New high-tech city buses face backlash
The Story
New York City’s new fleet of more than 2,000 buses began hitting the streets this week. But as modern as the buses are, with USB charging ports and free Wi-Fi, most will still initially lack technology to address perhaps the worst safety issue with the big vehicles: hitting pedestrians while making turns.
How big of a problem is this?
Pretty big. Nationwide, collisions between pedestrians and city buses result in roughly one pedestrian death every 10 days. While amenities like WiFi are welcome, and will definitely enhance the experience of riding a city bus, the city is facing criticism for not making safety a priority through technology. [ABC News]
Major landlord teams up with hospitality startup
The Story
Convene, the startup that rents corporate meeting and event space to companies that no longer want the expense of paying for their own, partnered with Brookfield Property Group.
A little background
The partnership will allow Convene to operate conference centers at the real estate firm's Class A office buildings around the world. This means that Convene could also manage the kind of amenities usually found at co-working spaces, such as coffee shops and fitness and wellness centers. The partnership was launched with a $20 million funding round led by Brookfield and asset management firm Arrowpoint Partners. [Crain’s New York]
Volkswagen places big bet on Gett
The Story
Volkswagen announced a $300 million investment in Gett, an on-demand ride-hailing service that provides riders with flat rates that never surge.
Why this is huge
Volkswagen’s partnership with Gett is a strategic one, which is based on a joint growth strategy to expand on-demand mobility services in Europe. Volkswagen also expressed that the long-term goals of this deal expand to self-driving cars. Gett’s technology leverages predictive algorithms, big data and artificial intelligence — all of which provide a foundation for on-demand self-driving cars. [Built In NYC]
Fundings of the week
Toonimo, 2.1 million
Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners
Toonimo is a startup that makes websites more engaging by adding custom animations. The idea is that online visitors might appreciate having a cartoon character who can point out the important parts of a website — and that, in turn, can lead to an increase in sales.
Seamless Docs, $7 million
Investors: Motorola Solutions, Govtech Fund, New York State Innovation Fund and 1776.
SeamlessDocs, the startup that helps governments move all their forms online, announced the close of a $7 million Series B funding round led by Motorola Solutions. SeamlessDocs hooks in with a local government (or branch of government) to convert all of their PDF forms into clickable, interactive digital forms, compatible with all platforms and screen sizes. [TechCrunch]
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