AC Ventures (ACV), a venture firm focused on early-stage startups in Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia, has reached the first close of its fifth investment fund (Fund V). The fund is targeting $250 million and has raised 65% of that capital so far, mostly from limited partners who invested in ACV’s previous funds.
admin
The energy transition is just getting warmed up. For proof, see Our Next Energy. The Michigan-based startup is developing a trick dual-chemistry battery pack that’s the sort of innovation that’ll likely come to define the climate tech economy. The heart of ONE’s technology is a battery management system that allows an EV to use two
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. Founded out of Paris in 2019, recent Y Combinator (YC) graduate WhiteLab Genomics provides gene and cell therapy companies with predictive software simulations to expedite the design of gene and
Sonos has a new Sub in its lineup, and this one isn’t quite as prohibitively expensive: The $429 Sub Mini comes in at almost half the price of the more expensive existing $749 Sub — and is also roughly half the size. The Sonos Sub Mini is specifically recommended by the company to accompany its
HBO and its streaming service HBO Max cleaned up at last night’s Emmy awards, pulling in a dozen wins in the Primetime Emmys, compared with its next nearest rival, Netflix, which had just three. Overall, Netflix also fell behind in terms of the total number of awards it won, including the recently aired Creative Arts
Payroll is one area of business that’s been ripe for innovation and disruption for a while now. On the surface, it may not look like something that really requires any major changes. After all, it’s worked well enough so far: You work your hours and you get paid every fortnight or month. The machines kept
It always feels good to get paid, so it’s no surprise that a payroll model like earned wage access (EWA), which lets employees withdraw their accrued wages at any time, has exploded in popularity. The pandemic certainly played a big role in helping people understand the benefits of being able to treat their accrued salaries
What can today’s founders learn from the 2000 dotcom bubble burst? Image Credits: Chris Hondros (opens in a new window) / Getty Images The late 1990s were a fascinating time to work in startups and live in San Francisco. I didn’t need to be an economist to realize that many of the companies I worked
In the new era of remote and hybrid working, companies need to manage people who either relocate to join, or work remotely. For obvious reasons, that has created a huge headache for HR directors. Back in 2014, FlatClub had an apartment rental platform. But a chance encounter encouraged them to pivot in 2017 to become
French startup Devialet has raised a new $50 million (€50 million) funding round from two existing investors — Crédit Mutuel Equity and Bpifrance’s Large Venture fund — and a new mysterious Asian investor. Devialet doesn’t want to share the name of this new investor. All I know is that it’s an industrial company based in
Today, Apple released Safari 16, a major point release that’s debuting ahead of Ventura. The browser update is mostly focused on things users can’t see, like security and performance. But there’s one new user-facing feature that’s been on my wishlist for nearly a decade — sidebar tabs. Sidebar tabs aren’t a new idea, of course.
As hiring remains challenging in an economy where jobs are plentiful (depending on the sector), venture capitalists continue to pump money into HR startups focused on assessing and onboarding candidates. According to PitchBook, companies focused on tackling hurdles in payroll and people management and recruitment raised $12 billion last year. For example, Velocity Global, which
Opus Security, a cloud security orchestration and remediation platform, today emerged from stealth with $10 million in seed funding led by YL Ventures, with participation from Tiger Global and angel investors. CEO Meny Har tells TechCrunch that the proceeds will be put toward launching Opus’ platform in general availability, expanding the startup’s footprint in the
Runa Capital, which launched there in 2010, says it has raised $55 million towards its fourth fund, aiming for a hard cap of $250 million. And after 12 years in the US, the normally Palo Alto-based VC says it is now relocating its HQ to Luxembourg, to re-focus its attention on the European market, as
Following this week’s closing of the Ultimaker/MakerBot merger, the combined company is announcing a new name. The entity will be known as [drumroll please] UltiMaker. As far as merged names go, it’s not a particularly exciting one. The new company name is UltiMaker, with a camelcased “M” to acknowledge MakerBot’s place in all of this.
Alongside its fall hardware update, which included new streaming and audio devices, Roku today unveiled the features it has in store for the next version of its media software, Roku OS 11.5. This time around, the platform maker is looking to advance its own offerings, like its Live TV experience. It also wants to better
GM’s self-driving technology unit Cruise will launch commercial robotaxi services in Austin, Texas and Phoenix — two hot spots for autonomous vehicle development — “in the next 90 days and before the end of 2022,” Cruise CEO and co-founder Kyle Vogt said Monday, The services will initially be small scale, but from the outset the
To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Happy new week, startup nerds! Tomorrow (Tuesday), we have not one, but two Twitter Live events happening, and we’re excited about both of ’em. At 8:00 a.m. PDT / 11:00 a.m. EDT,
The days of European startups relocating to the U.S. if they want to grow (and raise money to do so) have been receding in the rearview mirror for a while now, so much so that even in these leaner times — where all fundraising and tech bets are tightening up — we’re still seeing some
As exercise demands shifted away from the gym amid pandemic-related shutdowns, Peloton hit heights experienced by precious few tech firms. That made the connected fitness company’s crash down to Earth all the more jarring. In February, co-founder John Foley stepped down as CEO amid a 2,800-person layoff. Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy stepped into the leadership
It is DirecTV’s final year as the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket, the out-of-market sports package that broadcasts National Football League regular season games, and let’s just say opening weekend isn’t off to a great start. Reports of the Sunday Ticket website and app crashing were rampant yesterday as customers were either locked out
Magna International, a Canadian mobility technology company that builds sensor-based systems for cars like driver monitoring systems and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), is entering the micromobility market. The company invested $77 million in Yulu, an Indian shared micromobility operator, and plans to jointly launch a battery swapping service company. Magna’s investment is part of
New data from Carta indicates that valuations for very early-stage startups are holding up better than we might have expected in the current slowdown. But while it appears that the price at which investors are willing to put capital into various startup sectors is at times becoming more expensive, the pace at which deals are
At Tesla, the company’s stock price apparently isn’t the only thing that’s climbing lately. Powerwall sales are also poised to rise, now that the automaker’s big batteries are reportedly a prerequisite for Solar Roof installations. The requirement is new as of September, and it comes as Tesla ramps up Powerwall production at its Nevada factory,
A series of commitments offered by Amazon in the EU, where regulators are investigating competition concerns linked to its use of third-party data, has been dubbed “weak, vague and full of loopholes” in a critical submission signed by a dozen civil society and digital rights groups, non-governmental organizations and trade unions. The submission, which was
It’s not easy to keep up with all the content being released to dozens of streaming services. However, TV tracker apps make our binge-watching habits a little more manageable. ReelTime is an app for iOS device users who want to track TV shows and movies that they’ve streamed, content they’re currently watching and titles they
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. Hazard and Resnick had been working on various AI and game projects for the U.S. military, while Capps had recently retired as president of Epic
Companies (and VCs) spend billions of dollars on cybersecurity, but primarily focus on protecting infrastructure or endpoints. That’s not always the right approach in a world where — thanks to the pandemic — data is increasingly distributed across clouds, software-as-a-service apps, and storage systems. According to one 2021 survey, 61% of security leaders in the
That’s not a typo. $310 million, with a zero at the end. This latest round brings Gotham Greens’ total funding up to $440 million since its 2009 launch. The nine-digit raise was led by BMO Impact Investment Fund and Ares Management, with participation from Commonfund, RockCreek, Kimco Realty Corporation, Manna Tree Partners and The Silverman
Modulous, a U.K. startup that makes it easier for housing developers, architects and construction firms to configure and design modular homes to address the ongoing housing crisis, has raised £10 million ($11.7 million) in a series A round of funding. Founded out of London in 2018, Modulous said that it’s seeking to tackle a global