2019 in Eastern Europe: Russia moves towards digital isolation, neighboring countries export IT services and gifted entrepreneursCrunchbase and East-West Digital News are teaming up to cover key tech and venture trends from Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union.

Tech stars of the yearMail.ru Group and Yandex, Russia’s largest Internet companies, as well as Sberbank, the state-owned financial institution turning into a tech giant, made the headlines in 2019.

It has become a tentacular tech group well beyond financial services.

Its taxi-hailing subsidiary Yandex.Taxi – which merged activities in Russia with Uber in 2018 – turned profitable in 2019.

Yandex.Taxi made a series of acquisitions in 2018 and 2019 to strengthen its leadership across Russian regions. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1579305606.7832031/2019-in-Eastern-Europe?ref=audio_experience

The payment choices are limited, however, for online gamblers who want to try their luck with low-deposit casinos.

And gamers who want to try their luck with a low-deposit casino may not be able to use such options.

Online casinos that require a minimum deposit that’s very small are called low-deposit casinos.

In other words, in many cases, gamers who choose the low-deposit option can only claim the bonuses specifically available to low-deposit players.

Select the Right Payment Method for YouGamers need to select a payment method that’s suited to their playing requirements. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1579303806.433244/Best-Payment-Methods-for-Low-Deposit-Casinos-–-Running-Your-Business?ref=audio_experience

0 Shares EmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInHello and welcome back to Last Week In Venture, the weekly roundup of deals which may have flown under your radar.

Without further ado, let’s dive into a few of the deals from the week that was in venture-land.

Plastic From KelpEarlier this week, Crunchbase News published some findings about the emerging sector of sustainable packaging and plastics.

Kelp a large species of marine algae, underwater forests of which lie just offshore 25 percent of the world’s coastlines.

Image Credits: Last Week In Venture graphic created by JD Battles. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1579302008.2455404/Last-Week-In-Venture:-Saving-The-Sea-With-Plastic-From-Kelp,-A-New-Kind-Of-B-School,-And-Keeping-Engineering-Spirits-Bright?ref=audio_experience

Discussing what could be the key sectors that would attract more investments in the upcoming times, Shanti Mohan, founder of LetsVenture, said that fintech, healthtech, and startups facilitating the electric vehicle space are going to lure investors in the future.

For Digvijay Singh, chief operating officer of the Indian Angel Network, startups in sectors such as cleantech and agritech look promising to investors.

For Singh, founders, who are ready to mould their ideas according to the changing times and technology are the ones who get investors’ attraction.

For Joshi, founders who fail to explain their market disappoint him the most.

Singh added that founders who have technical experience but fail to understand the commerce side of their product face difficulties in finding investors. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1579300205.8288758/Investors-To-Eye-Fintech,-Healthtech-Startups-In-Future:-TiECON-Kolkata?ref=audio_experience

"Phenom People's talent experience technology is unrivaled in today's marketplace," said Sumir Chadha, founder and managing director at WestBridge Capital.

Employee Experience: Talent management empowers employees to identify new career paths, learning opportunities, and skill gaps with personalized job openings and internal mobility.

Phenom People hosts the world's largest talent experience conference, IAMPHENOM, for CHROs, talent leaders and HR practitioners.

About Phenom PeoplePhenom People is a global HR technology company with a mission to help a billion people find the right job.

We do this through an AI-based SaaS platform called Talent Experience Management. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1579298407.6479414/Phenom-People-Scores-$30M-in-Series-C?ref=audio_experience

First, a third domestic technology company — Alphabet — passed the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold.

And, second, software as a service (SaaS) stocks reached record highs on the public markets after retreating over last summer.

We’ll continue to make this point so long as the public markets continue to rise, pricing tech companies that have already floated higher like the cliche’s own tide.

This market reality is why SaaS stocks’ recent return to form is not a surprise.

Because technology companies today are valued so highly, perhaps even a faint dusting of tech will save their valuations as they cross the chasm between private and adult. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1579296606.8680177/As-Alphabet-crests-the-$1T-mark,-SaaS-stocks-reach-all-time-highs-of-their-own-–-TechCrunch?ref=audio_experience

This time in a state that is increasing its profile as a startup hub as of late.

Subscribe to the Crunchbase DailyCharlotte, N.C.-based AvidXchange, a provider of accounts payable (AP) and payment automation solutions for the middle market, announced this afternoon it has raised $260 million in funding.

The company is already valued at over $1 billion but it would not disclose at which valuation this round was raised.

And in October, the company launched new lines – AvidPay and AvidInvoice – to serve the long-term healthcare and social services sectors.

However, North Carolina in general has been home to a number of large funding rounds over the past year. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1579294807.9118772/Charlotte’s-AvidXchange-Raises-$260M-In-TPG-Led-Series-F-For-Accounts-Payable-Platform?ref=audio_experience

Tweet REDWOOD CITY, CA, Cyral announced the close of an $11 million Series A funding round led by Redpoint Ventures.

To export Cyral funding data to PDF and Excel, clickClick here for more funding data on CyralTo export Cyral funding data to PDF and Excel, click here Cyral, the first cloud service for enabling security policies at the data layer, today announced the close of an $11 million Series A funding round led by Redpoint Ventures with participation from A.Capital, Costanoa VC, Firebolt, SV Angel and Trifecta Capital.

It proves that only the right apps are pulling the right data at the right time and with the right access."

For early access to the Cyral service, please visit www.cyral.com and register.

The Cyral service is easy to use and plugs seamlessly into an infrastructure-as-code framework. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1579293006.9358246/Cyral-Reveals-$15.1M-Funding?ref=audio_experience

Fintech Flink will be releasing an additional option for its app.

As of the second quarter of 2020, users can invest directly in various companies via Flink’s platform.

According to a recent press release, Flink has over 120,000 users among which 98 percent stated they were interested in making investments of some form.

But perhaps for newer generations, getting a taste of making an investment may motivate them to be smarter about their savings.

Assuming they understand the research and often patience needed to invest and that it’s not a “get rich quick” fix. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1579291211.585077/Fintech-Flink-wants-to-make-investors-out-of-millennials?ref=audio_experience

It seems like every company making lidar has a new and clever approach, but Baraja takes the cake.

Its method is not only elegant and powerful, but fundamentally avoids many issues that nag other lidar technologies.

That’s what Baraja’s lidar does, except naturally it’s a bit more complicated than that.

“We thought if we could set the light free, send it through prism-like optics, then we could steer a laser beam without moving parts.

First, there are next to no moving parts whatsoever in the entire Baraja system. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1579289408.2327883/Baraja’s-unique-and-ingenious-take-on-lidar-shines-in-a-crowded-industry-–-TechCrunch?ref=audio_experience