Berlin-based design platform Kittl raises $11.6M Series A to take on Adobe and Canva • TechCrunch

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Did you know that you can buy 3D printed key caps to replace, for example, your escape key with a cat? Today is our delicious little piece of fantasy, courtesy of FredericReview of a new keyboard (scroll down for a photo of the adorable little kitteh). — Christina and haje

TechCrunch’s top 3

• Imitation is the most sincere of flattery: Mike writes that Kittl is carving out a slice of the graphics world dominated by giants like Canva and Adobe, raising $11.6 million in Series A capital for his design platform which he says “easily turns ideas into products graphics” without the steep learning curve of other platforms.
• This startup is raising the temperature: European smart thermostat startup Tado planned to go public, but instead opted for another round of funding, raising $46.9 million as it seeks profitability. Paul see you.
• “It’s always crypto winter to be a black founder”: This is how Iddris Sandu, founder of Spatial Labs, described seeking funding for his company web3. IT infrastructure and hardware company secured $10 million in seed funding to create products and shopping experiences using augmented reality, Dominique-Madori writing.

Startups and VCs

Fintech startup Stripe has set itself a 12-month deadline to go public, either through a direct listing or by pursuing a private market transaction, such as a fundraising and public offering. purchase, according to sources familiar with the matter. The news comes as a surprise given the rather dry public procurement activity in the tech world, Mary Ann and Natasha M report.

There was a brief, beautiful moment for a few months in 2021 when it looked like robotic investments might be immune to broader market forces. We all basically and implicitly understood that wasn’t the case, but it was a nice time nonetheless, brian muses. Now, however, it’s becoming clearer that what we thought was happening with robotic investing is definitely happening.

Another handful of technological novelties:

Teach Yourself Growth Marketing: How to Conduct Growth Experiments with A/B Testing

Despite the myth, sharks don’t need to keep swimming to keep breathing. Early-stage startups, on the other hand, are not so lucky.

If growth is a priority, companies should run an ongoing series of A/B tests that can help refine marketing messages and make their product pipelines more relevant to customer needs.

In part three of a five-part series on the fundamentals of growth marketing, Jonathan Martinez explains how to properly handle A/B testing, identify statistical significance when examining data, and prioritize experiences that maximize reach. and impact.

Three others from the TC+ team:

Tech Crunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get a head start. You can register here. Use code “DC” to get 15% off an annual subscription!

Big Tech inc.

In a census of its own making, GitHub says it has 100 million active users, Paul reports. This is a substantial jump from the 3 million it was 10 years ago and even a good increase from just three months ago when Microsoft, which acquired the company 10 years ago five years, announced that GitHub had more than 90 million users.

Meanwhile, law enforcement in the United States and Europe have come together to seize Hive’s ransomware infrastructure, including leak sites and decryption keys, Carly reports. She writes that Hive is “one of the most prolific ransomware operations,” focusing primarily on healthcare and public health entities, claiming responsibility for breaches of the Illinois-based Memorial Health System in August 2021 and more recently targeting Tata Power, a power generation plant. business in India in October.

And we have four more for you: