Connect with us

NEWS

Social shopping-focused Chums announces $3.5M raise ahead of YC Demo Day

Published

on

social shopping focused chums announces 3 5m raise ahead of yc demo day
GettyImages 1041147560

With Y Combinator Demo Day kicking off tomorrow morning, startups in the current batch are hurrying to make a little news before they show off their recent growth to investors. The list includes Runway, Mono, Pangea and Flux.

Add Chums to the mix. Chums is a social shopping service that helps friends suggest products to their pals. And the startup has put together a total of $3.5 million across two pre-seed investments.

TechCrunch spoke with Noah Elion, one of Chums’ founders, about the round. He said that his company closed $1 million in December, later looking to raise another $1.5 million. Interest ran high for shares in the startup, so Chums wound up raising $1 million more than its latter target, for a combined total of $3.5 million.

The company declined to share the cap at which the funds, raised via a SAFE, were secured.

The $1.5 million target was based on the amount of capital that his company would need for the next 18 months, Elion said. The final sum came from Ludlow, Shrug, Contrary Capital and Fuel Capital, among other firms and individuals.

How did a company in the midst of Y Combinator manage to raise an old-school Series A round of capital despite launching its product just a few weeks ago? The background of its founding team helps some. Co-founder Dick Fickling was an early engineer at Honey, for example, another shopping-focused startup that had a material exit.

The startup’s service is a mobile app that allows users to follow product-types that they may want to purchase, and suggest goods to one another that might fit their friends’ needs. It made its way to market three weeks ago, or as Elion explained, right before his company went out fundraising. TechCrunch asked about early traction, to which Elion said that it was too soon to say much, though his team has seen “encouraging” levels of engagement thus far.

Advertisement

The startup is four people today, which its website describes as a group of friends. This is mostly true. Elion and Fickling teamed up after the former built a predecessor to Chums — called Chums Referral — becoming friends in the process. Fickling was previously colleagues and friends with the folks who comprise the rest of the team, namely Lauren Williams (director of engineering) and Lena Gasilina (product).

The team is looking for a designer and a front-end developer, but after that is done hiring. It intends to stay at six people until its next round. Why? It wants to reach product-market fit with a half-dozen staff. If it does, it should be able to raise more money at a comfortable valuation. There’s some sense in the idea, though it was slightly odd to hear a startup plan measured growth to preserve capital in 2021.

Chums makes money on commissions from recommended products, splitting the revenue with users. Elion declined to share the network, or networks, his company is working with to secure commercial ties with retailers, but did note that in time Chums will go direct to secure better deals.

With a closed round, most of its team in place and an app in the market, it’s now up to Chums to prove Elion’s view Google is overly gamed and Amazon is best when you know what you are looking for. In the co-founder’s view, people liked malls for their “diversity of content” and as a space for “spontaneous shopping.” Perhaps Chums can fit that niche, and, in the process, generate some serious coin.


Early Stage is the premier “how-to” event for startup entrepreneurs and investors. You’ll hear firsthand how some of the most successful founders and VCs build their businesses, raise money and manage their portfolios. We’ll cover every aspect of company building: Fundraising, recruiting, sales, product-market fit, PR, marketing and brand building. Each session also has audience participation built in — there’s ample time included for audience questions and discussion. Use code “TCARTICLE” at checkout to get 20% off tickets right here.

TechCrunch

Advertisement
Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

FACEBOOK

Facebook Faces Yet Another Outage: Platform Encounters Technical Issues Again

Published

on

By

Facebook Problem Again

Uppdated: It seems that today’s issues with Facebook haven’t affected as many users as the last time. A smaller group of people appears to be impacted this time around, which is a relief compared to the larger incident before. Nevertheless, it’s still frustrating for those affected, and hopefully, the issues will be resolved soon by the Facebook team.

Facebook had another problem today (March 20, 2024). According to Downdetector, a website that shows when other websites are not working, many people had trouble using Facebook.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has had issues. Just a little while ago, there was another problem that stopped people from using the site. Today, when people tried to use Facebook, it didn’t work like it should. People couldn’t see their friends’ posts, and sometimes the website wouldn’t even load.

Downdetector, which watches out for problems on websites, showed that lots of people were having trouble with Facebook. People from all over the world said they couldn’t use the site, and they were not happy about it.

When websites like Facebook have problems, it affects a lot of people. It’s not just about not being able to see posts or chat with friends. It can also impact businesses that use Facebook to reach customers.

Since Facebook owns Messenger and Instagram, the problems with Facebook also meant that people had trouble using these apps. It made the situation even more frustrating for many users, who rely on these apps to stay connected with others.

Advertisement

During this recent problem, one thing is obvious: the internet is always changing, and even big websites like Facebook can have problems. While people wait for Facebook to fix the issue, it shows us how easily things online can go wrong. It’s a good reminder that we should have backup plans for staying connected online, just in case something like this happens again.

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

NEWS

We asked ChatGPT what will be Google (GOOG) stock price for 2030

Published

on

We asked ChatGPT what will be Google (GOOG) stock price for 2030

Investors who have invested in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) stock have reaped significant benefits from the company’s robust financial performance over the last five years. Google’s dominance in the online advertising market has been a key driver of the company’s consistent revenue growth and impressive profit margins.

In addition, Google has expanded its operations into related fields such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. These areas show great promise as future growth drivers, making them increasingly attractive to investors. Notably, Alphabet’s stock price has been rising due to investor interest in the company’s recent initiatives in the fast-developing field of artificial intelligence (AI), adding generative AI features to Gmail and Google Docs.

However, when it comes to predicting the future pricing of a corporation like Google, there are many factors to consider. With this in mind, Finbold turned to the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT to suggest a likely pricing range for GOOG stock by 2030. Although the tool was unable to give a definitive price range, it did note the following:

“Over the long term, Google has a track record of strong financial performance and has shown an ability to adapt to changing market conditions. As such, it’s reasonable to expect that Google’s stock price may continue to appreciate over time.”

GOOG stock price prediction

While attempting to estimate the price range of future transactions, it is essential to consider a variety of measures in addition to the AI chat tool, which includes deep learning algorithms and stock market experts.

Finbold collected forecasts provided by CoinPriceForecast, a finance prediction tool that utilizes machine self-learning technology, to anticipate Google stock price by the end of 2030 to compare with ChatGPT’s projection.

According to the most recent long-term estimate, which Finbold obtained on March 20, the price of Google will rise beyond $200 in 2030 and touch $247 by the end of the year, which would indicate a 141% gain from today to the end of the year.

2030 GOOG price prediction: Source: CoinPriceForecast

Google has been assigned a recommendation of ‘strong buy’ by the majority of analysts working on Wall Street for a more near-term time frame. Significantly, 36 analysts of the 48 have recommended a “strong buy,” while seven people have advocated a “buy.” The remaining five analysts had given a ‘hold’ rating.

Advertisement



1679313229 737 We asked ChatGPT what will be Google GOOG stock price
Wall Street GOOG 12-month price prediction: Source: TradingView

The average price projection for Alphabet stock over the last three months has been $125.32; this objective represents a 22.31% upside from its current price. It’s interesting to note that the maximum price forecast for the next year is $160, representing a gain of 56.16% from the stock’s current price of $102.46.

While the outlook for Google stock may be positive, it’s important to keep in mind that some potential challenges and risks could impact its performance, including competition from ChatGPT itself, which could affect Google’s price.


Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.

Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

NEWS

This Apple Watch app brings ChatGPT to your wrist — here’s why you want it

Published

on

Apple Watch Series 8

ChatGPT feels like it is everywhere at the moment; the AI-powered tool is rapidly starting to feel like internet connected home devices where you are left wondering if your flower pot really needed Bluetooth. However, after hearing about a new Apple Watch app that brings ChatGPT to your favorite wrist computer, I’m actually convinced this one is worth checking out.

The new app is called watchGPT and as I tipped off already, it gives you access to ChatGPT from your Apple Watch. Now the $10,000 question (or more accurately the $3.99 question, as that is the one-time cost of the app) is why having ChatGPT on your wrist is remotely necessary, so let’s dive into what exactly the app can do.

What can watchGPT do?

Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

Trending

Follow by Email
RSS