GM to help Bostonians rent their cars for money
Want to make hundreds — or thousands — by renting out your wheels? Soon enough, you’ll be able to, thanks to General Motors’ peer-to-peer car-sharing service, which is launching in 10 cities, including Boston, by the end of this year. The service was launched by GM’s mobility arm called “Maven” this summer in cities like Chicago, Denver and Detroit. Maven lets owners rent their cars by the hour or daily, and takes a 60 percent cut of the cost of each rental. The best part? Owners set their own rates. [The Verge]
Kyruus raises $4M to help you find the right care provider
Finding the right doctor could soon be getting easier, thanks to a new product called ProviderMatch, which helps health systems match patients with the right providers — whether inquiring patients are seeking care by searching online, calling in or obtaining a referral. The product is being launched by Kyruus, a tech company on a mission to reduce the time it takes for patients to schedule doctor visits. The launch of ProviderMatch for Salesforce was announced in tandem with a strategic investment made by Salesforce Ventures, which tipped $4 million into Kyruus. [Built In Boston]
State Street launching Final Frontiers Fund
This is out of sight: Boston-based money manager State Street is launching the first exchange-traded fund that invests in outer space. The SPDR Kensho Final Frontiers ETF, ticker XKFF, will start trading on Tuesday. State Street will also be listing funds focused on robotics, clean power and automation. [Bloomberg]
MIT spinoff Algorand raises $62M to bring blockchain to big businesses
Algorand, a provider of blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions for businesses, just announced that it has closed a $62 million round of funding and added senior executive hires from Fuze and LogMeIn. The MIT spinoff company will use the funding to scale its Boston-based team. Steve Kokinos, co-founder at Fuze, and W. Sean Ford, co-founder of uPromise and former CMO of LogMeIn, are joining Algorand as CEO and COO, respectively. [Built In Boston]
This Boston Dynamics robot can dance to Bruno Mars
Bring out the dancing robots! If you want to be thoroughly impressed and frightened at the same time, check out Boston Dynamics’ four-legged robot, SpotMini, dancing to “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars. If you’re wondering, “But can it do the Running Man?,” the question is yes. Yes it can. Next year, the robot will go on sale as the company’s first commercial product, and is expected to be sold to industries for research and inspection duties. Or, who knows? Maybe you can buy one to dance at your birthday party. [The Verge]
