80% of all internet bandwidth is consumed by video streaming. Today’s consumers of content expect low latency and multi-device playback. Transcoding is the process where videos are formatted to work properly across device ecosystems. This becomes an expensive proposition for content creators. Livepeer is a scalable open video infrastructure that’s built on the blockchain to specifically use excess GPU capacity across nodes to transcode video. By leveraging decentralization, costs are reduced and reliability is improved without the threat of any outages that are associated with dependency on larger infrastructure providers like YouTube, Facebook AWS, etc. The Livepeer network has 70K+ GPUS, enough computing power to encode all video streaming on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook combined while delivering costs savings of up to 50x. AlleyWatch caught up with Livepeer CEO Doug Petkanics to learn more about how decentralization of the streaming market will lead to a better experience for all parties, the company’s expansions plans, acquisition strategy, recent round of funding from investors that include Alan Howard and Tiger Global.
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#NYCtech Week in Review: 1/16/22 – 1/22/22
14 new deals and $300M in funding for the week. NYC Tech News for the week ending 1/22 featuring news for Trading.TV, Chatdesk, StrongArm Technologies, and much, much more…
The Weekly Notable Startup Funding Report: 1/24/22
The Weekly Notable Startup Funding Report takes us on a trip across various ecosystems in the US, highlighting some of the notable funding activity in the various markets that we track. The notable startup funding rounds for the week ending 1/22/22 featuring funding details for Curbio, The Graph, Clari, and twenty-eight other rounds that you need to know about.
Pinwheel Raises $50M for its Payroll API That Makes Financial System Fairer
Income and employment are typically the two key factors when financial institutions underwrite credit and loans. While most receive paychecks every two weeks, financial decisions are made largely based on the previous year’s tax return. This paradigm results in a lack of flexibility that leads to many being unable to access financial solutions at the time they need them. Pinwheel is a payroll data intelligence platform that provides real-time data about a person’s income through API connectivity. Requestors of financial information are able to access payroll data, with the consumer’s permission, for 80% of people employed in the United States. As the United States moves towards more Open Banking and decentralization of individual financial data through portability, Pinwheel is on the way to becoming the leading infrastructure provider that powers the income layer and future innovators in fintech. AlleyWatch caught up with Pinwheel CEO and Cofounder Kurtis Lin to learn more about the evolution of the business from the health savings account space to payroll data, the company’s plans to scale from 60 employees to 180, other strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include GGV Capital, Coatue, First Round Capital, TQ Ventures, and Upfront Ventures, AMEX Ventures, Indeed, Kraken Ventures, and Franklin Templeton.
Yuvo Health Raises $7.3M to Make Value-Based Care Accessible for Community Health Centers and Their Patients
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) are public health centers that are focused on helping at-risk and underserved populations. These community health centers are governed by federal laws for Medicare and Medicaid and thus qualify for federal reimbursement and other benefits. There are over 1400 official FQHCs in the United States and another 14,000+ affiliated look-alikes that serve over 30M patients per annum. Yuvo Health brings technology to manage the administrative and managed care functions of these FQHCs. There’s been a growing trend towards value-based care and with the platform, community health centers are able to embrace this new model by handling contracting with payors to deliver preventative, rather than reactive care. This ultimately leads to better patient outcomes, increased quality in care, and optimized spending. AlleyWatch caught up with Yuvo Health CEO and Cofounder Cesar Herrera to learn more about how the founding team’s experience with the healthcare system led to the founding of the business, the importance of its value-based care solution for community health centers, the company’s strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include AlleyCorp, AV8 Ventures, New York Ventures, Laconia Capital, and Brooklyn Bridge Ventures.
April Raises $10M for its Tax Preparation Infrastructure Platform
For tax year 2020, there were 167M+ tax returns filed; 151M were filed electronically. While technology has slowly made its way into tax preparation, it’s been done largely in closed ecosystems. Further challenges include major tax preparation software providers H&R Block and TurboTax opting to recently exit the IRS’ Free File Program. Looking to capture this lost opportunity is April, a tax preparation infrastructure solution that works with banks and fintech companies to provide them with the backbone to handle their users’ tax needs as well as directly with consumers via their existing financial relationships (banks, apps, etc). Leveraging machine learning, open banking, and APIs, April’s platform integrates with financial institutions to automate tax preparation – no more shuffling around for bank statements and other documents. The company has successfully translated the tax code into a digital format that offers APIs that will fuel a new wave of innovation for developers and financial service providers by making tax-as-a-service a new offering, which ultimately leads to a more curated, personalized efficient, and optimized experience for filers. AlleyWatch caught up with April Cofounder Ben Borodach to learn more about how April is intent on changing the tax solution paradigm, the company’s strategic plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include Team8, NYCA Partners, Bolt by QED, Treasury, Euclidean Capital, iAngels and founders of several fintech unicorns.
Anonybit Raises $3.5M for its Decentralized Biometrics Infrastructure Solution
The pandemic has exponentially increased the number of digital interactions. The unprecedented, rapid, and massive shift to remote work introduced new security vulnerabilities. Companies were forced to ensure that identity management and private data was protected just as it was in a traditional office setting, introducing new challenges to address the new reality. 55% of business leaders recently surveyed indicate that their companies made investments in new identity security capabilities since the start of the pandemic. Anonybit is a provider of biometrics infrastructure solutions that allow security and identity solutions providers and enterprises to decentralize biometric data into anonymized bits that reside in a peer-to-peer network. Available as an SDK, Anonybit is a lightweight, easily integratable solution that is versatile enough to serve the Identity and Access Management (IAM) market in the enterprise and also consumer-facing needs such as password/account management for user accounts. With sensitive data now spread across the network, companies become less prone to attacks from hackers and data becomes more secure as there isn’t a central database to serve as a target. AlleyWatch caught up with Anonybit Founder and CEO Frances Zelazny to learn more about the benefits of decentralization when it comes to personal data and identity solutions, the company’s total addressable market, future strategic plans, and recent round of funding from Switch Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, Industry Ventures, Preceptor Capital, and several strategic angel investors.
Meet the Company That’s Trying to Disrupt The $480B Retail Pharmacy Space
Customers are raving about NowRx – a tech-powered pharmacy known for its customer service and reliable free same-day prescription delivery.
The 16 Largest US Tech Startup Funding Rounds of 2021
Everything you need to need to know about the largest US startup funding rounds of Q2 2021; broken down by industry, stage, investors, and more…
#NYCtech Week in Review: 1/9/22 – 1/15/22
Another strong week with 13 deals and in excess of half a billion dollars invested in New York companies. NYC Tech News for the week ending 1/15 featuring news for Gameto, Bolster, IronVest, and much, much more.
The Weekly Notable Startup Funding Report: 1/17/22
The Weekly Notable Startup Funding Report takes us on a trip across various ecosystems in the US, highlighting some of the notable funding activity in the various markets that we track. The notable startup funding rounds for the week ending 1/17/22 featuring funding details for Foxtrot, Envoy, Merit, and twenty-two other rounds that you need to know about.