Roundup of news and ideas from the world of startups – Week ending 25th Nov 2018
News you can use
Google announces Adopt a Startup program finalists – Google recently announced 8 startups selected for Grand Finals from its Adopt A Startup contest. The grand Finals in The Foundry on December 11th, 2018. The startups from European Union (EU) include
- BidRecruit, Dublin
- Dashmote, EU
- Flexiwage, Meath
- JumpAGrade, Limerick
- Nasal Medical, Dublin
- TrustAp, Dublin
- Urban Volt, Dublin
- Wellola, Dublin
Corporate M&A
Apple acquires artist development startup Platoon – Apple has acquired artist development startup Platoon. Platoon works with creators to produce and distribute their work, and it uses analytics to target audiences and build marketing strategies. Notable acts Platoon has worked with in the past include Billie Eilish and Jorja Smith. The acquisition of Platoon could serve to bolster Apple’s Up Next platform, which allocates resources to up-and-coming artists. Rapper 6lack was the first participant in Up Next when it debuted in 2017, and as part of the program, he received marketing perks like an interview and live performance on Beats 1, an appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden, and more. These tools have appeal to lesser-known and unsigned artists and can help forge long-term relationships between the artist and Apple as their career develops.
Baltimore edtech startup Workbench acquired by Google – The startup’s project-based learning platform will be integrated into Google’s education offerings. Baltimore edtech startup Workbench Education was acquired by Google, the companies said. Workbench’s platform aims to offer a central place to find lessons centered around project-based learning, which involves hands-on problem-solving.
Here’s why Legrand acquired French smart home startup Netatmo – In a recent development, Netatmo was acquired by Legrand, a French digital building infrastructure. But both the companies have remained tight-lipped regarding the terms of the deal. Netatmo, a French smart home startup offers IoT solutions for its users. With its products and services, it lets you manage everything such as air quality, noise, temperature, security and humidity.
Red Hat Eyes Enhanced Container Strategy With Acquisition Of Startup NooBaa – Open-source software powerhouse Red Hat has acquired storage software startup NooBaa and will fold the company into its existing storage portfolio with an eye toward enhancing its container strategy. The company intends to use NooBaa’s technology to bring a ‘comprehensive set of data services’ to its storage portfolio, including Red Hat Ceph Storage and Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage.
Failed Startups
Crypto Market Crash Leaving Bankrupt Startups in its Wake – According to a bloomberg report, the plunge in the cryptocurrency market is weighing on the software-development community that spawned over 1,000 digital coins amid dreams of independence from traditional financial systems and instant wealth. ETCDEV, the startup that led development on Ethereum Classic, which is among the top 20 coins with a market capitalization of about $400 million, announced this week that it’s shuttering operations due to a funding crunch. Joseph Lubin’s ConsenSys, one of the largest crypto-related software startups based in New York, said Thursday that its workforce will be reduced by 13 percent as part of a reorganization.
On-demand childcare startup Poppy shuts down – The on-demand childcare startup, Poppy recently announced that it was shutting down. In a detailed note on its website, Avni and the Poppy team posted: We have hard news to share today – Poppy will be discontinuing services as of December 4, 2018.