Top tech startup news for today, Thursday, February 27, 2020: Apple, Daimler, Sequoia, SoftBank, Lendio, Wheely

Good morning! Below are the top tech startups news for today, Thursday, February 27, 2020.

SoftBank-backed food delivery startup DoorDash prepares for IPO, confidentially files documents with SEC. Food delivery startup DoorDash announced Thursday it’s taken an initial step toward a public offering. The announcement comes a few months after the SoftBank-backed startup raised $100 million at $13 billion valuation. DoorDash overtook GrubHub to become the leader in digital food delivery in 2019, according to data from analytics firm Second Measure. Founded in 2013 by four Stanford students with experiences from Facebook, Square, Vevo, and eBay, DoorDash provides on-demand restaurant food delivery services connecting customers with local businesses across the United States and Canada. The company is passionate about transforming local businesses and dedicated to enabling new ways of working, earning, and living.

Daimler-backed car service startup RepairSmith acquires CarDash to provide convenient car repair to customers. At-home car service startup RepairSmith announced yesterday it has acquired CarDash, a service-based startup with a shared mission to bring car owners convenient car repair and maintenance service. RepairSmith is backed by Daimler AG, one of the world’s most successful car companies. The acquisition will help advance RepairSmith operational and logistic capabilities. RepairSmith will also incorporate CarDash’s technology to enhance its product offering, and will service all customers from RepairSmith.com going forward. Founded in 2018, RepairSmith is based in Los Angeles, Calif. RepairSmith provides the first full service at-home delivery solution for car repair and maintenance. The company is backed by Daimler AG.

Sequoia India leads $16M funding in Qure.ai, a healthcare AI startup that helps physicians with routine diagnosis and treatment using artificial intelligence. Qure.ai, a Mumbai, India-based AI tech startup on a mission to make healthcare affordable and accessible using the power of artificial intelligence, announced today it has raised $16 miillion in a funding round to drive geographical expansion, expand product portfolio and support regulatory clearances. The round was led by Sequoia India, with participation from MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia (SEA). Founded in 2016 by Prashant Warier and Dr. Pooja Rao, and incubated by Fractal, Qure.ai today has presence in over 20 countries and has impacted over 600,000 lives. Using artificial intelligence developed on a database of over 7 million scans, Qure.ai solutions provide fast and accurate interpretations of radiology scans within seconds, reducing time to treatment in the critical moments of care.

Wheely, Europe’s ‘luxury’ competitor to Uber, plans on raising $30 million to fuel global expansion. Wheely, a London-based premium ride-hailing startup is planning to raise $30 million to expand into either the U.S. or Asia, according to a report from CNBC, citing the company’s CEO. The London-based company’s platform connects riders with chauffeurs who drive high-end Mercedes-Benz cars. The announcement comes comes as Uber faces the prospect of being blocked from the U.K. capital, which is its biggest European city. Founded in 2010 by Swiss/Russian CEO and entrepreneur Anton Chirkunov, Wheely is a luxury ride-hailing service, allowing customers to book chauffeur-driven journeys both on-demand and pre-booked through an app in London, Moscow and Paris.

Healthtech startup NeuroVasc raises $34M funding to support clinical trials and product development. NeuroVasc Technologies, a healthtech startup focused on novel catheter-based technologies to treat neurovascular disease, announced that it has closed $34M in funding through a strategic partnership with the Wego Group. The new capital infusion will be used to support the company’s product portfolio development and global clinical trial program. NeuroVasc has developed a comprehensive portfolio development strategy to bring differentiated tools to the INR community to facilitate broader treatment options for patients suffering stroke and other neurovascular diseases.

Apple to open first retail store in India next year, CEO Tim Cook says. Apple will open its first physical retail store in India in 2021, Chief Executive Tim Cook said yesterday. Responding to a question from a shareholder at Apple’s annual shareholder meeting in Cupertino, California about the company’s plans for India, Cook said the tech giant would start selling its products online in the country this year and will open its first Apple-branded store there next year. “We needed to get approval from the government to go in there ourselves” rather than with a domestic partner, Cook said. “I don’t want somebody else to run the brand for us.”

Lendio closes $55M Series E funding to accelerate the development of next-generation loan marketplace. Lendio, the nation’s largest marketplace for small business loans, today announced it has secured $55 million in capital, including $31 million in equity led by Mercato Partners’ Traverse Fund and a $24 million debt facility from Signature Bank. The equity funding came from existing investors including Napier Park Financial Partners, Comcast Ventures, Blumberg Capital, Stereo Capital and Runa Capital. The funding enables Lendio to increase the scope and precision of its loan marketplace while expanding new bookkeeping and lender services functions. Founded in 2011 by Brock Blake, Levi King, and Trent Miskin, Lendio provides a platform that helps small business owners find lenders and secure loans.