Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick raises $400 million for CloudKitchens

Travis Kalanick, former CEO of Uber has now raised $400 million for his next venture CloudKitchens. The funding was led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. CloudKitchens buys cheap real estate across the US, India, China, UK, and other countries to serve as delivery-only kitchens. With CloudKitchens, Travis is approaching the food-delivery boom from a real-estate perspective.

Ridesharing advertising startup Octopus raises $10.3M

Octopus Interactive is a startup that aims to bring interactive tv and advertisements to ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. It has raised $10.3M in a funding round led by Sinclair Digital Group. After its launch in 2018, Octopus claims that it reaches 3 million people each month across 10,000 screens in New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C, and Chicago.

“What we see here is an untapped medium with a truly captive audience that is buckled in and looking to engage,” said Sinclair Executive Chairman David Smith in a statement. “We invested in Octopus because the team has successfully created an innovative and differentiated branding opportunity that we can help scale further.” The round also saw participation from MathCapital.

Andrey Andreev founder of Badoo sells his entire stake in Bumble

Bumble is a profitable online dating and networking app that focuses on women being in charge and making connections. Andrey Andreev, the founder of Badoo which is the main builder and backer is selling his stake in MagicLab, the company that owned Badoo and Bumble among other companies.

Andrey Andreev is selling his entire stake to Blackstone which will also be making an investment in the company. This deal puts the valuation of Bumble and its business at $3 billion. “This transaction is an incredibly important and exciting moment for Bumble and the MagicLab group of brands and team members. Blackstone is world-class at maximizing the success of entrepreneur-led companies, which presents a tremendous opportunity. We are very excited to build the next chapter with them,” Wolfe Herd, Bumble’s founder and now CEO said in a statement.