GreatCall, the maker of the Jitterbug cellphone and other products and services for older adults, has extended its partnership with the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company Lyft to offer GreatCall customers the ability to schedule rides without a smartphone app. No financial terms were disclosed. The San Diego-based healthtech company said Tuesday it is rolling out … Continue reading “GreatCall Expands Lyft Partnership to Pick Up Seniors Nationwide”
Tag: Uber
Hold Your Horsepower: For Mobility Industry, “Reality Is Sinking In”
Earlier this month, GM CEO Mary Barra told the crowd at a financial conference that her company was on track to unveil a ridesharing service in 2019 that would be powered by autonomous vehicles. It sounded like pretty big news, but to understand company announcements about the commercial viability of driverless cars, one must first … Continue reading “Hold Your Horsepower: For Mobility Industry, “Reality Is Sinking In””
Ahead of WARF Keynote, Gigaom’s Reese Talks Academia’s Startup Push
Byron Reese, the Gigaom publisher and successful entrepreneur who has written extensively on how technology impacts society, says he believes the biggest future breakthroughs are likely to come from universities and startup companies, rather than large, publicly traded ones. “I think really disruptive things will always come from universities and entrepreneurs,” says Reese, whose most … Continue reading “Ahead of WARF Keynote, Gigaom’s Reese Talks Academia’s Startup Push”
U.S. Venture Capital Deals on Pace to Exceed $100B in 2018
Once considered a passing phase, the concentration of capital into fewer, larger venture capital deals appears to be the new normal. Fueled by so-called mega-funds, investment in U.S.-based venture-backed companies as of the end of the third quarter hit a decade high, and is on pace to pass the $100 billion mark by year’s end. … Continue reading “U.S. Venture Capital Deals on Pace to Exceed $100B in 2018”
With a $10.2M Boost, YourMechanic Aims at Mobility Fleet Market
Every month, there’s news of another partnership among carmakers like GM and tech companies such as Uber, as they vie for dominant roles in a transportation future where individual car ownership may largely give way to rides-on-demand from fleets of autonomous and tech-enabled vehicles. But whether Uber, Toyota, GM, Honda, or Google end up at … Continue reading “With a $10.2M Boost, YourMechanic Aims at Mobility Fleet Market”
Circulation CEO Talks Sale to LogistiCare & Amazon’s Healthcare Play
[Corrected 10/9/18, 10:09 am. See below.] The recent acquisition of Circulation, a software startup trying to make non-emergency medical transportation more efficient, could offer a glimpse of the next phase in the “consumerization” of healthcare—and, perhaps, another target market for Amazon. Those were some of the takeaways from a conversation I had Friday with Robin … Continue reading “Circulation CEO Talks Sale to LogistiCare & Amazon’s Healthcare Play”
With $500M Toyota Deal, Uber Sheds Go-It-Alone Driverless Car Goal
When an autonomous Uber car being tested in Arizona collided with a pedestrian last March, it resulted in the first known fatality caused by a driverless vehicle. The accident had a jarring effect on the entire mobility industry, but Toyota was one of the few players that took direct action in the wake of the … Continue reading “With $500M Toyota Deal, Uber Sheds Go-It-Alone Driverless Car Goal”
Get Physical: Houston’s Kanthaka Offers Personal Trainers in an Hour
Houston—The excuses can come easy when it comes to exercising regularly. Kanthaka founder and CEO Sylvie Kampshoff wants to eliminate one of the most common: people can’t commit to a schedule. Kanthaka is an Uber-style service for finding personal trainers: users can book a session (nearly) on-demand, giving just one hour of notice. The app … Continue reading “Get Physical: Houston’s Kanthaka Offers Personal Trainers in an Hour”
Would Uber’s IPO Be a Revival or a Reckoning?
In its early years, Uber was a headstrong force knocking down preconceived ideas about transportation and, along with Lyft, sparking the imaginations of countless entrepreneurs who are now building a new industry called “mobility.” As it closes in on its first decade, Uber is a conundrum: A Silicon Valley unicorn with $7.3 billion in cash, … Continue reading “Would Uber’s IPO Be a Revival or a Reckoning?”
DoorDash Valued at $4 Billion After Adding $250M in New Funding
DoorDash has upped its valuation to $4 billion with a new $250 million financing round, five months after it raised $535 million to gain its “unicorn” status. The new $250 million funding round was co-led by Coatue Management and DST Global. CEO Tony Xu told Axios’s Dan Primack that the company hadn’t been actively seeking … Continue reading “DoorDash Valued at $4 Billion After Adding $250M in New Funding”
Tech Hiring Surges in Bay Area, NY, Boston: See Q2’s Top Employers
After a sluggish start to 2018, hiring has accelerated recently at the top software companies in three of America’s largest technology hubs. That’s according to the latest quarterly Digital Jobs Index compiled by John Barrett, a Boston-area partner with executive recruiting firm On Partners. The report tracks job growth at 100 leading software and Internet … Continue reading “Tech Hiring Surges in Bay Area, NY, Boston: See Q2’s Top Employers”
SF’s Full Harvest Bags $8.5M to Help Sell “Ugly and Surplus” Produce
Full Harvest, an online market for imperfect produce that previously would have been thrown out, announced it has raised $8.5 million in a Series A round of funding. The funding was led by Spark Capital and includes investors such as Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, Rent the Runway co-founder Jenny Fleiss, and John Scherr, head of strategic … Continue reading “SF’s Full Harvest Bags $8.5M to Help Sell “Ugly and Surplus” Produce”
To Avoid Trouble, Companies Must Support Harassed Employees First
When news breaks about sexual harassment at a company like Uber, the public is likely to believe that the entire business has a cultural problem. In contrast, the same isn’t true for other issues, such as financial misconduct, which the public tends to see as a “bad apple” situation. That’s according to a study released … Continue reading “To Avoid Trouble, Companies Must Support Harassed Employees First”
Moonrise, New Service for Gig Workers, Shares Chicago Pilot Results
[Updated 7/27/18 9:44 a.m. See below.] American Family Insurance on Wednesday made public new details on Moonrise, a startup spun out by the insurer that has developed technology allowing people looking to make extra money to sign up for shifts at businesses near where they live. This year, Moonrise has been conducting a pilot of … Continue reading “Moonrise, New Service for Gig Workers, Shares Chicago Pilot Results”
Ford’s AV Update, GM’s Peer-to-Peer Ridesharing, & More Auto News
The “Big Three” Detroit-area automakers have all been making headlines this week. Ford shared more details on its autonomous vehicle division, GM announced a peer-to-peer ridesharing program, and the automotive world lost a key figure who’s been credited with saving Chrysler after the Great Recession. Read on for more details. —Sergio Marchionne, former CEO of … Continue reading “Ford’s AV Update, GM’s Peer-to-Peer Ridesharing, & More Auto News”
Best Reads for Casual Friday: Big Tech Businesses Gets Political
You’ve made it to Friday. Time to curl up in your cubicle, pop open one of these in-depth, entertaining reads, and catch up on some of what you missed during a busy week. This week we’re taking a look at all the political stories that are coming out of the tech world. And given the … Continue reading “Best Reads for Casual Friday: Big Tech Businesses Gets Political”
New Ethics Code Urges Tech Firms and Coders To Avoid Harming Society
Selling a new Web-connected thermostat or other wired gizmo to consumers without a plan to deliver the necessary security patches is not only bad business—it’s unethical. So is failing to challenge a law or tech company rule that governs work on technology products, if that rule causes unjustifiable harms to people or the environment. Those … Continue reading “New Ethics Code Urges Tech Firms and Coders To Avoid Harming Society”
Best Friday Reads: Social Media Rules Us All, and Mints Billionaires
Humans have had a drastic physical evolution recently—one that has notably taken only a few years. While the evolution from hunched primates to homo sapiens took tens of millions of years, we needed only about a decade to develop an arched neck that is perennially looking down at a smartphone—presumably one with a social media … Continue reading “Best Friday Reads: Social Media Rules Us All, and Mints Billionaires”
Derq Teaches Driverless Cars to Safely Navigate Busy Intersections
There are many technical challenges to overcome in the development of self-driving cars, but one of the toughest is predicting and preventing collisions with pedestrians and other objects that end up in the roadway. As urban cyclists know, there is a fair amount of intense eye contact that goes on between bikers and drivers as … Continue reading “Derq Teaches Driverless Cars to Safely Navigate Busy Intersections”
Best Reads for Casual Friday: Cybersecurity (And Some Amazon, Too)
You’ve made it to Friday—it’s time to take a step back, prepare for a relaxing weekend, and read a few stories about the endless ways in which your personal information can be stolen. OK, maybe it’s better to spin it like this: Here are some of the most interesting reads from this last week on … Continue reading “Best Reads for Casual Friday: Cybersecurity (And Some Amazon, Too)”
It’s a Bird! A Bike! A Scooter! New Transit Options Land in Milwaukee
[Update 6/28/18 5:24 p.m.] Less than 24 hours after Bird rolled out a fleet of 100 motorized scooters in downtown Milwaukee that people can rent using Bird’s smartphone app, Milwaukee Deputy City Attorney Adam Stephens wrote the company a letter asking Bird to “immediately remove all of the motorized scooters held out for rent on … Continue reading “It’s a Bird! A Bike! A Scooter! New Transit Options Land in Milwaukee”
May Mobility and Bedrock Deploy Driverless Shuttles in Detroit
In March, May Mobility CEO Ed Olson told Xconomy that his company would beat Waymo, Uber, and Cruise in the race to get autonomous vehicles on the road, and it appears he may be right. May and Bedrock, the Detroit real estate firm associated with Quicken Loans chairman Dan Gilbert, have launched what they call … Continue reading “May Mobility and Bedrock Deploy Driverless Shuttles in Detroit”
New Round Boosts Lyft Valuation to $15B, But Uber Still Looms Large
Ridesharing service Lyft has upped its valuation by about $3.5 billion after adding a $600 million round of funding, which the company said Wednesday morning was led by previous investor Fidelity Management & Research. The new funding round gives Lyft a $15.1 billion post-money valuation, the company said in a blog post. That’s up from … Continue reading “New Round Boosts Lyft Valuation to $15B, But Uber Still Looms Large”
Data Centers on Wheels: How Intel Plans to Capitalize on Mobility
Intel sealed its commitment to become a player in the burgeoning autonomous vehicle industry when it bought computer vision company Mobileye for more than $15 billion in 2017. The venerable Santa Clara, CA-based chipmaker is betting that its data analytics and connectivity chops—as well as its semiconductors—combined with Mobileye’s computer vision and mapping functions, will … Continue reading “Data Centers on Wheels: How Intel Plans to Capitalize on Mobility”
Ease Raises $500K to Connect Freelance Workers with Employers
Nate Harris had never worked at a tech startup prior to co-founding Ease, a Milwaukee-based technology and service provider that helps businesses find freelancers to help them in areas like website design and search engine optimization. Harris’s background is in digital marketing and restaurants; he’s a managing partner in Ugly’s, a tavern located in the … Continue reading “Ease Raises $500K to Connect Freelance Workers with Employers”
Japan’s SoftBank Pours $2.5B into GM’s Self-Driving Division
General Motors’ stock price was cruising after news broke this morning that Japanese holding company SoftBank has invested $2.25 billion into the automaker’s driverless vehicle division. Once the deal closes, GM (NYSE: [[ticker:GM]]) will reportedly invest an additional $1.1 billion. According to multiple news outlets, Cruise, GM’s autonomous car operation, is now expected to have … Continue reading “Japan’s SoftBank Pours $2.5B into GM’s Self-Driving Division”
Insurers Are (Slowly) Preparing for Future World of Driverless Cars
When a self-driving Uber vehicle killed a pedestrian attempting to cross a dark, Phoenix-area street in March, it served as a wake-up call to a mobility industry moving at a furious pace to advance autonomous vehicle technologies. The fatality reinforced consumer skepticism of driverless cars, as evidenced by a recent survey conducted by CarGurus (more … Continue reading “Insurers Are (Slowly) Preparing for Future World of Driverless Cars”
Superpedestrian Scoops Up $16.5M, Enters Bike-Sharing Frenzy
Bike sharing is the new ride hailing. Similar to what has played out with Uber, Lyft, Didi Chuxing, and other private car-hailing app companies, investors are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into bike-sharing startups around the world racing to be the leading operator of fleets of bicycles that people can rent on demand. The … Continue reading “Superpedestrian Scoops Up $16.5M, Enters Bike-Sharing Frenzy”
Silicon Valley, Detroit Need Each Other to Get Driverless Cars Humming
Last month, the University of Michigan hosted a daylong conference about the economic and social impacts of future mobility, when autonomous and connected vehicles will likely upend transportation as we know it. Because the research associated with autonomous vehicles and other mobility applications is ambiguous—with many experts having differing opinions on when and how self-driving … Continue reading “Silicon Valley, Detroit Need Each Other to Get Driverless Cars Humming”
New CEO in Driver’s Seat as Autonomic Scales Up Mobility Cloud
Autonomic, the Silicon Valley startup acquired in February by Ford Smart Mobility, announced growth plans for its Web-based transportation app development platform today, and a reshuffling of its leadership team. The new CEO is Gavin Sherry, who will steer an expansion of the Ford subsidiary’s Transportation Mobility Cloud, a software development hub that will be … Continue reading “New CEO in Driver’s Seat as Autonomic Scales Up Mobility Cloud”
California’s Top Court Sets Tougher New Rules on Hiring “Gig Workers”
California employers who classify their workers as independent contractors will be consulting their lawyers today, says A. Mark Pope, an attorney who helped persuade the state’s highest court to establish sweeping new restrictions on hiring so-called “gig workers.” The California Supreme Court on Monday set new standards that will make it harder for companies in … Continue reading “California’s Top Court Sets Tougher New Rules on Hiring “Gig Workers””
After Mishap in Fall, Madison Driverless Shuttle Demos Get Another Go
Five months after a mishap involving a delivery truck thousands of miles away prompted the cancellation of a scheduled driverless shuttle demonstration in Madison, WI, people living in and around the city have another chance to experience the potential future of transportation firsthand. On Tuesday and Wednesday, members of the public can ride in an … Continue reading “After Mishap in Fall, Madison Driverless Shuttle Demos Get Another Go”
Ford Offers Non-Emergency Medical Transport with New GoRide Service
Proponents of mobility and autonomous vehicle technologies say those innovations have a lot of humanity-improving potential. Self-driving cars will dramatically reduce congestion and accidents, they say, and will allow elderly and disabled people to get around more independently. One future scenario imagines residents of a retirement community requesting rides from a community-owned autonomous shuttle using … Continue reading “Ford Offers Non-Emergency Medical Transport with New GoRide Service”
Expectations Rise on Q1 Surge in Venture Funding; and Top 10 Deals
[Updated 4/11/18 10:13 am. See below.] Venture capital investors poured more than $28.2 billion into U.S. companies during the first three months of 2018—marking the strongest single quarter in at least a dozen years, according to the Venture Monitor Report released today by Seattle-based PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The $28.2 billion that … Continue reading “Expectations Rise on Q1 Surge in Venture Funding; and Top 10 Deals”
E-Commerce Startups Open Door to Endless Virtual Closet
The sharing economy is moving into our bedroom closets. We already apply this idea to transportation (Uber vs. taxi) and vacation accommodations (Airbnb vs. hotel). Now, thanks to a growing number of e-commerce companies, the ability to share goods and services is being applied to our wardrobes through programs that offer clothing rentals for a … Continue reading “E-Commerce Startups Open Door to Endless Virtual Closet”
How Will Mobility Industry Take Shape? Lux Capital’s Farshchi Weighs In
Shahin Farshchi, a partner at Silicon Valley VC firm Lux Capital, describes himself on his LinkedIn profile as a gearhead, Trekkie, and recovering engineer. He’s a Bay Area native who spent part of his career working at GM’s tech center just outside of Detroit in Warren, MI. He’s into cars, space (as in the final … Continue reading “How Will Mobility Industry Take Shape? Lux Capital’s Farshchi Weighs In”
Affectiva Launches A.I. Tech to Help Cars Sense Your Emotions
Efforts to develop self-driving vehicles have largely focused on tracking what’s going on outside the cars—think laser-based sensors to track other vehicles and digital mapping technologies to help navigate. Now, the industry is turning some of its attention to technologies that sense what’s going on inside the vehicle. An initial goal is to better monitor … Continue reading “Affectiva Launches A.I. Tech to Help Cars Sense Your Emotions”
Uber’s Driverless Fatality Sparks Fallout and Finger-Pointing
The fallout from Uber’s autonomous car fatality continues today, with a number of new developments. We’re recapping them very quickly here, and adding two reaction quotes we received from Carrie Morton, deputy director of the University of Michigan’s Mcity research facility and test bed, and Shahin Farshchi, a partner at Lux Capital, a Silicon Valley … Continue reading “Uber’s Driverless Fatality Sparks Fallout and Finger-Pointing”
AI Chip Startup Mythic Reaps $40M from SoftBank, Lockheed Venture Arms
Mythic, which last year unveiled its novel computer chip designed for artificial intelligence, announced today that it has raised $40 million in a Series B fundraising round led by the venture capital arm of Japanese telecom and tech giant SoftBank. Mythic, based in both Redwood City, CA, and Austin, TX, is one of the upstart … Continue reading “AI Chip Startup Mythic Reaps $40M from SoftBank, Lockheed Venture Arms”
Uber Suspends Driverless Testing After Fatal Accident in Arizona
The inevitable has happened. An autonomous Uber car hit a pedestrian in Tempe, AZ, and caused her death. The ride-hailing giant has suspended testing on driverless cars in Arizona, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto, according to the New York Times. This is the first known death of a pedestrian caused by a self-driving car on … Continue reading “Uber Suspends Driverless Testing After Fatal Accident in Arizona”
Bitcoin at Rodeo Houston, TurnKey Gets $31M, SXSW & More TX Tech
Here are some innovation tidbits from around the state: —Cryptocurrency seems to be everywhere, so maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised to see a “Bitcoin Accepted” sign at a food concession at Rodeo Houston this week (picture to the right.) Mark Zable, owner of Finer Diner, says he’s been into bitcoin the last couple of … Continue reading “Bitcoin at Rodeo Houston, TurnKey Gets $31M, SXSW & More TX Tech”
Walmart Expands Same-Day Delivery, Looks to Match Amazon
At the National Retail Federation’s annual conference in January, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon called the Arkansas-based, big-box retailer a technology company. On Wednesday, Walmart (NYSE: [[ticker:WMT]]) moved to make that assertion more of a reality: upping the number of cities where it provides same-day delivery to 100 cities from six—serving about 40 percent of American households … Continue reading “Walmart Expands Same-Day Delivery, Looks to Match Amazon”
Kitty Hawk Who? Uber’s Best-Laid Plans for Flying Cars, Air Travel
If all goes as planned for Uber, and the company launches an air-transportation service in 2020, it will need to hire a lot of pilots. Exactly how many is a little unclear: One of the executives leading Uber’s effort to apply its ride-sharing model to air travel contended during a panel at South by Southwest … Continue reading “Kitty Hawk Who? Uber’s Best-Laid Plans for Flying Cars, Air Travel”
Ousted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Re-Emerges With New Investment Fund
When you’re trying to put the past behind you and make a fresh start, it doesn’t hurt to have $1.4 billion in your pocket. Travis Kalanick, the Uber co-founder who was pressed to resign as CEO during a year of turmoil for the ride-hailing giant, became a billionaire when he sold nearly 30 percent of … Continue reading “Ousted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Re-Emerges With New Investment Fund”
May Mobility CEO: We’ll Beat Waymo, Uber, and Cruise to Market
When we spoke with Ed Olson, CEO of May Mobility, in January, he told us that his driverless-vehicle company had raised a little over $11 million in seed funding in 2017. Last week, May disclosed more details about its $11.5 million seed round: it was led by venture investment arms of Toyota and BMW, and … Continue reading “May Mobility CEO: We’ll Beat Waymo, Uber, and Cruise to Market”
Fasten Ends Ride-Hailing Service in Boston & Austin After Sale
[Corrected 3/3/18, 10:41 am. See below.] Fasten said its U.S. ride-hailing service will shut down Monday after the startup agreed to be acquired by Russia-based transportation network operator Vezet Group. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed. Boston-based Fasten had raised nearly $20 million in equity, debt financing, and other securities, according to SEC filings. Its investors … Continue reading “Fasten Ends Ride-Hailing Service in Boston & Austin After Sale”
DoorDash’s $535M Funding Round Means It’s Coming to 1,000 New Cities
DoorDash hit it big with a $535 million Series D round of funding led by Chinese business conglomerate SoftBank Group, the food delivery company announced this morning. It’s the largest financing for a U.S. food delivery service, according to Reuters, which said the funding gave DoorDash a $1.4 billion valuation, citing a person familiar with … Continue reading “DoorDash’s $535M Funding Round Means It’s Coming to 1,000 New Cities”
Aurora, Led by Google and Tesla Driverless Car Vets, Lands $90M
Aurora Innovation, a self-driving car startup whose founders have ties to Google, Tesla, and Uber, has raised $90 million in Series A funding co-led by Greylock Partners and Index Ventures. Along with the money, Greylock and Index are adding a member each to Aurora’s board of directors: Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and partner … Continue reading “Aurora, Led by Google and Tesla Driverless Car Vets, Lands $90M”
XRC Labs Chief Anthos: Retailers Must Adopt “Test and Learn” Culture
As college undergraduates, my roommate and I had what we called a “monowardrobe.” That’s how we described the contents of the closet that lined a wall in our dorm room. We each organized our own clothing on either side, but since we both wore the same size in clothing and shoes, we “shopped” for outfits … Continue reading “XRC Labs Chief Anthos: Retailers Must Adopt “Test and Learn” Culture”
Uber and Waymo Reach $245M Settlement in Driverless Tech Lawsuit
After months of breathless anticipation and a week of bro-tastic testimony, the Waymo v. Uber lawsuit, in which Google’s driverless tech arm sued the ride-hailing pioneer over allegedly stolen autonomous vehicle technology, is over. In a surprise move, Uber announced today that it has settled with Waymo, offering the company 0.34 percent of Uber’s equity at its current … Continue reading “Uber and Waymo Reach $245M Settlement in Driverless Tech Lawsuit”