TechCrunch Startup News

Meet Point, a new challenger bank in the U.S. that has been available as a private beta for the past year. Today, the company is launching a major new version of its service and opening its doors to everyone. But you’ll have to get an invite to get in at first. Point is a consumer […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Like other ride-hailing companies, Bolt has been suffering from the coronavirus-related lockdown and economic downturn around the world. But the company is trying to find another revenue stream by launching electric bikes in Paris. Bolt plans to launch a similar service in other European capitals this year. For the past couple of weeks, the only […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastc...

Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell is heading up a new game development house called Mountaintop Studios, joined by colleagues from around the gaming industry. The company aims to leave the crunch and toxic culture pervasive in game studios behind and make one that’s “collaborative, anti-crunch, diverse, and inclusive.” The founding team includes Mitchell’s former colleague Mark […] Learn more about...

Today Personal Capital, a fintech company that had attracted over $265 million in private funding, announced that it is selling itself to Empower Retirement, a company that provides retirement services to other companies. The deal is worth $825 million upon closing, with another $175 million in what are described as “planned growth” incentives, according to […] Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

Uber has reportedly made an offer to buy food delivery service Postmates, according to The New York Times. According to the Times, the talks are still ongoing and the deal could fall through. For those that have been paying attention to Uber, this appetite is not new, albeit consistent. A little over a month ago, […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shares of Agora, a China and U.S.-based “real-time engagement” API company, soared today after it went public. Yesterday Agora priced 17.5 million shares at $20 apiece, up from its target range of $16 to $18 per share. The firm raised $350 in its debut, or around 10 times its Q1 2020 revenue and is now […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TuSimple, the self-driving truck startup backed by Sina, Nvidia, UPS and Tier 1 supplier Mando Corporation, is headed back into the marketplace in search of new capital from investors. The company has hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to help it raise $250 million, according to multiple sources familiar with the effort. Morgan Stanley has sent […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcast...

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Storyblocks, the subscription-based stock media service, today announced that it has been acquired by private equity firm Great Hill Partners. The firm previously backed companies like Wayfair (and then exited that specific investment in 2017) and Custom Ink. Great Hill also acquired Gizmodo Media Group in 2019. Storyblocks and Great Hill did not disclose the […] Learn more about your ad choices....

Earlier today we took a look at two companies that have filed to go public, nCino and GoHealth. The pair join Lemonade in a march toward the public markets. But those three firms are hardly alone. We know that DoorDash filed privately earlier this year (it also raised a pile of cash lately, so its […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A year after its initial release, Jumbo has two important pieces of news to announce. First, the company has released a major update of its app that protects your privacy on online services. Second, the company has raised an $8 million Series A funding round. If you’re not familiar with Jumbo, the app wants to […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zopa, the 15-year-old peer-to-peer lending company, is announcing that it has been awarded its full U.K. bank licence, as it gears up to launch a fixed-term savings account, followed by a credit card. Dubbed “Zopa Bank,” the new challenger bank will sit alongside its existing peer-to-peer lending business, under Zopa Group, creating what the veteran fintech […] Learn more about your ad choices....

The countdown clock is running, and you have just four days left to score the lowest price on passes to TC Early Stage 2020, which takes place on July 21-22. We’ve packed this two-day virtual event with more than 50 workshops covering essential topics that every early-stage founder needs to master. Take advantage of the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the chip game, more is usually better and to that end, Ampere announced the next chip on its product roadmap today, the Altra Max, a 128 core processor, the company says is designed specifically to handle cloud native, containerized workloads. What’s more, the company has designed the chip, so that it will fit in […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With more companies moving workers home, making sure your systems are up and running has become more important than ever. ServiceNow, which includes an IT Help Desk component in its product catalogue recognizes that help desks have been bombarded during the pandemic. To help stop configuration problems before they start, the company acquired Sweagle today, […] Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

HashiCorp is well known in the developer community for offering a slew of open source tools to help build and manage modern applications. Today the company announced a new cloud platform and plans to eventually offer managed versions of those tools, starting with Consul a tool for connecting and securing services across platforms. HashiCorp CEO […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastch...

DoorDash has confirmed that it is raising “approximately $400 million” in a Series H round of funding. Earlier today, Axios reported that the company was looking for roughly $400 million round at a post-money valuation of $16 billion. DoorDash clarified in a statement provided to TechCrunch that the valuation is slightly under the $16 billion […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoi...

The TechCrunch List will publish the most recommended “first check” writers across 22 different categories ranging from D2C & e-commerce brands to space, and everything in between. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Three years ago almost to the day, Intercom announced that it was bringing former Intuit exec Karen Peacock on board as COO. Today, she got promoted to CEO, effective July 1st. Current CEO and company co-founder Eoghan McCabe will become Chairman. As it turns out, these moves aren’t a coincidence. McCabe had been actively thinking […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adch...

In another up for technology shares, software companies saw their values reach new heights today. The days trading comes after a selloff last week eased some of technology companies’ rebounds from their COVID-19 lows; stocks in tech companies have more than made up for their early-year declines in mid-2020, with the Nasdaq reaching 10,000 points […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastc...

This morning Upgrade, a credit-focused fintech startup, announced that it has raised a $40 million Series D round that the company says gives it a $1 billion valuation. The Upgrade round slots neatly into a few trends TechCrunch has noted in recent quarters, including fintech startups raising at new, higher valuations, and some startups seeing […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastcho...

Looking for a way to get your early-stage startup the massive attention it deserves? Of course, you are. One of the best ways to get in front of thousands of influencers is by exhibiting in Startup Alley during Disrupt 2020. An even better way is to exhibit for free. Take the first step and apply […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

DeepSource, a member of the Winter 2020 Y Combinator cohort, announced a $2.6 million seed investment today. The company is building a solution to help developers automate static code analysis to find certain errors before going through human code review. 645 Ventures led the round with help from Y Combinator, FundersClub, Pioneer Fund, Liquid 2 […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastc...

Reebelo, a Singapore-based marketplace for refurbished electronics, announced it has raised a seed round of $1.25 million led by June Fund, with participation from Antler. The new funding will be used for hiring, especially marketing and operations positions for customer service as the company scales. Reebelo currently operates in Singapore, but plans to expand across […] Learn more about your ad...

Startups need money. State and local governments need startups and the employment growth they offer. It should be obvious that the two groups can work together and make each other happy. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Each year, governments spend tens of billions of dollars on economic development incentives designed to attract […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit p...