Top tech startup news for today, Tuesday, January 28, 2020: N26, ServiceNow, Justworks, Joust, AppOmni

Good morning! Below are the top tech startups news for today, Tuesday, January 28, 2020.

Peter Thiel-backed mobile bank N26 says it’s luring deposits from US heavyweights like Chase and Citibank. German mobile bank N26 said its planning to lure deposits from US Wall Street  giants like Chase and Citibank. The bank said it has attracted 250,000 users in the United States, where it claims new customers are shifting funds from established giants like Chase Bank and Citibank. The fintech startup, which is backed by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel, was launched in 2013 to offer mobile banking solutions to customers in the European Union through its subsidiary. The startup expanded to the U.S. in July 2019.

Deep tech startup Lynq Technologies raises $6M seed funding to accelerate growth and technology expansion. Lynq Technologies, a Brooklyn, New York-based deep-tech startup that connects people and devices across miles without infrastructure, has closed $6 million seed round today. Based in Brooklyn, Lynq uses its decentralized, private and flexible network protocol to change how low-bandwidth data is transmitted. Backers include ff Venture Capital, Sony Innovation Fund, Chetrit Ventures, and Plus Eight Equity Partners. The funding follows successful presale campaign on the IndieGogo that reached over $1.7 million for the
company’s premiere device, which is now commercially available.

Roambee closes $15.2 million in Series B funding. Roambee, a Santa Clara, California-based on-demand shipment and asset monitoring platform company, raised $15.2m in additional Series B funding to expand operations and accelerate sales globally. The round was led by Anchor Group and Comcraft, with participation from Intuitive Ventures, Jebsen & Jessen, Telkomsel and Anant Singhania. Led by Sanjay Sharma, CEO, Roambee provides an on-demand shipment and asset monitoring platform to companies in manufacturing, logistics, transportation, finance, pharmaceutical and automotive industries. Its sensor logistics platform uses IoT sensors to collect data, artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver insights and foresights and robotic process automation (RPA) to automate operations within the enterprise.

ServiceNow acquires tech startup Passage AI to advance its deep learning AI capabilities. ServiceNow today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Passage AI, a Mountain View, Calif.-based conversational AI platform company. The total amount of the deal was not disclosed. The transaction will advance ServiceNow’s deep learning AI capabilities and will accelerate its vision of supporting all major languages across the company’s Now Platform and products, including ServiceNow Virtual Agent, Service Portal, Workspaces and emerging interfaces. Founded in 2016 by CEO Ravi N. Raj, CTO Madhu Mathihalli and CTO Mitul Tiwari, Passage AI’s conversational AI platform is built on deep learning models that can be trained to understand text in all major languages.

Justworks lands $50 million in Series E funding to accelerate growth. Justworks, a New York City-based HR tech startup, has closed $50 million in Series E funding to continue to expand operations and its business reach. The round, which brings the total funding to $143 million, was led by Union Square Ventures and existing investor FirstMark Capital, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Index Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Spark Capital, and Thrive Capital. Founded in 2012 by Isaac Oates, CEO, Justworks provides a platform to start, run and grow a business. By leveraging a technology-enabled version of the Professional Employer Organization (PEO) model, Justwork provides a platform for small and medium-sized companies with under 200 employees to get access to big-company benefits, health and wellness providers, payroll, HR tools and compliance support.

Fintech startup Joust launches a new banking app for freelancers and self employed workers. Joust announced the launch of a new banking app for freelancers & self employed workers. The new app has a modern, intuitive re-design, and a slate of new, consumer-driven features — with additional features releasing throughout 2020. Based on customer feedback, these new features include an analytical dashboard, Joust Visa debit card management, invoice creation/payments, and more. Joust will continue to release a host of new app features throughout 2020. In addition to these new features, the Joust app will continue to boast its invoice-guaranteeing product, PayArmour™, which funds unpaid client invoices, and its FDIC-insured bank account combined with a merchant account. Founded in 2017 by Lamine Zarrad and George Kurtyka, Joust is the nation’s first all-inclusive banking platform for independent professionals. It serves freelancers, contractors, and self-employed workers in all 50 states.

AppOmni scores $10M Series A to prevent SaaS data leaks through continuous monitoring and alerting. AppOmni announced it has raised $10 million in Series A funding to accelerate sales and marketing operations, and bolster the startup’s product development teams at both their corporate headquarters in San Francisco and their Innovation Center in Carbondale, Colorado. The round, which brings the company’s total financing to $13 million to date, was led by ClearSky. New investor Inner Loop Capital also participated in the round, joining existing investors Costanoa Ventures, Silicon Valley Data Capital, and Twilio’s COO George Hu. Founded in 2018 by Brendan O’Connor, AppOmni empowers organizations to easily secure, manage, and monitor applications in the public cloud. Unlike traditional security and management tools, AppOmni deeply understands SaaS applications and cloud platforms, and operates on the authorization and data-access layers.