TechCrunch Industry News
3,880 episodes — Page 46 of 78
Perfeggt brings in first capital to shell out plant-based egg alternative
Worldwide, over 1.3 trillion eggs are produced annually, and Perfeggt co-founders believe this market is largely untapped and has room to grow with plant-based alternatives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On legal demands and press freedoms
In August 2020, two FBI agents were standing on my doorstep, unannounced, wanting to ask me questions about a TechCrunch story we had published the year before. The story was about how a hacker took thousands of documents, including visas and diplomatic passports, from a server at Mexico’s Embassy in Guatemala. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India’s Blume Ventures raises $105 million in the first close of its fourth fund
Blume Ventures said on Wednesday it has raised $105 million in the first close of its fourth fund, less than two years after finalizing its previous fund, as investment activity intensifies in the world’s second largest internet market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Polestar is bringing its electric Precept sedan to market in 2024 with a new name
The Polestar Precept sedan — the concept vehicle turned production project — has a new name and an official launch date. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roku customers report streaming issues after 10.5 update
A number of Roku customers are experiencing problems with their Roku TVs following the Roku OS 10.5 update. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lydia adds stock and crypto trading to its payment app
French startup Lydia is entering a whole new category by adding trading to its financial super app later this year. The company is partnering with Bitpanda for this feature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mmhmm eats Macro
Mmhmm has perhaps the noisiest take on the future of video-conferencing: virtual meetings will be fun, flexible, and, as shown by its most recent acquisition, emotive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zuma takes in fresh capital to convert your next apartment tenant lead into a contract
Given its product market fit in real estate, Zuma now aims to implement its business model into other industries with sales teams, like healthcare, automotive, insurance, education and fashion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Biliti bets US market is primed for electric tuk tuk deliveries
Biliti Electric, a startup founded less than a year ago, wants its electric tuk tuks to become a common sight in densely packed cities in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cross-selling startup Carro secures $20M to connect brands with each other, influencers
Carro enables brand partnerships to sell each other’s products without having to purchase inventory or manage logistics and returns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
VR glove startup says Meta’s recently unveiled prototype is ‘substantively identical’ to their own device
Facebook, errr Meta, showed off a new prototype haptic feedback glove yesterday which they detailed could eventually bring a new generation of AR/VR users closer to digital content than they’ve ever been. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
QuEra Computing emerges from stealth with $17M to launch quantum device
QuEra Computing, a Boston-based quantum computer developer, is coming out of stealth mode today with $17 million in funding from Rakuten, Day One Ventures and Frontiers Capital. Angel investors Serguei Beloussov and Paul Maritz also joined in the round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lambda School shakes off its brand with new name
Lambda School, a buzzy coding bootcamp that has landed over $122 million in known venture capital to date, is rebranding to Bloom Institute of Technology, according to a blog post from CEO Austen Allred. The company is also updating its tuition payment options to introduce an outcomes-based loan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EasySend raises $55.5M for a no-code platform to build online interactions with customers
No-code continues to permeate the many layers of enterprise IT, where traditionally non-technical workers have had to rely on technical experts to get things done, and startups building these tools are raising a lot of money as they see a surge of business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mark Cuban’s Fireside app attracts NFL stars and others as backers
Mark Cuban’s Fireside, an audio platform that is helping creators share their stories with audiences through live, interactive and virtual shows, is in advanced stages to close a “seed+” round, two sources familiar with the matter told me. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple offers $30 million to settle off-the-clock bag search controversy
California's supreme court ruled Apple broke the law by failing to pay employees while they waited for mandatory bag and iPhone searches. Now, Apple has offered to pay $30 million to settle the suit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oxygen, a neobank for freelancers and small businesses, in talks to raise funds at over $500 million valuation
Oxygen, a startup that is bringing digital banking services to freelancers and micro-and small-sized businesses, is in talks to raise a new round at a valuation of over $500 million, two sources familiar with the matter told me. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Starlink’s new rectangular satellite broadband dish is smaller and lighter than before
Starlink has introduced a new user terminal customers can get with their starter kit. The company now offers a rectangular option that's smaller and lighter than its original circular one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM plans to build a military vehicle based on the Hummer EV
The Hummer H1 was based on a military truck, and now it appears GM is ready to return the favor: GM plans to build a military vehicle prototype based on the upcoming Hummer EV. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tencent shares its metaverse vision for the first time
How could Tencent not jump on the metaverse bandwagon when Facebook is hinging its future on the new buzzword? At this stage, Tencent’s approach seems more measured than Facebook’s $10 billion investment into its metaverse division. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ample raises $30M to take battery swapping business to Europe
Ample, a startup developing battery swapping technology for electric vehicles, has scored another $30 million from The Blackstone Group and Spanish multinational financial services company Banco Santander. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Digital restaurant startup Zak orders up new capital on mission to be ‘Toast of LatAm’
As food operators themselves, ZAK founders saw first-hand last year the toll it was taking on restaurants that needed to quickly reinvent themselves during the pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
fuboTV to acquire streaming platform Molotov for $190 million
fuboTV is making a significant move in Europe with plans to acquire Molotov, a French startup with a leading television streaming service. fuboTV also operates a TV streaming platform, but it is currently only operating in the U.S., Canada and Spain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AudioMob, which serves audio ads inside mobile games, raises a $14M Series A
AudioMob is a startup that provides ‘non-intrusive’ audio ads within mobile games. It turns out that gamers don’t seem to mind little ads like this popping up, and somehow AudioMob seems to have cracked the mechanic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram’s creator subscriptions nearing launch, App Store listing reveals
Instagram earlier this year said it would explore the idea of creator subscriptions and was later spotted developing a feature that would offer exclusive Stories that were only visible to a creator’s subscriptions. Now, it seems, the company is poised to launch creator subscriptions into broader testing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Edtech startup BrightChamps comes out of stealth mode with $63 million funding
BrightChamps, an Indian edtech startup that is attempting to bridge the learning gap left by K12 schools, said on Monday it has raised $51 million in a new financing round and $63 million to date since launching a year ago as the Goa-headquartered firm looks to expand its footprints in over 10 nations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US government offers $10M bounty for DarkSide ransomware hackers
The U.S. Department of State is upping the ante in its fight against ransomware by offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that helps identify or track down leaders of the notorious DarkSide ransomware group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
An accelerator and fund says it’s giving away its voting rights to scientist founders: “They lose control”
SciFounders, an accelerator program and fund launched back in January with $6 million in backing, has a new proposition for the scientist founders who it looks to help run their own companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian hit with gender discrimination lawsuit that alleges toxic ‘bro culture’
Rivian, the electric automaker that recently filed for an IPO, has been sued by a former sales and marketing vice president for alleged gender discrimination. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nintendo releases Animal Crossing update a day early
Grab your Nintendo Switches and start downloading the “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” update, because it’s going to be a late night. Nintendo just dropped the update to version 2.0 – a day early. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As Allbirds goes public, sustainability is the mantra of the future
Allbirds started with a humble, natural wool shoe, but it is not merely an apparel company today. It has become a materials innovation company disrupting how clothes are made. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Femtech startup illumigyn secures $33M to provide women with accessible and affordable medical care
According to World Health Organization, cervical cancer, the fourth most common cancer among women, affected approximately 570,000 women and resulted in about 311,000 death in 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook says it will delete facial recognition data on more than a billion users
Just days after rebranding itself, Facebook announced plans to delete a trove of the most worrisome data that the world’s biggest social network collected on more than a billion individuals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
137 Ventures, which buys equity from private company shareholders, just raised a new fund
137 Ventures, a 10-year-old, San Francisco-based investment firm that mostly buys private company shares of founders, executives, early employees, and other large shareholders of private, high-growth tech companies, has closed its fifth fund with $350 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Epic pulls plug on Fortnite in China
Epic Games announced today that its work to bring video game mega-title Fortnite to the Chinese market is shutting down. The company said in an official announcement that the long-running test of the popular shooter title in China will conclude on November 15th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Six-month-old Zepto, a 10-minute grocery delivery startup in India, raises $60 million
Two Stanford dropouts in their late teens, who have previously collaborated on a number of projects including a ride-hailing commute app for school kids, said on Sunday they have raised $60 million to disrupt India’s overcrowded and highly-competitive grocery delivery market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MIT’s CSAIL self-driving water taxis launched in the Amsterdam canals
Granted, there aren’t many cities where self-driving water taxis are a viable option, but Amsterdam may just be one of those places. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google and Jio’s smartphone with custom Android OS for India launches November 4 for $87
Google and top Indian telecom network Jio Platforms said on Friday that their much-anticipated budget smartphone, JioPhone Next, will go on sale in the world’s second largest smartphone market on November 4 (to coincide with Big Indian festival of Diwali.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook changes its corporate branding to Meta
Well, it’s official. After 17 years of being called Facebook, the social networking parent company behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus has a new name. Facebook’s corporate entity is now Meta. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg announced the change at the company’s AR/VR-focused Connect event, sharing that the new title captured more of the company’s core […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
N!CK’S grabs $100M to create better-for-you snacks
The new funding will accelerate the company’s goal of doubling its stores in the U.S. and Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple now lets you review more default apps like Phone, Messages, Photos and Safari
Apple finally put itself on equal footing with rivals by allowing users to rate and review its own, first-party apps for the first time this fall, amid increased regulatory pressure ahead of a likely antitrust investigation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Skyryse brings in $200M to make flying an aircraft as simple as swiping a touchscreen
Five-year-old startup Skyryse has raised a $200 million Series B to develop FlightOS, a flight automation technology stack that the company says will help experienced pilots operate new types of aircraft and allow complete novices to quickly learn the ropes of flying. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DeHaat raises $115 million in the largest agritech round in India
DeHaat, an online platform that offers full-stack agricultural services to farmers in India, has raised $115 million in what is the largest funding round for an agritech startup in India. Sofina, Lightrock, and Temasek co-led the 10-year-old startup’s Series D financing round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India’s Chalo acquires Amazon-backed bus aggregator Shuttl
Chalo, an Indian startup that is digitizing bus commutes in India and which recently raised $40 million in a financing round, has acquired Amazon-backed app-based office commute bus aggregator Shuttl in an all-cash deal, the two said on Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube rolls out personalized ‘New to you’ feed to help users discover content
YouTube is rolling out a designated “New to you” tab on its platform after testing the feature earlier this year. The new tab is now available on the YouTube homepage across mobile, desktop and TV devices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Asymmetric Capital Partners hits ground running with $105M debut fund targeting B2B startups
The new firm brings together a foursome with operator, venture capital and private equity expertise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Voyager, Nanoracks and Lockheed’s “Starlab” is the latest sign that the low Earth orbit economy is coming
The era of private space stations is officially here as Nanoracks, Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin announce plans to launch a commercial station in 2027, but it’s just the next logical step for developing the new space economy, the companies say. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pledge raises $4.5M Seed round to build a carbon-measurement and removal API
With the Climate Crisis looming, lots of companies want to do their part. But asking customers to “offset the CO2 emission of this delivery” is usually a hammer to crack a nut. There is very little transparency around carbon offsets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter rolls out the ability for anyone to host a Space
After steadily expanding access over the course of the year, Twitter announced today its audio chatroom feature known as Twitter Spaces is now open to anyone who wants to host a Space across iOS and Android. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Blume Ventures and AWI back Indian exporter SaaS startup SourceWiz
Small and medium-sized exporters in India struggle to communicate their designs with buyers. They can’t list those designs publicly on their website or sell through popular e-commerce platforms as doing so would risk giving away the proprietary property to rivals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices