Startups

After weeks in political limbo, France now has a new prime minister, former EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. But parliament remains bitterly divided, generating uncertainty for many economic sectors — including the country’s dynamic startup ecosystem, which had so far benefited from public support. La French Tech isn’t just a term referring to France’s 25,000

In 2022, Carta’s business license was revoked in Illinois for failing to pay franchise tax, a tax on national corporations doing business in the state, according to state records seen by TechCrunch. In 2024, Washington state terminated cap table software Pulley’s business license, according to state filings. Carta spokesperson Amanda Taggart told TechCrunch that the

Warp, a young payroll startup in New York, is in the spotlight following controversial posts from an account tied to the company. On Thursday, an account posting under the name Vittorio wrote on X, “i like White people more, they do more, they are better for the roles i need to climb the kardashev scale

In the world of modern AI, data is more than just a resource — it’s the fundamental core that aligns decision-makers, supports processes and enables innovation. As AI applications become more robust and pervasive, the pace of such advancement is only as good as the evolution of the data infrastructure behind it.  We are delighted

Some Canva customers are experiencing serious sticker shock, while the company is pointing to new AI features to justify the price hike. The company has established itself as a simpler, more affordable alternative to legacy design software, but the “more affordable” part of the equation is becoming a little less true, with some Canva Teams

It’s tempting to think the trend of EV startups merging with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) to go public has ended, seeing how many of them are struggling or defunct. But that’s not quite true. A startup called Thunder Power Holdings went public on the Nasdaq exchange in June through a SPAC, and is now

Europe doesn’t have many large language model (LLM) makers but one of these rare AI beasts — Germany’s Aleph Alpha — appears to be preparing to rule itself out of the running, per Bloomberg, which has an interview with CEO Jonas Andrulis on its pivot to a broader generative AI-support play. The idea with a

Salesforce has acquired Own Company, a New Jersey-based provider of data management and protection solutions, for $1.9 billion in cash. Own is Salesforce’s biggest deal since buying Slack in 2021. In a press release, Salesforce GM Steve Fisher said that the acquisition “underscores [Salesforce’s] commitment to providing secure, end-to-end solutions that protect our customers’ most

Software documentation — the resources that explain how software works and how to use it — has evolved dramatically over the past few decades. Once mostly in the form of PDFs and static plaintext, docs today are more interactive and user-friendly than they used to be. But crafting them is still a time sink. Han

HR and payroll software company Paylocity has agreed to acquire corporate spend startup Airbase for $325 million, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first or second quarter of Paylocity’s fiscal year, which would be sometime in the next 30 to 60 days. It

Cowboy, the Brussels-based company that has been designing and selling electric bikes that you can see in major cities across Europe, has closed a small, strategic funding round of €5 million (around $5.5 million at current exchange rates). That includes €1 million in debt facilities. While the amount isn’t as impressive as some of Cowboy’s

Time is running out to take advantage of our Student Pass discount for TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. Students and recent graduates can still save up to $200 until September 6 at 11:59 p.m. PT. With classes back in full swing and the job market tougher than ever for recent grads, we know how tight money can

Microplastics are everywhere. Everywhere.  They are in our waters, in our food and even crossing blood barriers to enter our brains.  Sarah Paiji Yoo launched Blueland in 2019 to help consumers minimize the amount of microplastics they come into contact with each day. This meant creating special tablets that dissolve in water and can be

Indian online pharmacy startup PharmEasy, once valued at $5.6 billion, is still about 92% below its peak valuation, according to estimates by its investor Janus Henderson. According to the British-American global asset firm, which disclosed how it values its shares in the Indian startup in a securities filing, PharmEasy’s implied valuation at the end of

Social networking startup Bluesky continues to benefit from X’s shutdown in Brazil having now added over 2 million new users over the past four days, up from just half a million as of Friday. This rapid growth led some users to encounter the occasional error that would state there were “Not Enough Resources” to handle

While scaling and managing teams at two of the largest unicorns in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Akeed Azmi and David Reche stumbled on what they believed was a $2 billion opportunity. They realized that their former employers at Careem and Kitopi as well as other local businesses in the region struggled with payroll management and

Only 5 days remain to grab a $200 discount on Student Passes for TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. This special offer ends on September 6 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Don’t miss out! Now that classes are back in session, it’s normal to feel the pressure of rising expenses. Or maybe you’ve recently graduated and are hunting for

As companies grapple with the challenge of developing a sustainable business without sacrificing their core principles, open source has evolved from a niche approach to software development into the business model of many successful tech companies. Its principles of transparency and collaboration have fueled innovation, but balancing these ideals with the practical demands of leading

Validus, a Singapore-based digital lending platform for small and medium businesses, has secured $50 million in debt financing from HSBC under the ASEAN Growth Fund strategy. Validus will use the proceeds to support the financial inclusion of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia, addressing the challenges they face in accessing financial resources. With

As businesses experiment with embedding AI everywhere, one unexpected trend is companies turning to AI to help its many newfound bots better understand human emotion.  It’s an area called “emotion AI,” according to PitchBook’s new Enterprise Saas Emerging Tech Research report that predicts this tech is on the rise.  The reasoning goes something like this:

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Elle Russell, co-founder of Cairns, Australia-based NightCafe, which offers a suite of AI-powered art-creating tools, prefers to avoid the spotlight. “I like to remain hidden behind my monitors,” she told me in a recent interview. NightCafe is similarly low profile. The company, which Russell helped her partner, Angus Russell, launch five years ago, doesn’t get

Traditionally seen as private financial entities, family offices are key players in the supply of venture capital, using startup investments as a way to diversify their portfolios and engage with groundbreaking technologies. Catch Eti Lazarian, principal of Elle Family Office, and Bruce Lee, CEO and founder of Keebeck Wealth Management, on the Builder’s Stage at

OpenAI is in talks to raise a new round of funding at an eye-popping $100 billion-plus valuation, sources told The Wall Street Journal this week. It turns out investors have already proven they are willing to value the company that high to get on OpenAI’s coveted cap table. Multiple companies that track or facilitate secondaries

Esthita Kabra always knew she wanted to work with Airbnb. When she first came up with the idea for her company By Rotation a few years ago, a fashion-sharing platform, she looked to other gig economy businesses like Airbnb as inspiration.  She launched By Rotation in 2019, transforming it from a side hustle to a

Agriculture in India provides livelihood support to over 42% of its population, contributing 18% to the country’s GDP, according to government data. However, the agri-input market, which provides inputs for the sector — be it seeds, pesticides, herbicides, or cultivation and harvesting tools — largely relies on traditional channels, including local offline marketplaces. The sector

Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc., at Google’s Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Image Credits: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg / Getty Images Google suffered a major defeat when U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta found that the tech giant had acted illegally to maintain its monopoly in

Magic, an AI startup developing models to generate code and automate a range of software development tasks, says that it’s raised a large tranche of cash from investors including ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt. In a blog post this morning, Magic said that it closed a $320 million funding round with contributions from Schmidt, Jane Street,

Social networking startup and decentralized X competitor Bluesky is introducing new features designed to make its platform less toxic and conversations less combative than on its predecessor. The company on Wednesday introduced a handful of anti-abuse features, including the ability to hide replies, as X offers today, as well as a way to detach your

ChatGPT creator OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise a massive tranche of cash led by previous backer Thrive Capital, at a valuation of more than $100 billion. That’s substantially higher than OpenAI’s previous $86 billion valuation, and by far the highest valuation of any AI startup to date. Thrive will reportedly throw in around