TechCrunch

TechCrunch Startup News

Technology EN ↓ 3844 episodes

Listen to select TechCrunch articles on startups coverage—who's raising, who's exiting, who's changing the world.

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Feels is a new dating app with profiles that look more personal 16.04.2021 5:09

Meet Feels, a new French startup that wants to change how dating apps work. According to the company, scrolling through photos and reading descriptions tend to be a boring experience. Feels want to improve profiles so that navigating the app feels more like watching TikTok videos or browsing stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Challenger bank N26 to offer insurance products 15.04.2021 4:21

Fintech startup N26 is launching N26 Insurance as it plans to offer insurance products that you can access from the company’s mobile app and website. The first insurance product is a smartphone insurance plan for German customers. But the startup doesn’t plan to stop there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zeta in talks with SoftBank to raise at over $1 billion valuation 15.04.2021 3:35

Banking tech startup Zeta is inching closer to the much sought-after unicorn status as it talks to investors to finalize a new round,Â sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 is in talks to lead a ~$250 million Series D round in the five-year-old startup, the sources said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

PlexTrac raises $10M Series A round for its collaboration-centric security platform 14.04.2021 4:43

PlexTrac, a Boise, ID-based security service that aims to provide a unified workflow automation platform for red and blue teams, today announced that it has raised a $10 million Series A funding round led by Noro-Moseley Partners and Madrona Venture Group. StageDot0 ventures also participated in this round, which the company plans to use to […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoice...

Willo launches its tooth-brushing robot for kids 14.04.2021 3:40

Are you 100% sure that your children are brushing their teeth properly? A New York-based startup called Willo has been working for several years on a device that should transform the tooth-brushing experience for children. Willo isn’t a new toothbrush — electric or not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bloomscape’s Justin Mast explains how he built a thriving garden startup in Detroit 13.04.2021 4:43

Justin Mast has a simple reason for starting his plant retail startup Bloomscape in Detroit. “This is home,” he told me. “This is where I have a really strong network and I knew I’d be able to find a lot of support.” = Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When wildfires rage close, Perimeter wants to tell you where to go 13.04.2021 5:11

Out the window, a fire is raging — and it’s moving ever closer. Confusion. Fear. A run for the car. Roads open and then suddenly closed by authorities. Traffic jams. A fire break that stalls the flames and then suddenly the flames jump, changing direction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wonder Dynamics raises $2.5M seed to equip indie filmmakers with AI-powered VFX 12.04.2021 6:14

Practically every film production these days needs some kind of visual effects work, but independent creators often lack the cash or expertise to get that top-shelf CG. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elior acquires food delivery startup Nestor 12.04.2021 3:03

Corporate catering company Elior has acquired French startup Nestor for an undisclosed amount. Nestor originally started with a simple idea to differentiate itself from food delivery giants, such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats and others. Every day, the startup offered a single menu for lunch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vybe raises $2.9 million for its challenger bank for teens 09.04.2021 3:23

French startup Vybe has raised a $2.9 million funding round (€2.4 million) to build a challenger bank for teens. The company is currently testing its product with a soft launch. Users get a Mastercard payment card paired with an e-wallet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Realworld raises $3.4M to help Gen Z navigate adulthood 09.04.2021 4:41

Realworld has a big vision — founder and CEO Genevieve Ryan Bellaire told me her goal is “simplifying adulthood.” And the New York startup has raised $3.4 million in seed funding to make it happen. Apparently that’s something Ballaire struggled with herself in her early twenties. Despite being a lawyer with an MBA, she said […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spend management startup Ramp confirms $115M raise at a $1.6B valuation 08.04.2021 5:46

This morning, Ramp, which provides corporate cards and spend management software, announced that it has closed $115 million across two investments, the latter of which valued the company at $1.6 billion. The Information first reported that Ramp was raising new capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Authentic Artists is building virtual, AI-powered musicians 08.04.2021 4:28

Chris McGarry, who previously led music integration at Facebook’s Oculus, is taking a new approach to bringing music into the virtual world with his startup Authentic Artists. McGarry pointed to virtual celebrities like Lil Miquela and virtual concerts like Travis Scott’s giant event in Fortnite as setting the stage for Authentic Artists. In a sense, […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit pod...

Plaid raises $425M Series D from Altimeter as it charts a post-Visa future 07.04.2021 4:46

Plaid, a unicorn that helps connect consumers’ bank accounts to financial applications, has raised a $425 million Series D, it announced this morning. TechCrunch understands that the new capital infusion, led by Altimeter Capital, values the company at around $13.4 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aporia raises $5M for its AI observability platform 07.04.2021 5:02

Machine learning (ML) models are only as good as the data you feed them. That’s true during training, but also once a model is put in production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hipmunk’s founders launch Flight Penguin to bring back Hipmunk-style flight search 06.04.2021 5:04

Hipmunk’s founders are building a successor to their now-defunct flight search service. The startup was acquired by SAP-owned travel and expense platform Concur in 2016, and its CEO Adam Goldstein departed in 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ConductorOne raises $5M in seed round led by Accel to automate your access requests 06.04.2021 5:39

Over the course of their careers, Alex Bovee and Paul Querna realized that while the use of SaaS apps and cloud infrastructure was exploding, the process to give employees permission to use them was not keeping up. The pair led Zero Trust strategies and products at Okta, and could see the problem firsthand. For the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Want to take a road trip with Kevin Costner? Investors are betting you might 05.04.2021 8:43

Woody Sears has long been interested in storytelling. After spending several years in sales after nabbing an MBA from Pepperdine — and following the debut in 2007 of the first iPhone — he founded a storytelling app called Zuuka that built up a library of narrated and illustrated kids’ books for the iPhone and iPad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Uruguayan payments startup dLocal quadruples valuation to $5B with $150M raise 05.04.2021 4:03

Cross-border payments startup dLocal has raised $150 million at a $5 billion valuation, less than seven months after securing $200 million at a $1.2 billion valuation. This means that the five-year-old Uruguayan company has effectively quadrupled its valuation in a matter of months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Compass CEO hails IPO as a fundraising event amid ‘challenging’ market 02.04.2021 4:02

While several tech companies are opting to delay their IPOsÂ in the face of less-than-enthusiastic market demand for their shares, real estate tech company Compass forged ahead and went public today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

mmhmm introduces usage-based enterprise accounts and a beta for Windows 02.04.2021 4:39

mmhmm, the software that allows folks to personalize their appearance on video chat, has today announced that its introducing usage-based enterprise accounts. In a conversation with TechCrunch, founder and CEO Phil Libin said this is a natural evolution, remarking that mmhmm has had hundreds of registrations from users all at the same company. “It was […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit po...

Leeway is a contract workflow service for your legal team 01.04.2021 4:07

Meet Leeway, a French startup that is building an end-to-end software-as-a-service solution for your contracts. Leeway lets you centralize all your contracts in a single repository, go through multiple negotiation steps and trigger a DocuSign event for the signature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hex lands $5.5M seed to help data scientists share data across the company 01.04.2021 4:45

As companies embrace the use of data, hiring more data scientists, a roadblock persists around sharing that data. It requires too much copying and pasting and manual work. Hex, a new startup, wants to change that by providing a way to dispense data across the company in a streamlined and elegant way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Otrium raises $120 million for its end-of-season fashion marketplace 31.03.2021 3:53

Otrium has raised a $120 million round just a year after raising its $26 million Series B round. BOND and returning investor Index Ventures are leading the round. Existing investor Eight Roads Ventures is also participating. The concept behind Otrium is quite simple. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jeff Bezos’ investment fund is backing a startup hoping to be the AWS for SMB accounting 31.03.2021 5:03

One of the biggest pain points for startups and small businesses is keeping up with back office tasks such as bookkeeping and managing taxes. QuickBooks, it seems, just doesn’t always cut it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices