India’s Furlenco raises $140 million for its furniture and appliance renting service

Furlenco, a Bangalore-based startup that operates an eponymous furniture and appliance rental service, said today it has raised $140 million in a financing round as it looks to scale its operations in the South Asian market and explore international market expansion. The new $140 million financing round, a Series D, comprises $120 million debt raise […]
https://tcrn.ch/3hCFnHU

Didi app pulled from app stores after suspension order

China has ordered app-store operators to remove the app of Didi from their stores, the latest as tension escalates between the nation’s largest ride-hailing giant and local regulators. The app has disappeared from several stores including Apple’s App Store in China, TechCrunch can confirm. The nation’s cyberspace administration, which unveiled the order on Sunday, said […]
https://tcrn.ch/3ylj2W7

A new ‘digital violence’ platform maps dozens of victims of NSO Group’s spyware

For the first time, researchers have mapped all the known targets, including journalists, activists, and human rights defenders, whose phones were hacked by Pegasus, a spyware developed by NSO Group. Forensic Architecture, an academic unit at Goldsmiths, University of London that investigates human rights abuses, scoured dozens of reports from human rights groups, carried out […]
https://tcrn.ch/3dBrEA7

Startups, culture and riding the meme wave

Welcome back to The TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter for your weekend enjoyment.
https://tcrn.ch/36cy70g

Department of Justice opens investigation into EV startup Lordstown Motors

Lordstown Motors continues to stumble. The beleaguered electric vehicle startup is now being investigated by the Department of Justice, in addition to an ongoing investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The investigation, first broke by the Wall Street Journal on Friday, is still in its early stages, according to unnamed sources. It is being […]
https://tcrn.ch/3xhnR2u

India’s Licious raises $192 million for international expansion

Licious, a Bangalore-based startup that sells fresh meat and seafood online, has raised $192 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand its footprint beyond the South Asian market. The new round — a Series F — was led by Singapore’s investment firm Temasek and Multiples Private Equity. The round, which brings […]
https://tcrn.ch/2TmntRW

Tiger Global leads $42M Series B in Nigerian credit-led neobank FairMoney

Neobanks have led the charge as regards venture capital funding for consumer fintech startups. But while they have collectively dominated the fintech space, they don’t operate a monolithic model. There are five distinct models, and the one adopted by Nubank, the $30 billion behemoth, is the credit-led model. Neobanks operating this model start by offering […]
https://tcrn.ch/367qnN1