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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Opendoor has become the first true woman-led meme stock—and that can get complicated
– Open up. Another day, another meme stock. Or is it? In the four years since GameStop went viral, it's been pretty rare for one of the stocks that Reddit's r/WallStreetBets has pushed to artificial highs to be a woman-led company. But alongside AMC, Nokia, and Trump Media & Technology Group, we can now count Opendoor, the real estate businesses headed by CEO Carrie Wheeler. Opendoor was a Fortune 500 member in 2022 and 2023 (and Wheeler was a Fortune 500 CEO), but the company has since fallen off the list of America's largest businesses. An online home buyer and flipper, its fortunes have reversed post-pandemic and after a 2020 SPAC. It came close to being delisted from the Nasdaq earlier this year. Over the past week, Opendoor's shares were up more than 400%—which still places its stock price at just $2.88 as of yesterday's market close. (Kohl's is another new meme stock of the past week, too.) Investor Eric Jackson is bullish on Opendoor, as are retail traders who see something Wall Street doesn't. But of course the attention of Reddit traders can get complicated. Investor Keith Rabois, who was a force behind the launch of the company a decade ago, has been openly questioning Wheeler's competence and calling for a new CEO—and others are following along. It's not easy to be a meme, and it's not easy to be a female CEO. Emma The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune's daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Subscribe here. This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why the cofounder of Nextdoor came back after five years of investing in startups
– Home sweet home. They say you can never go home again, but Sarah Leary would disagree. In 2019, the Nextdoor cofounder stepped away from the company she helped build. Five years later, she returned to her old stomping grounds to help usher in a new era of the neighborhood social networking platform—now a $247 million-in-revenue business with 45.9 million weekly active users. Leary says that while she attempted to take some time off (unsuccessfully, she points out) and then pivoted to investing in early stage companies like Contra and Connectly, she was able to reconnect with Nextdoor's original goal of helping people strengthen their real life communities. 'When you step away, you're like, 'Ooh, maybe we could do that a little bit differently,'' she says. While working with small startups, Leary also better understood the rarity of creating a platform that became ubiquitous: Today, there are over 100 million Nextdoor users in 11 countries. Three priorities—time-sensitive information, local insights, and neighborhood news—are powering Nextdoor's next era. A series of partnerships with local news outlets is being unveiled today, and Nextdoor is also improving real-time safety alerts to become an emergency resource. What would 2011 Sarah think of all that her brainchild has turned into? 'I'd be like, 'OK, girl, you did it!' And at the same time, I'd think: 'Wow, building enduring companies is hard work,'' she says. 'Nextdoor is my baby. I put my heart and soul into this. This is a mission that I believe in very strongly.' Sara The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune's daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today's edition was curated by Sara Braun. Subscribe here. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive: Halogen Ventures closes $30 million fund to invest in the future of family
– Family first. Halogen Ventures has closed a $30 million fund to invest in a new thesis: the future of family. Founding partner Jesse Draper identified this area as ripe for investment in the immediate aftermath of the COVID pandemic. The U.S. childcare system was broken, and families were struggling. Draper wanted to tackle it—but as an investor who already backed female-founded businesses, she could anticipate the response she'd get. 'People would say, 'that's not a big enough opportunity,'' she recalls. Draper repositioned from defining her thesis as childcare to the future of family, which includes the physical health and financial health of families, among other applications. She ran a study of the 'future of family' as a category, and determined it's a market valued at $7.5 trillion, including childcare, ed tech, tech for families, digital workplace solutions, and child and youth services. '[Families] want more scheduling tools, they want more financial management tools, they want more time overall,' Draper says. The firm has already invested in companies aligned with this thesis, including the baby registry platform Babylist, the childcare marketplace Upwards, and the transportation company HopSkipDrive. This is Halogen's third fund. The fund's LPs include Gingerbread Capital, Lanyon Advisors, Fenwick's Funds of Funds, and the state of Alabama through its program Innovate Alabama. Halogen is the first out-of-state partner for the program and has pledged to back Alabama-based female founders. After a very tough few years for emerging managers, Draper advises others to try nontraditional sources. 'It's a numbers game—don't get discouraged if eight people say no to you. You haven't talked to enough,' she says. 'We talked to hundreds almost every fundraise, and you really have to get out there. You have to travel. You can't only raise from your city. You can't be afraid to get on a plane and go to new places and meet new people.' Emma The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune's daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today's edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive: Outdoor Voices founder Ty Haney raises $11 million for her second startup
– Loyalty program. Outdoor Voices founder Ty Haney launched her second startup, Try Your Best (or TYB), more than three years ago. It was peak Web3, a space that Haney became highly interested in after she left the athletic apparel retailer that, in some ways, defined 2010s startups. Today, Haney is still building TYB, with 38 employees—and it's outlasted the rise and fall of blockchain/crypto/NFT-mania. The platform is intended to be a layer of loyalty infrastructure for consumer brands, what Haney calls 'community commerce.' Two hundred brands use the platform, as do 2 million users—mostly Gen Z women. Haney just raised an $11 million Series A for TYB, Fortune is the first to report. The round was co-led by Offline Ventures and Strobe Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, and Unusual Ventures. This brings its total capital to $23.5 million. Talking to Haney about TYB, you can feel her excitement. Years after the drama that engulfed Outdoor Voices, which included board battles and Haney's exit and return, she's thrilled to be at step one again. 'I love this stage. I love building something from zero,' she says. The brands that use TYB include several of the buzziest brands from the beauty industry—like Glossier, Rare Beauty, and Saie. 'Beauty as a category has popped off significantly for us,' Haney says. '[Beauty] consumers are already creating so much content and participating in rituals around the brands.' There's also Poppi, Urban Outfitters, Set Active. Coming soon to the platform are Crocs and Away. Consumers on TYB participate in gamified challenges, earn collectibles, and have blockchain-enabled loyalty profiles that can potentially follow them from brand to brand. A TYB-using customer has 40% higher frequency of purchase and a 28% higher lifetime value, Haney says. Monthly engagement rates for brands crack 40%. Haney tells brands that TYB can drive 5% to 10% of revenue—'in a more profitable fashion than putting all your dollars against Instagram or Facebook.' TYB is developing 'affinity webs' that can map a user's loyalty to one brand and apply it to another. 'Within the Glossier community where I'm level three—can that mean something to Nike?' Haney explains. She's brought some lessons with her from Outdoor Voices and the tens of millions it raised. 'I've become a lot more sophisticated, or precise, in terms of who I who I raise money from, how much money I raise, and ultimately considerate of ownership and as little dilution as possible,' she says. Emma The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune's daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today's edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
May in Review: 12 Top Technology Press Releases
A roundup of the most newsworthy tech announcements from PR Newswire, including national security and nuclear projects, XREAL's new see-through optical device and PepsiCo's digital transformation plans. NEW YORK, June 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each month, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help tech journalists and consumers stay on top of the month's most popular releases and newsworthy trends, here's a recap of some of the past month's most read- and engaged-with stories. The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download. Elementl Power and Google Sign Strategic Agreement to Develop Locations for Advanced Nuclear Projects"Innovative partnerships like this are necessary to mobilize the capital required to build new nuclear projects, which are critical to deliver safe, affordable and clean baseload power and help companies advance their long-term net zero goals," said Elementl Power Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Colbert. IgniteTech Acquires Khoros to Transform Customer Connections in the AI Answer Engine EraIgniteTech intends to incorporate its established artificial intelligence technology into the Khoros platform. This calculated action comes as exposure and engagement for businesses without AI-enhanced capabilities might plummet by as much as 40%. Bain & Company forms global partnership with Palantir to deliver high impact, end-to-end AI transformations for clients The partnership pairs Palantir's state-of-the-art AI Operating Systems with Bain's deep industry expertise across sectors and its extensive capabilities in strategic business transformation, enabling clients to adopt this technology more quickly. York Space Systems Selected by U.S. Space Force to Deliver Small Satellites for a Range of National Security Missions York was selected for the $237 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to procure small satellites supporting national security missions. The contract award is designed to enable faster and more flexible acquisition of spacecraft, integration, and launch support. Fortune Reveals the 2025 100 Most Powerful Women in Business List"This definitive ranking of the women at the top of the global business world…tells us both who wields power today and who is poised to climb even higher tomorrow," writes Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune senior writer, author of Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter, and editor of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Business list of 2025. Fannie Mae Launches AI Fraud Detection Technology Partnership with Palantir The new partnership will expand Fannie Mae's fraud detection capabilities with leading AI-enabled financial crimes data science and investigations technology. This foundation will power Fannie Mae's Crime Detection Unit, a new platform that the company believes will help detect and prevent mortgage fraud with speed and precision never before seen in the U.S. housing market. Pudgy Penguins Further Expands into Blockchain Gaming with Launch of Pengu Clash on TONPudgy Penguins, one of the most successful NFT brands of all-time, today announced the launch of Pengu Clash, a new blockchain-based game debuting on the TON blockchain. The fast-paced multiplayer skill game offers fans a new way to interact with the Pudgy Penguins IP—now reaching more than 1 billion users on Telegram. PepsiCo and AWS Collaborate to Accelerate Digital Transformation By leveraging AWS's infrastructure and services, PepsiCo is driving faster AI innovation, transforming its supply chain and go-to-market strategies, and creating deeper, more personalized experiences with consumers. XREAL Unveils 'Project Aura' at Google I/O -- An Optical See-Through XR Device for Android XR A lightweight and tethered, cinematic, and Gemini AI-powered device, Project Aura brings a large field-of-view experience to the Android XR family — setting a new standard for immersive, wearable computing. PhaseV Lands $50M Series A to Supercharge AI for Clinical Development, Backed by Top VCs and Trusted by Leading Pharma Clients The funding will allow PhaseV to grow its vertical AI platform to provide holistic solutions for clinical development. It follows the rapid market adoption of PhaseV's AI/ML-based platform by over 30 global pharma companies for clinical development. Palantir and Divergent Form Partnership to Revolutionize On-Demand Advanced Manufacturing With access to the Divergent Adaptive Production System (DAPS™) within Palantir's software, customers will be able to rapidly identify emerging supply chain vulnerabilities and then directly address them through on-demand manufacturing of critical parts by Divergent. Chainlink, Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, and Ondo Finance Team Up to Bring Bank Payment Rails to Tokenized Asset Markets The transaction highlights a scalable solution for Kinexys Digital Payments settlement rails to support the growing Real-World Asset market across public blockchains. For more news like this, check out all of the latest technology-related releases from PR Newswire. Trending Topics Among the technology news that was distributed in May, the PR Newswire team was able spot several larger stories that highlight the trends shaping the industry. Intersolar Europe 2025: Intersolar, held May 7-9 in Munich, Germany, served as a pivotal platform for showcasing advancements in solar energy, energy storage and smart grid technologies. The event featured numerous companies unveiling innovative solutions aimed at driving the global energy of the key presenters included Shanghai Electric, which presented a comprehensive suite of new energy solutions across photovoltaics, hydrogen and energy storage. Sungrow was also in attendance and introduced a complete portfolio for solar, storage and EV charging products, covering both 1-phase and 3-phase scenarios. It also unveiled its new commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage solutions, showcasing their flexibility and performance. See more news from Intersolar, which underscored the accelerating pace of clean energy innovation. Automate 2025: From May 12-15 in Detroit, Michigan, Automate showcased the latest advancements in robotics, AI and industrial automation. The exhibition featured over 800 exhibitors and attracted more than 40,000 attendees. It also generated quite a few newsworthy press releases. Vention displayed its AI-powered bin-picking robot. Schneider Electric unveiled innovations focused on advancing American manufacturing, including its new industrial copilot. Techman Robot showcased a next-gen lineup of AI-powered collaborative robots (cobots) designed for safer and smarter human-machine collaboration in manufacturing environments. And Epson Robots introduced SafeSense™ Technology, which enables safe human-robot interaction. Together, these exhibitors along with others highlighted the growing convergence of AI, robotics, and automation software – redefining the standards for intelligent industry solutions. Coming Up: In June, the team will continue to watch all the big tech headlines. Of course, we expect to see new AI integrations across industries. And big events like InfoComm and Cisco Live are already generating press releases and we'll be keeping tabs on the trends. Do you have a technology press release to distribute in June? Sign up with PR Newswire to share your story with the audiences who matter most. Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News These are just a few of the recent press releases that consumers and the media should know about. To be notified of releases relevant to their coverage area, journalists can set up a custom newsfeed with PR Newswire for Journalists. Once they're signed up, reporters, bloggers, and freelancers have access to the following free features: Customization: Users can create customized newsfeeds that will deliver relevant news right to their inbox. Newsfeed results can be targeted by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more. Photos and Videos: Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include in a journalist or blogger's next story. Subject Matter Experts: Journalists will have access to ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in their articles. Related Resources: Our journalist- and blogger-focused blog, Beyond Bylines, features regular media news roundups, writing tips, upcoming events, and more. About PR Newswire PR Newswire is the industry's leading press release distribution partner with an unparalleled global reach of more than 440,000 newsrooms, websites, direct feeds, journalists and influencers and is available in more than 170 countries and 40 languages. From our award-winning Content Services offerings, integrated media newsroom and microsite products, Investor Relations suite of services, paid placement and social sharing tools, PR Newswire has a comprehensive catalog of solutions to solve the modern-day challenges PR and communications teams face. For 70 years, PR Newswire has been the preferred destination for brands to share their most important news stories across the world. For questions, contact the team at View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE PR Newswire Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
