Indian startups raised record $ 10.46 billion in first half of 2021 – TechCrunch

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Hello and welcome to the Daily Crunch on July 7, 2021! Today was a doozy, with everything from fundraising news from global startups to frivolous lawsuits attacking tech companies to European unicorn liquidity. Hope you are ready! Plus, Early Stage is tomorrow. We’ll see each other there! – Alexis

The TechCrunch top 3 5

• The former US president needs the money: Former US President Donald Trump laughed at himself today by announcing lawsuits against major social media companies. His arguments were instantly ridiculed. But Trump is already raising money for his attempt to slander private businesses, the media, and generally anyone who does not follow his wishes. This is what the hubbub was talking about today.
• Why Microsoft’s big cloud contract collapsed: We noted yesterday that the big Microsoft-US military cloud deal was kaput. Today Ron Miller explained why, namely that in trying to find a Single seller for the $ 10 billion deal, he was doomed from the start. Maybe the MoD can find a multi-cloud approach. I bet there are a few startups ready to help out if that’s the case.
• India’s ecosystem of bonkers startups: TechCrunch’s Manish Singh has been a force of nature since his arrival, covering the Indian startup market with flying colors. Today he writes “Banaglaore Dispatch. ” It’s incredible. Details include that India produced 16 unicorns this year and that its startups raised $ 10.46 billion in the first six months of 2021. Wild.
• How European unicorns look for outings: American companies go public. European companies go public. Chinese companies have been become public. But the PSPC boom appears to be largely an American affair. Is this going to change? TechCrunch is investigating.
• $ 100 million for mmhmm: Remember mmhmm, the startup that created neat Zoom tools earlier in the pandemic? He just raised a $ 100 million round. That’s a bunch of ducats for the company. Let’s see what he can do with nine digits of capital. Plus, Darrell’s title was lovely for this piece – we gave him 10 points.

Startups / VC

Of course, we had to expand the TechCrunch Top 3 to five entries, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t another one. Mountain news to cover. Here’s your start-up and venture capital reel:

• Turning IRL surgery into a virtual reality game: News broke today that Osso VR, a San Francisco-based startup, has raised $ 27 million to “renew modern surgical education with a virtual reality-based solution that allows surgeons to interact with new medical devices in 3D space ”. That means we can train more surgeons faster, doesn’t it? If so, that’s good news.
• In which Alex tried to cover developer tools. Again. Today, r2c, a startup that is building a SaaS service around the open source Semgrep project, has lifted a preemptive Series B. I wrote about this, trying to explain a developer cybersecurity tool in the process. I give myself a B-, especially for the effort. The trick is cool, however.
• Today’s Tiger offering is Unit21: It wouldn’t be a weekday without a Tiger-led deal, right? Unit21 announced that the ubiquitous investment group led a $ 34 million Series B in its business, valuing it at around $ 300 million. The code-less anti-fraud startup lifted its Series A less than a year ago.
• Opioid treatment apps are a bit too loose with their data collection: TechCrunch was not thrilled.

Pakistan’s growing tech ecosystem finally takes off

So far this year, startups in Pakistan are on track to raise more than in the previous five years combined, according to Mikal Khoso, a start-up investor at Wavemaker Partners.

“Even more exciting, a lot of this capital comes from international investors across Asia, the Middle East and even famous investors in Silicon Valley,” he notes in a guest post for Extra Crunch. .

He identified three factors fueling investor interest: rapidly expanding mobile connectivity, an improved security situation, and critical legal and regulatory changes that are making the country more friendly for startups and VCs.

Drawing a map of Pakistan’s tech ecosystem, Khoso identifies local businesses trying to grab a share of grocery delivery, e-commerce, ridesharing and other industries before examining the challenges. still in place.

“The segments in Pakistan likely to attract the best entrepreneurs and most investor capital in the coming years will be fintech, e-commerce and edtech,” said Khoso.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams move forward. You can register here.)

Big Tech Inc.

Still there ? Good. There is still more news to pass. Let’s talk about big companies:

• The satellite PSPCs are here: Bip beep beep everyone, Satellogic and Planet are made public via blank check companies. Of course, you are fed up with PSPCs. But these deals are out of this world! Har har har.
• $ 200 million for Outbrain before it went public: Ye olde bridge round is always a thing, it turns out. Outbrain, which TechCrunch described as “an ad technology company that provides clickable bait ads under news articles,” put on a huge tour ahead of its debut.
• India’s tech watch is shaken: Keep an eye out for what comes next.

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Event TC

If you’ve been waiting to get your ticket to TC Early Stage – Marketing & Fundraising, well today just might be your lucky day! We’re giving the first 10 Daily Crunch readers a free ticket to attend the event, which starts tomorrow. Simply click on this link and select the type of free ticket to redeem. But you’ll want to hurry because once they’re gone, they’re gone! Register now.