New funds set in motion

• Step aside, GIFs! Lottie animations are taking centerstage. 500-backed LottieFiles raised US$37M in a Series B round led by Square Peg Capital, with participation from XYZ Venture Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, and returning investors 500 Global and Microsoft Venture Fund, M12.
• LottieFiles streamlines the process of turning animations made in software like Adobe After Effects into Lotties so they can be placed in apps.
• If it’s your first time hearing about Lotties, now’s a good time to add it to your vocabulary to join the animation and motion designers using them at 150,000 companies, including Google, TikTok, Disney, Uber, Airbnb, and Netflix. 
• “We are democratizing motion design the way Canva democratized design,” said Co-founder Kshitij Minglani. “Before Canva, it was Photoshop, which needed hundreds of hours. We are doing the same thing to the motion design industry.”
• The startup plans to use the funding to expand its product roadmap, hire for its engineering and R&D teams, and develop a new workflow that will make shipping Lottie animations easier so designers can focus more on animations. LottieFiles also has the world’s largest repository of free-to-use Lottie animations.
• Read the full story on TechCrunch.

Staying one step ahead

• Next to step aside: scammers. Back in 2018, police data showed that a whopping 70% of e-commerce scams took place on Carousell.
• The 500-backed company began investing in talent for its trust and safety team as well as software to tackle scams. In addition to doubling the team headcount, Carousell spends a five-digit sum monthly on fraud prevention software.
• It can now investigate fraud reports better and faster. Fast forward to 2021, and the move has paid off. Carousell’s share of e-commerce scams fell to 37%.
• Jessica Chen, Policy & Escalation Manager, said the most challenging but rewarding part of the job is keeping up with the constantly evolving nature of scams. “It is an arms race,” she said. “After the scammers behind these accounts realize you are able to detect them, they will then change their methods and the race begins again.”
• More details on the Straits Times.

Putting a stop to food fights

• Remember when 500-backed digital B2B food & agritech startup Glife Technologies raised US$8.1M last year, and the company itself invested in F&B tech solutions firm Novitee? TechNode Global caught up with the two founders recently to find out what they’ve been up to.
• In addition to improving operations and communications along the food supply chain, the two companies foresee the use of AI and predictive analysis to help the hotel, restaurant, and cafe (HORECA) sector better manage the supply and demand of ingredients.
• Their joint mission? To uplift the entire food industry through the sharing of data. Currently, the lack of transparent information is causing a deep mistrust between food suppliers and restaurant owners.
• This partnership, Glife and Novitee believe, will infuse trust in relationships between food suppliers and restaurants and help both parties maximize their profitability in a harmonious manner.
• Read the full interview on TechNode Global.