TechCrunch Startup News

Snapchat’s developer platform is blowing up as a gateway to teen social app users. Hoop is the latest Snap Kit blockbuster, rocketing to #2 on the overall App Store charts this month with its Tinder -esque swiping interface for discovering people and asking to message with them over Snapchat. Within a week of going viral, unfunded French startup Dazz saw Hoop score 2.5 million downloads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Industrial robots are expensive. But, then, so are construction mistakes. Being off by an inch here or there adds up quickly, and too often crews need to correctly costly errors. There’s a reason construction has become the next great target of the robotics and automation industries, with a number of startups vying to create solutions that can constantly monitor sites to detect mistakes before it’s too late. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As esports grows and creates opportunities for gamers to level up to the pro or streamer level, there is still a huge barrier in the way. There is not a wealth of training options for gamers. If you can’t get better within the environment of the game itself, then you’ve peaked. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This morning Finix, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup selling payments tech to other businesses, announced that it has raised a $35 million Series B. Sequoia led the round, which also saw participation from new investors Activant Capital and Inspired Capital. Finix did not disclose a new valuation as part of its round, and declined to share any growth metrics regarding its business. Instead, it offered a TAM figure and noted the number of countries in which it currently operates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Those looking outside of Silicon Valley as a potential hub for their startup might want to take a gander at Utah — at least that’s the kind of trend the new Silicon Slopes Venture Fund hopes to create. The newly formed fund, put together by Qualtrics co-founder Ryan Smith, Omniture and Domo founder Josh James and Stance co-founder turned Pelion Venture Partners’ Jeff Kearl, pledges to invest solely in Utah-based startups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpsRamp, a service that helps IT teams discover, monitor, manage and — maybe most importantly — automate their hybrid environments, today announced that it has closed a $37.5 million funding round led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, with participation from existing investor Sapphire Ventures and new investor Hewlett Packard Enterprise. OpsRamp last raised funding in 2017, when Sapphire led its $20 million Series A round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SoftBank wants its competing portfolio companies to stop losing so much money and, in some cases, to merge. That’s the news out from the Financial Times today, which reported that Uber and DoorDash discussed merging last year. The talks didn’t wind up in a deal. The two companies, each heavily backed by SoftBank and its formerly active Vision Fund, compete in the food delivery space at great expense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Insticator, a startup helping publishers add elements like polls, quizzes and suggested story widgets to their content, has made its first acquisition — a commenting platform called Squawk-It. Insticator CEO Zack Dugow said his platform benefits online publishers by keeping audiences engaged and bringing in new ad revenue (which is split between Insticator and the publisher). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If parties came with an alert system, this post would qualify as Def Con 4. Now hear this — we just released the final batch of tickets to our3rd Annual Winter Party at Galvanize, which heats up on February 7 in San Francisco. If you want to be there with more than 1,000 of Silicon Valley’s finest, act now with all due haste. Buy your ticket right here. Hang out with your crowd and enjoy cocktails, craft beer and tempting appetizers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Perdoo, a Berlin-based OKR-focused software startup, has decided to make its basic service free, potentially shaking up its growing, and somewhat crowded, market. “Objectives and Key Results,” a planning and management technique usually shortened to “OKRs,” is a hot space for software startups, with several raising in recent months. WorkBoard and Gtmhub, for example, each raised capital for their OKR products in the last two months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices