TechCrunch Startup News
3,836 episodes — Page 17 of 77
Atlassian acquires Rewatch as it gets into AI meeting bots
Atlassian plans to integrate Rewatch into its recently launched Rovo AI platform so that transcripts become searchable within the overall business context. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The guy who sued NAR over real estate fees has co-founded a startup
One of the people who successfully sued the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to change real estate commissions has co-founded a new real estate startup. It all began in 2017 when Josh Sitzer and his wife listed their home for sale in Kansas City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky adds ‘anti-toxicity’ tools and aims to integrate ‘a Community Notes-like’ feature in the future
Bluesky on Wednesday introduced the ability to hide replies, as well as a way to detach your original post from someone's quote post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fluid Truck’s board ousted its sibling co-founders amid allegations of mismanaging funds
Fluid Truck, a startup that was founded to disrupt the commercial vehicle rental industry, has ousted its sibling co-founders – CEO James Eberhard and chief legal counsel Jenifer Snyder – according to sources familiar with the matter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Planera raises $13.5M to help solve the gnarly problem of scheduling for construction contractors
Planera, scheduling and planning software for commercial construction projects, has raised $13.5 million to expand its reach and help general contractors with more features. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Supio brings generative AI to personal injury cases
Supio uses generative AI to automate bulk data collection and aggregation for legal teams. It emerged from stealth Tuesday with a $25 million investment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Food delivery is seeing more consolidation: GrubMarket snaps up FreshGoGo
GrubMarket, the $3.6 billion food delivery and supply chain startup backed by Tiger Global, BlackRock and nearly 100 other investors, has snapped up another food delivery startup on its consolidation march: It is acquiring FreshGoGo, a New York-based, B2C platform selling Asian groceries and ready-made dishes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Piramidal’s foundation model for brainwaves could supercharge EEGs
AI models are being applied to every dataset under the sun, but are inconsistent in their outcomes. This is as true in the medical world as anywhere else, but a startup called Piramidal believes it has a sure thing with a foundational model for analyzing brain scan data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The founder building a wealth-management product her grandmother would have loved
Mical Jeanlys-White built WealthMore out of frustration. She spent years on Wall Street, building products at American Express and serving as a managing director at JPMorgan Chase. She realized the finance industry still had a long way to go when it came to helping consumers build and understand wealth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Travly lets travelers submit videos for a chance to earn a 5% commission from hotel bookings
Travly is a new social-first discovery and hotel booking platform designed to cater to the growing number of travelers who rely on short-form video content for trip ideas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tingit is building a marketplace for ‘zero-effort’ repairs, starting with fashion
Tingit, a startup out of Lithuania, wants to help people restore their used clothing to their former glory with its newly launched repairs marketplace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Openmart wants to make it easier for enterprises to sell to local businesses
In 2020, Kathryn Wu launched a side hustle while she was working as a product engineer at Pinterest. Wu started a milk tea company, Ohtea, with the hopes of connecting with local grocery stores and gift shops to get them to carry the tea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dropbox acquires Index Ventures-backed AI scheduling tool Reclaim.ai
Dropbox has acquired AI-powered scheduling tool Reclaim.ai, which counts Calendly and Index Ventures among its backers. The development was revealed in a blog post on Reclaim.ai’s website Tuesday. Dropbox hasn’t disclosed the terms of the deal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Rounds scoops up $24M to bring its ‘household restocking’ delivery service to more markets
The Rounds, the startup that delivers recurring grocery and household essentials in reusable packaging, announced on Monday its $24 million Series B funding round. The new capital will go toward product development, hiring, and expanding the service to additional markets. Alongside the funding announcement, The Rounds introduced new features for customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SleekFlow snaps up $7M to tap the conversational AI opportunity across Asia
SleekFlow, a Singapore- and Hong Kong-headquartered social commerce platform that has built a conversational AI suite for customer engagement targeted to Asian markets, said Wednesday it had secured a further $7 million in funding. The money will be used to continue developing its AI, as well as penetrate deeper into Southeast Asia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Beyond Math’s ‘digital wind tunnel’ puts a physics-based AI simulation to work on F1 cars
Simulating the real world is a tremendously complex problem if you want to do it at any useful level of fidelity. Traditional techniques are holding back design teams at vehicle and aerospace companies, but Beyond Math is putting AI on the task with a new way of simulating the world that could save them days. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Defcon AI closes $44M seed round to solve a problem of ‘maximum complexity’: Military logistics
The U.S. Department of Defense is a mammoth organization. It not only employs millions of service members and hundreds of thousands of civilian employees, but also has the world’s largest military budget that’s used to buy and maintain more equipment than can likely fit into a single paragraph. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Procreate takes a stand against generative AI, vows to never incorporate the tech into its products
Popular iPad design app Procreate is coming out against generative AI, and has vowed never to introduce generative AI features into its products. The company said on its website that although machine learning is a “compelling technology with a lot of merit,” the current path that generative AI is on is wrong for its platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Keychain aims to unlock a new approach to manufacturing consumer goods
Brands can use Keychain to look up different products and see who actually manufactures them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Keychain aims to unlock a new approach to manufacturing consumer goods
Brands can use Keychain to look up different products and see who actually manufactures them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI social media vetting startup Ferretly secures $2.5M, launches election personnel screening tool
An AI social media vetting startup Ferretly has raised $2.5 million in seed funding and is launching a new platform designed to screen election personnel. Founded in 2019, Ferretly leverages AI to scan social media and publicly available online data to uncover potential risks and behaviors that traditional background checks may overlook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stoke Space’s initial launch plans at Cape Canaveral take shape
Stoke Space is nothing if not ambitious. The five-year-old launch startup has generated a lot of hype due to its bold plans to develop the first fully reusable rocket, with both the booster and second stage vertically returning to Earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CodeRabbit raises $16M to bring AI to code reviews
Code reviews — peer reviews of code that help devs improve code quality — are time-consuming. According to one source, 50% of companies spend two to five hours a week on them. Without enough people, code reviews can be overwhelming and take devs away from other important work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Move over SEO, Profound is helping brands with AI search optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) has been top of mind for brands for more than a decade to ensure their websites and products capture as many eyeballs as possible by ranking high up on search results pages. But search is changing, and as consumers increasingly turn to AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EliseAI lands $75M for chatbots that help property managers deal with renters
EliseAI employs an army of chatbots to text with, email, and respond to calls from renters about things such as apartment tours, maintenance requests, lease renewals and delinquencies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
.ArborXR secures $12M to boost its management platform for AR and VR devices
ArborXR, a startup that helps companies remotely manage AR and VR devices, believed that enterprise customers would be the primary targets for AR and VR devices. Now, that bet is paying off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
PayZen secures $23M Series B, $200M debt facility to grow its “care now, pay later” product
PayZen aims to make healthcare more affordable by enabling patients to pay their bills in interest and fee-free instalments over time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ex-Clubhouse employees take another swing at a social networking startup
The ex-Clubhouse, Netflix employees raised $1.65M for an app that combines social media, networking, and dating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bandana lands new investment to help hourly wage workers find good jobs
Most startups are looking to solve a problem inside a business, but Bandana, a New York City-based startup has a different goal. It wants to help people at the lower end of the wage scale find better jobs with higher wages and good benefits, all while being closer to home to reduce commuting time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Humidity sucks. Transaera has a new way to deal with it
The startup's core technology is a proprietary material that absorbs moisture from the air, allowing air conditioning to cool buildings more efficiently. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Archer to set up air taxi network in LA by 2026 ahead of World Cup
Los Angeles is notorious for its back-to-back traffic. Three events that promise to bring in millions of spectators from around the world — the 2026 World Cup, the Super Bowl in 2027, and the 2028 Olympics — have LA officials searching for a range of new mobility solutions to address its congestion problems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cocoon is transforming steel production runoff into a greener cement alternative
Slag is the molten runoff created while producing steel in a traditional blast furnace. The material has been prized as greener cement alternative for creating concrete, the Earth’s most abundant human-made material. The runoff is facing supply chain issues, however, as the steel industry looks to greener methods of production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anduril raises $1.5B at a $14B valuation
The Palmer Luckey-founded defense startup wants to become a serious rival to longstanding kingpins, and has been clocking some big wins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fintech Payoneer is buying 5-year-old global payroll startup Skuad for $61M in cash
New York-based fintech Payoneer has acquired Skuad, a Singapore-based global HR and payroll startup, for $61 million in cash, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. Payoneer said it could also pay up to another $10 million, contingent on if Skuad meets various performance goals within the first 18 months of the acquisition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Database startup Neon nabs a Microsoft investment
In a sign that big tech companies are ready and willing to shell out cash for database tech, Neon, a startup building an open source alternative to AWS Aurora Postgres, on Wednesday announced that Microsoft’s venture arm M12 led a $25 million strategic investment in its business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
H3X scales up its electric aerospace ambitions with $20M in new funding
Many industries that rely on legacy energy sources are aiming to electrify or at least streamline their operations, but for countless use cases the tech just isn’t there. H3X is changing the game with electric motors so compact and efficient that the aerospace and marine world — not to mention investors — are taking notice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Placer.ai boosts valuation to $1.5B after quietly raising another $75M
A startup developing AI market research based on location data, and backed by a who's who, has quietly raised, TechCrunch has learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
From golf to hunting, a new crop of startups want to make these experiences even better
COVID-19 pushed people to take up outdoor activities. Now, startups are helping companies and consumers keep up with demand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Trade My Spin is building a business around used Peloton equipment
Trade My Spin has pieced together a logistics network capable of offering same or next day delivery in most major cities in the continental U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Cloud now has a dedicated cluster of Nvidia GPUs for Y Combinator startups
Google Cloud is giving Y Combinator startups access to a dedicated, subsidized cluster of Nvidia graphics processing units and Google tensor processing units to build AI models. It’s part of Google Cloud’s effort to cozy up with promising early-stage AI startups, in hopes some of them will evolve into massive, compute-hungry business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Self-driving truck startup Aurora Innovation to sell up to $420M in shares ahead of commercial launch
Self-driving technology company Aurora Innovation is looking to raise hundreds of millions in additional capital as it races towards a driverless commercial launch by the end of 2024. Aurora, which went public in 2021 through a special purpose acquisition merger, is pursuing a driver-as-a-service model, wherein carriers purchase trucks with the Aurora Driver tech on Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Indian startups Ola Electric, FirstCry gut valuations ahead of IPOs
Two large Indian startups, Ola Electric and FirstCry, are set to test investor appetite with their public listings this month, but both have had to price their shares below their previous valuations as they come to terms with new market realities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sybill raises $11M for its AI assistant that helps salespeople reduce administrative burden
Sybill, a startup that has built an AI assistant specifically for sales reps, has raised $11 million in a Series A round led by Greycroft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Date Like Goblins, a new dating platform, allows users to virtually date and play video games
Date Like Goblins is geared toward the gaming community and allows users to connect through voice chat while playing video games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Applied Carbon’s farm robot turns plant waste into biochar to capture CO2
The startup has raised $21.5 million to build more of its machines and deploy them throughout the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lime is piloting two new e-bikes to attract more women and older riders
Shared micromobility giant Lime is piloting two new vehicles designed to appeal to women and older folks who might appreciate a lower step-through frame, smaller wheels and an upgrade from pedal-assist. Lime has experimented with several new form factors over the years, something it can do because it designs and engineers its vehicles in-house. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Autonomous delivery startup Nuro is gearing up for a comeback
The California Department of Motor Vehicles this week granted Nuro approval to test its third-generation R3 autonomous delivery vehicle in four Bay Area cities, giving the AV startup a positive boost after facing some setbacks and financial struggles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alphabet X spinoff Skip partners with Arc’teryx to bring ‘everyday’ exoskeleton to market
Skip exited stealth this week to announce a partnership with outdoor clothing specialist Arc’teryx. The deal is the first to bring Skip’s MO/GO technology to market: “powered pants” that utilize a soft exoskeleton technology, developed in-house at Alphabet’s X Labs moonshot factory. MO/GO, short for “mountain goat,” is a hybrid soft/rigid exoskeleton system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stripe acquires payment processing startup Lemon Squeezy
Payments giant Stripe has acquired a four-year-old competitor, Lemon Squeezy, the latter company announced Friday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. As a self-proclaimed “merchant of record,” Lemon Squeezy calculates and pays global sales tax for digital products, handling legal processing and fees in every country. It primarily serves SaaS and software businesses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Energy tech startup Greenely grabs €8M to reach more households and support Europe’s energy transition
The energy transition is a marathon, not a sprint. But opportunities for acceleration are growing. Swedish startup Greenely* has just spotted one. It’s closing an €8 million Series A funding round to expand its energy management platform into neighbouring Nordic countries (so around $8.7M at current exchange rates). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices