Sunday, May 1, 2022

Cogni, a digital bank aimed at users aged 18-to-35 with plans to launch crypto and Web3-focused banking services, raises a $23M Series A (Anita Ramaswamy/TechCrunch)

Anita Ramaswamy / TechCrunch:
Cogni, a digital bank aimed at users aged 18-to-35 with plans to launch crypto and Web3-focused banking services, raises a $23M Series A  —  Digital banking startup Cogni is joining the ranks of companies hopping on the crypto bandwagon.  The mobile-based platform, founded in 2016 …



A look at Jony Ive's evolving responsibilities and his frustrations at Apple, which eventually led to his departure, adapted from the book "After Steve" (Tripp Mickle/New York Times)

Tripp Mickle / New York Times:
A look at Jony Ive's evolving responsibilities and his frustrations at Apple, which eventually led to his departure, adapted from the book “After Steve”  —  The man who helped give the world candy-colored computers walked out the door as Tim Cook took charge.



CommandBar, an in-app search and navigation tool that lets web apps personalize user onboarding and offer shortcuts for common actions, raises a $19M Series A (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
CommandBar, an in-app search and navigation tool that lets web apps personalize user onboarding and offer shortcuts for common actions, raises a $19M Series A  —  Thanks to the explosion of low- and no-code development tools, building web apps from scratch has become easier — and cheaper — than it once was.



Government data: China's internet companies raised $3.51B in Q1 2022, down 76.7% YoY from $15B+, while the number of fundraising deals declined 38.3% YoY (Xinmei Shen/South China Morning Post)

Xinmei Shen / South China Morning Post:
Government data: China's internet companies raised $3.51B in Q1 2022, down 76.7% YoY from $15B+, while the number of fundraising deals declined 38.3% YoY  —  Plunge in funding follows an intense period of regulatory action that has targeted some of China's biggest internet companies.



Russian cryptocurrency payment network A7 expands to Africa, as Moscow builds an alternative payments system amid western sanctions after its Ukraine invasion (Financial Times)

Financial Times : Russian cryptocurrency payment network A7 expands to Africa, as Moscow builds an alternative payments system amid weste...