Canadian private equity firm PartnerOne has acquired HeadSpin in a fire sale, TechCrunch has learned exclusively. And most of its former employees received nothing for their options, according to multiple sources. HeadSpin is the mobile app testing company whose founder was sentenced to prison for fraud earlier this year. In total, HeadSpin raised $117 million
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Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. This week we’re looking at an AI startup that wants to help people get creative with video; Kudos, which raised $3 million to help get rid
The founders of HERO Software didn’t start out to help small tradespeople in construction with a platform. They started out to fight the climate crisis. But in doing so, they stumbled on a way to help the whole business. Now, the company has closed a €40 million Series B financing round, and plans to expand
Joby Aviation is still a year away from commercially launching its electric air taxi designed for urban environments, but the startup is already looking toward its next chapter: intercity flight, powered by hydrogen. To get the conversation started with regulators and demonstrate hydrogen’s capabilities, Joby told TechCrunch that it completed a 523-mile test flight with
Medal, a startup that is better known for its video game clipping product, just announced that it has raised $13 million at a valuation of $333 million from several investors, including Horizons Ventures, OMERS Ventures, Peak6 and Arcadia Investment Partners. The company also unveiled Highlight, a new cross-platform desktop app that acts as a contextual
Commonwealth Fusion Systems is shipping a pair of its specialized magnets to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the startup exclusively told TechCrunch. The move comes years before CFS anticipates starting its demonstration reactor, SPARC. It’s the first such deal, though possibly not the last, suggesting that the fusion sector has matured to the point where it
Formlabs on Thursday announced its acquisition of 3D printing firm Micronics. The Wisconsin-based startup is as plucky as they come, with a headcount of exactly two. Co-founders Henry Chan and Luke Boppart will be joining the more established firm, as Formlabs works to incorporate Micronics’ accessible SLS approach to 3D printing. There are plenty of
HerculesAI (formerly Zero Systems) has been working at automating professional services since 2017, originally concentrating on the legal industry. As part of that, it has actually been building large language models for several years, long before the idea entered the public consciousness. As such, it found itself in the right place at the right time
When Aizada Marat moved from New York to California in 2018 with her husband, KODIF co-founder and CEO Chyngyz Dzhumanazarov, she needed to sort out her immigration status. That’s when everything started going badly. The Kyrgyzstan-born, Harvard-educated attorney came to the U.S. when she was 17 for an exchange year with FLEX (future leaders exchange)
You know you’ve made it as a startup when the Big Tech companies start ripping you off. That appears to be the case with Retro, the popular photo-sharing app that’s gained a following among those who appreciate the ability to share photos and videos more privately with friends and family. The company was recently caught
Along with Samsung’s launch of new devices such as the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 at Unpacked 2024, and the new Galaxy Watches, Google said on Wednesday that it is bringing its own new features across multiple apps to these devices. The search giant is updating its Gemini for Android app to
As competition with TikTok and Reels heats up, YouTube on Thursday announced a slate of new features designed to make its short-form video product, YouTube Shorts, more compelling. In a video update for creators, YouTube Chief Product Officer Johanna Voolich introduced six new tools that will help creators craft their Shorts videos, including those that
Intel could be giving its burgeoning foundry ambitions a much-needed shot in the arm, as the chip giant’s venture capital arm today revealed that it’s making a “strategic” investment in an Israel- and U.K.-based AI construction startup. Intel Capital is leading a $15 million investment into Buildots, a company that uses AI and computer vision
People in tech often say that data is the new oil. That phrase, coined by British mathematician Clive Humby, of course implies that data is valuable. Data about a person’s health can also provide meaningful insights and improve outcomes, but only 3% of patient data is currently used by physicians, according to the World Economic
Samsung debuted the latest versions of its two foldable phones Wednesday at its Unpacked 2024 event. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 are thinner and lighter than their predecessors, whereas the Fold 6 delivers a long-awaited update to its traditionally narrow front display aspect ratio. Both devices also come with even
The distance between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon just keeps getting smaller. As venture capitalists continue to pour money into defense tech startups, they’re turning to a new hiring pool: veterans and ex-Department of Defense officials. Andreessen Horowitz hired Matt Shortal, an ex-fighter jet pilot, as its chief of staff; Lux Capital brought on Tony
Visual effects (VFX) have emerged as essential in filmmaking and have transformed storytelling and creativity in the film industry with its diverse digital techniques. However, the high cost of VFX tools often leaves independent filmmakers and content creators working with modest budgets struggling to compete with larger productions. A new company, Beeble AI, is turning
Samsung proved it could still offer up surprises when it capped off January’s Unpacked with the reveal of the Galaxy Ring. The brief teaser was understood to be key validation for the nascent wearable form factor. While the smart ring concept isn’t entirely new, the category has thus far been dominated by Oura. At Unpacked
Vimeo joins companies TikTok, YouTube, and Meta in implementing a way for creators to label AI-generated content. The video hosting service announced on Wednesday that creators must now disclose to viewers when realistic content is created with AI. The new updates to Vimeo’s terms of service and community guidelines ensure that videos that are AI-generated,
Bang. Bang. In the winter of 2014, a 25-year-old Anthony Pompliano was reading a book on a plane that would change his life. The former army sergeant from North Carolina — who had turned 21 while serving in Iraq — was on his way to a job interview at Facebook for a product manager role.
Mike Maples Jr. is a prolific angel investor and co-founder of early-stage venture firm Floodgate. Over the years, he’s taken a lot of bets. Some have paid off handsomely (Twitter, Twitch, Lyft and Bazaarvoice, for example). Others have not. I interviewed him for a recent episode of Equity Podcast, and we dug into a number
There’s no right way to design a pair of wireless earbuds. There are, however, plenty of wrong ones. Samsung went through a spate of these before settling on in-ear Galaxy Buds we all know and mostly love. In all of its various iterations, however, the company saw fit to steer clear from Apple’s instantly recognizable
With Spotify’s recent launch of comments on podcasts, the streamer is taking yet another step toward building a social networking experience in an app primarily known for music. With comments, podcasters can now engage with their listeners directly within Spotify, as they can with other interactive features like Polls and Q&As. Combined with the app’s
Iceland’s startup scene is punching above its weight. That’s perhaps in part because it kept the 2021 hype in check, but mostly because its tech ecosystem is coming of age. Iceland attracted the most venture capital per capita of all Nordic countries in 2023, but that stat is somewhat skewed by its relatively small population
SaaS founders trying to figure out what it takes to raise their next round can refer to Point Nine’s famous yearly SaaS Funding Napkin. (The term refers to “back of the napkin” plans or calculations.) Now, European hardware deep tech teams have a similar resource from First Momentum, a pre-seed fund investing in technical B2B
Fast-food chain Whataburger’s app has gone viral in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, which left around 1.8 million utility customers in Houston, Texas without power. Hundreds of thousands of those people may remain without power for days as Houston anticipates a heat wave, with temperatures climbing into the mid-90s. Amid frustrations with the local utility
Since AI started its historic rise in prominence in 2022, the conversations around how the industry could be regulated have swelled at a similar rate. Many startup founders think regulating the industry now could stifle innovation. But others don’t agree and think waiting to implement policy and regulation could bite the industry down the line.
The easiest way for a person to eat carbon dioxide is by consuming vegetables. David Tze wants his startup’s protein to be a close second. Tze’s company, NovoNutrients, has been working on a way to use microbes to turn carbon dioxide into protein that can be used in food for humans and feed for animals.
Spotify is expanding the way podcast listeners can engage with hosts with Tuesday’s launch of a new interactive feature: podcast comments. The addition will allow listeners to leave comments on any episode page that supports it, with the hopes of making them feel more like members of a community. Plus, creators will be able to
Running a small business means doing more with less. AI agents can help, but building custom agents for specific workflows remains challenging, even with today’s low-code/no-code tools. The idea behind Enso — which is came out of stealth by announcing a $6 million seed funding round Tuesday — is to give small and medium-sized businesses
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