As part of Cheddar's partnership with WeWork, we are introducing our viewers to start-up founders disrupting industries. The three co-founders of photo-sharing platform Blurr Technologies, Sam Marley, Daniel Korman, and Daniel Arvidsson, join to discuss how they were inspired to launch their company in college.
The founders of Blurr Technologies were freshman-year roommates at Northeastern University, hailing from three different continents. They were also teammates on the varsity soccer team. Marley says they were inspired to launch this company after experiencing how difficult it was to get access to photos taken around them in college. So they launched a photo-based sharing app. Now, the company is shifting gears to offer a business-to-business solution for events.
Blurr Technologies creates a geo-fence around events, and every picture taken by anyone is added to the shared album through this platform. Korman says their technology goes beyond a shared hashtag, because the user experience is frictionless. The company has since raised $250,000 in funding, and is a member of the WeWork community.
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Spain's government has fined Airbnb 64 million euros or $75 million for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals. The consumer rights ministry announced the fine on Monday. The ministry stated that many listings lacked proper license numbers or included incorrect information. The move is part of Spain's ongoing efforts to regulate short-term rental companies amid a housing affordability crisis especially in popular urban areas. The ministry ordered Airbnb in May to remove around 65,000 listings for similar violations. The government's consumer rights minister emphasized the impact on families struggling with housing. Airbnb said it plans to challenge the fine in court.
Roomba maker iRobot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but says that it doesn’t expect any disruptions to devices as the more than 30-year-old company is taken private under a restructuring process. iRobot said that it is being acquired by Picea through a court-supervised process. Picea is the company's primary contract manufacturer. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based anticipates completing the prepackaged chapter 11 process by February.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
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