tt/24dcoQK

Twitter quietly retires Magic Recs, a DM bot that recommended viral accounts and Tweets

 As Twitter tries out bigger things to spur growth activity — like changing the order and length of Tweets — it is turning away from others. Twitter has quietly retired Magic Recs, a strikingly effective bot account that used to send you DMs recommending viral accounts or Tweets to follow, run by algorithm that measured how many others you knew were following an account… Read More

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Rocket Internet’s GFG gets $340M+ at $1.1B valuation, down from $3.5B a year ago

 Berlin-based e-commerce incubator Rocket Internet continues to bring in money for its various startups, but things are definitely not looking great for all of its companies. On the heels of Alibaba investing in its Amazon clone Lazada, today the Berlin-based incubator announced that Global Fashion Group, the company’s unprofitable merged fashion businesses, raised €300 million… Read More http://ift.tt/1rhlJFH

With Sqreen, web developers can seamlessly find and avoid security threats

 French startup Sqreen wants you to rethink how you deal with security for your web-based apps. With little effort, Sqreen can inspect, track and fix security holes, acting like a shield. You won’t have to change your workflow as Sqreen plugs to your existing app. Read More http://ift.tt/1Tj046A

No, Google did not try to buy us, says Telegram founder

 Reports in the Russian press that Google tried to acquire the Telegram messaging app last year for $1 billion have been firmly rebutted by Telegram founder Pavel Durov. The rumors had been widely reported in the tech press today. Read More

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No, Google did not try to buy us, says Telegram founder

 Reports in the Russian press that Google tried to acquire the Telegram messaging app last year for $1 billion have been firmly rebutted by Telegram founder Pavel Durov. The rumors had been widely reported in the tech press today. Read More http://ift.tt/1UlmvNc

Video consumption on Snapchat more than doubled in under a year

 Snapchat may have started out as the ephemeral messaging and photo-sharing app, but a majority of users now consume video there too, according to a report from Bloomberg today. Daily video views on Snapchat have spiked to 10 billion, the report said. That’s up from 8 billion video views on Snapchat in February this year, 6 billion daily video views in November 2015, and 4 billion in… Read More

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Researchers propose theory on why touchscreen controls in mobile games are the worst

 I know we’re supposed to be all done talking about Flappy Bird, but I think it’s justified to bring it up when it appears in a research paper about why games like Flappy Bird are so hard — and so frustrating. Turns out the controls are fundamentally bad. Read More http://ift.tt/1qZviZt

The League launches a rebuilt, event-centric dating app

 The League, the dating startup that’s maybe-maybe-not elitist, is launching version 2.0 in a new city — Los Angeles. Founder and CEO Amanda Bradford said The League has already rolled out the updated app to users in its existing markets, New York and San Francisco, without much fanfare. Today, however, marks the official launch, as well as the addition of its first city in nearly… Read More

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Twitter aims to boost its visibility by switching from ‘Social Networking’ to ‘News’ on the App Store

 Following yet another quarter of sluggish user growth, social networking company Twitter has made a change as to how its flagship mobile application is categorized on Apple’s iTunes App Store. Instead of competing against Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Pinterest, and others in the crowded “Social networking” category, where Twitter had previously ranked in the… Read More

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Twitter co-founder Biz Stone relaunches Jelly as a human-powered search engine

 Calling it an “un-pivot,” Biz Stone is bringing back the original Jelly concept. Launching today, the new and improved Jelly remains a Q&A platform, but with an added twist. This time, everything is anonymous so you can ask what you really want to know. Referring to the new Jelly an “on-demand search engine,” Stone said that one lesson he learned from the… Read More

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Snapchat’s ‘Speed’ filter cited in lawsuit following Atlanta highway crash

 A questionable Snapchat filter that lets users show off their speed while taking a selfie is being blamed for a serious car accident that left a man with traumatic brain injuries after being struck by a driver going over 100 MPH, according to a new lawsuit. The victim and his wife are now suing the teen driver, alleging her high-speed selfie-taking caused the crash. Read More

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Bnbsitter raises $2.5M for on-demand concierge service for short term rentals

 Bnbsitter is another startup operating in the Airbnb and short term rentals ecosystem. However, unlike property-management style concierge services, such as London-based Hostmaker, which charge an on-going management fee, the Paris-based company offers something more akin to an on-demand platform for concierge. Read More http://ift.tt/24mCqxL

TechCrunch Pitch-Off Stockholm applications are open right now!

 TechCrunch is hitting the road for the Summer and checking out some key global tech hubs to spread our Crunchie love all over you guys. Our world-famous TechCrunch Pitch-Off is a two-piece event. We invite a panel of investor judges to check out the very best startups in each city we visit. Each company has exactly 2 minutes to pitch their startup with no demos allowed. If you want to pitch,… Read More http://ift.tt/1T6QqmZ

Deliveroo begins investing in kitchen space to bring more restaurants to your area

 Deliveroo, the on-demand delivery service for restaurant food, has begun investing in its own kitchen space, as a means to help solve the supply-side problem and expand the offering. Dubbed RooBox, the startup has launched an off-site kitchen initiative that is bringing restaurant brands to areas of London that have a large residential population but are currently underserved in terms of… Read More http://ift.tt/1QCvBhO

Balderton Capital promotes Bernard Liautaud to new role of Managing Partner

 As Europe’s tech startup ecosystem continues to grow up, so does the venture capital that underpins it. London’s Balderton Capital has promoted long-standing General Partner Bernard Liautaud, who joined the firm in mid-2008, to the newly created role of Managing Partner. In other words, somebody is finally in charge! Read More http://ift.tt/244WesI

Drivy grabs $35 million for its car rental marketplace

 French startup Drivy has raised another $35 million (€31 million) from Cathay Innovation, Nokia Growth Partners and existing investors Bpifrance, Via-ID and Index Ventures. If you don’t already know Drivy, the company wants to rethink the way car rental works today. Read More http://ift.tt/1NByncn

Users average 50 minutes per day on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram

 Facebook’s “family of apps” strategy is a wild success. While some might have expected it to roll Instagram into Facebook and leave chat in its main app, keeping Instagram independent and splitting off Messenger into a companion app has helped it solidify itself as more than just a ubiquitous utility, but as a downright addiction. Today on the Q1 2016 earnings call, Mark… Read More

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Facebook swells to 1.65B users and beats Q1 estimates with $5.38B revenue

 Facebook continued its winning streak as other tech companies floundered, reaching 1.65 billion monthly users and surpassing estimates in its Q1 2016 earnings report with $5.38 billion in revenue and $0.77 earnings per share. Facebook’s share price climbed over 8% in the moments after earnings were announced, reaching over $117 in after-hours trading. Revenue was up 52% year over year,… Read More

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Facebook is adding a new class of stock that will help keep Zuckerberg in control

 Facebook today, as part of its earnings release, said it would add a new class of non-voting stock for the company, which will keep Zuckerberg in control of the company.. “This proposal is designed to create a capital structure that will, among other things, allow us to remain focused on Mr. Zuckerberg’s long-term vision for our company and encourage Mr. Zuckerberg to remain in… Read More

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‘Europe by rail’ booking platform, Loco2, finally gets an app

 Pan-European train travel booking website Loco2 has launched its first app, letting iOS users book and pay for trips via their phone. Launching an Android app is also on its roadmap for this year. Read More http://ift.tt/1WTcDuW

Oops! Tinder’s new friend-finding feature, Tinder Social, is outing which of your friends use the app

 Tinder announced this morning it’s testing a new friend-finding feature called “Tinder Social” in its popular dating app. The idea is to offer a way for you and your group of friends to find and connect with other groups out in the real world. Similar to how Tinder works for finding prospective dates, Tinder Social lets friends swipe and match with other groups they want… Read More

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Nintendo unveils its next smartphone games to follow App Store hit, Miitomo

 Nintendo will follow up its App Store success Miitomo with a pair of new games, released this fall, the company announced this morning. The details were unveiled alongside other company news, including a release date for its new gaming console, the Nintendo NX and details on a Zelda delay, among other things. And no, the new smartphone games will still not feature Mario, in case… Read More http://ift.tt/236jiBu

Teardown of HTC Vive highlights the headset’s differences from Oculus Rift

 Today’s VR headsets are marvels of miniaturization. And, as iFixit’s teardowns show, both the Oculus Rift and HTC’s Vive are also remarkably user-friendly when it comes to repair and customization. Read More http://ift.tt/1SymCQP

Wattpad sets its sights on brands, publishers and Hollywood with Wattpad Studios

 Wattpad, a popular site where authors can share stories with readers, is announcing its broader ambitions with the launch of a new division called Wattpad Studios. The company describes Studios as a way for Wattpad to partner with the entertainment industry, and it said the new division will operate like the multi-channel networks that work with online video creators. Wattpad Studios builds… Read More

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What to expect for Twitter’s first-quarter results

 Last quarter, Twitter’s user base (excluding SMS fast-followers) actually shrank — and this was a huge moment for the company. While there were whispers of peak Twitter circling for some time now, that looming theory was finally confirmed in the company’s fourth-quarter results. Twitter had gone from 307 million users to 305 million. Twitter, at one point a rocket-ship,… Read More

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Melomind is a pair of headphones that will teach you how to relax

 Meet Melomind, a pair of headphones with some special powers. Melomind doesn’t just play your music, it also comes with four electroencephalographic sensors to track the activity of your brain. Melomind is a hardware and software product that will guide you and teach you how to relax every day. Read More http://ift.tt/1WR9w6C

StoryStream Secures $2.6M from MMC for its smart content platform

Marketers have a complicated time of it. They have to combine user generated content with branded content in a way that doesn’t leave the brand looking utterly foolish. StoryStream has a platform for figuring this out, and has now raised a $2.6M (£1.8M)Series A funding to address the content marketing industry with its real-time search, curation and content publishing technology. The… Read More http://ift.tt/1T1HvmX

Trusk lets you move furniture or any heavy object without lifting a finger

 French startup Trusk is like Uber, but for moving things. This isn’t a mover startup, and it isn’t a transporter. It’s something more flexible. And the company has had a weekly growth rate of 15 percent recently. But first, let me start with a story. I’ve used UberXL multiple times to transport boxes of books and stuff, a mattress, a chair — and I’m… Read More http://ift.tt/1YRFhuG

Europe’s Tado raises another $23M to grow smart thermostat and AC control business

 Munich-based Tado, maker of smart thermostat and AC control products, has raised another $23 million for further international expansion. The new investment is led by Inven Capital, the venture capital arm of the Čez Group, a multinational energy conglomerate based in the Czech Republic. It’s the startup’s third funding round and brings the total raised to $57 million since… Read More http://ift.tt/1NvUn8s

Nokia buys France’s Withings for €170M to ramp up in health tech and IoT

 Nokia’s history as the world’s biggest mobile phone maker is becoming a distant memory, but it’s not out of the gadget business just yet. To build out its health technology business, the company today announced that it has acquired Withings, makers of smart scales, activity trackers, and other health gadgets. Withings is based out of France, and with Nokia in Finland,… Read More http://ift.tt/1pAEjaj

Listen to Mangrove’s Mark Tluszcz talk fake unicorns, fintech hype and investing in weird ideas

 Earlier this week I jumped on a call with Mark Tluszcz, co-founder and CEO of Mangrove Capital Partners, one of Europe’s older VC funds and perhaps most notably the first institutional investor in Skype. Read More http://ift.tt/1SLoDyL

Lendix grabs $13.5 million to become a leading European P2P lending platform

 Shortly after acquiring its competitor Finsquare, Lendix is back with more news. The French startup has just raised $13.5 million (€12 million) and now wants to become one of the leading European peer-to-peer lending platforms. Read More http://ift.tt/1UdWMX6

Clarkson, Hammond and May to launch DriveTribe motoring content platform

 In an age when driverless cars seem to be only around the corner the idea of starting a brand new online community aimed at petrolheads seems like an ill-timed idea. But that’s not about to stop Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, otherwise known as the former presenters of the globally-known Top Gear TV show. Last year there these three musketeers signed up to create a… Read More http://ift.tt/1SK3k0o

You can now watch a ton of Lionsgate movies on Steam if you so choose

 Lionsgate has just added over 100 movies, including the Hunger Games films and Kill Bill (both volumes) to, of all things, Steam. That’s Valve’s digital content delivery platform, of course, used by millions of PC gamers. Why did Lionsgate add over 100 movies to a gaming platform? Hard to say. Read More http://ift.tt/231OaTG