Latest VatorNews stories

• Department of Labor sues Palantir over hiring discrimination

  by Steven Loeb, September 27, 2016

  The company is accused of discriminating against Asian applicants for engineer positions

  The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs reviewed the complaints, starting in the beginning of 2010, and found that Palantir was "maintaining a hiring process in which Asian applicants were routinely eliminated in the resume screen and telephone interview phases despite being as qualified as white applicants," and also "hiring a majority of applicants from a discriminatory employee referral

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• The 76ers are the proud new owners of an esports team

  by Steven Loeb, September 26, 2016

  The team bought Dignitas and Apex, and combined them under the Dignitas name

  Greg Richardson will serve as Chairman of the new Team Dignitas. Richardson has spent many years in the video game industry, having founded game developer and publisher Rumble Entertainment. Before that he was a partner at Elevation Partners and served in a variety of senior executive roles within leading game companies including BioWare/Pandemic, Electronic Arts, Eidos Interactive and the 3DO Company.

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• Disney is the latest to see Twitter as an acquisition target

  by Steven Loeb, September 26, 2016

  The company is reportedly working with a financial adviser to see if a bid makes sense

  The acquisition of Twitter is starting to feel less like a question of "if," and more like a question of "who?" Only days after the company was reported to be on the verge of receiving formal bids from at least two interested acquirers, Google and Salesforce, now another major corporation is said to be thinking about jumping into the fray. Disney is working with a financial adviser to evaluate a po

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• Zomato buys Sparse Labs so customers can track their orders

  by Steven Loeb, September 26, 2016

  Sparse Labs will become Zomato Trace, which will be offered free to its restaurant partners

  Zomato is best known as a restaurant discovery service, allowing users to find restaurants nearby, giving them access to recommendations and reviews. The company made a very successful business out of that, reaching unicorn status in 2015. Last year, the company began expanding into delivery, with the launch of Zomato Order, and, so far, it has been a big success. In the month of May, the company p

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• Today's Entrepreneur: Lou Tomassetti

  by Jam Narte, September 26, 2016

  No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs: You will know soon enough who you can and cannot rely on

  I am a(n):Entrepreneur Companies I've founded or co-founded: SMARTRAZOR Companies I work or worked for: Walt Disney Achievements (products built, personal awards won):Brands: SmartRazor, ShaveMate Diva & Titan & Freedom, Safety-Sport, Dog Horn, Ultimate Sports Blaster, Official Party Horn, 00911 Safety Horn If you are an entrepreneur, why?I want to change the world. My favorite startups:SmartRazor,

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• Canvas Venture Fund raises $300M for its second fund

  The company will invest in AI, network marketplaces, fintech, digital health, and new enterprise

  Early stage venture capital fund Canvas Ventures has raised a $300 million fund, it was announced on Monday. This is the firm's second fund, so naturally it will be known as "Canvas Ventures 2.” ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• How does Laurel & Wolf make money?

  The company charges a flat fee per room, takes a 25% percent cut from each project

  Editor's Note: Our 6th Annual Vator Splash LA conference is coming up on October 13 at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica. Speakers include Mark Cuban (one of the hosts of Shark Tank and owner of the Dallas ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• M&A roundup - week ending 9/24/16

  Facebook bought Nascent Object; Airbnb acquired Trip4real; Google purchased Api.ai

  What will happen to Palerra going forward is unclear. At least until the transaction closes, each company will continue to operate independently. Once it does close, Rohit Gupta, Founder and CEO of Palerra, ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• When Turo was young: the early years

  Originally created in 2008 as "RelayRides," the company created a Zipcar service without the fleet

  Editor's note: Our 6th Annual Vator Splash LA conference is coming up on October 13 at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica. Speakers include Mark Cuban (one of the hosts of Shark Tank and owner of the Dallas ...
  By Ronny Kerr
  

• Twitter soars 20% amid latest acquisition rumors

  The most likely purchasers are Google or Saleforce, which recently lost out on buying LinkedIn

  Something feels different this time, though. Maybe it's because even Twitter's own founders aren't dismissing the idea, or because the rumors are going beyond just speculation or informal talks. This time ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Facebook has been giving advertisers incorrect video stats

  The company was inflating the average time watched, by not counting anything under three seconds

  The company has been telling advertisers that it was calculating the Average Duration of Video Viewed by dividing the total time that the video was watched by the number of people who played it. Seems ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• 500M Yahoo users got hacked: here's what you need to know

  Verizon, which bought Yahoo for $4.83 billion, found out about this two days ago

  Remember when the Target breach happened a few years ago, and we all thought it was huge? After all, it affected 70 million people, cost the company's CEO his job and wound up costing the company hundreds ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Snaplytics will measure influencer success on Snapchat

  The company will help brands with native advertising on Snapchat, giving them deeper insights

  Snapchat has found plenty of success with its advertising platform, and the company is set to make a lot of money off of it very soon, but there are still plenty of brands that want to use the platform ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Amazon expands its Etsy competitor to Europe

  Handmade will now be available to customers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom

  Editor's note: Our 6th Annual Vator Splash LA conference is coming up on October 13 at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica. Speakers include Mark Cuban (one of the hosts of Shark Tank and owner of the Dallas ...
  By Ronny Kerr
  

• Verizon reportedly in talks to acquire Vessel

  Vessel is a subcription video service started by former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar

  Despite paying around $9 billion combined in just those two deals, the company isn't slowing down, it seems. It is currently in talks to buy subcription video service Vessel, according to a report from ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• BrightFarms raises $30.1M to build local greenhouses

  BrightFarms has three greenhouses, and will use the funding to grow to 15 over the next five years

  Living in California, I think I'm spoiled when it comes to the options I have when it comes to healthy and organic food. There are a lot of places that would like to have access, but it's not feasible ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Gametime raises $20M to own the last minute ticket market

  Gametime is mobile-only, and allows its users to buy tickets to events at the very last minute

  If there's one thing that defines the Millennial generation (which I guess I am a part of) it's that we want thing when we want them. We apparently don't really like to plan ahead much, and as soon as ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Today's Entrepreneur: Jibin Jose

  Top lesson learned as an entrepreneur: Perseverance is key

  Today's Entrepreneur is Jibin Jose. Jibin is the Co-Founder of RideBlock, which is focused on developing cutting edge IOT devices & tracking devices for action sports to track tricks & analytics ...
  By Jam Narte
  

• Tech companies step up to help with global refugee crisis

  Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Airbnb, Twitter and Uber among the 51 companies pledging $650M

  There's currently a big refugee crisis going on, especially in Syria, (though you wouldn't know it by watching American news, which can only bother to mention it when a candidate's son decides to compare ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• IoT company Brava raises $12M round led by True Ventures

  Brava is an Internet of Things company currently focused on kitchen appliances

  A few years ago it seemed like all anyone could talk about was the Internet of Things. I envisioned a world of smart, connected devices. Maybe I got ahead of myself a bit, because I expected it to come ...
  By Steven Loeb
  
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