Startup News: 8th March 2021 - 14th March 2021

Good Morning Monday!! Here are the latest weekly startup stories for you. Before starting this week grab some latest updates from the startup world.

8th March, 2021

1. Praava Health raises $10.6M to increase access to quality healthcare in Bangladesh

Praava Health, company that combines telemedicine with physical clinics.Company is announcing a Series A Prime round that brings its total raised to $10.6 million. Read more

2. UK challenger bank Starling raises $376M, now valued at $1.9B

A U.K.-based challenger bank, Starling announced that is has closed £272 million. The company plans to use the funding to expand its lending operations in the U.K., expand into other parts of Europe and make some strategic acquisitions. Read more

3. Last-mile delivery robotics company Refraction AI raises $4.2M

Ann Arbor-based Refraction AI has raised a $4.2 million seed round. The company plans to expand operations beyond its native location. 

4. PayPal to acquire cryptocurrency security startup Curv

Curv is a cryptocurrency security company that helps you store your crypto assets securely. The company operates a cloud-based service. PayPal has plans to acquire Curv. Read more

9th March, 2021

1. Cosi raises €20M for its ‘full-stack’ approach to short-term rentals

A Berlin-based startup Cosi Group, offering an alternative to boutique hotels and managed short-stay apartments, is disclosing €20 million in new investment. Company use the fresh capital to accelerate international expansion in Europe, implement a new brand development. Read more

2. Eye surgery robotics startup ForSight raises $10M

Israel-based ForSight Robotics has raised $10 million. The company’s goal is to serve its technology to a diversified market, in order to level the playing field for access to quality eye surgery. Read more

3. Tackle nabs $35M Series B to help companies navigate cloud marketplaces

Tackle, a startup that wants to help ease the process of getting a product onto one of these marketplaces, announced a $35 million Series B today. Read more

4. Cube raises $10M more to help companies plan their financial future

Cube, a startup that builds FP&A software for the mid-market, declared that it has raised a $10 million Series A. 

5. Dropbox to acquire secure document sharing startup DocSend for $165M

Dropbox plans to acquire DocSend for $165 million, The company helps customers share and track documents by sending a secure link instead of an attachment. Read more

10th March, 2021

1. Audience engagement startup Trufan raises $2.3M

Trufan, a startup providing tools helping marketers analyze their social followings and collect audience data, raised a $2.3 million seed round. Read more

2. Aqua Security raises $135M at a $1B valuation for its cloud native security platform

A Boston based security startup that focuses squarely on securing cloud-native services. It has raised a $135 million Series E funding. Aqua Security has now raised $265 million since it was founded in 2015. Read more

3. Cloud cybersecurity startup Lumu raises a $7.5 million Series A

Miami-based cybersecurity startup Lumu, has raised $7.5 million Series A. Company offers a cloud-based service that helps companies continually scan and react to data compromises in real time. Read more

4. LatAm corporate spend-management startup Clara raises $3.5M

Clara, a corporate spend-management startup focused on the Latin American market, announced its product launch and a raised $3.5 million pre-seed funding. Read more

5. Optibus picks up $107M for an AI-based planning and operations platform

Optibus — a Tel Aviv-based startup, that has built an AI-based platform to help mass transportation work more efficiently is announcing a huge round of funding of $107 million. Read more

11th March, 2021

1. Chatbot startup Heyday raises $5.1M

Montreal-based Heyday announced today that it has raised $5.1 million in US dollars, Heyday brings all that communication together in one dashboard with AI to determine sales-related interaction, and it automates basic responses when possible. Read more

2. Hugging Face raises $40 million for its natural language processing library

Hugging Face has raised a $40 million Series B funding, The company has been building an open source library for natural language processing (NLP) technologies. Read more

3. Hi Marley raises $25M to fund its AI-powered communication platform for the insurance industry

Boston startup Hi Marley, closed on a $25 million Series B funding round to help scale its SMS platform. Company will use its new capital to create new features, ensure the platform scales across the enterprise and hiring. Read more

12th march, 2021

1. Disruptel raises $1.1M to make smart TVs smarter

Disruptel, a voice assistant startup disclose that it has raised $1.1 million in seed funding. Comapny aims build a voice assistant that offers detailed information about what’s happening on your TV screen. Read more

2. Coupang follows Roblox to a strong first day of trading

Another public debut of a multibillion-dollar company Coupang, whose shares are currently up just over 46% to more than $51 after pricing at $35, $1 above the South Korean e-commerce giant’s IPO price range. Read more

13th March, 2021

1. Serimmune launches new immune response mapping service for COVID-19

Immune intelligence startup Serimmune, announced the launch of a new application of their core technology to help understand the disease states of and immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Read more

2. Tata Digital seeks CCI approval to acquire BigBasket

Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. plans to buy a majority stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.-backed online grocery seller BigBasket. The Tata-BigBasket deal, if approved, would put the conglomerate in direct competition with leading e-commerce giants. Read more 

14th March, 2021

1. Real-money gaming startup GetMega launched, targets 50 mn users

A skill-based, real-money gaming startup GetMega, had raised over $9 million, The social gaming startup has 5 million registered users and is targeting 50 million by the end of the year. Read more

If you missed out the previous week or entire month updates of startup world news, follow the link to read it now and stay updated with every passing update with us.

Startup News: 1st March 2021 - 7th March 2021

Startup News: 22nd February 2021 - 28th February 2021

Startup News: 15th February 2021 - 21st February 2021

Startup News: 8th February 2021 - 14th February 2021

We, at OpenGrowth, are constantly looking for latest news in the startup ecosystem. If you want to share any important news from last week, then do let us know in the comment section below.