Catherine Shu
Senior Reporter
The Latest from Catherine Shu
Consumer brand accelerator SuperOrdinary gets $58M Series B at $800M valuation
The average shopper probably hasn’t heard of SuperOrdinary, but if they are a beauty or skincare fan, they’ve definitely heard of some of the brands the startup works with: Olaplex, Farmacy and Bi
Greener for Business launches to help Australian SMBs move to net zero
Greener, the Australian cleantech startup that creates custom action plans to help its customers become more environmentally sustainable, is launching Greener for Business today. Aimed at Australian S
Plaid’s Zach Perret on Visa, valuations and privacy
In a wide-ranging conversation at this year’s Disrupt, founder Zach Perret talked candidly about the highs and lows of Plaid's journey.
How Reed Jobs’ venture firm tackles cancer
Reed Jobs’ new venture firm can change the lives of the estimated 18.1 million diagnosed cancer patients worldwide. Yosemite, Jobs’ fund for cancer-fighting biotech, launched in August with $200 m
Monoclonal antibody treatments have many challenges — Narval is fixing them
Monoclonal antibodies are the building blocks of some of the most important medical treatments in the world. But they have limitations. For example, the large size of the molecules mean monoclonal ant
Remote launches new HR platform for companies with a ‘global-first’ approach
While working at GitLab, Job van der Voort hired remote workers in about 70 countries. The process was such a challenge that with co-founder Marcelo Lebre, he decided to found Remote in 2019. The plat
Parallax removes the friction from cross-border payments
Sending money across borders is filled with friction, like long wait times, high transaction costs and markups on currency exchange. A startup called Parallax wants to make the process faster and chea
English learning platform ELSA lands $23M Series C
ELSA, the English language learning platform, announced today it has raised $23 million in Series C funding. It also launched ELSA AI Tutor, which draws on years of speech recognition data collected b
Ascento’s robots aid overstretched security guards
Like in many industries, there’s an acute shortage of security guards. This means guards still on the job have to pull extra hours and are more likely to make mistakes because of fatigue. Ascento is
Taiwan-based lifestyle app FunNow merges with Eatigo to broaden its Southeast Asia reach
FunNow, the Taiwan-based app that lets users book activities on-demand in five Asian countries, is growing its reach in Southeast Asia through a merger with restaurant booking app Eatigo. Terms of the
Atomicwork connects workers and their companies
Sometimes the work of having a job takes time away from work. Tasks like asking for leave, filing tech requests and checking company policy also result in a lot of administrative work for HR and IT de
myZoi wants to make remittances less costly for migrant workers
Money sent home by migrant workers not only helps their families, but also enables entire economies to develop. But transferring money comes at a high cost to workers, with remittance fees averaging a
Accel-backed Agave lets construction software talk to one another
A lot of the most popular construction software was developed 20 to 40 years ago and many systems don’t talk to each other. As a result, the information stored in them is fragmented, adding extra wo
Voxel uses computer vision to increase workplace safety
The International Labour Organization estimates that there are 340 million workplace incidents every year. Voxel was created to increase workplace safety through computer vision. The startup announced
TeamSense helps manufacturers keep in touch with deskless workers
Deskless workers make up about 70% to 80% of the global workforce. Because they spend most of their time away from a computer, many deskless workers often find it challenging to keep in touch with the
Lightspeed backs Markato, a marketplace that helps independent brands break into Asia
During the pandemic, almost all retailers in Asia established an e-commerce presence and adopted digital payments. But one thing that didn’t change was sourcing, say the founders of cross-border mar
MFast get backing from Wavemaker Partners to increase financial services access in Vietnam
The majority of Vietnam’s population live in rural areas and often lack access to financial services because banks and other institutions open most of their physical locations in cities. MFast wants
Moxie raises $15.7M to make opening med spas easier
Treatments like botox are becoming more ubiquitous, spurring growth in the number of medspas, or centers that offer botox, IV hydration and laser treatments from certified providers like registered nu
Rocketium scales and analyzes massive marketing campaigns
Large companies often have to produce marketing campaigns with thousands of pieces of individual content, including email and social media ads. This means creative teams have to execute ideas rapidly
Weekday puts the spotlight on job references
Job references are an important part of hiring the right person, especially for remote positions. But the founders of Weekday say that more than 95% of recruiters don’t seek referrals from previous