By Tian DuBelko
We round up the trending stories every week so you can catch up on the top tech news. This week, Convoy raised a $62M funding round backed by notables like Bill Gates, Amazon hired 50k additional workers for its fulfillment centers, Dropbox inched closer to a potential IPO, and Apple finally discontinued the iPod nano and shuffle. Get your weekly recap here, then head over to our blog for more stories.
Convoy raises a $62M funding round
Once just a Seattle startup, Convoy has repaved the way for full-service trucking technology through its latest funding round. The “Uber” of trucking announced an enormous $62 million funding round led by the investment arm of Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley-based accelerator. Cascade Investment, the private investment vehicle of clients such as Bill Gates, also participated in the Series B round. Convoy plans to use this new injection of capital to expand its infrastructure across the U.S. as well as build on its existing trucking freight technologies.
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Amazon hires another 50,000 fulfillment workers
Already boasting 350,000 employees as of April this year, Amazon still needs workers to prepare packages for shipment in its many fulfillment centers across the U.S. The Seattle tech giant has seen tremendous growth in both its headquarters and also in many Midwestern and Southern states. Compared to tech rivals like Google and Microsoft, Amazon has nearly doubled its workforce in the past several years.
Dropbox considers launching its IPO
Despite flirting with a $10 billion valuation earlier in the decade, file hosting giant Dropbox never launched its IPO. This was largely due to competitors that offered free file storage and sharing. However, a recent Bloomberg report has stated that Dropbox is in talks with Goldman Sachs to prepare IPO documents. Something that could affect Dropbox’s decision to go public is the underwhelming launches of companies such as Blue Apron and Snap.
Apple says goodbye to the iPod nano/shuffle
Consider it an end of an era. Apple finally pulled the iPod nano and the iPod shuffle off its stores earlier this week. With the popularity of the iPhone, which includes MP3 functions, it’s a surprise that the nano and shuffle had survived this long. Apple will now turn its efforts over to the iPod touch, which has received a memory buff, having been upgraded from 16GB/64GB models to 64GB/128GB models.
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