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Showing posts from May, 2021

European insurtech startup Wefox grabs $650 million at $3 billion valuation

German startup Wefox has raised a $650 million Series C funding round led by Target Global. Following this funding round, the company has reached a post-money valuation of $3 billion. Wefox is a digital insurer focused on personal insurance products, such as household insurance, motor insurance and personal liability insurance. “It’s much more than we wanted to raise initially. It was a very fast process and essentially we were oversubscribed by 4x or so,” co-founder and CEO Julian Teicke (pictured left) told me. In December 2019, the company reported a $1.65 billion valuation. And the company says today’s funding round is one of the largest Series C rounds of all time — and likely the largest Series C round for an insurtech company more specifically. “Almost all of the big existing investors are participating,” Teicke said. OMERS Ventures, G Squared, Mountain Partners, Merian, Horizons Ventures, Eurazeo, Mubadala Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Speedinvest, CE Innovation Capital,

Singapore-based D2C dental brand Zenyum raises $40M Series B from L Catterton, Sequoia India and other investors

Zenyum , a startup that wants to make cosmetic dentistry more affordable, announced today it has raised a $40 million Series B. This includes $25 million from L Catterton, a private equity firm focused on consumer brands. The round’s other participants were Sequoia Capital India (Zenyum is an alum of its Surge accelerator program ), RTP Global, Partech, TNB Aura, Seeds Capital and FEBE Ventures. L Catteron Asia’s head of growth investments, Anjana Sasidharan, will join Zenyum’s board. This brings Zenyum’s total raised so far to $56 million, including a $13.6 million Series A announced in November 2019 . In a press statement, Sasidharan said, “Zenyum’s differentiated business model gives it a strong competitive advantage, and we are excited to partner with the founder management team to help them realize their growth ambitions.” Other dental-related investments in L Catteron’s portfolio include Ideal Image, ClearChoice, dentalcorp, OdontoCompany, Espaçolaser and 98point6. Sequoia re

Elon Musk says Tesla prices are increasing because of supply chain disruptions across the auto industry

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Tesla Model Y. Tesla The prices of some Tesla models are going up because of the supply chain issues, CEO Elon Musk said. Tesla earlier this month boosted prices on its Model 3 and Model Y. The global auto industry has been hit hard by supply chain issues, notably a shortage of computer chips. See more stories on Insider's business page . Prices on some Tesla models are increasing due to global supply chain disruptions in the auto industry, particularly with raw materials, Elon Musk said on Twitter Monday. Musk's explanation came in response to a Twitter user who said he didn't like the "direction" the company was going in by "raising prices of vehicles but removing features like lumbar for the Model Y." The Tesla and SpaceX CEO responded: "Prices increasing due to major supply chain price pressure industry-wide. Raw materials especially." -Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 31, 2021 Tesla earlier this month boosted prices on its Model 3

Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert downplayed the Capitol riot at a major QAnon conference and posed for photos with a conspiracy theorist influencer

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Rep. Louie Gohmert, left, talks with fellow GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan. Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, spoke at a major QAnon conference on Saturday in Dallas. Gohmert downplayed the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to the crowd of QAnon supporters and MAGA proponents. The congressman spoke in front of a large image of the event's logo, which featured the QAnon mantra "Where we go one, we go all." See more stories on Insider's business page . Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, spoke at a major QAnon conference on Saturday in Dallas and downplayed the January 6 Capitol riot to a crowd that included major conspiracy theorist influencers. The congressman condemned his colleagues in the House who are pushing for a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol riot and argued that the events of Jan. 6 paled in comparison to both the 9/11 terror and Pearl Harbor attacks, according to report

OpenX is exploring a sale

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Hi and welcome to Insider Advertising for June 1. I'm deputy editor Lucia Moses, filling in for Lauren Johnson, and here's what's going on: OpenX explores a sale. Who'll run Discovery-WarnerMedia. Fastest-growing DTC brands. If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here for your daily insider's guide to advertising and media. Tips, comments, suggestions? Drop me a line at lmoses@insider.com or on Twitter at @lmoses. A view of the OpenX coffee bar at Advertising Week 2015 in New York City. D Dipasupil/Getty Images for AWXII Adtech company OpenX is exploring a possible sale, sources say The supply-side ad platform is exploring a potential sale , sources told Lara O'Reilly. Founded in 2008, the company has raised more than $70 million but hit hard times in the pandemic. A sale would add to the flurry of recent deal activity in adtech. Read the story. President and CEO, Discovery David Zaslav. Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for Discovery

The correction in tech stocks could have further to run - and people still don't understand the main cause of the sell-off, Deutsche Bank says

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A trader works on the floor at the NYSE in New York Reuters The sell-off in tech stocks over the past few months could have further room to go, Deutsche Bank said in a note last week. The bank argued that the sell-off in tech stocks is not about rising interest rates, but instead about relative earnings growth. Tech stocks likely have more room to consolidate and could even trade sideways until earnings growth catches up with valuations, according to the note. Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell . The sell-off in technology stocks over the past few months could have more room to go as earnings growth catches up with valuations, Deutsche Bank said in a Wednesday note. While rising interest rates have largely been blamed for the underperformance of tech stocks relative to cyclicals and the broader market, empirical evidence and fundamental considerations "strongly suggests that rates have had little if any role to play and the relatio

Corporations have hijacked the language of self care to seem 'relatable.' Don't fall for the gimmick.

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Marianne Ayala/Insider "Emotional marketing" makes consumers feel like corporations care about them. Brands have tapped into a real need for self and communal care, but people are seeing through it. We need to center care in our activism, as the Black Panthers did, in order to work against its corporate co-optation. P.E. Moskowitz is an author and runs Mental Hellth, a newsletter about capitalism and psychology. This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author. See more stories on Insider's business page . Last year, my internet went down for three weeks. I chatted with customer service agents from Cox Communications, a cable and internet provider which earned more than $12 billion in revenue in 2020 , about a dozen times. Each time, a customer service representative told me that they "felt my frustration and anger." One said, "I hate when this happens, I totally get it." The problem is, they did not get it. The r

We attended a virtual salon with Emmy award winners, actresses, and athletes. Spending 2 hours playing games with influential strangers was strangely therapeutic.

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Several Influencers Dinner alumni participate in a salon hosted by Jon Levy at a 2019 event. Since the pandemic, his events have been virtual. Courtesy of The Glenlivet. Dominic-Madori Davis is a reporter at Insider, and Keishel Williams is an editing fellow. Together, they attended an invitation-only virtual "Influencers Dinner" salon hosted by behavioral scientist Jon Levy. Below is their conversation about what the unique event was like. See more stories on Insider's business page . It was a Tuesday night in May when we attended an " Influencers Dinner " salon - a virtual party hosted by author and behavioral scientist Jon Levy. There were games, breakout room trivia, and a musical performance by singer-actress Jihae, who's set to star in the upcoming season of "Succession." The event was co-hosted by actress Nia Vardalos - best known for starring in and writing the hit movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" - and also counted CEO

The US reportedly spied on Angela Merkel and other top European politicians with Denmark's help

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Getty Denmark reportedly helped the US access the calls and texts of senior European officials, including Angela Merkel. Denmark held an internal investigation into its partnership with the NSA between 2012 and 2014. The country's public broadcaster reported the findings of the investigation, citing nine unnamed sources. See more stories on Insider's business page . Denmark's foreign intelligence unit helped the US spy on European officials, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to a report by Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) on Sunday. In 2015, the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) conducted an internal investigation - code-named "Operation Dunhammer" - into its partnership with the US National Security Agency (NSA), according to the report. The investigation found that the NSA used Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France, and Germany between 20