Yaofei Feng, Fantuan Delivery
Yaofei Feng co‑founded Fantuan Delivery, an Asian food‑delivery and life‑service platform active in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia. Before Fantuan, he engineered large‑scale systems at Amazon, gaining deep infrastructure expertise. As Fantuan’s former CTO, Feng built the R&D organization and architected a platform that now serves millions of users, merchants and couriers. He now leads global partnership strategy, steering the company beyond food delivery into broader lifestyle services.
Expertise Isn’t Everything. Here’s Why Industry Experience Is Losing Its Power.
The article argues that traditional industry tenure is losing relevance as founders increasingly rely on transferable execution skills rather than deep sector mastery. Open‑source tools, AI assistants, and low‑code platforms compress learning curves, turning decade‑long expertise into a matter of...
Syantra’s Breast Cancer Blood Test Isn’t Looking for Cancer at All
Syantra, a Calgary‑based biotech, is preparing to launch Onco‑ID, a breast‑cancer blood test that detects the body’s immune response rather than circulating tumor DNA. Using machine‑learning analysis of gene‑expression biomarkers, the test aims to identify cancer earlier than mammography and...
How to Lead When You Can’t See the Way
Harvard Business School professor Linda A. Hill hosted an Executive Masterclass on March 4, 2026, addressing how senior leaders can navigate persistent uncertainty. The session framed today’s “fog” of geopolitics, rapid technology change, and evolving stakeholder expectations as a structural condition rather...
From Skateboarding to 11 Locations: How Neen Williams Built NADC Burger
Neen Williams, a professional skateboarder turned strength coach, turned his online health‑focused content into NADC Burger, a fast‑casual chain now operating 11 locations. He first launched a line of spice blends to build audience trust, then partnered with Michelin‑starred chef...
Mara Blue Launches Feasibility Study for Ireland’s First Marine Biorefinery in Castletownbere
The Mara Blue initiative has launched a feasibility study for Ireland’s first full‑scale marine biorefinery on Dinish Island near Castletownbere. Led by Munster Technological University in partnership with Pure Ocean Algae and the Castletownbere Fishermen’s Co‑op, the study is co‑funded...
This Startup Wants to Bring Bitcoin to Africans Who Can’t Afford the Internet
Machankura, a South African startup, enables Bitcoin transactions via USSD, allowing feature‑phone users across ten African countries to send, receive, and spend crypto without internet access. The service, built on Africa's Talking USSD infrastructure and the Bitcoin Lightning Network, has...
What’s Powering the Algorithm that Gets You a Good Night’s Sleep?
NovaResp Technologies has developed an AI‑driven algorithm that predicts obstructive sleep apnea events before they occur, allowing CPAP devices to intervene gently and avoid abrupt pressure spikes. The predictive software, trained on patient breathing patterns, completed two clinical trials and...
Robotics Incubator at Technical University of Munich Receives Additional €3.5M in Government Funding
Technical University of Munich’s robo.innovate incubator has secured an additional €3.5 million from the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, bringing total public funding to over €7 million and extending the program for the next three and a half years. Since its 2021...
Thailand-Based ‘Send Help’ & ‘White Lotus’ Outfit Indochina Productions Teams With Storyoscopic To Launch BKK Films
Storyoscopic Films and Thailand’s Indochina Productions have formed a Bangkok‑based joint venture called BKK Films. The partnership will produce genre‑driven movies starring Asian protagonists, leveraging Storyoscopic’s development expertise and Indochina’s production infrastructure. Its inaugural slate includes the gangster‑action film “7...
UK Space Agency Unveils £30m Satellite Funding Pot
British firms developing satellite communications will share £30 million from the UK Space Agency’s Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit (C‑LEO) programme. The second funding round is designed to move technologies from testing to deployment, emphasizing smarter hardware, AI‑enhanced data delivery, and...
Africa’s Crypto Is Complex. Josephine Inika Has Made a Career Simplifying It.
Josephine Inika, Head of Content at crypto‑fintech platform Obiex, has built a career on turning complex cryptocurrency concepts into clear, audience‑first language for Nigerians and other African markets. Her method relies on first‑principles questioning, relentless simplification, and a pre‑mortem mindset...
Enterprise Ireland Launches Propel Ireland to Accelerate Offshore Wind Innovation and Supply Chain Development
Enterprise Ireland has launched Propel Ireland, an innovation centre designed to accelerate collaboration, research and supply‑chain development in the country’s offshore wind sector. The hub aligns with the Powering Prosperity strategy and Ireland’s ambition to install up to 37 GW of...
ARQ Raises $70M To Expand Stablecoin Banking In Latin America
ARQ, formerly DolarApp, raised $70 million in a Series B led by Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund. The funding will fuel a rebrand, team expansion, and rollout of new financial products beyond its core stablecoin remittance service. With more than two million...
Nomba Wants Nigerian Merchants to Collect Pounds Directly From UK Banks
Nomba has teamed with UK Open Banking platform Volume to let Nigerian merchants collect British pounds directly from UK bank accounts, sidestepping traditional card processors and saving 6‑7% of revenue. The integration uses the Faster Payments rail, settles instantly into...
Creative Studio 3 Chillies Launches with Nick Bell as Co-Founder
Creative studio 3 Chillies has officially launched, appointing Nick Bell as co‑founder. The venture also secured former Dark Horses CEO Melissa Robertson as a non‑executive director. 3 Chillies aims to deliver end‑to‑end brand storytelling, blending creative production with data‑driven insights....
Irish Consumers Amongst European Leaders in Digital Payment Adoption
BearingPoint’s Europe‑wide payment study shows Irish consumers leading digital payment adoption, with 73% regularly using contactless and 62% favoring Revolut for peer‑to‑peer transfers. Cash usage in Ireland fell to 58%, and 24% say they will definitely abandon cash within ten...
UK Venture Funding Surges Into AI, NatWest’s ‘Future of UK Innovation’ Report Finds
UK venture capital hit £17.5 bn in 2025, with AI startups alone securing more than £6 bn – over a third of all funding. Large, later‑stage rounds now dominate, as deals above £25 m accounted for more than 70% of total investment, the...
Diligent AI Raises $2.5M to Support KYC and AML Teams with AI Agents
London‑based Diligent AI, a Y Combinator‑backed startup, has closed a $2.5 million seed round led by Speedinvest with participation from fintech investors and strategic angels. The company builds autonomous AI agents that automate repetitive KYC and AML tasks such as risk...
AI-Music Artists Get Their Own Accelerator From Prose Ventures
Prose Ventures has launched the AI Music Creators Accelerator, an eight‑week program that supports human musicians using generative AI tools. The inaugural cohort presented a diverse demo day on February 27, streamed publicly on Twitch and later on YouTube. Founder...
Airtel’s SmartCash Hits 3 Million Users in Nigeria’s Mobile Money Push
SmartCash, Airtel Nigeria's payment service bank, reached nearly three million active users, defined by transactions in the past 30 days. The platform offers zero‑fee transfers, bill payments and a 15% annual interest on savings, positioning it against fintech rivals OPay...
From Startup to Scale: Myntra’s Zero-Commission Model Is Powering India’s Next D2C Wave
India’s D2C sector is expanding rapidly, but early‑stage brands struggle to scale beyond owned channels due to high CAC and limited reach. Myntra launched the zero‑commission Myntra Rising Stars (MRS) program, letting qualifying brands list on its marketplace without paying...
Rethinking Biotech’s Valley of Death as Federal Grants and Family Offices Step In
Federal budget approvals for 2026 dramatically increase nondilutive capital for biotech, raising NIH funding to $49 billion and expanding programs like CDMRP and ARPA‑H. Seed‑stage companies are responding, with 38 % planning to rely on grants and other non‑equity sources. Simultaneously, mission‑driven...
Building Support Systems for Digital Health Innovators
Digital health innovators require structured support systems to move from concept to clinical impact. The article outlines how regulatory navigation, technical mentorship, education, and institutional ecosystems collectively reduce risk and accelerate product readiness. Early integration of quality, compliance, and clinician...
How Hong Kong Apparel Brand Sau Lee Appeals to the American Fashion Lover
Hong Kong‑based Sau Lee, founded by designer Cheryl Leung in 2014, has positioned itself as a modern Chinese heritage label for American consumers. By reimagining classic cheongsam silhouettes with contemporary prints, diverse sizing (00‑14) and price points from $228 to...
What Are SAFE Investments? (Simple Agreement for Future Equity)
The Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) lets early‑stage investors fund startups now and receive equity later, typically when a priced round occurs. Introduced by Y Combinator in 2013, SAFEs replace costly, time‑intensive convertible notes with a streamlined contract that omits...
The New Media Stack & The AI Video Gold Rush
AI video platforms are democratizing content creation, allowing solo creators to produce cinema‑grade shows and brands to generate hundreds of ad variants at scale. Experts say speed and output will increase tenfold, but success will hinge on owning strong intellectual...
Chingari’s Operating Scale Declines 53% in FY25
Chingari, the Indian short‑video app turned paid private‑live‑streaming platform, reported a 53% year‑on‑year drop in operating revenue for FY25. Revenue fell to Rs 44 crore, while the company’s loss narrowed to Rs 8.8 crore after cutting expenses by more than half. The pivot shifted...
Why AI Startups Are Selling the Same Equity at Two Different Prices
AI startups are increasingly using multi‑tiered valuations, selling the same equity at two distinct price points within a single funding round. Lead investors receive a discounted price while later participants pay a headline unicorn valuation, as seen in Aaru’s $450 million...
Chris Nicholas Vrame: Building Vision Into Reality
Chris Nicholas Vrame is a serial entrepreneur who turns bold concepts into lasting businesses. He launched The Tasting Room, a Chicago wine bar that let patrons sample over 100 wines, co‑founded the indoor sport Arena Softball, and redeveloped a stalled...
David Berggren: The Man Behind Furniture Connection
David Berggren founded Furniture Connection in 1999 to challenge high furniture prices and poor service, expanding from a modest Oak Grove store to a 46,000‑square‑foot showroom in Clarksville, Tennessee. The showroom, the largest in the city, lets shoppers test products...
How Cachasol Built A Hospitality-First Tequila Brand
James “Monty” Montero launched Cachasol, a tequila brand built around a six‑acre agave farm and on‑site distillery in Sayulita, Mexico. The venture replaces traditional shelf‑first distribution with immersive tours, cooking classes, and a farm‑to‑table bar that serve as the primary...
Expanding Internationally? The Old Playbook Is Broken — Here’s What’s Replacing It.
The traditional global‑expansion playbook—establish a legal entity then hire locally—is being replaced by a flexible, three‑model approach. Companies now blend entity‑based employment, Employer of Record (EOR) services, and contractor relationships, selecting the optimal model per market, role, and objective. This...
This School Crossing Guard’s Side Hustle Earns $14,000 a Month: ‘The Response to It Has Been Crazy’
Christine Tyler Hill, a Burlington crossing guard, turned her 50‑minute morning shift into a handwritten, illustrated mail club. Launched in January 2026, the eight‑page magazine quickly amassed 2,000 paying subscribers and a waiting list of over 3,600. At $8 a...
Salario Launches Free Payroll Solution to Help Nigerian SMEs Improve Tax Compliance
Salario, a Nigerian payroll‑technology startup, has introduced a free payroll solution aimed at small and medium‑sized enterprises. The platform automates salary calculations, statutory deductions, and compliance reporting, addressing the widespread reliance on manual spreadsheets. By aligning with Nigeria’s tightening PAYE,...
JetStream Security Secures $34M Seed Round
JetStream Security announced a $34 million seed round led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from CrowdStrike’s Falcon Fund and notable angels such as George Kurtz, Assaf Rappaport, and Frederic Kerrest. The startup, founded by veterans of CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, McAfee and other...
How Nigerian Neobank Kuda Built Its In-House Core Banking Application
Nigerian neobank Kuda, serving over seven million customers, built its own core banking application, NERV, to overcome scalability and reliability limits of a third‑party provider. Starting in 2019 with a modest pre‑seed fund, the engineering‑first team ran NERV in parallel...
From Faking a Business to 25,000 Stores — Here’s the Simple Strategy That Landed Her Deals With Walmart and Target
Vanessa Phillips turned a personal celiac diagnosis into a $‑free frozen food empire, launching Feel Good Foods with gluten‑free dumplings that landed a Whole Foods order for 27 stores. She built the brand by hand‑selling samples, correcting packaging errors on...
AnnaRose Hughes
Lightspeed Ventures has named AnnaRose Hughes as Vice President of Executive Talent, overseeing leadership recruitment for its portfolio companies. Hughes brings operational experience from high‑growth firms like Tapestry, Williams‑Sonoma, and TheLadders.com, enabling her to guide founders through scaling challenges. She...
5 Signs Small Business Owners Have ‘Financial Imposter Syndrome’ and How to Beat It
Small business owners face heightened stress in Q1 as tax deadlines, post‑holiday cash flow tightness, and goal‑setting converge, often triggering financial imposter syndrome. The condition makes founders mistake bookkeeping gaps for a lack of business talent, leading to avoidance, over‑work,...
Wealthsimple Becomes First Canadian FinTech to Join SWIFT Network
Wealthsimple has become the first Canadian fintech to gain direct membership in the global SWIFT network, allowing it to send and receive international wire transfers without intermediaries. The integration will launch this spring with a flat $15 fee for outgoing...
Grotto AI Raises $10M to Help Leasing Agents Close More Deals with Real-Time AI Coaching
Grotto AI announced a $10 million seed round led by ICONIQ and Asymmetric, bringing its total funding to $14 million. The startup offers real‑time AI coaching that listens to leasing calls and tours, surfacing high‑impact behaviors such as humor and genuine curiosity...
80% of SMEs Say AI Can Transform Their Business, But Lack of Skills Keeps Adoption Rates Low
A Google‑commissioned survey of 400 Irish SMEs shows 80% believe artificial intelligence can transform their business and 65% expect AI‑driven growth by 2026, yet adoption remains limited. The chief obstacles are fear of mistakes (30%), lack of skills (27%) and...
Ayar Labs Raises $500M To Scale AI Optical Interconnects
AI infrastructure startup Ayar Labs announced a $500 million Series E round, valuing the company at $3.8 billion. The funding, led by investors such as Neuberger Berman, MediaTek and Qatar Investment Authority, also brings NVIDIA and AMD on board as strategic partners. Ayar...
What Startups Should Trust and What to Ignore
Uzbek fintech unicorn Uzum redesigned its flagship app by discarding the industry‑standard "total balance" widget and other inherited UI patterns. Internal A/B tests showed that most users had a single card, making the aggregate balance a privacy and usability liability....
Launch HN: Cekura (YC F24) – Testing and Monitoring for Voice and Chat AI Agents
Cekura, a YC F24 startup, launches a simulation platform that lets developers test voice and chat AI agents at scale. The service creates synthetic user conversations, imports real production dialogs, and uses a mock‑tool environment to evaluate agent behavior without hitting...
Creator Payment Platform Blitz Wants to Eliminate Net-90 From the Creator Economy
Blitz, founded in April 2024 by Alex Roa, offers a creator‑payment platform that eliminates traditional net‑90 cycles by delivering payouts in three hours or less. The New York‑based startup integrates with enterprise ERP systems to automate invoice formatting, approval routing, and...
AI Is the Fourth Interface, Morgan Browne Founder and CEO Enterpryze
Enterpryze, founded by Morgan Browne, offers a mobile‑first, cloud ERP built on SAP Business One, positioning AI as the fourth interface for SMEs. Browne, a former SAP Global Partner Council member and EY Entrepreneur finalist, transformed Milner Browne into a...
X Turns Dormant Usernames Into Digital Real Estate
X has launched a Handles Marketplace that lets Premium+ and Premium Business subscribers claim dormant @handles. Handles are split into free Priority names and paid Rare names, the latter fetching $2,500 to over $1 million. Paid Rare handles remain with the...
Supercell and King Alumni Antihero Raise $4.5m to Launch Extraction Shooter Misfitz
Antihero Studios, founded by former Supercell and King veterans, secured $4.5 million in pre‑seed funding from a16z, Laton and Sisu. The studio’s first title, Misfitz, is an extraction‑shooter that mixes Brawl Stars‑style gameplay with collaborative‑versus‑betrayal mechanics. Over 70,000 players have already...