Top tech startup news for today, Thursday, August 8, 2019

Good morning! Below are some of the top tech startup news for today, Thursday, August 8, 2019.

Facebook wants you to subscribe to its streaming video services, but it’s missing the most popular options. Facebook is trying really hard to selling video subscriptions. But things don’t seem to be working out for the social giant. So the company is partnering with video subscription companies, starting with BritBox (BBC and ITV’s service for British television series), CollegeHumor’s Dropout, MotorTrend OnDemand and Tastemade Plus. The videos can be viewed in Facebook’s Watch ecosystem, its video service. Facebook said users will be able to join “Watch Parties” to communicate with other users as they watch.

Pathstream raises $12M in Series A funding. Pathstream, a San Francisco, CA-based startup that creates educational programs for colleges in partnership with Silicon Valley’s top tech firms, raised $12m in Series A funding. The round was led by TDM Partners, Hereditas Capital Management, Bisk Ventures, New Ground Ventures and social impact investor Rethink Education. Founded by Eleanor Cooper, CEO, Pathstream partners with employers to create courses that can be offered for credit through a network of more than twenty U.S colleges and universities. Pathstream focuses on software-specific skills (such as Tableau, Salesforce, Facebook Ad Manager) learned via an online platform that enables students to practice the same skills they will need on the job.

Unicorn and cryptocurrency startup Robinhood gets approval to launch its popular investing app in the UK. Robinhood, a cryptocurrency startup that provides a stock brokerage that allows customers to buy and sell U.S. stocks, options, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies with zero commission, announced today it has been granted broker authorization from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, allowing the company to brings its popular zero-fee stock trading app to Britain. Founded in 2013 by Baiju Bhatt andVlad Tenev, Robinhood is an SEC registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. The startup has been building out a team in London led by former TransferWise executive Wander Rutgers. The company claims to have 6 million users in total and is recently valued at $7.6 billion.

Cashierless checkout startup Standard Cognition raises $35 million in funding to accelerate growth. Standard Cognition, an artificial intelligence startup that provides cashierless checkout technology, has raised $35 million in Series B funding to focus on early customers in the U.S. and Japan. The funding, which more than doubles its valuation to $535 million in eight months, was led by EQT Ventures and additional investors include Initialized Capital, CRV and Y Combinator, according to a press release. Standard’s total funding is now more than $86 million. Founded in 2017 by Brandon Ogle, Daniel Fischetti, David Valdman, John Novak, Jordan Fisher, Michael Suswal, and TJ Lutz , the San Francisco, California-based Standard Cognition is an artificial intelligence platform that allows buyers to grab what they want without having to go to a cashier.

Machine learning startup Opsani raises $10 Million Series A funding led by Redpoint Ventures for AI-driven continuous optimization of cloud applications. Opsani (formerly Datagrid Systems), a tech startup that provides of AI-driven Continuous Optimization for cloud applications, has secured a $10 million Series A funding round to scale Opsani’s operations to tackle the projected $50 billion cloud spend market in 2020, which is projected to grow at 20 percent* year over year. The round was led  by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from early investors Zetta Ventures and Bain Capital. In conjunction with the funding, Opsani also announced that Satish Dharmaraj, Partner at Redpoint, will join its Board.

PurpleLab secures $3M in growth financing. PurpleLab, a healthcare data and analytics platform startup, has raised $3m in growth financing to further scale its technology and accelerate our sales and marketing efforts. Edison Partners made the investment. Founded by CEO Mark Brosso, founder, PurpleLab leverages its cloud-based provider analytics platform to allow health plans, healthcare providers, as well as life science organizations to model and measure episodes of care. The company utilizes a self-service model and medical and prescription claims data to produce objective, quantitative, and predictive performance measures for 1.8 million healthcare providers across the nation.

Latin America based fintech startup Kushki Pagos acquires fintech QVO. Kushki Pagos, a payments processing platform that standardizes local payment features and conversion rates across borders in Latin America, acquired Chilean fintech company QVO, a platform that gives SMEs access to online payment solutions. With this acquisition, Kushki Pagos plans to expand into Chile, a country with the most demand for digital business. “We’re excited to acquire QVO to expand into Chile and help make it easier for businesses to accept payments online,” said Sebastian Castro, co-founder of Kushki Pagos. The platform helps merchants of all sizes navigate the complex and inefficient payment ecosystem within Latin America, providing standardized payments across borders.

Health tech startup Dadi secures $5 million in funding to disrupt the $8.6 billion fertility industry.  Dadi, a health tech startup that makes male fertility testing and sperm storage, has raised $5 million investment to expand its customer service capabilities and develop new technology. The round was led by TCG, an affiliate of The Chernin Group, with participation from previous investors firstminute Capital and Third Kind Ventures and new angel investors including Nat Turner, co-founder and CEO of Flatiron Health, and Alex Chung, co-founder and CEO of GIPHY.. As part of the funding news, Dadi also announced that TCG Partner Marco DeMeireles will also join its board.