As regulation and platform policies make it more difficult to track people across the internet, it has forced companies to rethink how to understand and get to know their customers. If they can’t stalk them surreptitiously, how can they gain a full understanding of their needs and wants? The answer may lie in building or
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Eric Velasquez Frenkiel had a seemingly simple thought when visiting his family in the Philippines, impressed by the cashless economy that had formed. Instead of sending money to his family once a year — a costly, fee-heavy affair — why can’t he just leave his credit card there? As with many things in fintech, it
It was the fundraise heard around Twitter. Adam Neumann, the infamous entrepreneur behind WeWork, raised a stunning $350 million from Andreessen Horowitz for a yet-to-launch real estate company called Flow. The investment gave Neumann’s latest venture a more than $1 billion valuation, as reported by The New York Times, and came amid what is supposed
President Joe Biden signed the climate-and-energy-focused Inflation Reduction Act into law today, a turn of events that just a few months ago seemed impossible. The move will undoubtedly bolster the United States’ stance in the next round of climate negotiations. And by the end of the decade, it’s expected that the law will reduce the
SAIC Mobility Robotaxi, an arm of state-owned Chinese automaker SAIC aiming to launch a commercial robotaxi service, raised $148 million (RMB 1 billion). The funds will be used to scale its robotaxi service in China, which it will operate in partnership with autonomous vehicle company Momenta. SAIC Group led the Series B round that also
This is the sort of thing I definitely would have been all over when I still traveled a bunch for work. Twelve South has long been the go-to for MacBook stands and the like, and today the company introduced a clever addition to the family: the collapsible/portable Curve Flex. The stand collapses fully flat so
Oracle has begun auditing TikTok’s algorithms and content moderation models, according to a new report from Axios out this morning. Those reviews began last week, and follow TikTok’s June announcement it had moved its U.S. traffic to Oracle servers amid claims its U.S. user data had been accessed by TikTok colleagues in China. The new
Qeepsake, a New York-based family journaling app, has raised $2 million in seed funding. Founded in 2015, Qeepsake sends its users daily questions via text or push notifications to encourage them to reflect on their day, children, parenting and more. Text, photo and video responses are then automatically organized into digital journals in Qeepsake’s app.
As the jobs market remains tight (mass layoffs and hiring freezes in tech aside), companies are laser-focused on retaining staff. One of the areas they’re investing in is upskilling, which aims to teach employees new skills in departments with which they’re unfamiliar. For example, Walmart announced in 2021 that it would invest nearly $1 billion
After a pandemic-driven cloud adoption boom in the enterprise, costs are finally coming under a microscope. More than a third of businesses report having cloud budget overruns of up to 40%, according to a recent poll by observability software vendor Pepperdata. A separate survey from Flexera found that optimizing the existing use of cloud services
Automakers and suppliers are breaking ground on battery factories across the United States as they race to go all in on EVs by the end of the decade. Car companies and suppliers such as LG Energy, SK Innovation, Panasonic and Samsung are investing more than $38 billion through 2026 to boost battery production in the
Motional, the Aptiv-Hyundai joint venture that’s working to commercialize autonomous driving technology, has launched its new all-electric IONIQ 5-based robotaxi for driverless ride-hail operations on the Lyft network in Las Vegas. The news follows years of collaboration between the two companies in Las Vegas. The launch of the IONIQs, which marks the turnover of Motional’s
Podcasting has emerged as a major billion-dollar industry, with ad revenue in the U.S. alone expected to hit $2 billion this year — a figure that’s set to double by 2024. Against that backdrop, major players in the field are bolstering their podcasting armory, with Spotify recently doling out around $85 million for two companies
After testing new in-app podcast recording tools for users in New Zealand, Spotify is now trialing a new audio feature in Vietnam, one that’s designed to encourage users to record voice reactions to playlists. A Reddit user posted screenshots of the feature, showing how they received a prompt to react to a playlist with a
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. Hello, Crunchers! Wait, that’s kind of a weird nickname, as if you’re munching on granola. What should we call y’all? Never mind that. Tomorrow, we’re running a Twitter Spaces where Jacquelyn and
WeWork co-founder and former chief executive Adam Neumann’s career arc has felt synonymous with the rise and eventual fall of unicorn dreams. The entrepreneur, whose fall from grace has attracted global interest, just found a ladder in the form of a check from storied venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Andreessen Horowitz announced on Monday that
Helbiz started out as a shared micromobility company but has since expanded to include ghost kitchens, media streaming and, most recently, a taxi service. The company reported its second-quarter earnings Monday after the bell. The startup was the first scooter operator to go public via the SPAC route, and many in the industry wish it wasn’t
Mycel, a South Korean startup making fungal-based biomaterials that can replace leather and meat, said it has raised $10 million (13 billion WON) in a pre-Series A round of funding. Co-founder and CEO of Mycel Sungjin Sah told TechCrunch that the company uses mycelium, a root-like structure of mushroom, to make leather substitutes that can
Thanks to cross-border e-commerce platforms, China continues to be a major exporter of consumer goods for the world in the online shopping age. It’s not just marketplaces like Amazon and AliExpress that are enabling Chinese businesses to sell abroad. Behind the scene, a group of startups are making the software that allows exporters to more
According to BCG global assets under management are around $100 trillion, but only $715 billion, or less than 1%, goes on what you might term ‘impact’ companies or projects to tackle the world’s biggest environmental and social issues. Now, a Klarna founder plans to create what he calls a ‘Nobel Prize for Impact’. Niklas Adalberth
A new report from Bloomberg indicates Apple may be expanding its advertising business beyond the App Store and other first-party apps like News and Stocks. This plan could see Apple introducing ads into other pre-installed, first-party apps like Apple Maps, where ads have already been explored internally, the report claimed. And later, Apple may roll
Lights, camera, another backhand winner down the line. It’s hard to imagine that in two weeks, Serena Williams is playing what could — and most likely will be — her last tennis tournament after 23 Grand Slams and decades of dazzling on center courts. She announced her retirement in the latest issue of Vogue magazine,
Jenny Q. Ta Contributor More posts by this contributor How should web3 companies approach fundraising during a downturn? The financial market crash this year has had a unique effect on the web3 industry. Web3 companies are the newest members of the fintech ecosystem, and the current downturn marks the first major “hit” for the industry.
YouTube may be looking to launch an online channel store for streaming services through the YouTube app, positioning itself in direct competition with Amazon, Roku, and Apple, three tech giants that each offer its own streaming subscription hubs. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, sources say the company has been working on its channel
With the climate-and-energy-focused Inflation Reduction Act expected to be signed by President Joe Biden this week, The Wall Street Journal asked Dealogic to analyze the amount of money being loaned to “green” companies and to oil and gas companies. Investors, WSJ concludes, aren’t ready to give up on fossil fuels. But the data suggests that
DoorDash has confirmed that it has teamed up with Facebook Marketplace to make that awkward exchange of items with a stranger a bit easier. The company said DoorDash Drive, its business-to-business service that provides drivers to merchants through their own website or app, is now in the early stages of testing a service that will
The U.K. government is rolling out a new scheme designed to create and promote cheaper broadband for lower-income households across the country. Several internet service providers (ISPs) in the U.K., including Virgin Media O2 and BT, already offer so-called “social tariffs,” which are cheaper broadband and phone packages for those who receive social security payments
Dating app maker Bumble revealed more of its plans to strengthen its social networking features during last week’s Q2 earnings, which saw the company’s shares slump over its lowered financial outlook despite delivering a revenue beat. Now, new images show what Bumble has been developing as part of the larger revamp of its “Bumble BFF” friend-finding
WhatsApp has long transcended its roots as a simple messaging app for friends, and is now a core communication tool for businesses seeking a direct channel to their customers’ pockets — both literally, and metaphorically. Countless companies have turned to the omnipresent messaging app as they build the very foundation of their business, something that
There is a host of startups working on decentralized identities for the next generation of the internet. Four Tencent veterans want their offering .bit, an identity protocol built on the blockchain, to become the universal identification system in web3 like how emails and phone numbers became ubiquitous in web2, while giving users control over their