Street Fight Daily: Yik Yak Raises $62M, Square Accepts Apple Pay
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Messaging App Yik Yak Tipped For $62M Funding A Year After Launch (Guardian)
Anonymous messaging app Yik Yak has become a hit on college campuses across the U.S. since its launch a year ago. Now it is raising a $62M funding round from high-profile Silicon Valley venture capital firms. Sequoia Capital, which also invested in messaging app WhatsApp before it was bought for $19B by Facebook, is leading the round according to the Wall Street Journal.
A ‘Radical Transformation’ Is Brewing in SMB Phones (Street Fight)
Mark Sullivan: For local businesses that rely on the phone for inbound leads, the functionality of copper lines pales in comparison to what call-tracking-enabled lines have done for years. Unfortunately for business owners, the VoIP packages being sold to them also fall far short of the level of functionality that call tracking provides.
Apple Pay Could Be Coming To Small Businesses, Thanks To Square (Gizmodo)
Since it launched last month, Apple’s mobile payment system has been doing pretty well for itself. But the list of participating stores, while impressive, is dominated by big names. Thanks to plans to team up with Square, a credit-card processing service for small firms, that could all change.
Creating a “Local Service Layer” — To Build or To Buy? (Street Fight)
The question of “buy or build” is everywhere in technology, and for something as important as brand integrity, it is paramount to making the right choice. Marketers can use cloud software to empower local affiliates to evangelize the brand in a controlled environment while using data to localize messaging in an automated way.
Investors: Damn Ubergate and Full Speed Ahead With Mega-Funding (Recode)
Did last week’s online outrage hinder the ongoing Uber mega-funding round? Apparently not. Investors still seem to be bullish on the ride-sharing company, despite the recent outcry about its trustworthiness and ethics, said multiple sources who have talked with the company during its ongoing pitches to raise a yet another enormous round of investment.
6 Tools SMBs Without Websites Can Use to Sell Online (Street Fight)
Understanding that many SMBs don’t have a business website, a number of hyperlocal vendors have introduced platforms that give merchants a way to participate in e-commerce and sell their wares online. Here are six examples of tools that merchants can try.
Former ZocDoc Employee Says She Is Suing The Company Following Sexual Harassment (Business Insider)
A former ZocDoc employee says the company is a “frat house” where men casually discuss their female co-workers’ body parts, women sleep with upper-management, and there is a rodent infestation. This summer, reports said the company was seeking to raise $152 million at a $1.6 billion valuation.
Salesforce Wants Desk.com App Hub To Be One-Stop Shop For SMBs (TechCrunch)
Salesforce.com announced an update today to Desk.com, their customer service product aimed at small businesses. An app store called App Hub aims to give SMBs a one-stop shop for the cloud applications they need –and they have created a way to integrate those apps directly into Desk.com.
Aruba Networks Enables “Blue-Dot” Indoor Navigation With Beacons (Search Engine Land)
Aruba has developed viable indoor turn-by-turn indoor navigation using beacons and a process called “trilateration.” The company didn’t invent trilateration but to my knowledge it is the first company that has successfully implemented it in the real world. Trilateration is like triangulation except with beacons instead of WiFi or cell towers.
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