Top tech startup news stories you need to know this Tuesday, September 4

Good morning! Here are some of the top tech startup news stories for today, Tuesday, September 4.

German reinsurer Munich Re buys IoT middleware startup, relayr, in deal worth $300 million. German reinsurer Munich Re announced Tuesday it plans to acquire IoT middleware startup Relayr for $300 million. The deal shows the growing links between financial service providers and technology companies. Relayr is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) powerhouse delivering the most complete solution for risk-free digital transformations. We unleash data insights from existing equipment, machines and production lines to improve our customers’ business outcomes.

Blockchain startup FishCoin to solve traceability issues in seafood industry via blockchain. Blockchain startup Fishcoin is aiming to solve one of the biggest problems plaguing the seafood industry: seafood authenticity and traceability. The global seafood supply chain is sufficiently complicated and FishCoin wants to address the problem using decentralized ledger technology (DLT). The startup plans to link fishermen and fish farmers at the point of harvest to global seafood supply chain actors, ranging from distributors, processors, wholesalers and retailers. The company aims to apply blockchain technology to bring traceability to the seafood industry and create an ecosystem which could allow seafood producers and supply chain intermediaries to get rewards via microtransactions. The startup has also partnered with a score of companies to bring the plan to fruition.

Workforce engagement startup Arcade raises $1.5 million seed round. Arcade, a Dallas-based startup that applies a gamification approach to help businesses boost sales team productivity, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding.  The round was led by ATX Seed Ventures with participation from RevTech Ventures. Arcade is a proven  workplace engagement solution that increases team’s output, sales revenue and employee performance using games, recognition, and rewards.

Colombia-based fintech startup Portal Finance raises $200 million for small business loans in Latin America. Colombia-based fintech startup Portal Finance and Latin America’s largest financial services institution, BTG Pactual have raise $200 million in joint venture small business loans in Latin America. To date, the company has issued 200 loans in Chile and 500 in Colombia. Founded in 2016 by Diego Caicedo, Portal Finance provides the tools to understand and leverage this information to transform how mission critical finance decisions are made.

Gaming startup King’s Candy Crush Saga mobile games generate $3.9 million every day.  Gaming developer King is raking in millions of dollars everyday from its popular Candy Crush Saga mobile games. According to research from Sensor Tower, players are spending an amazing $3.9m each day on the Candy Crush puzzle games. The three games in the series are: Candy Crush Saga, Candy Crush Soda Saga, and Candy Crush Jelly Saga. It’s the original title that takes the most revenue, at 62% of the daily count, followed by Soda Saga with 31%, leaving just 7% for the most recent entry Jelly Saga.

Former Estonian Prime Minister becomes advisor to blockchain startup Lympo. Taavi Rõivas, a former Estonian prime minister, is joining cryptocurrency startup Lympo as chairman of its supervisory board, the company said in a press release. Lympo is a new blockchain startup that wants to encourage people to exercise more. Taavi Rõivas, who ran the Estonian government as prime minister from 2014 to 2016 and currently serves as a member of the country’s parliament. Lympo aims to incentive exercise and active lifestyles through its LYM token. Its business model is around monetizing sports and health data via blockchain.