TechCrunch Startup News
3,808 episodes — Page 22 of 77
Pacifico Biolabs emerges from stealth with fermentation process for alternative seafood
The company's fermentation process involves the cultivation of multiple microorganisms, including mycelium, to provide nutrition, flavor and texture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Celadyne coats membranes with nanoparticles to make hydrogen fuel cells more efficient
The material could drastically improve the durability of existing fuel cell designs while also improving the efficiency of hydrogen production by 15%-20%. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
.406 Ventures secures $265M for fifth fund
When looking at startups within healthcare, data and AI and cybersecurity, the firm considers a number of factors like the plan for infrastructure, especially now that AI is everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spacegoods shakes up functional beverage industry with mushroom-based powders
The London-based wellness brand is tapping into functional mushrooms and nootropics to create a line of powder blends that it touts enhances energy, relaxation, mood and general well-being. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Travel startup Layla acquires AI itinerary building bot Roam Around
Travel startup Layla — backed by firstminute capital, M13, Booking.com co-founder Andy Phillips, Skyscanner co-founder Barry Smith, and Paris Hilton — said today that it has acquired AI-powered itinerary building bot Roam Around. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bob W, a European short-stay apartment rental marketplace, raises $43M
Bob W, a marketplace for premium short-term apartment rentals, has raised €40 million ($43 million) in a Series B round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Crux is building GenAI-powered business intelligence tools
GenAI might be one of the most exciting technologies today. But it’s also one of the fastest-moving — posing a challenge for enterprises keen to deploy it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Upstash’s serverless data platform hits ARR of $1M just two years after seed funding
Upstash announced a $1.9 million seed round almost exactly two years ago, and an idea for building a serverless data platform for data-intensive applications built with Redis and Kafka. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Glass supercharges smartphone cameras with AI — minus the hallucinations
Your phone’s camera is as much software as it is hardware, and Glass is hoping to improve both. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Podcasters can now upload their RSS feed to YouTube
Podcast creators can now submit their RSS feed to YouTube and YouTube Music, the company revealed in a video uploaded to its Creator Insider channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Attentive.ai snags $7M to boost automation in landscaping, construction services
Attentive.ai, a startup building vertical software for landscaping and construction services in the U.S., has raised $7 million in a new funding round as it looks to enhance its AI-led offerings and expand them to more businesses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brita snaps up smart water bottle startup, Larq
Smart water bottle-maker Larq this week announced that it has been acquired by filtration giant, Brita. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK AI startup Greyparrot bags strategic tie-up with recycling giant Bollegraaf
In another sign of the scramble to accelerate the uptake and transformative potential of artificial intelligence, Dutch recycling giant Bollegraaf Group is making a strategic investment in UK AI startup Greyparrot Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Guided Energy helps EV fleet managers optimize battery charging
Imagine you work for a car rental agency or a package delivery company and you’re in charge of a fleet of vehicles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Synthetaic claims synthetic data is as good as the real thing when it comes to AI
Remember the Chinese “spy” balloon from 2023? If not, here’s a refresher: about a year ago, a high-altitude balloon originating from China flew across American airspace largely undetected. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EV startup Arrival looks to sell off assets, intellectual property of UK division
Commercial EV startup Arrival’s business continues to unravel. Arrival announced Monday in a regulatory filing that its UK division is entering administration, the country’s version of bankruptcy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stellar Sleep app gets initial funding to awaken root cause of chronic insomnia in users
Stellar Sleep’s mobile app taps into psychological methods to help users break the cycle of those frequent nights awake. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Naboo provides an Airbnb-like experience for company seminars
Naboo, a French company that was created just a couple of years ago, is trying to create a modern online experience for company seminar planning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Secretive moon startup led by ex-Blue Origin leaders raises new tranche of funding
A stealth startup led by ex-Blue Origin leaders, focused on harvesting resources from the moon, has quietly closed a sizable new tranche of funding, according to regulatory documents Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Niremia Collective closes inaugural fund with $22.5M focused on well-being technology
Niremia Collective intends to provide capital and management resources to high-growth well-being startups as well as incubate new businesses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Probabl is a new AI company built around popular library scikit-learn
Probabl isn’t your average AI startup as this new French company is an Inria spin-off company that revolves around an open-source data science library called scikit-learn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CARPL guides healthcare providers through the growing market of radiology AI apps
There’s an acute shortage of radiologists around the world, which means it is harder for medical teams to get imaging studies done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Planet A Foods whips up more capital to take its cocoa-free chocolate global
Planet A Foods uses fermentation technology to turn all-natural, locally-sourced ingredients, for example, oats and sunflower seeds, into its cocoa-free chocolate brand, ChoViva. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Accel eyes new India fashion e-commerce bet with Newme
Accel, an early investor in Indian e-commerce giants Flipkart and Myntra, is preparing a new fashion e-commerce bet in India even as competition intensifies with the recent expansion of Mukesh Ambani’s Ajio platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Speedinvest closes fourth fund at $380 million to back early-stage startups in Europe
Vienna-based early-stage VC Speedinvest has closed its fourth early-stage fund, Speedinvest 4, at €350 million (around $380 million at today’s exchange rate), surpassing the initial goal of €300 million ($325 million). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fidelity cuts Meta-backed Meesho valuation to $3.5 billion
Fidelity has cut the value of its holding in Meesho by 33.6% since the original investment, giving the Indian social commerce startup a valuation of $3.5 billion, adjusted for outstanding shares. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BlueLayer is building the operating system for carbon project developers
Meet BlueLayer, a new European startup that is building a software platform specifically designed for carbon project developers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Byju’s seeks to raise $200 million in rights issue
Byju’s, the world’s most valuable edtech startup, launched a rights issue on Monday, seeking to raise $200 million as the Indian firm works to address its working capital issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Yume’s platform helps manufacturers turn potential food waste into money
While running a bar in Melbourne, Katy Barfield was taken aback by the large amount of ingredients thrown out at the end of each day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Delivery startup Veho makes corporate job cuts
The company said the layoffs are part of a "reorganization of our corporate team to improve efficiencies and accelerate our path to profitability." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ola founder’s AI startup becomes unicorn in $50M funding
Krutrim, an AI startup founded by Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal, said it has raised a funding round that values it at $1 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elo Life Systems grabs another $20.5M to get its monk fruit sweetener to market
Elo Life is focused on a number of technologies from developing plant-based sweeteners to crop protection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Prompt Security wants to make GenAI safe for the enterprise
Businesses are moving faster than ever to use generative AI and bring it to both their employees and users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
General Catalyst leads $200M investment into Bilt Rewards, doubling its valuation to $3.1B
Bilt Rewards, whose platform aims to allow consumers to earn rewards on rent and daily neighborhood spend, has raised $200 million at a $3.1 valuation, the company announced today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kittl raises another $36 million for its browser-based design tool
Just a year after raising $11.6 million, Kittl raised another $36 million in a Series B round led by IVP with some existing investors participating once again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Byju’s seeks new funding at less than $2 billion valuation, a 90% drop
Byju’s, once valued at $22 billion, is willing to cut its valuation to below $2 billion as it hunts for new funding, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Plural, the VC led by founders, pulls together a new $432M fund to back European startups
European VC Plural has carved out a reputation for itself as being one of the few VCs in the region started and led by entrepreneurs who grew their own startups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Day One gets more social with a new collaborative ‘Shared Journals’ feature
Journal app Day One is introducing Shared Journals, a new social feature that lets you share stories and memories with your friends and family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kenyan agtech Shamba Pride raises $3.7M to grow its merchant network
Shamba Pride has since 2016 worked to enhance last-mile distribution for farm inputs and tackle price exploitation and quality issues for farmers through its merchant network dubbed digishops. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Plex confirms plan to launch TV and movie rentals next month
Media streamer Plex’s long-delayed plans to launch a marketplace for TV and movie rentals are finally being realized after multiple false starts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Farm-ng makes modular robots for a broad range of agricultural work
Agriculture is poised to be one of the next great robotics categories. Everyone needs to eat, and much of what we eat in this part of the world comes from large farms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What happened to Artifact?
Last week, Artifact, a buzzy news app from Instagram’s co-founders, announced it was shutting down after failing to gain critical mass. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
International Battery Company powers up with $35M funding to bridge EV gap in India
International Battery Company, a startup developing lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles, has raised $35 million as it plans to bridge the demand-supply gap in the growing EV market in India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Astroscale takes the wraps off its $25M orbital refueling craft for Space Force
Orbital operations company Astroscale has revealed new details about its approach to refueling satellites in space, as part of a $25.5 million project exploring the concept with the Space Force. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Goodnotes acquires a AI-powered video summary startup as it looks beyond education
London-based notetaking startup Goodnotes said today it is acquiring South Korean startup Dropthebit, which operates a meeting and video summary tool called Traw. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Build a Rocket Boy, a game studio from former Grand Theft Auto developer, raises $110M
Build a Rocket Boy, a Scotland-headquartered game development company founded by one of the former lead developers behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise,announced it has raised $110 million in a Series D round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pomelo stacks $40M to scale its payments infra business in LatAm
Argentinian payments infrastructure startup Pomelo has raised $40 million in a Series B round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Singapore’s Locofy launches its one-click design-to-code tool
After using Figma to create user interfaces and experiences, developers are left with the hefty task of coding the designs in order to create functional websites or apps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FlutterFlow attracts cash for its low-code mobile app dev platform
Low-code dev platforms have gained momentum in recent years, in large part because they promise to shorten what’s otherwise typically a lengthy app development cycle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic researchers find that AI models can be trained to deceive
Most humans learn the skill of deceiving other humans. So can AI models learn the same? Yes, the answer seems — and terrifyingly, they’re exceptionally good at it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices