Month: February 2023

Bridge rounds boomed at the end of last year Anna Heim 10 hours Welcome to the TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It’s inspired by the daily TechCrunch+ column where it gets its name. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. Lux Capital partner Josh Wolfe predicted that “dry powder” would prove
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Welcome to Startups Weekly, a nuanced take on this week’s startup news and trends by Senior Reporter and Equity co-host Natasha Mascarenhas. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. After tech’s massive exodus of talent, we’re starting to see laid-off talent start companies that are ambitious and aspirational in aim. I’m talking about the
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Price parity with traditional foods is one of the main challenges for alternative protein startups. However, the avian flu, a shortage of cage-free eggs and a subsequent rise in prices in late 2022 seems to provide an “in” for alternative egg companies to show they can compete. Egg prices rose from a couple of dollars,
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To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PST, subscribe here. Okay, NOW it’s Friday. Got any fun plans for the long weekend? Haje is moving house (ugh), and Christine is browsing GIFs of puppies until her battery runs out. Probably. Most people
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Achieving product-market fit (PMF) arguably ranks as both the No. 1 strategic objective and the biggest challenge for early-stage founders. Hitting this critical milestone tells you — and any investors you hope to attract — that there’s consistent, enthusiastic demand for your product. Everyone defines PMF differently, and that fact alone makes finding yours a
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Web3 gaming company Unagi today announced a €4.7 million ($5 million) seed round of funding, as the French startup prepares to expand its NFT fantasy sports platform beyond football (“soccer”) and into the basketball realm. Unagi, which doesn’t yet have its own website, was founded out of Paris by Charlie Guillemot, son of Ubisoft co-founder
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Africa’s largest innovation hub Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), is launching a $15 million accelerator program, dubbed The Edtech Fellowship Program, to back and support 72 startups across Nigeria and Kenya over the next three years, TechCrunch has learned. According to a statement shared by the firm, the accelerator program will support and amplify the impact of
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Bloomberg’s Ed Ludlow brings the latest headlines around tech cost cuts and executive reshuffling: Apple’s first people officer, Microsoft’s expense report crackdown, and Deliveroo’s staff cuts. ——– Like this video? Subscribe to Bloomberg Technology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrM7B7SL_g1edFOnmj-SDKg Watch the latest full episodes of “Bloomberg Technology” with Emily Chang here: Get the latest in tech from
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Transcelestial is on a mission to make the internet more accessible by building a network of shoebox-sized devices that send lasers to one another, creating a fiber-like network. Today, the Singaporean-based startup announced it has raised $10 million, with the goal of expanding its wireless laser communications system in Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore
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No matter how you slice it, buildings are serious climate change drivers. Every component of the so-called built environment — from off-site materials production and construction to electricity and maintenance — comes at a steep environmental cost. The sector is responsible for nearly 40% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions globally, according to the International Energy
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French startup Brigad just raised a new $30 million funding round (€28 million) as well as more than $5 million in debt. The company operates a marketplace for restaurants, caterers, private clinics, retirement homes and hospitals so that they can find freelancers for short-term missions. Balderton Capital is leading the round, with Wendel Group, Serena
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Apple TV+ released the first trailer for its — shall we say, block-busting — movie “Tetris,” based on the origin story of the popular puzzle video game. The movie will first premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival in March. Apple will then release it worldwide on the streaming service on March 31. Starring
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Last year’s tech-wide reckoning continues. In 2023, layoffs have yet again cost tens of thousands of tech workers their jobs; this time, the workforce reductions have been driven by the biggest names in tech like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo and Zoom. Startups, too, have announced cuts across all sectors, from crypto to enterprise SaaS.  The
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After two years of seeking regulatory approval, Wefunder has officially received the green light to operate its investment crowdfunding services within the European Union. This marks Wefunder’s first time expanding outside of the United States, and according to CEO and founder Nick Tommarello, the business is the first U.S. investment platform to gain operational approval.
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Prince Boakye Boampong, the founder and CEO of Dash, which provides an alternative payment network with connected wallets allowing interaction between mobile money and bank accounts in Africa, has allegedly been temporarily suspended pending an investigation into financial impropriety, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. Boampong founded the Ghanaian fintech in 2019
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