Why this Californian founder moved to Minneapolis to build a B2B fintech

Minneapolis-based fintech was founded in 2015 and it’s now one of the fastest growing companies in the Midwest. Its founder, Atif Siddiqi, is a Southern California transplant who first relocated to the Twin Cities to participate in the Target Techstars accelerator program. He hasn’t looked back since. Siddiqi has spent the past seven years building…

Published

4 years ago

September 8, 2022

CYBER TECH TV

Siddiqi has spent the past seven years building up Branch from its roots as a Midwestern upstart focused on earned wage access into a formidable Series C-stage business with $75 million in funding from investors such as Addition and General Atlantic and clients including Uber and Walmart.

Branch, which has seen over 2,000% revenue growth in the last three years, helps contractors get paid faster through a wide range of product offerings today. Siddiqi and early Branch investor Ryan Broshar of Minneapolis-based Matchstick ventures explain how the city’s venture ecosystem has evolved over the years and share their tips for founders outside coastal tech hubs looking to raise capital, bring in customers and make an impact on their industries far beyond their immediate locales.

Science & Technology

Is the $1.7B a Bet on Atoms Itself, or Just on Travis Kalanick’s Name?

A startup hitting unicorn status used to be a sign of its legitimacy as an actual business. But with $1.7B raised for Travis Kalanick’s nascent Atoms, the Equity podcast crew asks whether this is proof of a great idea or just proof that his name sells:

Published

1 day ago

July 24, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

A startup hitting unicorn status used to be a sign of its legitimacy as an actual business.

But with $1.7B raised for Travis Kalanick’s nascent Atoms, the Equity podcast crew asks whether this is proof of a great idea or just proof that his name sells:

CNET

Upload vs Download Speed: What Actually Makes Home Internet Fast

This video is a paid partnership with GFiber. Upload vs download speed: which one is actually making your home internet feel slow? If your video calls freeze, your files take forever to sync, or your livestream stutters, the problem is usually your upload speed — and most providers don’t advertise it. In this video, we…

Published

1 day ago

July 24, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

This video is a paid partnership with GFiber.

Upload vs download speed: which one is actually making your home internet feel slow? If your video calls freeze, your files take forever to sync, or your livestream stutters, the problem is usually your upload speed — and most providers don’t advertise it. In this video, we break down the difference between upload and download speed, what symmetrical internet speed means, and how GFiber (formerly Google Fiber) delivers 100% fiber internet with upload speeds that match your download speeds on every plan.
GFiber has kept the same monthly price for gigabit internet since 2012 — no annual contracts, no forced bundles, free installation, and month-to-month flexibility. See what real customers say on the GFiber channel: youtube.com/@GFiber

#UploadSpeed #FiberInternet #GFiber

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People & Blogs

D. Scott Phoneix thinks instead of fearing of AI, we should embrace it completely #TEDTalks

Deep tech entrepreneur D. Scott Phoenix spent years building AI — now, he believes we’re on the cusp of a profound merger between humans and machines. Reframing the AI debate through the lens of evolutionary biology, he shifts the question from whether we should fear or embrace AI to whether we understand what’s at stake…

Published

1 day ago

July 24, 2026

CYBER TECH TV