With multibillion-dollar tech companies and growth startups making headlines left and right, it’s natural to want to get a piece of the action. Ant Financial, for example, recently closed a ridiculous Series C funding round of $14 billion — one of the largest VC funding rounds in history. The China-based fintech company pushed its value to $150 billion with the latest […]
Tag Archives: startups
How Minnesota Became the Land of 10,000 Startups
Minnesota is no stranger to big business. It’s home to such names as Target, Best Buy, General Mills, and Ecolab — all of which have made their homes in Minnesota for generations and have become a source of pride. But a new industry — technology — is taking Minnesota by storm, boosting the local economy […]
Killer Marketing Plan For Startup Entrepreneurs
Why break the bank for your marketing needs when you can brainstorm your way to a killer marketing plan? The best marketing ideas come simple and cheap but these ideas do not come out of the blue. Your actual business plan will require an out-of-the-box, innovative thought process. You’ll want to get your marketing wheels […]
Why Your Business Needs Copyrights
Savvy business owners understand the importance of intellectual property (IP) to their business’ success and most can name patents, trademarks, and copyrights as some of the various forms that IP can take. But the distinctions between copyrights, patents, and trademarks is often confusing and misunderstood, even by business people that regularly deal with IP. But not […]
5 Real Life Blockchain Implementations Outside of Cryptocurrency
What do Pied Piper and blockchain tools have in common? Both are always “coming soon.” By now most of us are familiar with blockchain, the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Outside of cryptocurrency, blockchain has many purported use cases in scenarios that require an immutable ledger. Rhetoric has elevated blockchain to godly status, […]
How Start-Up Chile Helps Entrepreneurs and Chile Alike
The Start-Up Chile accelerator was arguably the spark that ignited Chile’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Chilean government, through the development agency CORFO, founded Start-Up Chile in 2010 as a way to bring in foreign entrepreneurs who would galvanize Chile’s transition into an economy built on technology and innovation. Since then, Start-Up Chile has accelerated over 1,500 […]
The Investment Landscape of the Future: Toward Many Silicon Valleys
We all know by now that “Silicon Valley” has become more or less synonymous with “innovation.” The United States now has more than 100 unicorns (startups that reach $1 billion valuations), and while research from Stanford suggests some of these companies might not be all they seem — with an average valuation of 48 percent above true […]
A Tale of Two Bubbles: Why Cryptocurrency Isn’t the Next Dot-Com
Economic bubbles aren’t new. From the tulip bubble of the 1630s, to the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, to the big-tech mania we’re seeing today, overvaluations happen — but not all bubbles pose the same risks or offer the same rewards. Every few years, it seems we’re warned of another looming “bubble” about to burst. Most […]
Why China’s own ‘Bay Area’ matters now for your company
Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of spending significant time on the ground in China for ReadWrite and ReadWrite Labs. While here in China, I’m continuously discovering new opportunities that exist and even more reasons for foreign startups and corporations to consider getting started in China. However entering a new market can […]
Check out our definitive IoT market participant landscape
The Internet of Things is a behemoth. IoT companies number nearly 3,000, employ 10 times that, and have created over $600 billion in value. But this behemoth is also mysterious, and, at times, confusing. So what exactly is IoT and who is involved? According John Koetsier, IoT analyst and advisor to ReadWrite Labs, IoT is […]
3 critical challenges your business incubator should solve
To develop an idea into a business, incubation seems to be the new industry “normal.” There are thousands of incubators worldwide and each year that number is continuing to grow. There are private, public and corporate incubators, many with a distinct focus on local economies, global, communities, or a specific vertical. At this point, it […]
ReadWrite Labs launching their new incubation program
Building a company today is not what it once was and the needs for founders have become a more dynamic and collaborative game. It’s no longer about the lone wolf in a garage building the next [insert your dream company here], instead, entrepreneurs that become successful are the one’s working with the community to define upfront […]
How startups can work with cities to innovate for a smarter future
ReadWrite sat down recently with Robinson Hernandez, Executive Director of the Urban Tech Hub at Grand Central Tech — an innovative workspace dedicated to smart cities technologies — to get his thoughts on the role of startups in government and how they can successfully navigate working with the public sector. ReadWrite: Tell us about yourself, your […]
Former head of Google car project to launch his own self-driving rival
Chris Urmson, the former chief technology officer in charge of Google’s self-driving project, is reportedly preparing to launch a new company that will compete with Mountain View and others building autonomous transport systems. The self-driving guru, regarded as one of the three key people in the early stages of Google’s car project, left the company […]
Check out the most innovative projects from Samsung’s C-Lab
Samsung has unveiled six projects from its Creative Lab Projects (C-Lab) division, an in-house incubator program built to nurture employee projects. The six projects — Ahead, FITT360, Hum on!, ItsyWatch, LiCON, Waffle — may launch on a crowdfunding website or receive investment directly from Samsung. See Also: Can the smartwatch market recover from big declines? […]
Montreal says bonjour to innovative startups
Four startups are set to join InnoCité MTL’s third cohort. This Montreal-based accelerator deals with building smart city solutions. Since launching, InnoCité MTL has chosen startups based on their relevance to the issues addressed by the six main programs of the Montreal Smart and Digital City 2016-2017 action plan. Those programs focus on public Wi-Fi, an […]
Who are the startups upgrading the auto industry?
The auto industry has seen a flurry of startups and private investment enter the market in the past five years, as cars become more connected, electric, and autonomous. Startups range from one man units to large teams, with some valuations exceeding $1 billion. But who are the startups? In a CB Insights report (infographic below), […]
Siemens gets creative with new startup unit
German conglomerate Siemens announced on Tuesday a new standalone startup unit dedicated to fostering “disruptive ideas more vigorously and accelerate the development of new technologies.” Siegfried Russwurm, Siemens chief technology officer, will be the acting head of the unit, named next47. It will receive €1 billion ($1.12 billion) in funding for the first five years. […]
Ad giant Publicis picks 90 lucky tech startups
Publicis Groupe, one of the “big four” advertising agencies in the world, has revealed the 90 startups that won the Publicis90 global initiative at the Viva Technology Conference in Paris, France. The 90 winners will receive investment ranging from $11k to $554k alongside mentoring from the advertising giant. The jury that chose the 90 startups […]
Amazon’s Alexa now has more skills, listens better
Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa has received a large update, making it much easier to find and activate skills from third-party services. The Alexa mobile app that shows all the available skills—totalling 1,400 as of Tuesday—has been revamped to show skills in an organized fashion, and the app now features search. See Also: Is DIY smart […]