A Funding Roundup To Keep Your Mind Off Of Midterm Anxiety

We know the midterms are stressful, but if you’ve already voted and convinced others to do so (or at least tried), there’s nothing left to do but wait. While you do so, here’s some notable funding news this morning

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Tink Labs

Tink Labs, founded in 2012, is a Hong Kong-based company in the hotel industry. The company has designed a smartphone device for hotels which allows guests to browse, purchase, and access amenities, as well as connect to the internet, call locally and internationally, and view travel guides.

If you can’t switch out your phone SIM card when traveling because it’s locked, or if you don’t want to stop at a cafe every time you need to access WiFi, this seems like a pretty cool product. Plus, it potentially expands a hotels reach beyond the room service menu and TV Guide on the bedside table.

Per TechCrunch’s coverage of the potential round, the company could be valued at $1.5 billion or more, post-money. Per Crunchbase, this round would bring the company’s total known funding to $460 million.

Predict HQ

Predict HQ is a data analytics service that uses an API to allow companies to anticipate surges in activity based on local events. Basically, if there’s a Justin Bieber concert in New York on a Friday night, Uber will be able to anticipate the need for rides, improve response times, and take advantage of the flood of Beliebers going home from the night of their lives.

Per the company’s press release, the data isn’t exclusively useful for ridesharing. Airlines, rental car services, hotel booking services, and restaurants can use the product as well.The company claims Uber, Domino’s, and Booking.com as its customers.

Its $10 million in funding comes from Aspect Ventures with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Rampersand VC and AddVenture Fund. The company has raised a known total of $11.5 million since it was founded in 2015.

There you have it. Startups are aiming to keep you connected and stress-free while you’re on vacation or booking one, both things you might need after this election.

Illustration Credit: Li Anne Dias