Top tech startup news stories you need to know this Wednesday, September 12

Good morning! Here are some of the top tech startup news stories for today, Wednesday, September 12.

New York State regulators approve StableCoins cryptocurrencies. In a sign that cryptocurrencies may be maturing, the state of New York approved the first digital currencies that are tied to the US dollar, called “stablecoins.” The coins were launched by Winklevoss Brothers‘ company, Gemini. Stablecoin received a green light from New York regulator on Monday. The new digital currency is pegged directly to the US dollar on the Ethereum blockchain. The Gemini Trust Company holds the deposits and has been officially accepted by the New York Department of Financial Services, the regulatory body associated with banking and finance.

Juul Labs, the e-cigarette startup, is now worth 15 billion. JUUL Labs is an electronic cigarette company that specializes in improving alternatives for adult smokers and has launched a nicotine vaporizer in US. The company is a simply satisfying alternative for adult smokers. It spun off from PAX Labs in 2017. The JUUL e-cigarette was introduced by PAX Labs in 2015. It is a type of e-cigarette that utilizes nicotine salts that exist in leaf-based tobacco for its key ingredient. In June 2018, Juul raised $650 million at $1.25 to join the startup unicorn club, according to an SEC filing. According to CNBC, Juul Labs’s valuation after the round is now $15 billion, pre-money.

Plex is killing off its Cloud streaming service this November. Plex, the media streaming service startup that lets you stream all your stuff to all your devices from anywhere, is shutting down its cloud service at the end of November. “We’ve made the difficult decision to shut down the Plex Cloud service on November 30th, 2018. As you may know, we haven’t allowed any new Plex Cloud servers since February of this year, and since then we’ve been actively working on ways to address various issues while keeping costs under control,” the company said on its support page. The company is making the decision due to technical issues and cost concerns. Once support ends, you’ll have to stream media from your own server or computer to your connected devices instead of your favored cloud storage service.

PowerInbox, a fast-growing startup is going after Google and Facebook in $50 billion ad market. New York City and Tel Aviv-based PowerInbox, an audience engagement and digital monetization partner for publishers and marketers, is going after Google and Facebook to compete in the $50 billion online media industry. Founded in 2010, PowerInbox monetizes email for publishers. PowerInbox charges advertisers 40 cents or more for each push notification at the bottom of an email message. PowerInbox gets a portion of the revenue — most of which goes to publishers who get a recurring revenue stream.

Startup accelerator, TheFamily, is raising $17.4 million to support and build ambitious startups in Europe. TheFamily, a London, England-based venture capital and private equity company that nurtures entrepreneurs through education, is raising a new $17.4 million funding round (€15 million). The latest round is led by private banking and asset management group LGT Capital Partners with participation from  HummingBird Venture, Project A, eVentures and others. Founded in 2013 by Alice Zagury, Nicolas Colin, and Oussama Ammar, The company is transforming a portfolio of non-linear companies, special projects and virtual infrastructures into a connected community of entrepreneurs, operators and fellow investors who inspire and support one another. Some of TheFamily’s startups include: Agricool, Algolia, Clustree, Comet, Doctrine, Fretlink, Heetch, Nestor, Payfit, Side, Stanley Robotics, Trusk and more.

Australia coding security startup Secure Code Warrior lands $4.93 million in funding. Sydney, Australia-based coding security startup Secure Code Warrior has raised $4.93 million to boost its US operations. The funding was led by Australian venture capital fund AirTree Ventures and Washington DC-based Paladin Capital Group. Started in 2016 by Danhieux and Matias Madou, both Belgian natives with backgrounds in cyber security, Secure Code Warrior is a Software-as-a-Service platform that educates developers about how to write code securely and within their company’s guidelines.