Rebecca Grant

Hi! I am Rebecca. You may also find my name spelled as Bekah. It’s a long story. I write about startups and entrepreneurship for VentureBeat and head up the deals channel.

Before VentureBeat, I studied English and Art History at Cornell and wrote for a slew of magazines. I joined the Peace Corps in 2009 and served as an education volunteer in rural Thailand, followed by many adventures in Southeast Asia. I returned to the US to find that everyone had a smartphone and there was a thing called “The Cloud.” I moved to San Francisco and found myself in the middle of a vibrant and exciting startup scene. I love to hear about innovative ideas, interesting stories, and technology that is having an genuine and meaningful impact on the world.

In my spare time, I can generally be found gallivanting around the Mission in San Francisco. My favorite things (in no particular order) are yoga, ice cream, pandas, travel, dancing, picnics, wine, and art.

Disclosure: I fully embrace and abide by VentureBeat’s ethics statement.


stories by Rebecca Grant

Contactually 2.0 helps you make the most of ‘who you know’

Contactually, a startup that helps people stay in touch with their professional contacts, released version 2.0 today as well as an iOS app.

BitTorrent accelerator fights off piracy reputation with innovation

Applications opened today for the BitTorrent Acceleration Program as part of its "ongoing quest" to find new and innovative ways to apply the BitTorrent protocol.

SkyKick raises $3.7M to hustle businesses onto Microsoft’s cloud

SkyKick publicly launched the SkyKick Application Suite today and announced that it has raised $3.7 million to migrate small and medium-sized businesses to Office 365.

Yelp partners with Locu to bring menus into the 21st century

Yelp and Locu announced a partnership that will bring restaurant menus to Yelp in real-time, along with price lists and business information.

Zooz’s people-first payments platform zooms off with $2M

Zooz has raised $2 million to build out its online checkout solutions, which take a consumer-driven approach to powering payments.

Pedal-powered generator lets you charge your phone while you ride

The Atom is a bicycle accessory that charges USB-powered devices using energy generated by the cyclist. This little 300 gram gadget mounts onto your bike and captures your kinetic energy while you cruise around town.

What are investors really thinking? Morgan Stanley poll finds ‘cooling’ interest in startups

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management conducted a survey of high net worth investors and found that fewer than 23% of respondents plan to invest in startups in the near future.

Terrorists on Twitter: Al Qaeda tweets to ‘serve our goals and clarify equity of our cause’

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a North African affiliate, opened up to the media earlier this month by holding a question-and-answer session on Twitter.

SkimLinks helps publishers nail affiliate marketing, no wooing required

Skimlinks has raised a round of growth financing from Greycroft Partners for its suite of solutions that automatically turn digital content into affiliate links.

Video games are the new Thin Mints: Girl Scouts add new badge for game design

The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and Women in Games International (WIGI) have joined forces to create a video game developer badge.

Is Facebook mystery builder of ‘most advanced data center in the world’?

A report in the Des Moines Register cited "legislative sources" in confirming that Facebook intends to erect a 1.4 million square foot facility that could cost up to $1.5 billion in Altoona, Iowa.

Amazon posts 14 original pilots ‘for you to decide which shows become series’

Amazon is giving you the power to decide what TV shows are made. The company has posted pilots for six kids shows and eight sitcoms, prompting the audience to choose which should become full-fledged original series on Amazon Instant Prime Video.

Do you love kale chips and granola? Crowdfunding startup CircleUp helps put them on shelves

CircleUp is a crowdfunding platform for up-and-coming consumer product businesses. In the year since its launch, CircleUp has helped 12 companies raise more than $10 million.

Gooooallll! The Football App scores $13M to accomodate millions of global fans

"The world's leading mobile football community', The Football App has raised $13 million to capitalize on fans love of the game. Otherwise known as soccer.

Venture capital activity ‘sluggish’ and continuing to decline in Q1 2013

Reports issued by PricewaterhouseCooper, the NVCA, and Pitchbook find that 2013 is off to a slow start for venture capital, although software continues to reign in the dollars.

Verbling brings immersive language learning into your living room (exclusive)

Y Combinator-backed Verbling is a platform that connects people online to practice speaking foreign languages together. Today, the startup introduced Verbling Courses, a new product that seeks to make students proficient as quickly as possible.

Funding Daily: Brain booster

Funding Daily will test the limits of your brain power today, so unless you have a deep understanding of 'flow processing,' make sure you bolster up with cognitive function enhancing foods.

Kaazing! ‘Living web’ startup pulls $15M from investor hats

Kaazing has raised $15 million to enable the "living web," which it describes as the "dynamic, interactive online world populated by applications that are always on, always connected, and always real time."

Storify Business gives ‘expert storytellers’ access to premium features

Storify opened the book on Storify Business today, a premium service that gives users access to advanced features built for large media organizations and professional journalists.