Top tech startup news stories you need to know this Wednesday, May 30

Good morning! Here are some of the top tech startup news stories for today, Wednesday, May 30.

Daimler acquired stake in ride-hailing startup Taxify. Daimler, the German carmaker that owns Mercedes-Benz, has acquired a stake in Taxify, the ride-booking startup, in a round of fundraising that gives Taxify a valuation of greater than $1 billion, according to  a report from Financial Times. Taxify is based in Estonia and has China’s Didi Chuxing among its investors, raised $175 million. The new cash infusion will be used to expand the business beyond the 40 cities in Europe and Africa where it currently operates, reported the Financial Times. Taxify is an international transportation network company founded and headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia. The company develops and operates the Taxify mobile app, which allows people to request a taxi or private driver from their smartphone.

Swiss fertility startup Ava raises $30 million in Series B funding. Ava, a medtech startup focused on innovations in women’s reproductive health and maker of the popular cycle tracking Ava bracelet, today announced it has raised $30 million in a strategic Series B funding round. The new funding is led by existing investors, with participation from European VC firms btov and SVC also joining the round. Ava was founded in Switzerland in 2014 by industry leaders in wearable technology, women’s health, and data science.

Google Alphabet Inc.’s X incubator-backed startup Dandelion Energy plans to heat your home from a hole in the ground.  Dandelion Energy Inc., a company that emerged out of Alphabet Inc.’s X incubator last year, says its custom-designed drilling rig will make geothermal heating systems more affordable to homeowners. Dandelion Air is an all-in-one heating and air conditioning system made more efficient by safe, geothermal heat. Dandelion Air replaces your home’s existing air conditioning and heating equipment with a powerful heat pump and safe. The Brooklyn-based company expects to begin drilling wells in June for heating and cooling systems that will cost less than $20,000. That’s about half the price of typical residential geothermal energy installations available today, according to Chief Technology Officer James Quazi.  With New York State and Federal incentives in place, customers could  also lower the cost of Dandelion geothermal by over 40%, the company claims on its website.

Alibaba leads $26.4 million round in GPU database developer SQream. Tel Aviv, Israel-based GPU database developer SQream on Wednesday announced that it has raised a $24.6-million Series B led by Alibaba Group. The funding round was joined by Hanaco Venture Capital, Sistema.vc, World Trade Ventures, Paradiso Ventures, Glory Ventures, and Silvertech Ventures.

AI startup ForwardX raises $10m in Series A from CDH. Beijing, China-based autonomous luggage maker ForwardX has announced that it has raised $10 million in its Series A round to bring its self-driving suitcase Ovis to the market. The latest round was co-led by CDH Investments and Eastern Bell Venture Capital. The company’s flagship product, Ovis, is the world’s first vision-powered Side-Follow carry-on that follows you by side autonomously, enabling a true hands-free & worry-free travel.

IoT startup Youdian Technology raises $22 million in Series A round. Shenzhen, China-based Internet of Things (IoT) startup Youdian Technology has closed a $22-million Series A round led by Northern Light Venture Capital. The round was joined by Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn Technology Group, according to a report by Tencent Yixian. The latest funding round brings the startup’s valuation to over $109 million.

84% of mobile shopping apps have security vulnerabilities according to new report. According to a new M-Commerce Security Report published by security experts Appknox,  84% of the analyzed shopping apps have at least three high level security vulnerabilities. A total of 274 vulnerabilities were detected among the top 50 Android mobile shopping apps, and all had security risks, the report says.