Convenient and connected and fitness business opportunitiesThe most popular incarnation of this idea is high-tech home workout concepts.

London-based boutique fitness studio 1rebel has now partnered with TechnoGym to launch its own at-home, on-demand fitness studio (bike, £2,450 outright or £99 /month).

The company claims a 20 minute workout using its system equates to a normal two hour session in the gym.

Or there’s ClassPass, which allows you to book onto as many local exercise classes as possible for one monthly fee.

A business that makes exercise easy and accessible for that underserved section of the market could make big gains in 2020. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1577827815.1555347/Business-ideas-2020:-Convenient-and-connected-fitness?ref=audio_experience

Instead, Brazilian 99 announced the launch of its “More Women Driving” campaign.

As the name glaringly suggests, its purpose is to draw in a greater number of female drivers onto the platform.

Uber also wants inThe dominant narrative in this campaign is to help women achieve financial independence, work flexibility, and empowerment.

Through this new app feature, women would have access to additional resources if they chose to become partnering drivers.

Obviously, with this new feature, Uber wants more female drivers; its current base of female chauffeurs stands at 6 percent. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1577826010.1462505/Ride-hailing-99-launches-campaign-to-get-more-women-behind-the-wheel?ref=audio_experience

Raising money and managing investors can be a major undertaking for any startup, but for failed Seattle startup Vicis, the complexity was on a whole other level.

The high-tech football helmet maker lists an extraordinary 389 investors on its capitalization table, or “cap table” as it’s commonly known in the business world.

The list, never before made public, spans nearly eight pages in King County Superior Court documents unearthed by GeekWire.

It’s more common for a startup to have a handful of investors, with a small number holding a controlling stake.

Charlene Marver worked at Vicis and is the wife of co-founder Dave Marver, who stepped down as CEO in November. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1577824214.7584987/Look-at-this-crazy-cap-table:-Nearly-400-investors-backed-Vicis-before-high-tech-helmet-maker-folded?ref=audio_experience

Nearly $4 billion went to startups based in the Pacific Northwest, according to GeekWire’s funding deal tracker.

There were some key exits, including Prudential’s massive $2.3 billion acquisition of insurance tech startup Assurance, which bootstrapped its way to success.

Multiple Seattle startups including wellness company Arivale and high-tech football helmet maker Vicis shut down.

Real estate is also a theme for the Pacific Northwest tech scene, anchored by longtime industry leaders Zillow and Redfin.

Startups including Crowdstreet, Modus, Flyhomes, Blokable, Knock, and Pro.com all raised capital this year. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1577822408.0760992/A-big-year-for-Pacific-Northwest-startups:-Unicorn-births,-key-exits,-and-others-waiting-in-the-wings?ref=audio_experience

Microsoft has added so many AI-driven features to its Office productivity suite this year that we wanted to pull together a comprehensive list — but it’s not as straightforward as it might seem.

That’s because Microsoft doesn’t simply ship AI-powered features in Office once — it refines them over time.

The AI gets smarter based on that signal and we can help people more, but in all of these cases we’re just taking out the busy work in between.”After a couple of conversations with Microsoft, we settled on highlighting six major AI features added to Office this year.

ExcelThe first AI feature in Excel is a perfect example of Microsoft trying to bridge the gap between mobile and desktop.

The AI features Microsoft has been adding over the past few years have made the tool much smarter. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1577820608.4053555/6-AI-features-Microsoft-added-to-Office-in-2019?ref=audio_experience

Presented by Velocity GlobalEconomists, academics, and top executives increasingly predict that a global recession is on the horizon within the next year.

Despite unsettling economic forecasts, global expansion provides tech leaders an opportunity to grow their businesses — even under volatile market conditions.

IBM, one of the oldest and well-known tech companies in the U.S., illustrates how global expansion helps mitigate recession risks.

The Global Expansion Tech Index, included in Velocity Global’s The State of Global Expansion 2019 Report: Technology Industry, ranks 50 of the most promising markets to help tech companies decide where to grow.

Its economy ranked highly in the Global Expansion Tech Index. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1577818808.400457/How-global-expansion-mitigates-a-recession’s-impacts?ref=audio_experience

'Winter is coming' for Slack in 2020 as its faces more competition from Microsoft's rival Teams app, an analyst says | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1577817009.767735/Silicon-Valley-startup-valuations-are-so-out-of-control,-these-2-investors-moved-to-New-York-City-to-avoid-the-'bidding-wars'-for-big-deals?ref=audio_experience

Apple has an idea for immersive audio technology that could one day play an important role in its big plans for augmented reality | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1577815209.994666/The-19-billion-dollar-startups-to-watch-that-are-revolutionizing-healthcare-in-2020?ref=audio_experience

These simple actions both describe how a new alliance between Argentinian online commerce company, Mercado Libre, and PayPal will work, as well as how the announcement was made.

This change in the online payments ecosystem means that PayPal will be an option on the Mercado Libre shopping site.

Meanwhile, Mercado Pago—Mercado Libre’s payment platform—will be accessible via PayPal.

Similarly, Mercado Libre will be getting a boost from PayPal’s 300 million-strong user base, according to the latter’s CEO’s letter.

It probably came as a surprise to many, considering that the South American country is Mercado Libre’s home turf. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1577813409.3703573/Mercado-Libre-and-PayPal-to-join-forces-in-Mexico-and-Brazil?ref=audio_experience

It may sound cliché, but it’s true: customer support can make or break your business, and never more so than when you’re a startup.

Over the years, as a customer support leader in the startup world, I’ve learned that you never know when an interaction with a customer will be your last.

And it’s not like the old model of customer support will work in today’s world, either.

Building world-class customer support today must go beyond solving an immediate issue for someone to striving for a long-term relationship built on trust, satisfaction, and convenience.

Customer support team stock photo by George Rudy/Shutterstock | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1577811616.6531725/Building-a-World-class-Customer-Support-Team-at-a-Startup?ref=audio_experience