Top tech startup news for today, Monday, June 24, 2019

Below are some of the top tech startup news for today, Monday, June 24, 2019.

Bitcoin soars above $11,000 for the first time in 15 months, now up 170% for the year. Bitcoin rally rages on with no signs of slow down. Investors don’t seem to care of bad memories of bitcoin bubble bursting in 2018. Experts attributed the sudden rise to the announcement of the Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project is getting investors excited about the space. The world’s most popular cryptocurrency hit an all-time high of over $19,000 in December 2017 but crashed down to the mid-to-low $3,000 recently. Bitcoin is currently priced at $11,099 according to data from CoinBase.

Button secure $30 million in Series C funding to build the future of mobile commerce. Button, the platform that enables companies to drive revenue through mobile commerce, has closed a $30 million Series C funding to accelerate its investment in product development to build a more dynamic mobile infrastructure, grow its strategic partnerships, expand its team and international footprint, and scale its platform to continue making it easier for customers to purchase on mobile. The round was led by Icon Ventures, with participation from Capital One Ventures and returning investors Redpoint Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and DCM Ventures. Jeb Miller, General Partner of Icon Ventures. Founded in 2014, Button employs more than 100 people across New York, San Francisco, and London, and its technology is used across the globe.

Blend raises $130 million to accelerate growth and power one-tap mortgages and consumer loans. Blend, a Silicon Valley technology platform startup that delivers speed and efficiency to the consumer lending ecosystem, has raised $130 million in Series E funding to continue growing its team of nearly 400 employees to help financial institutions deepen their relationships with clients, bringing simplicity and transparency to consumer lending through one-tap experiences. The round brings the company’s total funding to date to $310 million. The round was led by Temasek and General Atlantic, with participation from existing investors 8VC, Founders Fund, Greylock Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. In conjunction with the funding, Blend has also named former Pixar CFO Ann Mather to an independent board member position.

BioEclipse Therapeutics raises $7.7 million in Series A-1 financing. BioEclipse Therapeutics, a South San Francisco-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical startup, has raised $7.7 million in Series A-1 financing to advance lead immunotherapy, CRX-100, into Phase 1b/2a clinical trials in therapy-refractory solid tumors. The round, which brought total funding raised to date to $9.3m, was led by Revelis Capital Group, with participation from Tsingyuan Ventures, DEFTA Partners, TSVC (TEEC Angel Fund) and Plum Alley.

Bill Gates and big oil back carbon capture startup Carbon Engineering to solve climate change by sucking CO2 out of the air. As part of the global effort to address climate crisis, Bill Gates as well as oil giants Chevron, BHP, and Occidental are investing in Carbon Engineering, a Squamish, British Columbia-based startup that is hoping to commercialize technology that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Using a procedure known as Direct Air Capture, Carbon Engineering combines giant fans and complex chemical processes to suck carbon dioxide from the air. These partnerships will bring the firm’s tech to market by using the captured carbon to make synthetic fuels and help extract more oil from the ground. Direct Air Capture isn’t new, but Carbon Engineering says its technology has advanced enough for it to finally make financial sense.