TechCrunch Startup News

Brave Care is an urgent care facility for pediatric care that costs, on average, about 80% less than a pediatric ER visit. Darius Monsef and his co-founder came up with the idea shortly after a fateful week for the Monsef family, during which their four-year-old dove off a bike ramp and their one-year-old started having breathing problems. For both visits, he went to a pediatric urgent care facility where his kids were thoughtfully and patiently treated by Dr. Corey A. Fish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sage is giving reviewers, chefs and other experts and publishers a central place to share all their content. To do this, the startup has created a new product called Sage Plus for Experts, which isn’t open to the public yet, but is accepting signups from those aforementioned travel experts — the kinds of experts who can share content around things to do, food, drinks, experiences and shopping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ajay Chopra Contributor Ajay Chopra co-founded Pinnacle Systems in his living room and grew it to a multi-billion dollar public company before becoming a venture capitalist with Trinity Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This new autonomous startup has designed its delivery robot to conquer winter Refraction, a new autonomous delivery robot company that came out of stealth Wednesday at TC Sessions: Mobility, sees opportunity in areas most AV startups are avoiding: regions with the worst weather. The company, founded by University of Michigan professors Matthew Johnson-Roberson and Ram Vasudevan, calls its REV-1 delivery robot the “Goldilocks of autonomous vehicles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Early-stage startup founders, you’re searching for opportunities to take your company to greater heights, amirite? Then allow me to direct your attention to Disrupt San Francisco 2019, TechCrunch’s flagship event that takes place October 2-4. More specifically to Startup Alley, the exhibition floor where opportunity thrives. Grab that opportunity by the scruff and buy a Startup Alley Exhibitor Package. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

European fintech startup N26 is now accepting customers in the U.S. The company is launching a bank account with a debit card that should provide a better experience compared to traditional retail banks. If you’re familiar with N26, the product that is going live today won’t surprise you much. Customers in the U.S. can download a mobile app and create a bank account from their phone in just a few minutes. It’s a true bank account with ACH payments, routing and account numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Maker Faire and Maker Media are getting a second chance after suddenly going bankrupt, but they’ll return in a weakened capacity. Sadly, their flagship crafting festivals remain in jeopardy, and it’s unclear how long the reformed company can survive. Maker Media suddenly laid off all 22 employees and shut down last month, as first reported by TechCrunch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Early-stage hardware startupfounders, it’s your turn to step into the spotlight and launch your innovative inventions to the world’s top investors. We’re inviting you to apply to compete in our hardware-focused pitch competition,Hardware Battlefield at TC Shenzhenon November 11-12. You might even walk away with $25,000 and a whole new business trajectory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our 14th Annual TechCrunch Summer Party is a mere two weeks away, and we’re serving up a fresh new batch of tickets to this popular Silicon Valley tradition. Jump on this opportunity, folks, because our previous releases sold out in a flash — and these babies won’t last long, either. Buy your ticket today. Our summer soiree takes place on July 25 at Park Chalet, San Francisco’s coastal beer garden. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Building apps and tools on the web shouldn’t just be for the technically inclined. In the early days of the web, it was easy to make your MySpace account, for example, unique to your personal aesthetic. Glitch is doing that for the modern era. Glitch, formerly known as Fog Greek Software, is an online community where people can upload projects and enable others to remix them. Dash likens coding on Glitch to working together inside Google Docs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Away from the limelight of the press and the frenzy of fundraising, a tech startup in India has achieved a feat that few of its peers have managed: going public. IndiaMART, the country’s largest online platform for selling products directly to businesses, raised nearly $70 million in a rare tech IPO for India this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Karamel is an app to find activities for your kids French startup Karamel wants to help you find things to do for your kids. The company is launching a mobile app that lets you find and book kid-friendly activities around you. The startup also just raised a $450,000 round (€400,000) from Kima Ventures, Roxanne Varza and Thibaud Elzière. Varza participates in the Atomico Angel Programme, which means that Atomico handed out $100,000 to invest in multiple early-stage companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s no secret that America thrives on tech-savvy immigrants who put down permanent roots: Three in five of the country’s biggest tech companies —Apple, Facebook, and Google among them — were founded by first- or second-generation immigrants. Those giants combined boast a market cap of over $4 trillion and employ nearly two million workers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

HQ Trivia is struggling after a mutiny failed to oust its CEO. Downloads per month are down 92% versus last June according to Sensor Tower. And now four sources confirm that HQ laid off staff members this week. One said about 20% of staff was let go, and another said six to seven employees were departing. That aligns with Digiday reporter Kerry Flynn’s tweet that 7 employees were let go bringing HQ to under 30 (shrinking from 35 to 28 staffers would be a 20% drop). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Larissa Russell and Fiona Lee founded a cookie startup called Green Pea Cookie in 2014. The cookies were 100% natural, vegan and “handcrafted with love.” The company failed but not because the cookies weren’t selling. The business couldn’t keep up with the antiquated wholesale food distribution system’s steep costs. Two incumbent players, United Natural Foods Inc. and KeHE Distributors, essentially controlled its only pathway to grocery stores across the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

San Francisco is a city of extremes, with multi-billion dollar glass-cladded obelisks piercing the SoMa sky while thousands of the city’s long-term residents fail to find even the basic rudiments of housing and other social services. The tech industry has created the world’s greatest inequality machine, solving every one of our problems except the ones like housing affordability, education access, and healthcare availability that might lead to greater agency and equality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TikTok is being investigated in the U.K. for how it handles children’s data and safety TikTok is being investigated in the U.K. for how it handles the safety and personal data of underage users. According to the Guardian, information commissioner Elizabeth Denham told a parliamentary committee that the probe started in February, after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission levied a $5.7 million fine against TikTok for breaking children’s privacy law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just as the bluetooth headset ushered in an era of hands-free calling, AR startups are trying to convince manufacturing startups that AR headsets will bring new efficiencies with hands-free computing. As Magic Leap and Microsoft have dropped hundreds of millions trying to spend their way into new tech modalities for enterprise customers, smaller players are relying on less ground-breaking hardware and hoping that easy-to-use software can drive new customers into their arms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Artificial intelligence has become an increasingly important component of how a lot of technology works; now it’s also being applied to how technologists themselves work. Today, one of the startups building such a tool has raised some capital, Tara. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google’s vice president of finance, has joined Postmates’ board of directors, the latest sign that the on-demand food delivery startup is prepping to take the company public. Postmates announced Friday that Kristin Reinke, vice president of Finance at Google, will join the San Francisco startup as an independent director. Reinke has been with Google since 2005. Prior to Google, Reinke was at Oracle for eight years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There’s seemingly no end in sight for DoorDash’s compensation model where it subsidizes driver wages with customer tips. The mildly bright side, however, is that DoorDash is now providing more transparency after each completed delivery, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu wrote in a blog post today. “With our current pay model, Dashers see a guaranteed minimum — including tips — prior to accepting a delivery,” Xu wrote. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David’s Bridal once owned 50% of the $36 billion wedding gown market before it filed for bankruptcy last year. Brides were growing sick of the lack of styles and sizes plus high prices at expensive brick & mortar shops. The industry was destined for disruption by software that would replace overhead costs and inflexibility with direct-to-consumer personalization. That’s why I profiled a new custom wedding dress startup back in 2016 called Anomalie despite little funding or traction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Startup campus Station F is expanding beyond its original building in Paris with a co-living space called Flatmates. 600 people will be able to rent a room in shared apartments. Compared to traditional accommodation in Paris, it’s much easier to get a room as you don’t need a French full-time work contract, guarantors and all the stupid stuff that landlords and professionals ask you — trust me, it’s a nightmare in Paris. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Could you use a little summer startup fun? We’re rolling out our next round of tickets to theTechCrunch Summer Party at Park Chalet, San Francisco’s coastal beer garden. If you want to join your startup peers to eat, drink and be merry, don’t delay. These limited-release tickets will be snapped up before you can say “hold my beer.” Buy your Summer Party ticket today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gen Z doesn’t want to get drunk. Millennials are tired of the obligatory after-work drinks. Haus, a new startup selling apéritifs online, has a solution for them. The company’s beverages have a lower alcohol content than standard hard liquors on the market, which means you can drink one, even a few, without getting wasted. Made from distilled grapes, fresh herbs and botanicals, its natural ingredients and A-plus branding are sure to appeal to the younger demographic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Iris Nova, the Coca-Cola-backed startup that createsDirty Lemonbeverages, is announcing plans to spend $100 million over the next three to five years to expand its offerings. Founder and CEO Zak Normandin said the money will go towards launching new beverage brands developed internally at Iris Nova, as well as investing in beverages created by other companies, which will then distributed via the Iris Nova platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Life can be tough for a small satellite operator – it may be relatively cheap and easy to build small sats (or CubeSats, as they’re sometimes called), but arranging transportation for those satellites to get to orbit is still a big challenge. That’s why SpaceRyde is pursuing a novel way of launching light payloads, that could help small sat companies skip the line, and save some cash in the process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trash is a new startup promising to make it easier for anyone to create well-edited videos. Social video is an area that CEO Hannah Donovan knows well, having previously served as general manager at Vine (the video app that Twitter acquired and eventually shut down). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

African fintech has taken center stage for the Catalyst Fund, a JP Morgan Chase and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-backed accelerator that provides mentorship and non-equity funding to emerging markets startups. The organization announced its 2019 startup cohort and three out of the four finance ventures — Chipper Cash, Salutat and Turaco — have an Africa focus (Brazil-based venture Diin, was the fourth). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It started with a hashtag. Amande de Cadenet, photographer, author, and TV host, was spending time with her sister, a director and photographer in her own right, when an ACLU study on the lack of diversity among directors was published in the NYT Magazine, with de Cadenet’s sister an interviewee in the cover story. “It’s about damn time,” she said to her sister, launching a conversation that would re-route de Cadenet’s path forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Machine learning is the holy grail of data analysis, but unfortunately, that holy grail oftentimes requires a PhD in Computer Science just to get started. Despite the incredible attention that machine learning and artificial intelligence get from the press, the reality is that there is a massive gap between the needs of companies to solve business challenges and the availability of talent for building incisive models. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Law firms have little incentive to build or buy software that will save their lawyers time since they often bill clients by the hour. Tasks like tracking down legal documents, extracting key information, and drawing up hiring offers or funding term sheet add up to make lawyers expensive even if they’re constantly repeating mindless busy work. That’s why legal startup Atrium is so exciting even though it’s developing tech that might seem boring on the surface. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After London and Johannesburg, startup accelerator and incubator Founders Factory is launching a third city — Paris. Once again, the company is partnering with a corporate backer. And this time, insurance company Aviva France is backing Founders Factory Paris. Albin Serviant is heading the team in Paris and the plan is to hire 50 people. There will be more corporate backers coming soon, which should give enough runway for the next five years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the venue and the flashy event website, Waterloo, Ontario’s True North conference (in its second year) doesn’t seem all that distinct from a laundry list of other major tech events that take place each year across North America. But from the moment its main stage programming kicked off on the first day, it was clear this wasn’t your typical gathering place for the tech industry faithful. The main stage track kicked off with Communitech CEO Iain Klugman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whitebox, a startup that CEO Marcus Startzel said is working to “power the direct-to-consumer economy,” has raised $5 million in Series A funding. The company works with both startups and more established brands, giving them the tools they need to run direct-to-consumer e-commerce businesses. Customers includeMcCormick, Starbucks,KitchenAid, Bare Bones and Super Coffee-maker Kitu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The concept of an IRL heads-up display has been a part of science fiction since basically the beginning. Big players have tried their hand at it with less than stellar results — most notably Google with Glass, and more recently Intel’s Vaunt. But North may have cracked the nut on smart glasses with Focals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Almost every organization, regardless of size, is inundated with meetings, so much so it’s often hard to find dedicated time do actual work. Clockwise wants to change that by bringing machine learning to the calendar to help employees free up time. Today, it announced an $11 million Series A investment, and made the product, which had been in Beta, generally available. The round was co-led led by Greylock and Accel . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Get ready for summer in the city, TechCrunch -style. We just released a fresh batch of tickets to the 14th Annual TechCrunch Summer Party. Available on a first-come, first-served basis, tickets to our popular event sell out quickly, and they’ll be gone before you know it. Don’t wait — buy your ticket today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Menlo Park-based Hatch Baby has prided itself on introducing “smart” nursery devices — including Grow, a changing pad with a built-in scale and Rest, a device doubling as a sound machine and night light. Now, the company is introducing an updated version of Rest with Rest+ as part of an effort to help further establish Hatch Baby in the family sleep space. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fifteen months after shutting down, Shyp is getting ready to launch again. The startup tweeted today that “We are back! We’re hard at work to rebuild an unparalleled shipping experience. Before we begin operations again, we’d love to hear your feedback in this quick survey. We look forward to working with you and can’t wait to change the future of shipping!” We are back! We’re hard at work to rebuild an unparalleled shipping experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nothing says summer in Silicon Valley better than the TechCrunch Summer Party. In its 14th year, we’re celebrating the startup spirit and culture at the Park Chalet, San Francisco’s coastal beer garden, on July 25. Who doesn’t love ocean views? And nothing says relaxed networking in Silicon Valley more than showcasing your early-stage startup at our summer soiree. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Target Circle andTapHeavenhave announced that they’re merging into a single company under the Target Circle brand. TapHeaven co-founder and CEO Chris Hoyt, who is becoming chief growth officer at the combined organization, said the two companies have been “trying to solve the same problem” — namely, eliminating many of the inefficiencies in the mobile advertising business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You might not have known about KnowBe4 before, but you should now because this morning, the company announced a massive $300 million investment led by private equity firm KKR. The deal is based on a billion valuation. Existing investors Elephant and TenEleven Ventures also participated in the round. The massive influx of cash comes on top of a $50 million round in March, also led by KKR. They really, really like this company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Group travel, it’s something you either love or hate, but Stride, which describes itself as a marketplace for “experiential multi-day and multi-destination packaged trips planned by experts,” wants to change this perception. The service, which was co-founded by former Starwood Hotels and Viator executive Gavin Delany, today announced that it has raised a $2.2 million seed round from JetBlue Ventures and NFX. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome is a new app that CEO Matthew Rosenberg said is designed for a more spontaneous approach to traveling. “What we’re going after is these millennials [and] Gen Z travelers who feel comfortable going in the moment,” Rosenberg told me. “Eighty-five percent of people aren’t even looking at activities before they arrive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet Yubo, a French startup that wants to make social networks a bit more… social. Yubo is an app designed for teenagers, and it’s all about meeting people, making new friends and belonging to a community. The app has quietly grown over the past few years and managed to attract 20 million users. There are now close to a million users who open the app every day, and the company says that it is currently growing by 10 percent month-over-month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Infarm, the Berlin-based startup that has developed vertical farming tech for grocery stores and restaurants, is disclosing $100 in in Series B investment. The round is led by London VC Atomico, and consists of mix of equity funding and debt financing. Infarm’s existing investors, including Balderton Capital, Astanor Ventures, Cherry Ventures, also participated in the round. In addition, TriplePoint Capital has invested, presumably providing a bulk if not all of the debt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Workhorse Group, the electric vehicle company that grabbed headlines last month over a proposed deal to buy General Motors’ Lordstown, Ohio factory, has raised $25 million from a group of unnamed investors. The money will not go toward the factory. Instead, it will be used for the more pressing matter of keeping the company running. Under terms of the deal, investors will receive preferred stock and warrants to buy shares. An annual dividend will be paid out in shares of Workhorse stock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The rising popularity of omni-channel commerce — selling to customers wherever they happen to be spending time online — has spawned an army of shopping tools and platforms that are giving legacy retail websites and marketplaces a run for their money. Now, one of the faster growing of these is announcing an impressive round of funding to stay on trend and continue building its business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Unmortgage founder and CEO Rayhan Rafiq-Omar (centre) has departed the companny Unmortgage, the London-based startup that wants to let people buy as little as five percent of a home and rent the rest, has lost its founder and CEO, TechCrunch has learned. According to a regulatory filing on Companies House, Unmortgage’s Rayhan Rafiq-Omar was terminated as a Director on 4th of May, and has been replaced on the board by Unmortgage co-founder and product lead Josef Wasinski. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices