Happy weekend. Welcome to tech startup top stories of the week! Here, you will find the week’s most important news and features published on TechStartups.com during the past week. If you want this update in your inbox every week, make sure to subscribe to the TechStartups Newsletter using the form at the top right corner on our home page .
Top Tech Startup Stories of the Week
- At to the top is Peter Thiel departure from Combinator after ending part-time partner program. Last Friday’s announcement of Peter Thiel departure from Y Combinator came as a surprise to a lot of folks in the tech community. Peter Thiel is one of the most the most powerful influncers in Silicon Valley. It is not very clear why Thiel and Y Combinator ended their relationship but a lot of people still think it partially has to do with Thiel’s support of President Trump.
- Airbnb acquired two startups in a week. Airnb made two major acquisitions within one week. On AdBasis published a note on its site stating that the deal closed on November 13. We also published a news story on November 16 about Airbnb acquisition of Accomable, a startup that helps you find disability-friendly rentals. Unlike Accomable, AdBasis is a controlled testing environment and analytics tool for A/B and multivariate tests on search, display, and mobile ads. The acquisition will strengthen Airbnb with ads it needs to grow its customer base.
- Neufund is the startup everyone in Europe is talking about. Last week, Neufund was covered by major news media outlets for raising $11 million in new funding. However, what is so spectacular about the company is the fact that is the first startup to come up with a novel way to fund ventures. It provides a blockchain-based fundraising. The young startup provide creators with the tools to fund their ventures by going directly to those who believe in their success.
- Axios Raises $20 Million From Investors. The Arlington Virginia-based Axios Media raised $20 million with plans to use the funding to expand its newsroom, according to The Wall Street Journal.
- G:loot, a Swedish startup wants to become “Spotify for e-sports.” Swedish startup G:loot wants to bring e-sports to the masses. E-sports is a multi million dollar industry and G:loot wants to capture a piece of the martket. According to 2017 Global Esports Market Report, the global market is expected to grow 41 percent to $696 million. G:Loot is currentlu organizing a world championship – called Global Loot League or GLL – in the most popular e-sports games right now, a South Korean sensation called PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
