January 2024

Business travel management platform TravelPerk raises $105M

January 23, 2024

TravelPerk, a business travel management platform targeted at SMEs, has raised $105 million in a fresh equity-based round of financing led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. Existing investors including Kinnevik and Felix Capital also participated in the round. The funding gives TravelPerk a valuation of $1.4 billion, just a fraction over the $1.3 billion valuation […]

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Apple will pay artists more to have a spatial audio version on Apple Music

January 23, 2024

Apple will pay additional royalties starting this month to artists if they have a spatial audio version on Apple Music, according to multiple reports. The company will pay up to 10% additional royalty if an artist has all their songs in spatial audio, per a report by 9to5Mac. The extra money doesn’t depend on users […]

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China quietly pulls draft gaming rules from website

January 23, 2024

Beijing has quietly pulled the proposed curbs on the video game industry from the official website, weeks after the draft guidelines wiped tens of billions of dollars off the market value of local titans. The link to the draft rules was no longer accessible as of this morning, as first reported by Reuters. Shares of […]

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AC Ventures closes its new $210M Indonesia-focused fund

January 23, 2024

In the middle of a long funding winter, AC Ventures’ latest news will give Southeast Asian startups hope. The Jakarta, Indonesia-based venture firm announced today it has raised $210 million, finishing the final close on its fifth fund, called ACV Fund V. Limited partners include the World’s Bank’s IFC and investors from the United States, […]

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Plural, the VC led by founders, pulls together a new $432M fund to back European startups

January 23, 2024

European VC Plural has carved out a reputation for itself as one of the few VC’s in the region started and led by entrepreneurs who grew their own startups, with its founders including Taaavet Hinrikus from Transferwise/Wise; Sten Tamkivi; and Ian Hogarth, the founder of Songkick who more recently has also added a role with […]

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Successful failure: Sierra Space’s inflatable habitat blows up as planned

January 22, 2024

Sierra Space has completed a key test of its inflatable space habitat, as the company progresses toward launching and operating a private space station with Blue Origin before the end of the decade. The “ultimate burst pressure” test of the inflatable module was conducted at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. As the name suggests, the […]

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MrBeast made $263K from a video on X, but calls the payout ‘a bit of a facade’

January 22, 2024

MrBeast made over $263,000 in ad revenue from posting his latest video on X, but the YouTube icon says he thinks this number is “a bit of a facade.” “Advertisers saw the attention it was getting and bought ads on my video (I think) and thus my revenue per view is prob higher than what […]

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Gamers flock to Palworld’s ‘Pokémon with guns’ despite copyright qualms

January 22, 2024

When Palworld made its inauspicious debut in a teaser a year or so back, few thought this strange, blatant Pokémon ripoff would be anything but a quickly forgotten oddity. But after its Early Access release last week, the game has broken records and sold millions — reflecting the pent-up demand for a truly modern Pokémon-type […]

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