Since launching in 2017, Retool has made a name for itself as one of the premier low-code tools for building browser-based internal line-of-business applications. The well-funded startup’s service is now used at thousands of companies, including Amazon, OpenAI, Pinterest, Plaid, Snowflake, Taco Bell and Volvo. Now, it’s expanding its focus from internal apps to also … Read more
Rainforest, a startup that embeds payment processing into other software platforms, has raised $20 million in Series A funding — less than a year after announcing the close of its seed financing. Raising back-to-back rounds was more common in 2021 but we don’t see it happening as often in this new environment. Rainforest’s traction is … Read more
The airline industry is headed for record revenue this year — $996 billion — as the demand for travel soars. But the margins remain razor-thin. According to the trade association IATA, total expenses for airlines are projected to reach $936 billion, with earnings coming out to around $6.14 per passenger. That’s about the price of … Read more
Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has quietly started rolling out its own payments app, dubbed Super.money, as it broadens its fintech ambitions more than a year and half after separating from PhonePe. The Walmart-owned firm’s new app, now live in beta on Play Store, allows users to make mobile payments via UPI, an interoperable network that … Read more
You might think new generative AI startups like Eleven Labs are the hottest game in town for translation services. But voice translation was long ago preceded by another market, targeted some time ago by startups: content translation. Any company with an international presence needs to have their content translated around the world, so this remains … Read more
Apple has finally added support for Rich Communication Services (RCS) to its Messages app. The feature arrived as part of the second developer beta of iOS 18 earlier this week. RCS is a messaging protocol that uses the internet to let you send and receive files and high-quality images, see typing indicators, get read receipts, … Read more
Accel, one of the most prolific e-commerce and marketplace investors in India, is making a contrarian move by turning its focus to smaller towns and villages in search of future unicorns. The venture firm argued on Wednesday that these areas, which it refers to as “Bharat,” represent a significant market ripe with opportunities for entrepreneurs … Read more
In the post-COVID world, VCs say it’s not as easy to get excited about investing in digital health. Deal activity in healthcare IT was relatively flat in Q1 2024 at 74 total deals, valued at about $1 billion total, up only 3% from the year-ago quarter, according to PitchBook data. Still, promising startups have grabbed … Read more
In May, when OpenAI first demoed a far more realistic, nearly-real-time conversational experience for its chatbot platform ChatGPT, called Voice Mode, the company said that the feature would roll out to paying ChatGPT customers within a few weeks. Months later, OpenAI says it needs more time. In a post on OpenAI’s official Discord server, OpenAI … Read more
You can now more easily use ChatGPT on your Mac computer. OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot is available to all macOS users, the company announced on Tuesday. The app was first announced ahead of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June, where the companies jointly announced integrations between OpenAI’s chatbot and Apple’s operating systems for iPhone, … Read more