Two years after launch, Walmart’s Flipkart is closing in on India’s quick-commerce leaders

Indian startups spent years getting consumers accustomed to having groceries and everyday goods delivered within minutes. Now Walmart-owned Flipkart is rapidly closing the gap with those quick-commerce pioneers, as global rival Amazon mounts its own push into instant delivery. Flipkart Minutes, which debuted in August 2024 as the e-commerce giant’s foray into quick commerce, is…

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Japanese space tech startup Letara expands beyond satellite thrusters with $16M

Japan is pouring billions of dollars into its burgeoning space industry and easing restrictions on defense exports, efforts designed to build a homegrown aerospace sector filled with domestic startups that have a global reach. Letara, a Sapporo-based startup developing hybrid propulsion systems for spacecraft, is looking to capitalize on that push. After focusing on hybrid…

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Why is the DOJ investigating Andreessen Horowitz’s board seats?

Andreessen Horowitz has two partners sitting on the boards of companies that now compete with each other: Ben Horowitz at Databricks and Martin Casado at Fivetran. Nothing too scandalous on the surface, except the Department of Justice has reportedly been investigating the arrangement for almost a year, dusting off a 112-year-old antitrust law that’s rarely used against VCs.  Board conflicts aren’t exactly new, and these companies weren’t necessarily direct competitors when a16z first invested…

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