Emily Chang speaks with MicroStrategy Chairman and CEO Michael Saylor about his company’s rise and fall during the dot com boom, the decision to put bitcoin on MicroStrategy’s balance sheet, future plans to buy more bitcoin, and expectations from pending regulation.
admin
Software consultants come in many forms, but if you cannot write your own code, finding a developer who meets your needs can be a stressful process that involves much trial and error. To narrow down good consultancies, we polled experts across the world about the best software development consultants through our TechCrunch Experts program. One
Let’s get into it! Software consulting (TechCrunch+) How should non technical founders collaborate with software developers? Miranda Halpern continues the TechCrunch Experts project by interviewing CEO of Wolfpack Digital, Georgina ‘Gina’ Lupu Florian. What percentage of your clients are non-technical people who have an idea, but no coding experience? How much of a limitation is
In algorithmic investing, investors use a company’s metrics to decide whether to participate in a deal. But when the art of choice is factored out, it becomes more difficult to perform deep due diligence on founders who may be about to receive millions of dollars via a wire transfer. In practice, attempts to remove bias
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This is our Friday episode, a run-down of key news headlines, startup funding rounds and whatever else is popping in the worlds of startups and tech. The whole gang was in the huddle
Customer service is making and breaking companies over the past two years as shopping moved online and consumers wanted more out of the traditional service companies were offering. Zingtree provides interactive contact center software that guides agents to the next best action so that they can cater to even the most discerning customer. To continue
Emily Chang speaks with MicroStrategy Chairman and CEO Michael Saylor on this episode of “Studio 1.0” about his company’s bold bet on bitcoin, his outlook on the cryptocurrency markets, and his future plans to buy more bitcoin.
Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh human-first take on this week’s startup news and trends. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. AngelList’s recently closed early-stage venture fund brings back one of my favorite conversations within the world of early-stage startup fundraising: to data, or not to data. The $25 million fund bases all
TechCrunch got its teeth into the pandemic trade and its possible conclusion yesterday. As a refresher: After the initial onset of COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdowns, changes to work environments and restriction of travel, some companies saw their values quickly appreciate as they found investor favor. The reasons for some sectors gaining luster in the
Committing to a diverse and inclusive workplace is one thing, but following through is another. To help companies do this more effectively, Diversio is using artificial intelligence technology, data analytics and knowledgeable subject matter experts to find where the company’s process is breaking down and create a comprehensive action plan to get it back on
French startup Luko is acquiring German startup Coya in order to grow its European presence and get an insurance license from German regulator. While Luko isn’t disclosing terms of the deal, the company says it’s a 100% share deal, which means that Coya investors are now Luko investors. Those investors include Valar Ventures, Headline and
Josh Berman Contributor Josh Berman is president of C2C, an independent and vetted Google Cloud community with a unique pulse on the cloud market. The past two years have been exciting periods of growth for the cloud market, driven by increased demand for access to new technology during COVID-19 and the proliferation of the “work-from-anywhere”
Following nearly four years in the prototype phase, Cana Technology is unveiling what it calls the “world’s first molecular beverage printer” after securing $30 million in funding from venture foundry The Production Board. If you’re wondering exactly what this might be, it’s basically a SodaStream meets a computer printer. The smart connected device is about
Meta might be the next to hop on the NFT bandwagon. The Financial Times’ sources claim Meta is developing ways to create, display and sell NFTs on Facebook and Instagram. The company’s Novi wallet technology would power much of the “supporting functionality,” one tipster said. Instagram is reportedly testing a way to showcase NFTs, while
Workplace, the app owned and originally built by Facebook (now Meta) as a version of the social network for enterprise employees to communicate with each other, has signed up upwards of 7 million users, finding traction in particular among multinational organizations with a mix of front-line, deskless and desk-based workers, as a way for management
Back in March Vienna-based PlanRadar snapped up a €30 million Series A to digitize construction and real estate. The Austrian startup – a platform for documentation and communication in construction and real estate projects – is continuing its funding roll with a $70 million fundraising round co-led by Insight Partners and Quadrille Capital. The round
Rodrigo Vicuna Contributor Cryptocurrency and blockchain had a breakout year in 2021. ust look at the numbers: 80 million unique crypto wallets; Bitcoin and Ether grew 60% and 407%, respectively; El Salvador adopted bitcoin as official currency; the NFT market generated $2.5 billion in trades. Even Burger King announced a whopper when they got in
Grocery delivery startup Calii is carving out a piece of Latin America’s $1 trillion groceries and food delivery market with its approach to cut inefficiencies in the food supply chain so it can bring produce and thousands of other grocery items to customers’ doorsteps in less than two hours. Calii app To continue on that
Instagram announced today it will allow users to remix any video content on the app, not just short-form reels videos. The company officially launched Remix, its version of TikTok Duets, last March. The feature lets users record their reels video alongside a video from another user, as a means of interacting, reacting, collaborating, or highlighting
In what has to be considered an anticlimactic ending, IBM sold off the data assets of its Watson Health unit to private equity firm Francisco Partners today. The two firms did not share the purchase price, but previous reports pegged the value at around $1 billion. Under the terms of the deal Francisco is grabbing
Mention Me, a platform to generate customer referrals, has raised a $25m Series B round, led by London’s Octopus Ventures. Eight Roads Ventures, the lead investor from the prior round, a $7 million Series A in a 2018, also participated. The London-based startup helps businesses turn referrals into a channel for acquiring customers, while also gathering data
Gary York Contributor Gary York is the CEO of Help Lightning. He is a serial entrepreneur with four successful software and services exits: three private sales and one IPO. Business leaders are responsible for examining and implementing technologies that are proven, cost-effective and easy to use while also offering long-term solutions that reimagine workflows, speed
Berlin-based startup Moss announced earlier this week that it has closed a new $86 million Series B funding round (€75 million). The company offers corporate credit cards for small and medium companies so that they can more easily spend and track their spending. Following today’s funding round, Moss has reached a valuation of $573 million
Workplace — the app originally built as a version of Facebook for employees to communicate with each other — now has more than 7 million users, carving out a place for itself as an app help companies communicate internally using essentially the same tools that have proven sticky in their lives with friends and family.
Dublin-based Exergyn replaces refrigerants with solid materials, thus reducing the output of greenhouse gases. The technology could be applicable in data centers. The industrial-grade cleantech company has now raised a $35 million (€30 million) Series A round led by Mercuria, an energy and commodities company, and Lacerta Partners, a family office-backed fund. Also participating was
I’ve worked at early-stage startups where we relied on our best guesses to shape product pipelines and develop marketing strategies. I have also held jobs at companies where we engaged directly with current and past customers to ask them what they wanted. You can probably guess which approach generated more favorable outcomes. Whether it’s done
The European Union’s chief privacy and data protection regulator has urged EU policymakers to strengthen proposed ‘transparency’ rules for political ads — calling instead for meaningful limits that would fully ban microtargeting for political purposes. The Commission proposal to regulate political ads, last fall, fell very far short of that — offering what this publication
French payroll startup PayFit is now valued at $2.1 billion after raising a $289 million Series E round. It’s not France’s only recent unicorn, though: Ankorstore, Qonto, Exotec and Spendesk also joined the club this month. If you add Back Market’s $510 million Series E round valuing the company at $5.7 billion, things are shaping
Since the Ant Group IPO was canceled by central authorities, China’s government has been on a regulatory tear. You know the broad outlines: After a lengthy period of growth, capital investment and aggressive business practices, China’s central government spent much of 2021 reining in its technology sector. While some of the actions were reasonable from
Twitter is bringing its Communities feature to Android four months after it launched on iOS and the web. The social media giant says Android users can now engage in Communities via the Twitter app as long as they’ve updated to the latest version. Once users join their first community, a new Communities tab will appear