TechCrunch Industry News
3,850 episodes — Page 42 of 77
After six months of invite-only sales, Amazon Glow is now available to all in the U.S.
Back in September of last year, Amazon announced a curious looking device called the Amazon Glow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Treeswift is using drones to monitor forests
Over the past decade, drones have become an increasingly important tool for forest monitoring. They’re a fast and effective way to collect a lot of data in one go, without upsetting the natural balance too much. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple TV+ becomes the first streaming service to win a Best Picture Oscar with “CODA”
Apple TV+ has beat out Netflix to become the first streaming service to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, with “Coda’s” triumph. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former TikTok content moderators file lawsuit over ‘psychological trauma’
A pair of former TikTok content reviewers is suing the company, alleging that it failed to adequately support them as they engaged in the deeply disturbing work of removing objectionable videos from the social network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Polestar’s long range single motor Polestar 2 arrives in the US
Following the release of its dual-motor variant late last year, Polestar announced that the 270-mile long range, single-motor version of its Polestar 2 EV is now available for sale in the US. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsara Eco wants to help end global plastic crisis with enzyme-based technology
Global plastic use is expected to double by 2040, with most plastic sent to landfills and only 13 percent recycled. According to CIEL (Center for International Environmental Law), plastic production and incineration could produce 2.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide every year by 2050. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Coinbase makes India push with support for UPI payments
Coinbase is beginning to add support for payment instruments UPI and IMPS in India, making its crypto exchange broadly functional in the world’s second largest internet market for the first time in years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Astronomer ready for its next mission after Datakin acquisition, $213M Series C
The once scrappy company is scrappy no more and poised to build new features around what it's already done with Airflow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tome livens up slide decks with real-time data, flexible layouts
The company thinks you should be spending less time trying to adapt your content to a presentation page and more time on storytelling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Podcasters, get ready to find out how many followers you have on Apple Podcasts
Apple Podcasts is rolling out new features to incentivize podcasters to offer paid subscriptions to listeners on the app. One of those features will — for better or for worse — reveal to podcasters in their private analytics dashboard how many people follow them on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Talkspace-owned Lasting launches new ‘Parenting Guide’ app, its latest self-guided advice service
Lasting, which is owned by mobile therapy company Talkspace, has launched a new app aimed at parents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gensyn applies a token to distributed computing for AI developers, raises $6.5M
For self-driving cars and other applications developed using AI, you need what’s known as ‘deep learning’, the core concepts of which emerged in the ‘50s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lune offers an API to calculate carbon emissions at checkout
Meet Lune, a new startup that wants to expose CO2 emissions calculations so that customers are better informed when they purchase something online. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sleek wants to be the last shopping check-out form you ever fill out
Sleek is developing a browser extension enabling one-click checkout and cash-back savings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Porsche is turning its mid-engine 718 roadster into an EV by 2025
The Porsche 718, a mid-engine roadster that injects the automaker’s motorsports’ history into a modern-day package, is going all electric by 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Getir is now worth nearly $12 billion after raising another $768 million
Instant delivery startup Getir has announced that it has closed a new $768 million Series E founding round. Following this deal, the company has reached a valuation of $11.8 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MeliBio’s honey production, minus the bee, will have you buzzing
The company is making real honey with precision fermentation and plant science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram rolls out new safety tools for parents
Meta announced a new set of tools designed to protect young users on Wednesday, an overdue response to widespread criticism that the company doesn’t do enough to protect its most vulnerable users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Liveblocks grabs $5 million for its real-time collaboration API
Liveblocks has raised a $5 million seed round. The startup lets you turn a regular web app into a multiplayer product with high-level hosted APIs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta faces prosecution in South Africa for alleged antitrust breach
Meta is facing prosecution in South Africa, after the country’s competition regulator, the Competition Commission, found as uncompetitive its intention to block the government’s startup GovChat and #LetsTalk from using its WhatsApp Business API. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA’s mega expensive moon rocket will make its public debut Thursday
Twelve years after it was first announced, NASA’s massive Space Launch System will finally make its public debut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford announces new EV production and profit goals for Europe
Ford is accelerating plans to sell more electric vehicles in Europe on its way toward reaching carbon neutrality in the region by 2035. The automaker announced Monday that it will launch three new electric passenger vehicles and four new electric commercial vehicles in Europe over the next two years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Blue Origin will fly SNL’s Pete Davidson to space on March 23
Blue Origin has announced its next roster for a flight of New Shepard to suborbital space, and it includes Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sorenson Ventures keeps focus on enterprise with new $150M fund
Sorenson Ventures may not be a household name, but the Lehi, Utah-based firm has quietly backed 30 enterprise startups since 2017 when it launched its initial $100 million fund, some exiting via acquisition and some sporting flashy valuations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ubisoft won’t say why it reset employee passwords after ‘cyber incident’
Gaming giant Ubisoft has confirmed a cybersecurity incident that led to the mass-reset of company passwords, but has declined to say what the incident actually was. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google’s Art & Culture platform updated with documents, artifacts and music from Timbuktu
Google, working with historians from West Africa, has been working to digitize contemporary art, cultural and historic sites about Mali, and the digital library went live on Google Art & Culture (GAC) today, making these items available for exploration by the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Topsort, an auction-based advertising startup, now valued at $110M after seed round
When Regina Ye was in college, she was a Shopify seller and recalls being so fed up with advertising solutions that she spent finals week staying up late to figure out how ads worked on Facebook and Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
E-bike subscription service Dance adds new cities and mopeds
After raising nearly $20 million a few months ago, Berlin-based startup Dance is expanding its electric bike subscription service to a handful of new cities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Workbounce’s ‘Google meets Slack’ product for sales teams raises $2.7M from Index Ventures
Selling commercial products has become pretty complex, and the pandemic has not helped. Sales teams are often hampered by the difficulties of building trust in their product, especially in a hybrid world where much of the interactions are virtual. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon launches a ‘live radio’ app, Amp, which lets you play DJ with the Amazon Music catalog
Amazon’s Clubhouse competitor has arrived. The retail giant on Tuesday launched a new mobile app called Amp, which allows people to create live “radio shows” where they can act as a DJ, by taking callers and playing tracks from Amazon Music’s tens of millions of licensed songs, ranging from classic titles to today’s music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
General Motors, PG&E pilot EVs as backup power sources for homes
General Motors and Pacific Gas and Electric Company are launching a pilot that will let EV owners use their vehicles as a backup power source for their homes during an outage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Robotaxi startup Pony.ai now valued at $8.5B
China- and U.S.-based Pony.ai said Monday its valuation has surged to $8.5 billion after the first close of its Series D funding round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aston Martin to develop battery cell technology with Britishvolt
British luxury carmaker Aston Martin has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with lithium-ion battery cell technologies company Britishvolt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Disco gets brands to boogie together on customer acquisition
Disco used to be Co-op Commerce, and leadership says the new name better reflects the company's focus on consumer discovery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sony and Honda reveal plans to jointly make and sell electric vehicles
Sony’s current favorite big tease is playing at being a carmaker, and today it announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with real automaker Honda to discuss and develop that idea further. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sikur touts a new secure Android phone for enterprise, gov’t comms
It’s many years since the Blackberry was the corporate phone du jour. Touchscreen phones and the ‘Bring your Own Device’ trend put paid to all that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reliance to invest $221 million for electronics manufacturing with Sanmina in India
Reliance Industries plans to invest up to $221 million in American electronics firm Sanmina to set up a joint venture as the Indian giant looks to expand its electronics manufacturing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Blockchain infra startup Tenderly raises $40M after seeing ‘500x’ YoY revenue growth
Tenderly, a startup that aims to make it easier for web3 developers “of all skill sets” to build blockchain products, has raised $40 million in a Series B round of funding – just months after closing on its Series A. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford splits EV and combustion units in major restructuring
Ford today announced a significant restructuring to better focus on the different challenges and opportunities with electric vehicles and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alphabet’s Wing drones hit 200,000 deliveries as it announces supermarket partnership
Alphabet’s drone service Wing this morning announced another milestone, as it hit 200,000 commercial deliveries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube geoblocks Russia Today, Sputnik channels in Europe
Google has just announced that YouTube will geoblock the Kremlin-affiliated media outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik in Europe, following pressure from regional lawmakers to choke off Russian war propaganda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Weee! delivers second big funding round in a year, this time backed by SoftBank
This new monster round comes about a year after another big fundraise of $316 million in Series D financing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
HearHere raises $3.2M to scale its immersive storytelling road-trip app
Santa Barbara-based HearHere, the company behind an audio entertainment and immersive storytelling road-trip app, has raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by RV and outdoor retailer Camping World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Carvana acquires Adesa US auction business for $2.2B to jump-start used car sales
Carvana, the online used car marketplace, has agreed to buy Kar Global’s Adesa U.S. auction subsidiary for $2.2 billion in cash, an acquisition aimed at adding another revenue stream as well as a network of physical sites that could help bolster operations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SEC opens investigation into Elon Musk over possible insider trading
Elon Musk isn't getting a break from the SEC any time soon. WSJ reports the SEC is investigating whether Musk and his brother Kimbal violated insider trading regulations with recent share sales. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Specify automagically collects, stores and distributes your design tokens and assets
Meet Specify, a startup that is creating a common language for Figma and GitHub. Specify acts as a central repository and API for your design tokens and assets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cloudflare to acquire Area 1 Security, a startup that blocks phishing emails
Cloudflare has announced that it plans to acquire Area 1 Security, a security startup that has developed a product that stops phishing attacks before they land in an employee’s inbox. Cloudflare plans to spend around $162 million on the acquisition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Target to add Starbucks orders and returns to its curbside pickup service
Target is preparing a series of changes to make its curbside pickup service called Drive Up more appealing to consumers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
RightHand cashes in on the white-hot warehouse robotics space with a $66M raise
COVID, supply chain issues, labor shortages, Amazon. Take your pick. The reasons for getting excited about logistics robotics are numerous and growing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
To combat chip shortage, Bosch to invest $296M to produce semiconductors
Bosch is increasing its previously stated investment in semiconductor production in order to stay on top of the ongoing chip shortage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices