Startup News Roundup

Editorial Note: At Early Investing, we believe information is key to being successful (and profitable) in the startup investing space. That’s why, today, we’re bringing you some of the top headlines from around the web. Read on for highlights on what’s making news in the startup world right now.

Uber CEO Interviewed by Stephen Colbert – Entertaining interview with Travis Kalanick, co-founder and CEO of Uber.

Topics include:

1. Death of the taxi industry
2. Self-driving cars
3. Uber Teslas

Labor Group: On-demand Workers Should Have Benefits – The issue of whether contract workers should get benefits is hugely important to the startup ecosystem. On-demand startups like Uber rely on 1099 independent contractors to make up the bulk of their workforce. Requiring startups to pay for health insurance and other benefits would certainly rattle the industry.

BlaBlaCar Raises $160 million at $1.2 billion valuation - Long-distance ride-sharing app BlaBlaCar, based in Paris, has raised a monster round of funding and joined the $1 billion-plus “Unicorn Club.”

Think of BlaBlaCar as Uber for city-to-city travel. It’s an interesting model, and one that’s proven wildly successful thus far. Watch for Uber to launch a competing service soon…

Regulation A+ Fundraising Explained – Understand the new law that will allow private companies to raise equity from everyone (not just accredited investors).

Money Pours Into Fintech (financial technology) startups – Capital continues to flow into the white-hot fintech space.

Medical Diagnostics Startups Take Off – How one California biotech startup is using RNA to help us better understand and diagnose cancer.

Y Combinator (startup accelerator program) Dishes Stats on Its Portfolio - Highlights include:

1. Total value of all YC-backed companies = $65 billion-plus
2. Total money raised by YC startups = $7 billion
3. Number of YC companies worth more than $100 million = 40
4. Number of YC startups failed = 177
5. Total number funded by YC = 940
6. Number of startups in last batch = 107

That’s it for today.