Big Tech Is Coming for Banking: Experts Predict Fintech’s 2020

Financial technology startups will enter the next decade with a little more street cred than the last time around. Nearly 60 upstarts focusing on financial services — from Stripe Inc. to Chime Inc. to Plaid Inc. — have garnered valuations of more than $1 billion in recent years, according to CB Insights. Personal loans — a category popularized by fintechs like GreenSky Inc. or Affirm Inc. — are now the fastest growing form of debt in the U.S., Experian data says. And Robinhood sparked a move…

Verizon’s 5G network covers parts of 31 cities, matching 2019 goal

Back in February, Verizon said its 2019 plan was to offer mobile 5G in over 30 cities — a non-trivial task for a carrier focused on the short-distance, millimeter wave flavor of 5G service. Today, the carrier announced it has met its goal with a week to spare, though the accomplishment comes with the caveat that its 5G service is only available in small parts of each city. As of today, Verizon’s mobile 5G network is launching in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, as well as the coastal area of Vir…

One Proptech Firm Eyes M&A

After raising $34.25 million in Series B financing, Chase Garbarino, CEO of tenant experience platform HqO, is geared up for growth. HqO will use this capital to expand its technology, double its engineering team and grow sales and business operations to accelerate national and international expansion. In recent months, the company has opened offices in New York City, London and Paris to fuel its continued growth. “We’re going to continue to invest in our platform and we’re going to look into ma…

SoftBank’s $3 billion WeWork financing talks stall with Japan banks: sources

The Japanese technology conglomerate is now likely to enter the new year without the WeWork financing in place, the people said, adding the banks are also concerned about the risks involved in rescuing the U.S. office-sharing startup. Mizuho Financial Group Inc, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (SMFG) are seeking ways to provide the financing while offsetting exposure, the people said, declining to be identified because the information is not publ…

How the ‘big 5’ bolstered their AI through acquisitions in 2019

The AI talent grab is real. This year alone, Pinterest CTO Vanja Josifovski jumped ship to Airbnb, while Pinterest hired Walmart CTO Jeremy King to head up its engineering team. Moreover, all the big tech companies, including Google and Apple, have for some time been vacuuming up AI talent through acquisitions — a recent CB Insights report noted 635 AI acquisitions since 2010, topped by Apple with 20 acquisitions. Elsewhere, Microsoft turned to online education platforms to help train a new gene…

Why Tech in CRE Is Finally Exploding

Why Compass, @properties and tech startups are diving into bridge loans

Once the gatekeepers to sales listings, real estate agents are increasingly in front of another key aspect of the home-buying process: the financing. To help clients increase their purchasing power, a number of residential brokerages have launched bridge loan programs that let clients borrow money to pay for a new home before they sell their old one. In addition to boosting sales, the programs are a way for firms to distinguish themselves from the competition — which is increasingly coming in th…

New Orleans’ Levelset Raises $30M As U.S. Construction Tech Funding Tops $1B In 2019

S3 Ventures, Altos Ventures, Operating Venture Capital, and Darren Bechtel of Brick & Mortar Ventures also participated in the financing, which brings the New Orleans-based company’s total raised since it was founded in 2008 to $47 million. (Levelset ranks among the most-funded startups in Louisiana today, according to Crunchbase data.) CEO Scott Wolfe founded Levelset after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, and his family was working in reconstruction efforts. He realized just how …

Seoul bolsters its smart city infrastructure with IoT network

The network will be based on Semtech’s LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN protocol. According to the Seoul government, the Smart Seoul Network, or “S-Net,” will provide all citizens with the basic right to Internet access. The main aims of the S-Net project are the establishment of a municipal broadband network, deployment of free-to-use wi-fi networks and increased integration of IoT infrastructure based on LoRa devices. By 2022, the city plans to deploy up to 1,000 LoRaWAN-based gateways to compleme…

Levelset draws $30M of investment, including funds from Darren Bechtel of Brick & Mortar

Levelset, the New Orleans-based tech company that helps construction contractors manage and complete the tangle of compliance paperwork needed to secure payment in a timely manner, announced today a $30 million round of funding led by Horizons Ventures with participation from S3 Ventures, Altos Ventures, Operating Venture Capital, Michael Gollner and Darren Bechtel of Brick & Mortar Ventures, bringing total outside investment to $47 million. As part of the deal, Bart Swanson of Horizons will…