Startups news: what happened in September
Here is a new bunch of fresh rounds.
YouTube announced a new revenue-sharing model for YouTube Shorts creators that starts next year. Shorts is the business’ short-form video rival to TikTok. YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan said the company would begin paying a portion of its ad revenue from Shorts to creators with videos that get the most views.
WhatsApp introduced a new integration that enables Salesforce clients to communicate with their customers via the popular messaging app. Businesses will be able to manage their conversations from the Salesforce platform. WhatsApp says its goal is to make it easier for businesses to get running through its service. It comes as messaging has become a more prominent way for businesses to communicate with customers.
Retail technology startup Swiftly’s valuation surpassed $1B following a $100M funding round. Swifty helps retailers improve their apps, websites, and loyalty programs and sell ads.
OpenStore, an e-commerce aggregator that acquires Shopify brands, raised $32M at a $970M valuation. OpenStore primarily targets U.S.-based brands with an annual GMV between $1M-$10M.
An API platform for insurance infrastructure Zopper has raised $75M in new funding. Zopper works with insurance providers and creates byte-sized, personalized products that it then supplies to distribution partners such as banks, nonbanking financial institutions, retail chains, mobility firms that already have a captive customer base. This approach differentiates Zopper from many of its competitors in India that are aggregating coverages from different manufacturers and attempting to cut the distributors and directly reach consumers.
Brightflow AI ($15M) is injecting technology offers forecast and analysis tools so that small businesses can assess their cash flow and make data-driven decisions in real time. Brightflow also has a capital lending program. Brightflow is not alone in analytics. For example, Bainbridge Growth ($4M) is also providing data and analytics aimed at e-commerce companies. However, Brightflow told that Brightflow differentiates itself by focusing on the automation of financial services and disseminating that information in a way that a business owner can understand.
Fermat ($12M) helps brands sell their products through influencers. The main idea is to embed the sales inside the content published by influencers. The user clicks and goes to the influencer’s store, where they can also view the goods collections they have compiled. And the feature that raises the sales conversion and the average check is the ability to buy a collection of products in one click.
Fondue ($10.50M) helps online stores to easily replace discounts with cashback, with the help of which stores encourage visitors to purchase. To do this, you need to install an application from the Shopify app store, replace the words about “discounts” with “cashbacks” and put links in them leading to the Fondue platform, and pass the sizes of the necessary cashbacks in the parameters. After clicking on the link, the user has the opportunity to select the type of cashback. Returning money to the card is just one of the options.
Ratio ($411M) offers a range of financial services for sellers and corporate buyers of cloud services or Saas. After the seller integrates with the platform, he has the opportunity to provide his customers with flexible payment options from the “buy now, pay later” series. Therefore, the second product of a startup is the provision of loans to sellers. You can use the money received for any purpose – the purchase of equipment, advertising, hiring employees, and even the purchase of other companies.
PowerToFly ($30M) is where you receive expert career advice, free video training, coaching and exclusive access to jobs and events at top companies. The project creates and manages communications between company employees and applicants, such as a mentor and personal assistant who lobbies their employment in the company or helps to use wages.
