Top tech startup news for today, Tuesday, January 14, 2020 – Visa, CropX, CredSimple, Engage EHS, Obvious Ventures

Good morning! Below are the top tech startups news for today, Tuesday, January 14, 2020.

Israeli agritech startup CropX buys CropMetrics. CropX, an Israelu global soil sensing and agricultural analytics startup, has acquired CropMetrics, a Lincoln, Nebraska-based provider of cloud-based, precision-irrigation tools. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. As part of the acquisition agreement, current CropMetrics and CropX partners and customers will now have access to an enhanced combination of in-soil data, advanced farm management analytics and decision-support tools. CropMetrics adds more than 500,000 acres under management and over 10 years of in-depth U.S. farm data to the CropX farm management platform.

Visa Acquires FinTech Startup Plaid for $5.3 Billion. Financial giant Visa announced yesterday that it has acquired fintech startup Plaid for $5.3 billion. Founded by Duke University alum, Plaid makes it easy for people to securely connect their financial accounts to the apps they use to manage their financial lives. Plaid will help expand its access to financial-technology firms while accelerating its movement outside of cards, Visa CEO says. Plaid’s products enable consumers to conveniently share their financial information with thousands of apps and services such as Acorns, Betterment, Chime, Transferwise and Venmo. Consumers rely on these apps and services to help plan their spending, increase their savings and monitor their investments. For example, when a user sets up a Venmo account, it is Plaid that enables the user to link their bank account to their Venmo account.

Dublin-based tech startup Effective Software rebrands as Engage EHS; secures 1.5 million Euros in funding. Effective Software, a Dublin-based startup and provider of web-based safety software solutions and training and assessment platforms, announced today it has rebranded under the company name Engage EHS to reflect the value it is driving for its customers in addressing changing EHS challenges. In conjunction with the rebranding, Engage EHS also announced it has secured 1.5 million euros in a recent round of funding from existing venture capital and strategic private investors. Founded in 2007, Engage EHS’s cloud based system focuses on serving the EHS market in a wide variety of industries including manufacturing, engineering, logistics and supply-chain and construction.

New York-based CredSimple Buys Glenridge Health. CredSimple, a  cloud-based healthcare credential verification startup, has acquired Glenridge Health to create the industry leader in provider network management. The Columbia, MD-based Glenridge Health is a provider of technology-enabled provider network management solutions company. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. This acquisition expands CredSimple’s capabilities to include comprehensive provider network development and management services. Through the deal, CredSimple will combine its National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) certified Credentialing Verification Cloud (CVC) platform, with Glenridge Health’s proprietary network management technology to build and manage provider networks that are compliant, efficient, and aligned to the health plans strategic goals.

Latvian FinTech startup Jeff App raises €150,000 to match borrowers with lenders in South-East Asia. Jeff App, a Latvian FinTech startup that offers a loan brokerage solution which utilizes alternative data to boost financial inclusion and has its focus set on South-East Asia, announced it has raised 150,000 Euros to further evolve its “Tinder for loans” solution in Vietnamese market, as well as expand to Indonesia later in 2020. The round was led by a number of European business angels. Backers in this funding round include Tadas Langaitis (co-founder at Nortal, LHV, angel investor at Kilo Health, Not Perfect, advisor at Debitum, NOIA). The company is advised by Raimonds Kulbergs (ex-Funderful, Salto Network). This is the startup’s funding round to date.

Obvious Ventures, a new venture fund founded by Twitter co-founder and early Beyond Meat investor, announces $271.8 million for its third fund. Obvious Ventures, a new venture fund founded by Twitter co-founder and early Beyond Meat investor, just raised $271,828,182 for its third fund (OV3), bringing its total size to about $585 million. The firm made the announcement on Medium today. So, what is the significance of $$271,828,182? This number is probably obvious for some of us with love for Mathematics. For people who are not familiar with Math, the number “e” is one of the most important numbers in mathematics. The first few digits are: 2.7182818284590452353602874713527 (and more …) It is often called Euler’s number after Leonhard Euler (pronounced “Oiler”). e is an irrational number (it cannot be written as a simple fraction). Obvious Ventures chose the new funding amount for the reason. As Ev Williams said on Medium, “In the Obvious tradition, this fund size has an interesting number: $271,828,182. It’s a nod to one of the most important constants in mathematics: Euler’s Number, universally known as e.”