Top tech startup news for today, January 24, 2022: Google, Mark Cuban, Plaid, Venmo, Robinhood, Truebill, Chime, Temasek, and Swiggy

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Hello and welcome to top tech startup news for today, January 24, 2022! Below is a list of the top tech startup news for today.

The TechStartups Top 3

Fintech startup Plaid fined $58 million for collecting and accessing “more financial data than was needed from users.” Plaid, a fintech app that connects consumer bank accounts to services like Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase, and other apps, must pay $58 million to users of Venmo, Robinhood, and other apps for collecting and accessing more financial data than was needed from its users.

As part of a multi-million dollar class-action lawsuit settlement, Plaid has agreed to pay $58 million to all consumers with a linked bank account to any of its approximately 5,000 client apps, according to a report by Fast Company. So, if you use any fintech app that uses Plaid (e.g. Venmo, Robinhood, Truebill, Chime, etc.) then you may be owed money as part of a multi-million dollar lawsuit settlement.

India’s food-delivery tech startup Swiggy raises $700 million in funding, doubling its valuation to $10.7 billion. SoftBank-backed food delivery startup Swiggy announced on Monday it raised $700 million in funding led by U.S. investment firm Invesco. The round was joined by Baron Capital Group, Sumeru Venture, IIFL, and Kotak. Existing investors Alpha Wave Global and Qatar Investment Authority also participated in the round.

The latest round doubles the company’s valuation to $10.7 billion, according to a report from Reuters, citing two people familiar with the matter. The booming demand for quick delivery of food and grocery in India has accelerated since the pandemic began over two years ago. This has led to millions of dollars in investments flowing into in the sector.

Founded in 2014 by Nandan Reddy, Phani Kishan Addepalli, Rahul Jaimini, and Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy is an on-demand food delivery platform that brings food from the neighborhood restaurants directly to customers’ doors. The startup recently raised $1.25 billion in July 2021. The round, which valued the company at $5.5 billion, was led by Japanese giant SoftBank.

The Green Coffee Company raises $13.2M Series B to solidify its position as Colombia’s #1 largest coffee producer. Columbia-based Green Coffee Company (GCC) has raised $13.2 million Series B funding backed by over 220 individual investors in the business with its accredited investor base rapidly accelerating. Due to high demand from investors, the Series round was recently upsized by $3.5 million to $13.2 million.

GCC is a Legacy Group portfolio company and a Colombian coffee producer with 956 hectares across 11 farms. Unlike big coffee giants like Starbucks, GCC fosters relationships between farmers and roasters in order to bridge the gap between producers and consumers.

GCC said the new funding will enable the company to solidify its position as the #1 largest coffee producer in all of Colombia. The company also added that the path to a successful exit for the company has become more clear as it has navigated through this capital raise.

Startups/VC

Mark Cuban launches an online pharmacy that offers more than 100 generic drugs at affordable prices; sells leukemia drug imatinib at $47 a month instead of the $9,657 retail price. Billionaire investor Mark Cuban has launched an online pharmacy to help give millions of Americans access to generic drugs at affordable prices. The platform offers more than 100 generic drugs at an affordable price with the goal of being “radically transparent” in its price negotiations with drug companies.

Unlike the regular pharmacies that charge arms and legs, Mark’s new online pharmacy eliminates middlemen and no price games. All drugs are priced at cost plus 15% and the site passes on the huge drug savings to the users. In a statement on the site, Mark said: “Everyone should have safe, affordable medicines with transparent prices.”

For example, Cuban prices the leukemia drug imatinib at $47 a month, compared to the $9,657 retail price. Mesalamine (Canasa) also costs $36 per month, compared to a retail price of $959. Below is a screenshot of other drugs listed on the site.

Big Tech Inc.

Singapore’s Temasek acquired Bridgepoint’s UK-based testing company for $7 billion. Singapore’s Temasek Holdings has agreed to buy Bridgepoint’s UK-based testing firm Element Materials Technology for about $7 billion, according to a report from Bloomberg, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The acquisition will boost growth at the testing and inspection services provider, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Temasek originally acquired a significant minority stake in Element in 2019. The final announcement could be made as early as Monday, one of the sources said. Bridgepoint acquired Element from British buyout group 3i for an undisclosed amount in December 2015. The two sources declined to be identified as details of the deal have not been made public.

Crypto/Metaverse

Bitcoin crashes to $33,000, losing more than 50% of its value in just 2 months. Bitcoin’s downward spiral continues early this morning as the world’s most popular cryptocurrency lost more than half of its value since its all-time high price of $68,990.90 on November 9, 2021. Bitcoin is now trading at $33,184 as of the time of writing, according to data from CoinDesk. Other cryptocurrencies also extend steep losses as “drums of war” between Russia and Ukraine reach a new level.

Bitcoin is not alone. The carnage also spreads to other altcoins. Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano suffered heavy losses as $1 trillion were wiped off from the crypto market. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, suffered heavy losses dived nearly 11.71% in the last 24 hours.