No-code fintech services startup Taktile closes $20M Series A round • TechCrunch

To get an overview of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3:00 PM PDT, subscribe here.

Sooo, you may have received the first edition of the Daily Crunch yesterday, where we mentioned a certain conference, and placed it in the wrong country. Oi – we updated the headline. Sorry, Finland, we love you, honestly.

That was yesterday. Today there is a wall of new exciting things to look at…including, among other things, an opportunity Neesha has for you if you run a space startup: Apply to pitch on stage at TC Sessions: Space 2022!

Ok, let’s get started with the TC Top 3. — Christine and Shark

TechCrunch Top 3

• I have the golden IT ticket: Filing a ticket with the IT department to make a small adjustment to some lending criteria can keep a bank’s credit manager waiting longer than necessary. Enter Taktile, which makes this more of a code-free, self-service feature. With $20 million in new funding, it helps fintech companies test and deploy these tweaks without a developer, Kyle reports.
• No cloudy days here: Amazon is pouring more money into India, this time $4.4 billion for its cloud unit over the next eight years as it launches a second cloud region in Hyderabad, Manish reports.
• This is a popup you don’t want to “X” out: When building an online store on some marketplaces, sellers are offered the basic tools. But as their business expands, sellers must rely on more and more tools. Popup took $3.5 million in funding to solve this problem with a code-free way to design online stores with just one tool, Christine write.

Startups and VCs

Aura, a startup founded by early Twitter employees that makes digital frames and photo-sharing apps that can also be used to update those frames, has pulled in some funding to expand its business as it nears 3 million users of its app and 1 million sold frames, Ingrid reports. The company has raised $26 million in a mix of debt and equity — money the company is using to ramp up production this quarter and to invest in 2023 plans.

All eyes are currently on the collapse of FTX in the crypto industry. Therefore, today’s news from Bitpanda is an important signal for the Austrian unicorn company, which has received a crypto license from Germany’s financial regulator, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), reports Roman.

Here are a handful of additional VC and startup stories for you:

Cold outreach with a warm touch: Here’s the quick pitch we emailed to investors

Image credit: R. Tsubin (opens in new window) / Getty Images

Pitching a startup to investors without a personal recommendation isn’t a terrible idea — as long as you’ve done your research first.

Tetra Insights co-founders Michael Bamberger and Panos Rigopoulos raised $5 million in Series A last year, and the duo said cold outreach was a key part of their strategy.

“When I changed my criteria to find people who fit, the process was very quick,” says Bamberger, who first raised a $500,000 friends and family round in 2019 followed by a $1.5 million round a year later .

Three more from the TC+ team:

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps entrepreneurs and start-up teams get ahead of the pack. You can register here. Use the code “DC” for 15% off an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

Elon Musk taking over Twitter has resulted in similar social media companies being highlighted. Ivan writes that the Indian social network Koo is one such platform that is gaining popularity in Brazil, but there will be a number of challenges, including how to handle moderation.

Meanwhile, with holiday shopping here again, Rita reports that Temu, Pinduoduo’s sister shopping app, has gained some notoriety after topping the US App Store.

And we have five more for you:

• See who became fast friends: One-time frenemies security hacker George Hotz and Elon Musk seem to have buried the hatchet, and Hotz signed up to help on Twitter, Connie reports. Meanwhile, Amanda tells us that Twitter’s Blue Verified relaunch is again on hold. Oh, and if Twitter’s own archiving is taking too long for you, Kyle has a list of free tools that make archiving a breeze.
• Locked out from Mars: Hackers found a way to shut out the Mars Stealer malware from their own servers, Zack write.
• Tumblr to the rescue: People are flocking to Twitter-like alternatives, but many of these new platforms can’t handle the sudden surge of interest. Here to help is Tumblr, which is adding support for ActivityPub, the social protocol that powers Mastodon and other apps, Sarah write.
• A global currency conundrum: Take writes about FTX’s influence in Africa, where billions in cryptocurrency were processed monthly before the company’s collapse.
• Straight out of “Big Hero 6”: If you’ve never seen “Big Hero 6,” one of the plot lines is about this ambitious tween who creates robots that can build things, and now Brian reports that scientists are building robots that can build themselves.