Top tech startup news stories you need to know this Friday, February 16
Nickie Louise
Posted On February 16, 2018
Good morning! Here are some of the top tech startup news stories today Friday, February 16.
Two Ex-Googlers strike startup gold, again, with $1.9 billion sale to drugs giant. Flatiron, a cancer-technology company founded by Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg has sold the company to Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche for $1.9 billion. The company confirmed the deal Thursday. Roche said would speed development of new cancer treatments and help it with regulators. A two-man entrepreneurial team who attended an elite college together previously sold the startup they founded to Google for a reported $81 million.
Coinbase empties customers bank accounts. Coinbase promises refunds after allegedly draining bank accounts. People are freaking out on Reddit because the exchange is taking money out of their bank accounts. Coinbase said it’s a card processing issue and is assuring people that it will refund them.
Packaging startup Lumi completes $9 million fundraise to leverage its digital network of factories. California-based Lumi has closed a $9 million Series A funding round. The latest funding was led by Spark Capital, and joined by Forerunner Ventures and Homebrew.
Cybersecurity startup Penten scores AU$1.3m from Defense con for cryptography. Australian cybersecurity firm Penten has received AU$1.3 million from the Department of Defense to develop a cryptography solution for the Australian Army. The contract is for the enabling of secure mobile access to government networks using Peten’s AltoCrypt technology.
Super stealth startup Corellium built an Apple hacker’s paradise. New startup Corellium has developed a mobile device virtualization platform that make it a lot easier to go bug hunting in Apple devices. The software can spin up virtual iPhones and iPads. From there, hackers and software developers can try to find security weaknesses or just testing their apps on different Apple hardware and software.
Social VR sports startup LiveLike raises $9.6 million. LiveLike, a tech startup that has built a platform that melds virtual reality and social-media interactivity for sports, announced a $9.6 million Series B round. The latest funding is led by new investors Greycroft Partners and Lepe Partners.
