Top tech startup news stories you need to know this Friday, April 13

Good morning! Here are some of the top tech startup news stories today Friday, April 13.

Spotify acquired licensing startup Loudr. The Swedish streaming giant, Spotify, has acquired Loudr. The San Francisco-based startup Loudr allows people and companies to “easily obtain mechanical licenses to distribute recordings as digital downloads, ringtones, CDs or vinyl records,” according to the information on the company’s website. This is a strategic acquisition in that it may help alleviate one of Spotify’s biggest headaches. Loudr offers scalable licensing solutions that link songs to songwriters, calculate royalties and power publishing payments.

WeWork acquired China’s co-working startup Naked Hub for $400 million. As reported yesterday, WeWork has acquired a fellow Chinese co-working startup, Naked Hub, for about $400 million as part of its continued expansion effort in the world’s most populous country. WeWork is currently the largest global co-working company. According to the people familiar with the deal, WeWork will pay about $400 million for the three-year-old startup. WeWork is currently valued at about $20 billion and manages 10 million square feet of office space.

Cybersecurity startup empow raises $10 million in Series B funding round. Boston and Tel Aviv, Israel-based cybersecurity startup empow announced Thursday that it has raised $10 million in its Series B venture funding round. empow provides a security information and event management (SIEM) platform, meaning it monitors data from across an organization’s network infrastructure in search of threats.

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner is joining a marijuana startup. John Boehner, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Bill Weld, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts who was the 2016 running mate of Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, are joining the advisory board of Acreage Holdings. Acreage Holdings is an investment company with an established footprint in the cannabis industry in the United States, operating in 11 states nationwide. John Boehner also tweeted confirming the report.

Tesla shares jump after Elon Musk says company will be profitable and cash flow to be positive in third quarter. Elon Musk tweeted in a response to Economist magazine that his company will be profitable and does not need to raise any additional money. The tweet reads: ” The Economist used to be boring, but smart with a wicked dry wit. Now it’s just boring (sigh). Tesla will be profitable & cash flow+ in Q3 & Q4, so obv no need to raise money.”

The CEO of Backpage.com pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges in California. Carl Ferrer, CEO of Backpage.com, leaded guilty Thursday to state and federal charges including conspiracy and money laundering and has promised to co-operate with prosecutors. Blackpage has been dubbed an “online brothel.”

Local fresh food delivery startup Local Crate raises $1.4 million to accelerate growth and expand market. Saint Paul, Minnesota-based local fresh food delivery startup, Local Crate, announced it has raised $1.4 million in a Seed funding round led by Midwestern based firms The Syndicate Fund, Matchstick Ventures, M25 Group, and Router Ventures. Additionally, a select group of Minnesota angel investors contributed. Local Crate will use the funding to fuel market and channel growth, expanding its vision to build out the first locally-driven food platform on a national scale.

Bloomio is a new startup that wants to redesign the venture capital industry. Switzerland-based startup Bloomio is a new platform providing crowdfunding investment in startups. Bloomio uses blockchain technology to power its equity platform and crowdfunding one as well. Its members have more than 25 years of experience working in the financial services industry.