Author: Isabella

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch: Rainbow, a mobile crypto wallet that works with Ethereum, raises an $18M Series A led by Seven Seven Six  —  While a world of internet users skeptically grapples with the rise of multi-million dollar JPGs and crypto exchanges bankrolling celebrity-packed Super Bowl spots …

Richard Waters / Financial Times: Dell spins off its 81% stake in VMware, creating a $64B independent software company; Dell’s remaining hardware operations have an implied value of $33B  —  Share sale completes eight-year saga that will unwind part of the 2018 deal for server and storage company EMC

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch: Jakarta-based investment app Pluang adds $55M to its Series B, bringing the round to $110M, led by Accel to expand in Southeast Asia  —  Jakarta-based investment app Pluang announced that it has raised $55 million led by Accel.  This is a follow-on to its Series B and brings that round’s total to $110 million.

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch: TikTok is testing TikTok Live Studio, a Windows app that lets users stream directly to TikTok Live from their computer  —  What if instead of watching your favorite TikTok star stream on Twitch, you could watch them play video games live on TikTok?  For the last few days, according to the platform …

Emily Birnbaum / Politico: Sources: the Internet Association plans to announce it’s dissolving as soon as Wednesday, amid financial struggles  —  The Internet Association, once branded as Silicon Valley’s most important trade group in Washington, plans to announce it is dissolving as soon as tomorrow, two people familiar with the situation told POLITICO.

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: TikTok adds monetization tools for creators, including Stripe-powered Tips and Video Gifts, starting in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain  —  TikTok is today introducing new ways for its creators to make money from their content.  While already, the short-form video platform allowed creators …

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: French buy now, pay later startup Alma raises a €115M Series C and €95M debt from Tencent and others, bringing its total equity funding to €185M  —  French startup Alma is trying to build a new “buy now, pay later” giant in Europe.  The company has closed a $130 million Series C round (€115 million).

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Bengaluru-based Exotel, which offers customer engagement tools like contact center, APIs, and chat bots, raises a $40M Series D led by Steadview Capital  —  Exotel said on Tuesday it has raised $40 million in a financing round, just three months after securing $35 million in funding …

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: SVT Robotics, which develops software for simplifying robot deployment at warehouses and factories, raises a $25M Series A led by Tiger Global  —  SVT Robotics, a provider of software that orchestrates robots in warehouses and factories, has raised $25 million in series A funding led …

Sam Nussey / Reuters: Tokyo- and Bangkok-based Opn, formerly Synqa, a digital payments and blockchain tech provider, raises a $120M Series C+ at a $1B+ valuation  —  Digital payments processor Opn, formerly known as Synqa, said it had raised $120 million in a Series C+ funding round, becoming a rare unicorn, or startup worth more