TechCrunch Startup News

In a bid to position its brand as more tech-forward — and, in the process, foster new culinary innovations — Chipotle today announced the launch of Cultivate Next, a venture fund run by Curt Garner, the restaurant chain’s chief technology officer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Its first product is a crispy, plant-based riff on chicken nuggets that is made with just seven ingredients. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if you could buy a Peloton with pre-tax dollars? How about vitamins and supplements? Skincare products? Or even mattresses and massages? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The founders of Speckle, an early-stage startup based in London, are both trained architects and engineers, probably a rare combination. It enabled them to see and understand firsthand the issues associated with exchanging large proprietary 3D files from vendors like Autodesk and Trimble. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the bulk of the past two years, the pandemic has put the kibosh on corporate travel of nearly any kind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shared micromobility company Luup has raised $8 million (1 billion yen) in debt and asset financing to meet the growing demands of Japan’s micromobility market, which according to a recent report, is projected to reach $11.6 billion in 2030. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

E-commerce retailers of all sizes can have that supply chain coordination layer that enables them to provide fast and cheaper shipping, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Snap’s in-house Yellow accelerator program, which invests in startups, has debuted its fifth batch of investments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hookdeck founders Alexandre Bouchard and Eric Tran were working on a product to help manage webhooks in 2020 when they became discouraged and decided to step away to gain some perspective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet Montonio, an e-commerce checkout solution created by a small startup based in Tallinn, Estonia. The company just raised a $12 million Series A funding round (€11 million) led by Index Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Consolidation is moving ahead in the world of autonomous driving, with the latest development coming out of Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Proton, the Geneva, Switzerland-based startup behind the eponymous E2E encrypted webmail service ProtonMail, has acquired French startup SimpleLogin, which offers a freemium, open source service for creating email aliases to let people shield their actual email address when they sign up for digital services. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s hard to think of a product category that is less sexy than window air conditioning units. Windmill begs to differ, bringing a breath of fresh air to an industry that’s been steadfastly clunking away in the corner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lilt, a provider of AI-powered business translation software, today announced that it raised $55 million in a Series C round led by Four Rivers, joined by new investors Sorenson Capital, CLEAR Ventures and Wipro Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Airbyte, the well-funded open-source data integration platform, today announced that it has acquired Grouparoo, an open-source startup that focuses on helping businesses sync data between their data warehouses and cloud-based tools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Parentinc, a Singapore-based startup that runs a parenting community and direct-to-consumer product line, announced today it has raised $22 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fanatics’ latest raise shows there is tremendous value in appealing to sports fans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fast, a one-click speedy checkout platform, is shutting down today. In conjunction with that decision, Fast is giving a “vast majority” of its engineers the chance to join Affirm, a public fintech company in the buy now, pay later space, according to Affirm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lightning Labs is building infrastructure that would enable users to send money across the world almost instantaneously and at a low cost through the Bitcoin network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There’s coming hard out of the gates with a new company, and then there’s Sweep. The company was founded in 2020, then raised a $22 million Series A round a few months ago, following by a $73 million Series B round announced today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you live in the U.K. or the U.S., you may already be quite familiar with equity crowdfunding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The community marketplace for wild and specialty foods provides foragers with a place to sell food items they dig up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It wasn’t that long ago that Docker looked like it was on the ropes. In 2019, it sold its enterprise business and decided to focus strictly on a developer audience with a set of commercial and open source tools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yelp is broadening its partnership with Seattle-based food tech startup Hazel Analytics to expand health ratings on its platform, the company announced on Thursday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Ariana Grande would say, god is a woman. So it should come as no surprise that Chief, the network designed to develop the leadership skills of women, has hit a $1.1 billion valuation in a matter of three years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices