TechCrunch

TechCrunch Startup News

Technology EN ↓ 3907 episodes

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

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Cocoon’s social app for close friends gets VC backing to chase Path’s dream 27.11.2019 4:27

You may have heard the pitch before, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram aren’t homes for your real friends anymore because they’re too big, too commercial and too influencer-y, the result is that your most important relationships have been relegated to the lowest common denominator tool on your phones: your texting app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Weekend Fund raises $10M for second early-stage fund 26.11.2019 2:55

Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover has raised another $10 million to invest in nascent upstarts viaWeekend Fund. The news represents the firm’s second fundraise after a $3 million debut angel fund that closed in 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Artiphon launches a Kickstarter campaign for its new musical device Orba 26.11.2019 3:09

Artiphon, the startup that previously raised more than $1 million on Kickstarter for a device called the Instrument 1, has launched a new campaign for its latest invention, Orba. Co-founder and CEO Mike Butera said the Instrument 1 and Orba share “the same DNA,” namely his vision to help music-making become more accessible to everyone, regardless of training or experience. “I want beginners to fee...

Max Q: NASA signs up new Moon delivery companies 25.11.2019 4:57

Sign up here to receive Max Q weekly in your inbox, starting December 15. There were lot of highlights in the space industry this past week (even though a rocket launch that was supposed to happened is now pushed to Monday). The biggest news for commercial space might just be that NASA signed on five new companies to its list of approved vendors for lunar payload delivery services, bringing the to...

Here’s the first look inside Orbex’s Scotland rocket factory 25.11.2019 3:23

European private launch startup Orbex is getting ready to start actually launching payloads aboard its own rockets, and it’s pulling back the curtains to give a look at the factory it’s using to build its launch vehicles. The UK-based company is building its rockets from a facility in Scotland, and this virtual tour gives an idea of what they’re doing to make the first rocket field by renewable, c...

Give InKind’s smarter giving platform brings in surprise $1.5 million in pre-seed funding 22.11.2019 7:44

Helping out a friend in need online can be surprisingly difficult. While giving cash is easy enough, that’s often not what people need most — so Give InKind aims to be the platform where you can do a lot more than write a check. The idea is such a natural one that the company tripled its goal for a pre-seed round, raising $1.5 million from Seattle investors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Splice teaches AI to sell Similar Sounds as users double 22.11.2019 6:35

Splice is blowing up like a hit song. The audio sample marketplace has doubled revenue and user count in a year, and now reaches 3 million musicians. 70% of those visit weekly to hunt down the freshest and trendiest sounds that give their tracks that special something, and many pay $7.99 for unlimited access. But words can’t always describe music. Searching by genre and subjective tags can take fo...

Bandit opens a ‘mobile-only’ coffee shop in New York 21.11.2019 4:18

If you wander into the Bandit coffee shop in Midtown New York, you won’t be able to just walk up to the counter and order something. Instead, you’ll need to download a mobile app. I experienced it for myself yesterday afternoon, when I — along with several other customers — pulled my phone out, downloaded the Bandit app, then used the app to create a profile, order and pay. A couple minutes later,...

Brava, a smart oven maker with big names attached, just sold to an industrial equipment company 21.11.2019 6:24

Brava had a lot of things working in its favor as startups go. It was founded in 2015 by serial executive John Pleasants, whose past stints have included as co-president of Disney Interactive Media Group, COO of Electronic Arts, and CEO of Ticketmaster. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bunch, the Discord for mobile games, raises $3.85M from Supercell, Tencent, Riot Games 20.11.2019 4:24

Growing up, Selcuk Atli spent a good deal of his free time playing video games with his friends. And when I say with his friends, I mean actually with them. They’re called LAN parties, where everyone brings over their consoles and the group gets to play together virtually and in real life, all at the same time. Atli, a grown man now, still loves games, but misses the memories made during LAN parti...

Ohi raises $2.75M to power same-day delivery for brands that aren’t Amazon 20.11.2019 5:12

The world has gotten so much faster. Amazon has made two-day shipping the standard and same- or next-day shipping commonplace. And that doesn’t even include the collection of on-demand players that can get us everything from groceries to alcohol to services like concierge storage and in-home cleaning with the press of a button. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Playbuzz becomes Ex.co and expands its content marketing platform – TechCrunch 19.11.2019 3:20

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SmartNews raises $92M at a $1.2B valuation – TechCrunch 18.11.2019 3:51

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Nigeria’s Interswitch confirms $1B valuation after Visa investment 18.11.2019 4:47

Nigerian digital payments firm Interswitch confirmed today it has reached unicorn status after Visa acquired a minority equity stake in the firm. “The investment makes Interswitch one of the most valuable African fintech businesses with a valuation of $1 billion,” Interswitch said in a release to TechCrunch. The Visa investment could create the first of two market distinctions for Interswitch — as...

Less than 72 hours left to buy early-bird passes to Disrupt Berlin 15.11.2019 4:34

Pull your heads out of the trenches, startup fans. You have just 72 hours to save up to €500 with early-bird pricing on passes to Disrupt Berlin 2019. When the clock strikes11:59 p.m. (CEST) on Friday, 15 November, the early bird is no more. Three days will fly by in a flash, so don’t wait. Take 10 minutes now, buy your early-bird passand save today. Disrupt Berlin offers two programming-packed da...

Freshworks raises $150M Series H on $3.5B valuation 15.11.2019 3:22

Freshworks, a company that makes a variety of business software tools, from CRM to help-desk software, announced a $150 million Series H investment today from Sequoia Capital, CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) and Accel on a hefty $3.5 billion valuation. The late-stage startup has raised almost $400 million, according to Crunchbase data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/...

Yodel.io is a digital receptionist for SMBs taking calls 14.11.2019 4:09

Yodel.io, an Austria-founded startup that’s developed a “digital receptionist” to help SMBs and other small teams handle in and outbound phone-calls, has picked up $1 million in “pre-seed” funding. It brings total funding to just over $1.8 million. Backing this round is EXF Alpha, the fund of the European Super Angels Club, and various other unnamed European angel investors. Learn more about your...

These sneakers vibrate 14.11.2019 5:06

Sometimes it seems like you can hear a song all the way in your toes. With these new sneakers, you actually can. Meet the new EP 01 sneakers out of DropLabs. Yes, you read that right. We’re talking about sneakers. Invented by a man named Ross Seiler, and led by former Beats by Dre CEO Susan Paley, DropLabs aims to take audio to a whole new level by syncing music, movies and other audio to shoes th...

The Garage is a new blockchain-focused incubator based in Paris 13.11.2019 3:04

Meet The Garage, a new incubator in Paris that is all about blockchain projects. Co-founded by Cyril Paglino from Starchain Capital, Fabrice Le Fessant from Dune Network and Oussama Ammar from The Family, the company will support blockchain startups, help big companies launch blockchain projects and educate engineers about blockchain development. The Garage is a sort of puzzle made out of multiple...

Lawyers hate timekeeping — Ping raises $13M to fix it with AI 13.11.2019 5:32

Counting billable time in six-minute increments is the most annoying part of being a lawyer. It’s a distracting waste. It leads law firms to conservatively under-bill. And it leaves lawyers stuck manually filling out timesheets after a long day when they want to go home to their families. Life is already short, as Ping CEO and co-founder Ryan Alshak knows too well. The former lawyer spent years ca...

African logistics startup Lori Systems raises Series A led by Chinese investors 12.11.2019 3:01

African on-demand trucking logistics company Lori Systems has raised a Series A round led by Chinese investors Hillhouse Capital and Crystal Stream Capital. Other participating investors included Nigeria and U.S.-based EchoVC, Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen and Nigerian founder Iyinoluwa Aboyeji. Lori Systems is not disclosing the amount of the Series A. DealStreet Asia reported the round amount at $3...

Andreessen Horowitz launches free crypto startup school 12.11.2019 3:34

Last month, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) general partner Chris Dixon announced at TechCrunch Disrupt that the VC firm would run a free crypto startup school. And the company is officially launching its school today. Applications are now open and you have four weeks to apply. With this initiative, a16z wants to democratize cryptocurrencies. Dixon and the a16z has been involved in the cryptocurrency/b...

Coda Biotherapeutics is developing a cure for pain 11.11.2019 5:33

If the researchers, executives and investors behind Coda Biotherapeutics have their way, one day soon there really could be a cure for pain. Co-founded by researchers Joseph Glorioso, from the University of Pittsburgh’s microbiology and molecular genetics department; and Dr. Nicholas Boulis, the founder of Emory’s Gene and Cell Therapy for Neurorestoration Laboratory; Coda uses gene therapies to t...

Uber’s losses top $1 billion, trumping better than expected revenues 08.11.2019 4:16

Better than expected revenues couldn’t divert investor attention from the fact that Uber still managed to lose more than $1 billion in the most recent quarter as the company’s stock fell in after-hours trading. There are bright spots in the latest earnings report, not least that the company managed to stanch the bleeding that had cost the company over $5 billion in the previous quarter. Revenue gr...

Robocorp announces $5.6M seed to bring open source option to RPA 08.11.2019 3:43

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has been a hot commodity in recent years as it helps automate tedious manual workflows inside large organizations. Robocorp, a San Francisco startup, wants to bring open source and RPA together. Today it announced a $5.6 million seed investment. Benchmark led the round with participation from Slow Ventures, firstminute Capital, Bret Taylor, president and chief prod...