Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This week, Natasha was joined by TC+ reporter Rebecca Szkutak to wade through the news of the week. It was frantic, it was full, and forgettable it was not! Here’s what we got
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To play on a Langston Hughes poem — what happens to a Black founder ousted? Are they forgotten, like words on the tip of one’s tongue? Or revered like a deity and then thrown to the sun? The topic is often awkward to ponder and layered in its probe since the reasons for a Black
Mining cryptocurrency is no easy task, but neither is finding a co-founder who is savvy and resilient enough to withstand the sector’s volatile nature. Whether you’re mining for a co-founder or your next round of funding, TC Sessions: Crypto, which takes place on November 17 in Miami, provides fertile ground for all your networking needs.
Zūm’s mission is simple – to introduce student transportation that is reliable, efficient, sustainable and transparent. To achieve the feat of modernizing an incredibly outdated, stuck-in-the-mud system, Zūm relies on cloud-based analytics software to create an agile bus routing system with real-time visibility for schools and parents. The startup also uses a diverse fleet that
Crypto enthusiasts promise to build a decentralized money system that allows people to freely trade without any intermediary intervention. It’s a rosy picture, but recent events of security vulnerability indicate that the decentralized world might not be working as well as the believers envision yet. That’s why entrepreneurs, infused with venture capital, are racing to
A new company from the creators of the Godot game engine is setting out to grab a piece of the $200 billion global video game market — and to do so, it’s taking a cue from commercial open source software giant Red Hat. Godot, for the uninitiated, is a cross-platform game engine first released under
To celebrate the premiere of HBO’s highly anticipated “Game of Thrones” prequel, “House of the Dragon,” HBO Max is partnering with Snap to give users access to in-app AR experiences. For the show’s premiere on August 21, Snap and HBO Max are releasing a new selfie and worldview Lens, along with Landmarker Lenses, that let
Analysts estimate that the market for “delaying human death” could be worth $610 billion by 2025. But that doesn’t sit well with Christian Angermayer, who co-founded Cambrian BioPharma and Rejuveneron, and whose family office Apeiron Investment Group has a special interest in expanding longevity. “This is a nonsensical, imaginary number that is almost entirely made up
Ryan Breslow has had a tumultuous 2022. It’s not slowing him down. Few outside of Breslow’s world even knew his name a year ago. Then Bolt, a “one-click” checkout tech company that evolved from an earlier idea of his, announced $355 million in Series E funding at a reported $11 billion valuation. Suddenly, the startup
Lincoln revealed Thursday during Monterey Car Week its vision for future EVs — while commemorating its centennial year — with the debut of the Lincoln Model L 100 concept, an autonomous, battery-electric grand tourer that pays homage to the brand’s first luxury vehicle, the 1922 Model L. The futuristic and massive concept has an aerodynamic,
Sunstone, a higher education startup that collaborates with academic institutions to help upskill their students for employability, has raised $35 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand to more Indian cities. Sunstone founders said Friday WestBridge Capital led the startup’s Series C financing round. Alteria Capital also participated in the funding,
The world is entering a huge cost of living crisis, which will inevitably result in a rise in homelessness. But donating to homeless people has yet to go fully digital. Challenger bank Monzo allowed the opening of limited accounts for the homeless using methods like a benefits letter or one from a homeless shelter, for
Snap may have flown a bit too close to the sun in its development of the palm-sized selfie drone, Pixy. Following a late-April announcement, the social media firm has already begun pumping the brakes on the project, per a Wall Street Journal report. CEO Evan Spiegel has apparently relayed the message that the hardware is
The dream to find out what actually happened on your favorite show last week, spill the tea with the Real Housewives or learn about your favorite artists’ creative process is now underway as Cameo launches a new feature, Cameo Live. This new 10-minute video calling feature allows users and their friends to have a live
The hearing loss market has long been dominated by a handful of legacy players with little incentive to innovate due to outdated regulations and social stigma. But a new ruling from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could revolutionize the market by driving competition, giving startups a greater chance at success in this sector. On
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. G’day, crunch bunch! We’re both starting to get a little bit excited about TechCrunch Disrupt coming up in October. Would you believe that, even though we’ve been working together for a long
Longevity-focused startups have been proliferating in recent years as we become more focused on our health. However, it’s not just about apps to get you in the gym. Longevity startups can range from biotech-oriented disease prevention to organ regeneration. The Aging Analytics Agency estimates that global investments in longevity-focused startups hit more than $40 billion
Five years ago, the group that approves new emoji rejected one for climate change. It’s time for them to rethink that decision. After a summer of drought, floods, fire and heat waves — one that isn’t even over yet — the consequences of climate change are becoming more apparent, and a growing number of people
A group of more than 600 Google employees is pressing the company to expand worker health benefits, divest itself of some political ties and bolster user privacy in light of the Supreme Court decision to strip federal abortion rights. The Google workers demanded the changes in a petition led by the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU),
Aero Technologies, which describes itself as a “next-generation air travel company” which currently operates on a limited number of routes in the U.S. and Europe, today announced that it has raised $65 million, with $50 million as a Series B funding round co-led by Albacore Capital Group and $15 million in convertible notes. Expa and
I have been carrying both of Samsung’s new foldables on my person when I leave the house for the last few days. It’s mostly for testing purposes, of course, but there’s also a fun game I like to play when I see people I know. I pull them both out, stick them in front of
Facebook this year has been struggling to maintain its position among the Top 10 apps on the U.S. App Store, according to an analysis of iPhone App Store data. As younger consumers shift to newer social networking experiences like TikTok and now BeReal, the tech giant’s big blue app has lost traction in the App
All major social networks including Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat have their own take on how collaborations should work. But most of these features have constraints like time limits and the number of creators included in a clip. A new app called Along wants to remove all these restrictions to allow infinite-length collaboration videos with multiple
Rocketplace, a startup that aims to build a “next-generation asset management platform for crypto,” has raised $9 million in a seed funding round. A few things about this raise stood out. For one, the funding comes at an interesting time in the crypto world — during the so-called “crypto winter” and a period that has
Max Brenner Contributor Max Brenner is part of the founding team at Compound, which specializes in helping tech founders and employees manage their financial lives. It’s the classic startup employee dream. You’ve worked hard for years, finally built your company equity into something big and now you’re finally ready for a payout. Financial institutions struggle
Turning waste into usable products is my jam, so when the Mi Terro team told me what they were working on, I knew I had to write about it. Mi Terro takes agricultural waste and processes it into proteins that can be used as a plastic replacement, fed as food to animals, and much more.
When it all comes down to it, what is a business? You are an organization that has identified a pain point that people are experiencing. In order to remove that pain point, you are offering a product in exchange for money. It sounds so simple. In the startup world, we often talk about painkillers versus
Health information publishing giant WebMD has announced that it’s acquiring Jim.fr, a French-language medical news and information website aimed at healthcare professionals (HCPs). Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 1979 as the Journal International de Médecine (JIM) by a hospital intern called Dr. Gilles Haroche, Paris-based Jim.fr collates and presents all manner
The power grid supply in Africa is erratic and inconsistent, affecting rural and urban households and businesses. For restaurants or neighborhood stores dealing with perishables, frozen foods and beverages, having intermittent electricity inhibits the growth of their businesses. Some of them turn to diesel-fueled generators, which are expensive and toxic, to provide electricity. Companies such
Apple today is introducing two new subscription-focused podcast charts today to showcase popular paid shows. The two new charts — Top Subscriber Shows and Top Subscriber Channels — will be available to users in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia on iPhone, iPad, and Mac using iOS 15.6, iPadOS 15.6, and macOS 12.5 or later.