News

Presto Rolls Out Voice Assistant at Checker’s Restaurants

REDWOOD CITY — Presto, a provider of technology for the restaurant industry, has been selected by Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc., the operator of Checkers & Rally’s iconic drive-thrus, as the exclusive provider of automated voice ordering for all its corporate-owned drive-thru restaurants. The  announcement marks the largest and first of its kind rollout of an […]

News

Nuro Launches Third-Generation Delivery Vehicle

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Autonomous vehicle company Nuro has unveiled the third-generation of its autonomous delivery vehicle. As the most advanced zero-occupant vehicle designed by the company to date, the new flagship model, simply called Nuro, is expected to expand to millions of people across the country. Nuro’s third-generation vehicle is designed to carry more goods […]

News

Volvo to Use Luminar Technology in Self-Driving SUV

Volvo Cars plans to use technology from Luminar, a developer of automotive lidar hardware and software technology, in its upcoming all electric next generation SUV. The announcement was made at last week’s CES event in Las Vegas and also marked the North American debut of the automaker’s Concept Recharge, a manifesto for Volvo Cars’ future, […]

Venture Capital

Pediatric Mental Health Company Little Otter Lands $22 Million

SAN FRANCISCO – Little Otter, a digital mental health company to provide tools and treatment for both children and their families, has closed a $22 million Series A funding round. The round was oversubscribed and led by CRV, with participation from Torch Capital, Vast Ventures, Hinsdale, Boxgroup, _Able, Carrie Penner Walton, G9, Springbank Collective, along […]

Facebook News

Doordash CEO Joins Facebook Board of Directors

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, announced that Tony Xu [photo], co-founder and CEO of DoorDash, Inc., has been elected to the company’s board of directors, effective immediately. DoorDash is the nation’s leading food delivery service with over 3 million drivers — also known as dashers — picking up and delivering from restaurants, convenience […]

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Venture Investment in Health Care Sets Record in 2021

SANTA CLARA – Venture investment in healthcare reached new heights in 2021, with more than $80 billion invested in biopharma, medical device, diagnostics/tools (dx/tools) and healthtech companies, according to Silicon Valley Bank’s annual Healthcare Investments and Exits Report. The more than 30% increase over 2020’s record is punctuated by a banner first half of the year. “Venture […]

News

Red Cross Declares National Blood Crisis

The American Red Cross says it is facing a national blood crisis due to the Omicron variant – its worst blood shortage in over a decade, posing a concerning risk to patient care. Amid this crisis, doctors have been forced to make difficult decisions about who receives blood transfusions and who will need to wait until […]

News

Bank of America to Reduce Overdraft Fees

Bank of America announced significant changes to its overdraft services, including plans to eliminate non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees beginning in February, and to reduce overdraft fees from $35 to $10 beginning in May. The company will also eliminate the transfer fee associated with its Balance Connect for overdraft protection service in May. These and earlier changes over […]

News

Take-Two Makes Things Go Right With Zynga

NEW YORK & SAN FRANCISCO — Gaming company Take-Two Interactive of New York has agreed to acquire San Francisco-based Zynga in an out of sight  cash and stock deal valued at $9.86 per Zynga share, with a total deal value of approximately $12.7 billion. Zynga stockholders will receive $3.50 in cash and $6.36 in shares […]

News Real Estate

Magna, UT Named Best City for First-Time Home Buyers

SANTA CLARA —  Realtor.com has compiled its first ever list of Best Markets for First-Time Homebuyers, a report which predicts the cities and towns with the best combination of quality of life and affordability that young homebuyers are looking for. What is it that makes these markets great for first-time homebuyers? They have strong job markets, short […]

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New Mobileye Chip to Allow for Autonomous Driving

Mobileye has introduced the EyeQ Ultra at CES in Las Vegas, the company’s most advanced, highest performing system-on-chip (SoC) purpose-built for autonomous driving. EyeQ Ultra maximizes both effectiveness and efficiency at only 176 TOPS, making it the industry’s leanest autonomous vehicle (AV) chip. This efficiently designed SoC builds on seven generations of proven EyeQ architecture […]

Venture Capital

WEKA Scores $73 Million Led by Hitachi Ventures

CAMPBELL — WEKA, the data platform for AI, announced that Hitachi Ventures led its recent round raising $73 million in funding, which brings the total amount raised to $140 million. Other investors participating in this round were strategic investors, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NVIDIA, Micron, and Digital Alpha, and financial investors including MoreTech Ventures, Ibex […]