Fastadata.io nabs $5 million seed round; March Capital invested $5 million in SpyCloud; Beijing-based bike-sharing company ofo responds to Bird’s ‘pledge’
Fastadata.io Nabs $5 Million Seed
Fastdata.io, a real-time stream processing company, landed $5 million in seed funding from CrossCut, Pelion Venture and current investor NVIDIA, the Business Journal reports. According to the press release, the company will use the money to try to speed up the use of its computing software, FDIO Engine, which it claims processes streams 1,000 times faster than any CPU-based software, reduced data processing costs by 70 percent and lowers space requirements by 90 percent.
March Capital Increases Investment in SpyCloud
Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners invested $5 million into SpyCloud SpyCloud, an Austin-based company developing software to prevent account takeovers by cybercriminals, SoCaltech reports. SpyCloud, led by Ted Ross, says it has created software which automatically detects and remediates employee accounts that have been compromised and forces password changes.
ofo Responds to Bird
A day after Bird announced expansion into three cities and a three-pronged pledge to clean up city streets, Beijing-based ofo, a bike-sharing company with a U.S. presence, responded publicly, the Business Journal reports.
“Bird has shown a clear trend in operating first without prior approval, and just like its approach to entering cities, it once again has resorted to bullying tactics to push an untested product and forgo any sort of community collaboration,” said ofo spokesperson Taylor Bennett. “We call on Bird to commit to safety first, follow ofo’s lead in working with cities and wait for permission to operate rather than placing unregulated e-scooters on the streets for anyone to access.”
The campaign and response comes just months after the city of Santa Monica filed a criminal case against Bird, accusing it of operating without proper permits. Bird later agreed to pay more than $300,000 as part of a settlement with the city.
In response, a Bird spokesperson issued a statement:
“Bird wants to work with cities on our shared goal of reducing traffic and carbon emissions.That is why we continually engage with the cities, campuses and communities in which we operate, and make sure that we are following all the rules of the road – just like any other business. We also made a first-of-its-kind Save Our Sidewalks Pledge and challenged other dockless vehicle companies to join us in voluntarily paying cities $1 per day per vehicle to help run safety campaigns and expand bike lanes and other infrastructure – as well as keep sidewalks clear. No other company has signed on to that pledge, but we look forward to them taking this responsible step.”
