TechCrunch Startup News
3,808 episodes — Page 36 of 77
Livin Farms’ investors are betting $5.8M on powdered fly larvae
In a world of climate change-fueled food shortages, insect-based proteins are being viewed as an increasingly valuable potential alternative food service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A Strava co-founder races into a lucrative market – lending against life insurance
Mark Shaw likes running around. The serial entrepreneur joined activity and fitness tracking platform Strava as a co-founder in 2009 to lead engineering as CTO. He spent eight years there, and as of its most recent raise in 2020, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Checkmate captures all of your shopping deals so you don’t have to
Checkmate's shopping tool gathers all the online discount codes, gift cards and personalized deals from your inbox and automatically applies them at checkout.Checkmate captures all of your shopping deals so you don’t have to by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Steadybit wants developers involved in chaos engineering before production
Chaos engineering was originally developed at large companies to help them pressure test systems in production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cloud kitchen startup CloudEats raises more capital to ramp up Southeast Asian expansion
A cloud kitchen — also known as a ghost kitchen or a shared kitchen — offers restaurant owners and food entrepreneurs a commercial kitchen space at a reduced cost for food delivery and takeout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Crypto tax reporting app Binocs helps users navigate regulations
Keeping up with tax compliance for cryptocurrency can be tricky, especially since many laws are new (or haven’t been written yet). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EV charging operator Bump unlocks $180 million
French startup Bump has signed a multi-year financing partnership with DIF Capital Partners in order to roll out more charging stations for electric vehicles and double down on growth in general. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Razor’s Edge Ventures closes $340M fund as it looks to invest in defense startups
In a sign that national security tech is a safe bet even during troubled economic times, defense- and security-focused VC firm Razor’s Edge Ventures today announced the closing of its third startup investment fund at just under $340 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Leoparda Electric is bringing battery swapping for two-wheelers to LatAm
Leoparda Electric, a São Paolo–based startup, wants to be the Gogoro of Latin America. In other words, it’s looking to build out a network of battery swapping stations that should help spread adoption of electric two-wheelers in the region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zopper raises $75 million to solve India’s insurance problem
For more than half a decade, Zopper built a platform for small and medium-sized businesses, helping merchants with invoicing and payments through its point-of-sale platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta alumni’s startup TrueFoundry raises $2.3 million to accelerate ML deployments
A group of former Meta engineers is building a platform to help enterprises deploy machine learning models at the speed of big tech companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This robot crossed a line it shouldn’t have because humans told it to
Video of a sidewalk delivery robot crossing yellow caution tape and rolling through a crime scene in Los Angeles went viral this week, amassing more than 650,000 views on Twitter and sparking debate about whether the technology is ready for prime time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Launch House holds private town hall, says investigation is underway
In a town hall to some members of their community, Launch House addressed the harassment and assault allegations surfaced by a Vox Investigation earlier this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Virtual Internships matches students with top companies around the world
Remote work struck down barriers for many employees, and now Virtual Internships is doing the same for university students around the world by partnering with over 12,000 companies from 100 countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Polywork lands $28 million more to add hyphens to your job title
Stop trying to make Polywork happen. It’s already happening. You may even be polyworking as you read this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Denim, a fintech platform for freight brokers, raises $126M in equity and debt
Denim, the fintech platform for freight and logistics formerly known as Axle Payments, today announced that it raised $126 million in a Series B funding round led by Pelion Venture Partners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MVP Match, a tech-talent marketplace, raises $5M from Stage 2 Capital
Tech-talent marketplace MVP Match has raised €5 million ($5 million) seed funding from Stage 2 Capital to double down its strategy for pairing companies with talent from across the globe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CoverSelf’s customizable platform simplifies the healthcare claims system
The U.S healthcare system is infamously labyrinthine, with a lengthy claims process that results in frequent errors and high administrative costs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cultured meat startup Prolific Machines unveils its ‘Henry Ford approach’ to cell growth
Its technology is a way to grow and control cells without the need for any of those expensive recombinant proteins for cell production.Cultured meat startup Prolific Machines unveils its ‘Henry Ford approach’ to cell growth by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How WhiteLab Genomics is using AI to aid gene and cell therapy development
French biotech company WhiteLab Genomics has raised $10 million in funding for an AI platform designed to aid the discovery and development of genomic therapies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Industrial IoT startup Litmus Automation bags new cash to grow its product
In recent years, a cottage industry has sprung up around the industrial internet of things (IoT) landscape — and the data generated by it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kenya’s HotelOnline acquires hospitality software company HotelPlus
HotelOnline, a Kenyan-based travel technology scale-up that fashions itself as an e-commerce and digital marketing enabler in the hospitality industry, has acquired HotelPlus, a software provider with clients in 22 countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Diveplane lands $25M to grow its MLOps platform
In 2017, three entrepreneurs — Chris Hazard, Mike Resnick and Mike Capps — came together to launch a platform for building AI and machine learning tools geared toward the enterprise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Synthetic DNA startup Catalog partners with Seagate for its DNA-based data storage platform
Data needs to be stored somewhere. However, data storage costs keep growing, and the data people keep producing and consuming can’t keep up with the available storage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stack.io banks $2.7M to teach teens, parents about crypto
The app was designed with Gen Z in mind, a generation that will grow up with the blockchain and most likely own some kind of digital assets.Stack.io banks $2.7M to teach teens, parents about crypto by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lucidity keeps cloud block storage neat, tidy and cost-efficient
Cloud storage is expensive (especially in this economy), but many companies often over-provision, cutting their full return on investment. Lucidity was created to help them manage block storage more efficiently with a set of automated tools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
London-based RegTech SteelEye nabs $21M
London-based regulatory technology (RegTech) startup SteelEye has raised $21 million in a series B round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nektar.ai exits stealth mode to plug CRM data leakages
A lot of important data gets lost along the sales pipeline because sales teams use multiple tools, including email, Zoom and WhatsApp, to talk with buyers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cultivated Biosciences wants to make plant-based dairy ‘feel’ more like the real McCoy
The vegan food market was pegged as a $27 billion industry last year, a figure that’s expected to more than double within a decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
JusticeText raises $2.2M to increase transparency in criminal evidence-gathering
The company currently works with 50 public defender agencies and has around 60 clients who are private criminal defense attorneys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This Gen Z founder is pitching hundreds of investors… via Venmo
My phone buzzes as I get a text from a friend who’s a partner at a VC firm. It’s a screenshot of a Venmo notification that just came in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Indian agency searches fintech Paytm, Razorpay and Cashfree offices in Chinese loan apps probe
India’s financial crime fighting agency searched the offices of fintech unicorns Paytm and Razorpay as well as Cashfree on Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into fraudulent Chinese loan apps, it said Saturday, the latest in a series of probes in recent months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fairmarkit’s AI-fueled platform delivers autonomous procurement sourcing
Companies tend to divide their procurement spending into two main buckets. The first is large purchases over $500,000 with some starting $1 million, depending on the size of the organization. Anything below that figure falls under a category known as “tail spend.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With schools increasingly focused on mental health, PsycApps raises Seed round for US expansion
I’ve been tracking PsycApps, a startup that came up with a gamified mental health game ‘eQuoo’, since 2016, and this company – and its founder – is nothing if not persistent in ‘pivoting into the wind’. T Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This dating app fought scammers with bots… hilarity ensued
You know the feeling; you’re on a dating app, and you start a conversation with someone, and things don’t seem like they add up completely. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Falkon closes $16M round to automate sales workflows and analyses
Falkon, a sales analytics platform that uses AI to attempt to show where successful product sales are occuring in an organization, today announced that it raised $16 million in a funding round led by OMERS Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MEDU takes in $4M to develop reusable personal protective equipment
MEDU aims to reduce hospital garment waste and replace single-wear items with its line of sustainable, virus-resistant reusable pieces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kula makes the job recruitment process less exhausting
The process of finding job candidates often entails a lot of tedious manual work for recruiters, like sending versions of the same email over and over again. That’s Kula was created. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The UK’s £5B Project Gigabit gives out first contract to connect rural areas to high-speed broadband
The first major subsidy contract under the U.K. Government’s £5 billion ($5.9 billion) Project Gigabit scheme has officially been awarded, with Wessex Internet securing £6 million ($7 million) to connect remote properties in South West England to high-speed broadband. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Singapore-based Propseller uses data to take the hassle out of real estate transactions
Headquartered in Singapore, proptech startup Propseller is on a mission to make real estate transactions more efficient and data-driven for sellers and buyers alike. Its platform is able to tell users the likelihood of a conversion each step of the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Supply chain startup FourKites, which recently laid off workers, raises $30M
Weeks after laying off workers, supply chain startup FourKites has raised $30 million as part of an ongoing financing round, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Data analytics startup StarTree secures cash to expand its Apache Pinot–powered platform
StarTree, a company building what it describes as an “analytics-as-a-service” platform, today announced that it raised $47 million in a Series B round led by GGV Capital with participation from Sapphire Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and CRV. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster jazzes up China’s AR startup Nreal with $15M funding
Augmented reality headsets have been around for years, but none of the market players has really expanded beyond the techy demographic and broken into the mainstream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoftBank-backed Tridge, a Korean platform that matches food agriculture buyers and sellers, bags $37.2M Series D at a $2.7B valuation
Supply chain disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine is driving increased costs of goods and services, affecting not only the industrial sector (e.g., semiconductors), but also the agriculture industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mad Realities’ Devin Lewtan is onboarding crypto users through reality television
Web3 doesn’t have the most inclusive reputation, yet so many crypto founders talk about onboarding the next 100 million users into the space. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Privado is “Grammarly for code privacy issues”
Privacy breaches are not only bad for users, but also costly for tech companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple, Samsung partner Servify raises $65 million for its devices after-sales and management platform
Servify, a startup that manages lifecycle of devices for several popular smartphone vendors including Apple and Samsung in many markets, has raised $65 million as it eyes becoming a public company in two years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dioseve wants to help infertile people with tech that grows egg cells
Based in Japan, biotech startup Dioseve’s ambitious goal is to grow human oocytes, or eggs, from other tissue. Its aim is to help people struggling with infertility, and it recently raised $3 million led by ANRI, with participation from Coral Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DhiWise takes the tedium out of programming
Programming involves a lot of monotonous tasks. Based in Gujarat, India, DhiWise wants to makes things less onerous for developers with its programming automation platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Massdriver wants to abstract away infrastructure to let devs focus on coding
Modern DevOps turned back the clock on agile software development. Them’s fighting words, but they’re words Cory O’Daniel, the CEO of Massdriver, stands by. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices