TechCrunch Startup News

Another proptech is considering raising capital through the public arena. Knock confirmed Monday that it is considering going public, although CEO Sean Black did not specify whether the company would do so via a traditional IPO, SPAC merger or direct listing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This morning Bunch announced that it has closed a total of $4.4 million in seed capital, including a new $1 million infusion this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet Singular, a new VC firm based in Paris that just finished raising its initial fund. The firm was founded by two former Alven partners — Raffi Kamber and Jérémy Uzan. They have some ambitious goals and an interesting investment model that could help them remain involved even during late-stage rounds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While new headless commerce platforms are emerging all the time, Swell CEO Eric Ingram told me that it remains “really hard to do something new in e-commerce.” Specifically, he told me that most headless platforms (which offer back-end infrastructure separate from the front-end shopping experience) allow businesses to build a faster shopping experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Design and marketing consultancy R/GA is expanding its Venture Studios program with the launch of a new Coalition Venture Studio focused specifically on supporting Black-led and Black-owned startups. The initiative is led by R/GA Entrepreneur in Residence Davyeon Ross, a Black entrepreneur who founded sports analytics company ShotTracker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This morning CoScreen, a startup that helps teams share screens and collaborate in real-time, formally launched its product to market. It also disclosed that it has raised $4.6 million to date. Unusual Ventures led its Seed round. Till Pieper, CoScreen’s co-founder and CEO told TechCrunch in an interview that it raised the bulk of its […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pie Insurance, a startup offering workers’ compensation insurance to small businesses, announced this morning that it has closed on $118 million in a Series C round of funding. Allianz X — investment arm of German financial services giant Allianz — and Acrew Capital co-led the round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You might expect that a startup that makes community building software would be thriving during a pandemic when it’s so difficult for us to be together. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Neighbor, which operates a self-storage marketplace, announced Wednesday that it has raised $53 million in a Series B round of funding. Fifth Wall led the financing, which notably also included participation from returning backer Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and new investors DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and StockX CEO Scott Cutler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Y Combinator’s latest batch — W21 — features 350 startups from 41 nations. 50% of the firms, the highest percentage to date, in the new batch are based outside of the United States. India is the second largest demographic represented in the new batch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices