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WeWalk, a U.K.-based startup developing a “smart cane” for visually-impaired people, today announced it has raised £2 million ($2.4 million) in venture funding from several notable institutional and angel investors — this includes Manchester City and German international footballer İlkay Gündoğan.

Founded out of London in 2019, WeWalk has developed a GPS-enabled smart cane and smartphone app, helping users navigate their surrounding environment. Time named the WeWalk Smart Cane one of the “best inventions” of 2019.

The cane, which costs around $600, can detect physical obstacles on the sidewalk and alert the user through vibrations and sounds, while the app integration enables turn-by-turn navigation too. Last year, WeWalk announced a partnership with Intel-owned Moovit to bring local transit data into the mix.

Fast-forward to today, and WeWalk is now looking to use its fresh cash injection to bolster its product with computer vision smarts, developed in partnership with Imperial College London and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).

Visual aid

While it’s not clear exactly what this will entail yet, the ultimate goal is to build something capable of reading road signs, or telling the user what number is on the front of a bus, or even what a specific object in their path is.

“We are aiming to maximise sensor efficiency and cost-effectiveness, leveraging smartphone sensing when appropriate,” WeWalk R&D lead Jean Marc Feghali explained to TechCrunch. “We are also investigating the state-of-the-art to determine what could be possible in different form factors.”

This initiative could also benefit from WeWalk’s existing partnership with Microsoft as part of its AI for Accessibility program, and may lead to deeper integrations with Microsoft’s Seeing AI app or Azure ML, according to Feghali.

The company has already started work on the project, recruiting some 30 people to help build and test the necessary software and hardware

“The RNIB is supporting user-testing and ensuring that our designs are human-centred,” Feghali said. “Imperial College is supporting the underlying sensing algorithms. We envision a product that could be attached discreetly, providing its sensors with the widest field of view without impeding the user’s typical motion. We will then look to different feedback mechanisms including auditory and tactile to inform the user of information necessary for their safe mobility.”

It’s still a while away though, with plans to have something ready for market by 2024, but the company said that it is already testing camera and remote-human assistance functionality within the WeWalk mobile app, using this as a “design platter” to add further computer vision tools in the future.

With a fresh £2 million in the bank, the company said that it also plans to support other groups by creating “adaptive mobility aids” such as walking sticks or frames for elderly people.

“We want to scale our business to reach a wider global audience and advance our technology to offer better, more meaningful information to visually impaired people, older people, and anyone that faces mobility challenges,” WeWalk co-founder and CEO Gökhan Meriçliler said in a statement.

WeWalk’s funding round was led by Nesta Impact Investments, King’s Health Partners (KHP Ventures) and APY Ventures, with participation from public investors via Crowdcube and, of course, İlkay Gündoğan.

WeWalk raises cash to bring computer vision to smart cane for visually-impaired people by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

Zeraki, a Kenyan edtech that has built digital learning and school data analytics platforms, has raised $1.8 million seed funding in a round led by Acumen Fund, for product catalog growth and regional expansion.

Save the Children Impact Investment Fund, Verdant Frontiers Fintech, Logos Ventures participated in the round, as did the Nairobi Business Angels Network (NaiBAN), and Melvyn Lubega, co-founder of Go1, an Australia-based edtech unicorn.

Zeraki co-founder and CEO Isaac Nyangolo told TechCrunch they plan on introducing more administrative tools for schools like timetabling software, in addition to supporting parents with fee loans.

“We’ve built an extensive distribution channel covering almost half of the high schools in Kenya and that means, we have an opportunity to solve other tech needs that schools have,” said Nyangolo.

“We plan on building more administrative tools for schools, and payment products on the parents’ side. We have also brought back focus on [the once dormant] digital learning platform, and also tested a number of products like timetabling,” he added.

Zeraki is also looking to enter 10 new markets over the next three years, after scaling in Kenya, Uganda and Guinea, where it currently operates.

“We’re expanding first into the regions that we understand and have similar business environments. We plan on first moving into the entire East Africa community and then exploring the Anglophone region,” said Nyangolo.

Co-founded by Nyangolo and Erick Oude (COO) in 2014, Zeraki initially introduced an interactive digital learning platform for high school students, which included quizzes and systems for tracking their performance, but it wasn’t until the Covid pandemic struck in 2020 that it became popular.

“We realized that schools were purchasing the product but not using it because they lacked the appropriate infrastructure, and teachers didn’t know how to integrate it within the school setting. We were bootstrapping at the time, and didn’t have enough resources to do consumer education. But around 2017 we realized that data was actually a much bigger problem in schools,” he said.

Zeraki then embarked on building the data analytics system to help schools to better manage their students’ data. The data analytics platform allows teachers to upload students’ grades from their mobile phones, and gives a performance breakdown for each student, subject or stream.

The platform, which is more popular than digital learning platform, also integrates a bulk messaging service for internal and external communication, in addition to allowing parents an avenue for tracking student performance and fee payment.

“Every child needs a report card at the end of the school term. And the platforms for producing these report forms were offline computer-based platforms. So, teachers had to line up behind two or three computers at a school to do the data entry in order to produce the report forms. By moving this to a mobile-first cloud-based experience, it means that as soon as they are done grading students’ grades at home, the teachers just enter the scores on their phone.”

Nyangolo added that, so far, over 5,000 schools with a total of 2 million students, are using the data analytics platform. He expects the demand to continue growing as they launch in new markets, and as more schools embrace digital tools to streamline their administrative tasks.

“Education is yet to be digitalized across most countries in Africa, and there is greater opportunity for us to build this market. Laying that foundation that introduces countries, schools and parents on how technology can solve the problems we have in education and being one of the companies in Africa that have shown that it is possible to do this at scale makes this an exciting opportunity,” he said.

Zeraki, a Kenyan edtech providing digital solutions for school admin, raises $1.8M by Annie Njanja originally published on TechCrunch

Foxconn is investing another $500 million in its India business as it ramps up its plans to expand its chipmaking factories in the South Asian market that is slowly becoming a key hardware hub for Apple.

In a stock exchange filing in Taiwan on Thursday, Foxconn said its Singapore subsidiary is deploying the capital into the India entity, Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development Private Limited.

The move follows Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai, picking up pace to expand its smartphone production capacity in India as key partner Apple begins locally producing the current generation iPhone units in the country.

In late September, Apple began assembling the iPhone 14 models in India, locally producing the current lineup for the first time in the same calendar year in the world’s second largest smartphone market.

Analysts estimate that Apple will turn India into a global iPhone manufacturing hub by 2025 as it slowly cuts its reliance on China, where it has been producing the vast majority of its devices for over a decade. In a September report, JP Morgan analysts said Apple will move 5% of global iPhone 14 production to India by late 2022 and expand its manufacturing capacity in the country to produce 25% of all iPhones by 2025.

In a report Wednesday, Morgan Stanley analysts echoed many similar estimations, saying, Apple’s goal is to have India “contribute up to 10% of total iPhone production in 2-3 years.”

Foxconn also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian state of Gujarat to set up a $20 billion semiconductor and display unit in the coastal state that is home of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Foxconn said it will bring technical expertise to the venture whereas Vedanta, known for its mining business, will finance the project, top officials said. The state of Gujarat will offer subsidies on capital expenditure and electricity to the project.

Apple partner Foxconn invests another $500 million in India business by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

Many founders are reactive when business doesn’t go as planned. They may make knee-jerk reactions like: “If I lose 10% of revenue then I’ll just lay off five people.”

The problem with such approaches is that they don’t always solve the underlying business problem.

Take Peloton as an example: At the beginning of the pandemic, the at-home fitness company was riding high and nearly doubled its annual sales. The spike — largely driven by people turning to home fitness as gyms suddenly became untenable — would also be its downfall, unleashing a series of miscalculations that sent its stock diving.

What really happened with Peloton was that the unanticipated demand led to financial and planning mistakes. Peloton had banked on consumers changing their behavior and preferring to exercise at home. They were wrong.

What could Peloton have done to prepare for both the sudden upswing and downswing? They didn’t have a crystal ball, but luckily, we have something that comes close. It’s called a “Three-Case Model.”

What is a three-case model?

With case models, companies can proactively mitigate risk and forecast financial trajectories. The business climate, consumer preferences and competition can all send into motion sequences of events that nobody can predict with certainty. Thankfully, founders can still prepare for them.

Case models are a part of scenario analysis, which helps you visualize the mostly likely outcomes for a business. Through case models, founders can understand how shifts in the business climate could impact sales, cash flow, profits and more. They can also visualize the ramification of strategic decisions, such as what would happen if they make an acquisition, build a factory, raise prices or go after a new market.

To prepare for a downturn, build a three-case model by Ram Iyer originally published on TechCrunch

Black Sheep Foods, a San Francisco–based food tech company that uses plants to create a similar flavor to animal meat, secured another funding round, this time $12.3 million in Series A capital.

The company is leaping over the traditional plant-based foods, like beef, chicken and pork, to focus on scaling production for its lamb-flavored product. The company’s patent-pending technology isolates flavor molecules that give animal meat its flavor, identifies the same molecules in plants and uses that to reconstruct the meat flavor, right down to mouthfeel and richness.

In January, we profiled Black Sheep Foods when it raised $5.25 million in seed funding. At that time, its lamb debuted in some San Francisco and Los Angeles restaurants late last year, including at Ettan, Black Sheep Foods co-founder and CEO Sunny Kumar told TechCrunch. Today that has grown to 44 restaurants.

Charles Bililies, founder and CEO of Greek restaurant Souvla, rolled out the product at six of Souvla’s restaurant locations this year and said the restaurant had been “thoughtful when selecting a plant-based meat partner.” Since then, Black Sheep’s lamb has yielded an “overwhelmingly positive response from our many loyal guests,” he added.

Venture capital into the food tech sector has been waning recently. However, by making flavors and also using them, Kumar believes Black Sheep Foods’ new funding is the result of setting the company up for a vertical integration approach that puts it in a unique space done only by Impossible Foods thus far. He adds the new round was planned and follows progress on some of the key things the company has set out to do in 2022, including the rate of product adoption and R&D milestones on its flavors.

“We had these two approaches, and when we launched with our lamb, we began seeing really good traction and sales growth month over month of 22%,” he added. “It was just this realization that we needed to go a little bit faster on this.”

The new funding is led by Unovis and includes Bessemer Ventures Partners, AgFunder, and KBW Ventures. It brings Black Sheep’s total funding to $18.05 million since its inception in 2019.

Kumar intends to deploy the capital into building up its product and R&D teams as well as sales and marketing.

Black Sheep was also limited at its production facility, where it was able to make only 5,000 pounds per month. Some of the capital will go to moving into a facility that will allow the company to make 16 million pounds per year. That increased production will likely start in the first quarter of 2023, he added.

Meanwhile, Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed, founder of KBW Ventures, participated in the round after tasting Black Sheep’s lamb.

“Black Sheep Foods’ lamb is shockingly good; as someone who has grown up with this taste profile, I couldn’t believe the authentic mouthfeel and flavor,” Prince Khaled said in a written statement. “With taste being a vital aspect of customer adoption, Black Sheep Foods will easily dominate amongst plant-based meats. Additionally, game meats are still a wide open playing field. There’s a whole range of taste profiles that Black Sheep will be able to explore, especially with the company’s technology, allowing for an amplified flavor, excellent texture and a strong nutritional profile.”

Black Sheep Foods grabs $12.3M to craft tastier plant-based meats by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

Less than two months after announcing a new $9.2 billion valuation, TripActions said today it has secured $400 million in credit facilities from Goldman Sachs and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

Specifically, TripActions has secured a warehouse debt facility from Goldman Sachs with a $200 million commitment and the potential to “flex up” to $300 million if needed, noted EVP Michael Sindicich, head of TripActions Liquid. The company also has landed an asset-backed lending facility of $100 million led by Silicon Valley Bank.

TripActions expanded from its core offering of travel expense management and accelerated the launch of its corporate card and general expense management offering, Liquid, in March 2020. Corporate travel had slid to a halt due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking the company’s revenue to zero. At that time, TripActions began underwriting businesses by funding their accounts with capital and giving them the opportunity to pay the company back at the end of their statement period, or billing cycle (typically a 30-day time frame).

Since that launch, the company’s Liquid offering has grown exponentially, with users such as payments giant Stripe, Canva, Carta, Toast, Patreon, Momentive.ai, Lyft, venture firm and investor Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Loom, Databricks and VaynerMedia. By leaning full force into thespend management space, TripActions has been competing with the likes of Brex, Ramp and Airbase, among others.

“We continue to grow at a rapid pace,” Sindicich told TechCrunch in an interview. “The facilities give us more ammo and buying power to bring on, and fund, more businesses as we’ve been scaling.”

TripActions saw the spend volume on its platform increase by 400%, or 5x, in the third quarter, according to Sindicich. The company saw 4.2x year-over-year revenue growth in the third quarter from its Liquid offering in particular, he added. That revenue is derived from a mix of interchange and subscription fees.

There’s no doubt that such growth factored into TripActions’ ability to raise an “up” round — $154 million in equity and $150 million in a structured financing deal — in an environment where many startups are either raising down or flat rounds, if they are able to raise at all.

The majority of TripActions’ new customers are signing up for corporate travel and TripActions Liquid to do their expense management and travel payments, according to Sindicich.

“There’s tons of spend management companies that have been created in the last few years and I think our unique value proposition is being able to combine the travel the corporate card and the expense piece all together because so much of employee expenses have to do in some way, shape or form with a trip,” he told TechCrunch.

In late September, TripActions was said to have filed confidentially to go public in the second quarter of next year at a $12 billion valuation. When asked about those plans this week, a company spokesperson said: “We are doing our part to be ready to go public when the conditions are right and the markets open up again but we can’t predict when that will be.”

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Got a news tip or inside information about a topic we’ve covered? We’d love to hear from you. You can reach me at maryann@techcrunch.com. Or you can drop us a note at tips@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.)

TripActions secures $400M in credit facilities from Goldman Sachs, SVB by Mary Ann Azevedo originally published on TechCrunch

Salesforce has always fashioned itself as a socially responsible company, and that includes working on a Net Zero carbon emissions goal. In fact, it launched Sustainability Cloud in 2019, a product for tracking customer Net Zero goals. This year, they are taking that idea a step further with a new product that incorporates not only the environmental pieces, but also social and governance goals, all of which fall under the ESG umbrella.

Ari Alexander, GM for Salesforce Net Zero Cloud and Net Zero Marketplace says that the idea is to take advantage of the range of Salesforce tooling from Mulesoft for connecting to data sources to Tableau for data visualization to help companies better understand their progress towards ESG goals.

“ESG is a broad and very important trend where our customers are looking for help, direction and solutions, and increasingly we started hearing that they needed help with reporting, both voluntary and regulatory,” he said.

The amount of information required to build such reports can be a daunting task for those charged with the reporting requirements. “The solution needed to reach across their business to bring in data from many different sources and streamline their reporting. And so we decided it was time to kind of bring the full power of Salesforce to that problem and extend our Net Zero Cloud to broaden into a full ESG solution.”

ESG reporting is challenging in its current state, particularly because there is no common regulatory reporting framework for all of this data, other than for greenhouse gas reporting. “Whereas the E part of ESG has the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to guide it, that’s a fairly well aligned as a global standard, when it comes to ESG reporting, that is very much still an alphabet soup of voluntary frameworks,” Alexander said.

What’s more, the regulatory bodies that are there are changing their requirements frequently, and it is expected that there will be in-country requirements in the not-too-distant future.

“So the specific kinds of data that we’re talking about whether it’s emissions data, whether it’s diversity, equity and inclusion data, whether it’s data about, suppliers and whether there are any kind of human rights flags or abuses anywhere deep in your supply chain, the kinds of things that companies are collecting or looking to put in one place and one single source of truth and report out on. There isn’t yet a clean and easy way to say this is good data or this is bad data on an unstructured data set [like this],” he said.

He says, the data can be reported to third-party auditors, however, and the tool is set up to allow that. “There is increasingly pressure on companies to take the data they’re reporting out more seriously, to provide some of the kinds of audit trails, so the Big Four audit firms can come in and look at enterprise data and have a point of view on whether the data that’s being shown to them is up to a certain standard when it comes to workflows and processes, transparency and being able to explain how you get to the kinds of numbers you report out on,” he said.

The full ESG reporting product is expected to be publicly available in the next couple of months.

Salesforce to expand Sustainability Cloud into full ESG reporting tool by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch

North Korean state-sponsored hackers exploited a previously unknown zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer to target South Korean users with malware, according to Google’s Threat Analysis Group.

Google researchers discovered first discovered the zero-day flaw on October 31 when multiple individuals uploaded a malicious Microsoft Office document to the company’s VirusTotal tool. These documents purported to be government reports related to the Itaewon tragedy, a crowd crush that occurred during Halloween festivities in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul. At least 158 people were killed and 196 others were injured.

“This incident was widely reported on, and the lure takes advantage of widespread public interest in the accident,” Google TAG’s Clement Lecigne and Benoit Stevens said on Wednesday.

The malicious documents were designed to exploit a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer’s Script engine, tracked as CVE-2022-41128 with a CVSS severity rating of 8.8. Once opened, the document would deliver an unknown payload after downloading a rich text file (RTF) remote template that would render remote HTML using Internet Explorer.Although Internet Explorer was officially retired back in June and replaced by Microsoft Edge, Office still uses the IE engine to execute the JavaScript that enables the attack.

“This technique has been widely used to distribute IE exploits via Office files since 2017,” Lecigne and Stevens said. “Delivering IE exploits via this vector has the advantage of not requiring the target to use Internet Explorer as its default browser.”

The researchers added that Google reported the vulnerability to Microsoft on October 31 before it was fixed it a week later as part of Microsoft’s November 2022 Patch Tuesday security updates.

Google hasattributedthe activity to a North Korean-backed hacking group known as APT37, which has been active since at least 2012 and has been previously observed exploiting zero-day flaws to target South Korean users, North Korean defectors, policymakers, journalists and human rights activists. Cybersecurity company FireEye previously said it assessed with “high confidence” that APT37 activity is carried out on behalf of the North Korean government, noting that the group’s primary mission “is covert intelligence gathering in support of North Korea’s strategic military, political and economic interests.”

While Google researchers didn’t get a chance to analyze the malware APT37 hackers attempted to deploy against their targets, they note that the group is known for using a wide variety of malicious software.

“Although we did not recover a final payload for this campaign, we’ve previously observed the same group deliver a variety of implants like ROKRAT, BLUELIGHT, and DOLPHIN,” Lecigne and Stevens said. “APT37 implants typically abuse legitimate cloud services as a C2 channel and offer capabilities typical of most backdoors.”

Google TAG’s research comes after researchers at threat intelligence company Cisco Talos revealed that the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus hacking group –also known as APT38 — is exploiting the Log4Shellvulnerability to target energy providers in the United States, Canada and Japan.

North Korean hackers exploited Internet Explorer zero-day to spread malware by Carly Page originally published on TechCrunch