TechCrunch Startup News
3,808 episodes — Page 23 of 77
Airbnb or hotel? Overmoon’s vacation rental model aims to combine the best of both
Historically, vacation rental companies have managed homes for homeowners. While this model has proven popular, it also has its drawbacks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This startup is trying to bring T9-like text input to your TV
Some technologies make so much sense that they just won’t disappear. T9 — the old text input from our trusty Nokia phones from the 1990s — is one of those throwbacks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Micromobility startups Tier and Dott plan to merge to find a path to profitability
After years of exploding growth and massive funding rounds, it’s time for consolidation in the micromobility industry. Tier and Dott, two leading European companies in the space, have announced that they plan to merge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Seedstars Africa Ventures gets $30M backing from EIB Global to invest in early-stage startups
Seedstars Africa Ventures has received a $30 million capital commitment from EIB Global, an arm of the European Investment Bank, which becomes the first major institutional investment for its first Pan-African venture capital fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sony’s new ‘digital birth certificate’ for imaging tech smells a lot like NFTs
Sony is breaking new ground in the ongoing NFTs and content authenticity saga. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Will.i.am’s new startup Sound Drive wants you to reboot the music industry in your car
You can spend all day long curating custom playlists for every mood, picking tracks based on tempo or intensity, but whether you’re corner-carving or just commuting you’ll never perfectly match the cadence and energy of every drive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anecdotes lands $25M to expand its governance, risk management and compliance business
Governance, risk management and compliance — GRC for short — remains one of the most active startup areas in terms of VC investments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nabla raises another $24 million for its AI assistant for doctors
Paris-based startup Nabla just announced that it has raised a $24 million Series B funding round led by Cathay Innovation, with participation from ZEBOX Ventures — the corporate VC fund of CMA CGM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This app lets cafes and coffee shops charge to use the bathroom
Thanks to bans on pay toilets dating back to the 1970s, folks in the U.S. have become accustomed to enjoying free public restroom access pretty much anywhere their travels take them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Peak XV-backed MobiKwik seeks to raise $84 million in India IPO
Indian financial services startup MobiKwik seeks to raise about $84.2 million through issue of new shares in an initial public offering in the home market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EV startup Fisker struggling to meet internal sales goals, documents show
Fisker remains far from meeting CEO and founder Henrik Fisker’s publicly-stated goal of delivering 300 electric SUVs per day globally Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI-powered search engine Perplexity AI, now valued at $520M, raises $70M
As search engine incumbents — namely Google — amp up their platforms with gen AI tech, startups are looking to reinvent AI-powered search from the ground up. It might seem like a Sisyphean task, going up against competitors with billions upon billions of users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Intel spins out a new enterprise-focused gen AI software company
Intel, intent on making bigger moves in the market for AI-powered enterprise software, is spinning out a new platform company with the backing of Boca Raton, Florida-based asset manager and investor DigitalBridge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Short-term rental provider Frontdesk lays off entire staff, on the verge of shutting down
Another proptech startup has run into trouble. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former Anthemis partner soft-launches new fintech-focused venture firm
Ruth Foxe Blader has left her role as partner at Anthemis Group after nearly seven years to start her own venture firm, Foxe Capital, TechCrunch learned exclusively today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla’s cheapest cars helped it notch another record year
Tesla shipped a record number of electric vehicles in the fourth quarter to help it edge out its targets for the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian deliveries slip 10% in Q4, raising demand questions
Rivian reported Tuesday it produced 17,541 vehicles at its Normal, Illinois factory and delivered 13,972 to customers in the fourth quarter, mixed results that left investors wary and sent shares down in pre-market trading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shield AI expands massive Series F with another $300M in equity, debt, scaling valuation to $2.8B
Defense tech startup Shield AI has expanded its latest funding round with another $300 million in equity and debt, bringing its total Series F to $500 million, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. This total amount reflects $200 million in equity closed in November, $100 million in new equity raised at the Series F price, and $200 […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Giga ML wants to help companies deploy LLMs offline
AI is all the rage — particularly text-generating AI, also known as large language models (think models along the lines of ChatGPT). In one recent survey of ~1,000 enterprise organizations, 67.2% say that they see adopting large language models (LLMs) as a top priority by early 2024. But barriers stand in the way. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoftBank-backed FirstCry seeks to raise nearly $220 million in India IPO
E-commerce startup FirstCry is seeking to raise $218 million through issue of fresh shares in its initial public offering, the 13-year-old startup said in a draft prospectus filed with the market regulator Thursday, becoming the latest Indian startup to explore the public markets. FirstCry earlier sought to raise as much as $700 million in its […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Propelled by ‘science for humanity,’ this Chinese AI startup sets sight on US
Amid rising geopolitical tensions, many Chinese tech companies find themselves recalibrating their overseas pursuits, often sidestepping any reference to their origin. One bold startup called DP Technology stands out from the crowd. Working to apply artificial intelligence to molecular simulations, DP, short for “Deep Potential,” believes that the unifying power of “scientific research for humanity” […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BotBuilt wants to lower the cost of homebuilding with robots
Homes aren’t getting cheaper — or necessarily easier to secure. This year, the median household income for home buyers jumped to $107,000 from $88,000 last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The volume of homes for sale in the U.S. reached record a low, meanwhile — and shows no sign of recovery. Now, […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nonprofit Code.org sues Byju’s unit WhiteHat Jr over payment dues
Code.org, the US educational non-profit, has filed a lawsuit in a California district court alleging that Byju’s subsidiary WhiteHat Jr breached a licensing contract by failing to pay fees while continuing to use Code.org’s platform. WhiteHat Jr, which sold to Byju’s for $300 million in 2020, partnered with Code.org last year and agreed to pay […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ShareChat faces large valuation cut in new funding
"ShareChat is in final stages of deliberations to secure about $50 million in new funding that trims the startup’s valuation to below $1.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Existing backers including Temasek and Tencent are among the investors in advanced stages of talks to invest in the new round, the sources […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Y Combinator-backed Intrinsic is building infrastructure for trust and safety teams
"A few years ago, Karine Mellata and Michael Lin met while working at Apple’s fraud engineering and algorithmic risk team. Both engineers, Mellata and Lin were involved with helping to address online abuse problems including spam, botting, account security and developer fraud for Apple’s growing customer base. Despite their efforts to develop new models to […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vestwell raises $125M to help businesses power workplace savings programs
Vestwell, which provides the infrastructure for employers to power workplace savings programs, has raised $125 million in what the company describes as a “preempted” round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Medallion, a platform for artists to connect directly with fans, raises $13.7M
Medallion is a platform for artists to have a dedicated digital hub for promoting album releases, tour dates and merch drops, as well as selling digital collectibles and sharing exclusive content to foster deeper connections with fans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Claim, a social network that lets users earn and trade rewards with friends, raises $4M
Claim, a platform that is both a rewards app and a social network, has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SimSpace raises $45M to simulate tech stacks for cyber training
SimSpace, a startup that creates digital replicas of organizations’ tech and networking stacks for cybersecurity training, has raised $45 million in a funding round led by L2 Point Management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Salesforce acquires automated commission management platform Spiff
Salesforce has announced plans to acquire Spiff, a platform that automates commission management for sales teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
IBM to acquire StreamSets and WebMethods from Software AG for $2.3B
IBM is doling out €2.13 billion ($2.3 billion) to acquire a duo of data integration assets from Germany-based enterprise software company Software AG. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the fight against methane, a key GHG, Valley investors have hit upon an unusual target: Cow burps
What do iconic Valley investors Zachary Bogue and Chris Sacca have in common? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Linktree acquires link-in-bio platform Koji in its second investment of the year
Australia-based link-in-bio platform Linktree announced today that it has acquired competitor Koji from its parent company GoMeta for an undisclosed amount. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India’s Udaan scores $340 million in new funding
The investment arm of the UK retail bank M&G has led a funding of $340 million into Udaan, a business-to-business e-commerce startup, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Distributional wants to develop software to reduce AI risk
Companies are increasingly curious about AI and the ways in which it can be used to (potentially) boost productivity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Startup studio Hexa wants to partner with startups growing too slowly
Just a couple of weeks after announcing $22 million in fundraising, Paris-based startup studio Hexa is expanding beyond its studio model to partner with later stage companies that have already found product-market fit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Metafuels lands $8 million bet on greener skies ahead
Metafuels sets out to change the landscape of sustainable jet fuel, and has just picked up an $8 million suitcase from baggage carousel 3 at its local ZRH. Ahh, Zurich. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Procurement software startup Pivot raises $21.6 million just a few months after its creation
French startup Pivot is an interesting startup story as it is scaling at a rapid pace even though startup investments are down in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tribe Capital eyes leading $75M-plus funding in India’s Shiprocket
Tribe Capital is in talks to lead a $75 million to $100 million funding into the logistics aggregator Shiprocket, according to a person familiar with the matter, a notable financing deliberation at a time when Indian startups are struggling to raise capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Docker acquires AtomicJar, a testing startup that raised $25M in January
AtomicJar was seemingly a high flying early stage startup with a hefty (by today’s standards) $25 million Series A last January. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mistral AI, a Paris-based OpenAI rival, closed its $415 million funding round
French startup Mistral AI has officially closed its much anticipated Series A funding round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Is the Texas boom town of Austin losing its luster?
Texas has been historically known for its oil booms. Today the state is perhaps better known as a magnet for tech companies and tech talent, especially in its capital city of Austin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Simply Homes nabs $22M, leverages AI to tackle affordable housing crisis
The United States has long had an affordable housing crisis, but it’s been exacerbated as of late by a surge in mortgage interest rates and low inventory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mammoth, an X and Threads competitor, embraces news, curation, and more in latest release
Mammoth, an app from the Mozilla-backed startup focused on building a more consumer-friendly entry point to the world of decentralized social media, is out today with its next big upgrade: Mammoth 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pimento turns creative briefs into visual mood boards using generative AI
Pimento is a new French startup that is using generative AI in an interesting way as the company focuses on the first step of creative processes — ideation, brainstorming and moodboarding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OurSky lands $9.5M seed to build out developer platform for space data
A developer platform for the…sky? That’s the vision of OurSky, a startup founded last year that’s aiming to make space observational data more accessible via a software platform and global telescope network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Discord reimagines its mobile app to showcase its best social features
Discord launched a major refresh of its mobile app on Tuesday, putting messaging front-and-center while making a host of small improvements that users have been asking for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitch to shut down in Korea over ‘prohibitively expensive’ network fees
Twitch plans to shut down its business in South Korea on February 27, it said, after finding that operating in one of the world’s largest esports markets is “prohibitively expensive.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EnCharge raises $22.6M to commercialize its AI-accerating chips
Around a year ago, TechCrunch wrote about a little-known company developing AI-accelerating chips to face off against hardware from titans of industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Carbon Maps, a carbon accounting startup for the food industry, gets new backers
Carbon Maps is a relatively new entrant in the carbon accounting space as it is less than one year old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices