This week, we asked the Inside Startups readers: What action must be taken to reduce the gender pay gap in startups? Can pay transparency mandates passed by states eliminate the disparity in gender pay? Should startups perform pay gap audits at regular intervals? Share your thoughts. Community Insights: - Jess Joyce's suggestion was, “Paying them equally as their male counterparts which comes from salary transparency as is mandated in some countries now. Providing them with access to mentors, courses, networking & conferences within the workplace (not as an additional time outside of it).”
- Kate Swift replied, “Encouraging and promoting more women to become startup entrepreneurs. Providing more resources and education on business and finance for women entrepreneurs. Ensuring that there is equal representation of men and women on startup boards and in executive positions. Encouraging businesses to adopt policies that promote equal pay for men and women employees.”
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Google closed a $100M deal to acquire Alter, an AI startup specializing in customized avatars. The acquisition was reportedly completed two months ago but had not been announced to the public. More: - Alter is based in the U.S. and the Czech Republic and launched initially as a Facemoji platform, but decided to rebrand as Alter after obtaining $3M in seed funding.
- The acquisition is believed to be part of Google’s strategy to compete with TikTok and enhance its content.
- Alter offers a real-time 3D avatar platform that lets game and app developers place avatars into their app, game, or website.
- These technologically advanced avatars are used in Meta and can carry out various virtual functions, including playing games, exercising, shopping, receiving calls, and more.
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According to trademark filings and LinkedIn profiles, the former Google executive, who created Android's OS, is starting a home surveillance startup. Andy Rubin, the so-called "Father of Android," is developing hardware that limits who can access or enter one's home. More: - His new startup, "Simple Things," will combine hardware, cameras, sensors, and motion detectors to protect private homes.
- Rubin's previous startup, Essential, raised ~$300M to produce smartphones.
- Approximately eight employees from Essential will join Rubin in his latest venture.
- Rubin received a $90M severance package after being laid off from Google for workplace misconduct.
- In 2018, Google staffers organized a walkout to protest Rubin's generous severance deal.
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The African genomics startup 54gene worried investors after it partook in the second round of layoffs and replaced its CEO. The company previously dissolved its COVID-19 department and laid off 95 people. Earlier this week, the company cut another 100 jobs. More: - 54gene's CEO, Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong, vacated his position and will be replaced by General Counsel Teresia L. Bost.
- Staffers have alleged that Dr. Ene-Obong mishandled funds.
- Earlier this month, VP of Engineering Ogochukwu Francis Osifo left his position.
- Employees told TechCrunch that the recent round of layoffs confirms that the company is being mismanaged and improperly handling its finances.
- The staffers have not been paid their severance packages.
- The company's valuation dropped from $170M in 2021 to $50M in 2022.
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Predictive analytics startup Tomi.ai announced it had been selected for the Google for Startups Cloud Program. The firm provides machine learning-powered analytics to optimize digital marketing and online sales by tracking user behavior online. More: - Tomi’s platform is explicitly catered to B2B marketers in organizations with long offline sales cycles.
- The platform gathers first-party behavioral data from the client’s website, ad platform APIs, and CRM platform, which is then used to train machine learning models.
- It then leverages the predictions from machine learning algorithms to test different campaigns on Facebook and Google Ads platforms and compares the results of the experiments.
- The New York-based firm has raised $1M in pre-seed funding to date from Begin Capital and PLF.
Zoom out: - Google for Startups Cloud Program offers credits, training, technical support, and discounted products to early-stage startups.
- The program has two tiers, one for pre-seed startups called Start tier and the other for seed to Series A stage startups, dubbed Scale tier.
- Startups that qualify can receive up to $100,000 in Google Cloud credits under the Scale tier.
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ELSA, an English-learning startup, has just launched a speech analyzer designed to help students improve their conversational skills. More: - The new speech analyzer offering optimizes ELSA's cutting-edge speech-recognition technology.
- The speech analyzer product can work with platforms like Zoom to analyze a student’s speech and provide suggestions on improving pronunciation, pacing, vocabulary, and overall fluency.
- The new service can also give learners insights into how they might perform on large-scale English proficiency exams, like IELTS and TOEFL.
- The startup is based in California and Vietnam and boasts 40 million users on its learning app.
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Quick Hits: - Scale up with this toolkit and get your brand on everyone’s wishlist*
- Former Ant Group executive Kenny Man launched a new private equity firm dubbed 01Fintech. The firm is looking to raise a debut fund worth $300M.
- Streamlined Ventures secured $102M for the firm’s fifth seed stage focussed fund and $36M for its third opportunity fund. The firm will primarily back startups working in data science, artificial intelligence, software automation, and Web 2.5 domains.
- Fintech startup Reap nabbed $40M in Series A financing led by Acorn Pacific Ventures, Arcadia Funds, and HaskKey Capital.
- Advata, a Seattle-based health data analytics company, laid off 32 employees yesterday. In June, the firm had 150 employees.
- Reclaim.ai secured $3.2M capital, bringing its total funds raised to date to $9.5M.
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- November 02 - AMA with Bill Glenn (Executive Chairman at Crenshaw Associates) (Register Here)
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.
Courtney Rawlings is an Inside Research Analyst living in Los Angeles, California. She has returned to her hometown of LA after spending several years working at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is completing a Ph.D. in Art and Architectural History.
Isabel Guerriera is an Inside Freelance Writer and Editor currently living in Madrid, Spain.
| | | | Editor | Vibha Chapparike is a Freelance Writer & Editor at Inside.com. With her post-graduation in Management and Finance completed, Vibha is expanding her knowledge in venture capital, business, startups, and technology. She has had a career in public relations and communications. An ardent reader and writer currently residing in Singapore, you can follow Vibha on Twitter @VChapparike. | |
