Top startup news for today, Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Good morning! Below are some of the top tech startup news stories for today, Wednesday, April 24.

SoftBank to invest $1 billion for a 6% stake in German payments startup Wirecard.  The Japanese tech giant, SoftBank, is investing $1 billion in Wirecard for an almost 6% stake. It will help the German firm expand to Japan and South Korea. “In SoftBank we have found a partner that shares both our passion for new technologies and drive to spearhead the latest innovations, all on a global scale,” Wirecard Chief Executive Markus Braun said in a statement.

FullStory raises $32 million in Series C funding to scale sales and marketing. FullStory, an Atlanta, GA-based software startup that helps companies with tools to understand and improve digital customer experiences, has completed a $32 million Series C funding. The new capital infusion will be used to scale sales and marketing, and evolve its digital experience analytics platform into an engine for digital intelligence. The round, which brought total funding to $57 million, was led by Stripes, with participation from Dell Technologies Capital, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins, and Salesforce Ventures.

Salesforce made $92 million on its $100 million investment in Zoom made just 2  weeks ago. Salesforce’s investment in Zoom paid off in a very big way. On April 8, Salesforce quietly invested $100 million in Zoom ahead of its big IPO. 2 weeks later, the company almost doubling in value in just three trading days. Shares of Zoom has gone through the roof to72% since its debut last week Thursday. Zoom stocks closed Tuesday at $69, valuing Salesforce’s stake at about $192 million.

KeepTruckin raises a massive $149 million Series D funding to serve and disrupt the $740 billion trucking industry. KeepTruckin, a San Francisco, CA-based startup helping trucking companies manage their fleets and have their drivers legally log their hours, has raised a massive $149 million in a Series D investment to fuel the company’s continued growth through hiring exceptional talent, investing in hardware, building strong partnerships and furthering advancements in machine learning. The round, which brings total funding to $228 million, was led by Greenoaks Capital, with participation from existing investors IVP, GV, Index Ventures and Scale Venture Partners.

TripScout raises $2 million in seed funding. TripScout, a travel app provider startup, has secured $2.1 million in seed funding. The fresh round was led by Corazon Capital, with participation from New Stack Ventures, Village Global, 500 Startups, and others. Co-founded by CEO Konrad Waliszewski and and CPO and co-founder Andy Acs, TripScout is a travel entertainment platform for visual discovery which features the best articles and videos from top publishers and local influencers for each destination. The app also allows travelers to turn their inspiration into action as every restaurant, café, shop, or site featured within the content is mapped to one of TripScout’s 100 million+, constantly updated points of interest.

Ford invests $0.5 billion in electric pickup startup Rivian in bid to develop a Ford-branded all-electric vehicle. Ford Motor Company is investing $500 million in Amazon-backed electric pickup startup Rivian in bid to bid to electrify its F-Series trucks. In a separate announcement, Rivian said the companies have agreed to work together to develop an all-new, next-generation battery electric vehicle for Ford’s growing EV portfolio using Rivian’s skateboard platform. Founded in 2009 by Robert J. Scaringe, Rivian is the world’s first electric adventure vehicles.