News and insights from around the Web:
Payments
Bitcoin payments around the world are failing : “However, there’s a technical upper limit on how many transactions the blockchain can process per second — putting a limit on how much the digital currency can grow as a substitute for cash. This week problems materialized when the bitcoin network reached capacity, resulting in lengthy transaction times of 43 minutes, up from the usual 10 minutes, according to a thread on Reddit. Several of them failed completely.”
Bubblewatch
Snapchat raises capital but at a flat valuation : “Snapchat’s inability to raise funds at a higher valuation than a year ago may be a sign investors have grown more cautious about the company’s prospects. In recent months, tech startups have increasingly raised capital at the same or lower valuations than earlier, posing risks to these companies’ ability to recruit and retain talent and adding to concerns that the era of runaway growth in valuations is ending.”
Startups
An Estonian startup helps people get tech jobs around the world : “Jobbatical aims to match the skill sets and travel aspirations of tech and startup professionals with companies in search of talent. Companies list jobs on the platform and ambitious travel enthusiasts are invited to apply for them. The startup, which hails from the same country as Skype, makes money by charging a commission on each successful hire.”
Uber’s “ GrubHub killer ” has arrived in the U.S.: “ For the first time, the company has broken a product out into its own standalone app. On Tuesday, the company launched its long-awaited UberEats app in the US, kicking it off in Los Angeles. Availability will roll out in the rest of the country throughout the month.”Here’s a hoodie startup whose target customers are entrepreneurs : “Elena […]
