Startups

Software spend is becoming a prime target for cuts as it grows into a larger line item in enterprises’ budgets. According to one recent report, customers are putting 53% more toward software-as-a-service (SaaS) licensing compared to five years ago. Management has come down aggressively; 57% of IT teams told Workato in a 2022 poll that

Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter sent Tesla’s stock price on a roller coaster this year as its value correlated — largely negatively — with each development at the social media company. But SpaceX’s support from investors seems immune to the drama. Back in April, when Musk first announced his intention to acquire Twitter, it was

Whether you’re singing “Take This Job and Shove It” while workin’ “9 to 5” or you’re a fledgling startup founder, TechCrunch Early Stage 2023 is the bootstrapping bootcamp designed just for you. The daylong founder-focused summit — on April 20 in Boston, Massachusetts — covers the essential building blocks you need to build a solid foundation

It’s been a year. This roundup is never a particularly fun one to write. No one wants to see startups fail, but we’re all keenly aware that most ultimately do. A commonly cited figure suggest that 90% of these companies will ultimately fail. But even with that in mind, 2022 just hit different. The previous

Amid 2021’s record-breaking funding activity, it wasn’t uncommon to see startups raise rounds composed of numerous small checks from a large number of firms and angel investors. But now that said companies are looking to raise extension financing, they’re realizing that more investors doesn’t always mean more future money. Last year, FOMO was running high,

Welcome back to Found, where we get the stories behind the startups. This week Darrell and Becca caught up with Alice Albrecht about her early-stage AI startup re:collect. Alice talked about why she founded the company that uses machine learning algorithms to help creatives brainstorm and recall information without breaking focus. She also talked about

Do you invest in wine and spirits? Fintech startup Vint thinks everyone should, and is hoping to facilitate this. But don’t expect bottles to be shipped to you: Investments via Vint are fractional. Depending on how deep your pockets are, this is probably for the best: A recent offering that sold out on Vint was

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. December is getting long in the tooth, there’s Christmas music on every radio station, and the poinsettias are in full bloom. It looks like the year is getting close to the end,

Though inflation appears to be dropping, economic conditions remain uncertain, and the overall fundraising climate is reverting to pre-pandemic levels. For Black founders, who have rarely received more than 1% of total venture capital invested in startups, 2022 wasn’t kind, and 2023 doesn’t look promising given how things are going. To find out how Black

Welcome to Startups Weekly, a nuanced take on this week’s startup news and trends by Senior Reporter and Equity co-host Natasha Mascarenhas. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. May the earnest among us rise up: Techies, it’s prediction season. It’s my favorite time of the year, not because I’m a glutton for threads

Hello and welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. To end the year, we are bringing back our predictions episode with the entire Equity crew: Alex, Natasha, Mary Ann, Maggie, Theresa and Becca. Grace couldn’t make the mic but we have a

Rebecca Mitchem Contributor Rebecca Mitchem is a partner at Neotribe Ventures, which invests in early- to growth-stage companies developing breakthrough technologies. She co-manages Ignite, a $90 million fund focused on growth-stage companies across industries including computational biology, enterprise security, blockchain technologies, clean tech and more. More posts by this contributor How to think like an

It depends on how integral you are to the CIO’s plans Ron Miller 15 hours Although we’re in a period of economic uncertainty, I come bearing good news: All signs point to IT spending going up in 2023. By all rights, that should be outstanding tidings for startups. It’s not all rosy, however, because in

It seems like a lot of startups are born from an idea someone had while in college. But what if, instead of being honed years later at an accelerator, that initial idea was supported on campus while the dreamer was still enrolled? For example, David Lin started food delivery service Duffl two years ago while

Silicon Valley law firm Cooley recently reported that it “handled 298 disclosable venture capital financings for Q3 2022, representing $8.1 billion of invested capital, continuing a downward trend for both metrics and representing the lowest for both since Q4 2019.” The firm said that deal volume, dollar volume and deal size for financings of life

Even after billions of venture capital raised and invested into the digital health space, it’s still difficult to access quality healthcare. And while that may raise questions as to whether a scrappy startup has a fighting chance at fixing things, to entrepreneur Akili Hinson, it just means that Juno needs to be even smarter about

Dakotah Rice spent years working in the investment banking industry at firms such as Goldman Sachs, Carlyle and Coatue. One thing that stood out to him was how only a small group of select people and firms could invest in venture capital and private equity funds. The barrier of entry is high, as minimums to

Kenya-based MyHealth Africa, an integrated healthcare platform changing how people access medical services, by connecting patients with local and international health specialists and hospitals, is growing its reach in Africa, and plans to further expand in Middle East and South Asia next year. The growth plan comes against the backdrop of $1 million seed funding

The conversation in startup land has shifted from building in public to, hey, maybe let’s just figure things out internally before we scream to the masses. At least that’s what I’m gleaning from the growth story of Murmur, a startup that wants to make decision-making easier for private companies. Built by entrepreneur Aaron Dignan, Murmur

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Services.” She connects people with the businesses and opportunities that expand their lives. More posts by this contributor Dear Sophie: How do tech layoffs

Welcome back to Found, where we get the stories behind the startups. This week, Cheryl Sew Hoy, the founder of Tiny Health, tells Darrell and Becca about the complex science behind baby gut microbiomes. Sew Hoy talks about why she got interested in the subject, what it was like researching the field and how she

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. Why, hello there, Crunchianistas! Today, Haje is waltzing around the house, candle in hand, celebrating Saint Lucia. Honestly, not because he’s that excited about the traditional Scandinavian celebration or the excitement about

Privileged access management (aka PAM) provides the ability to control access to sensitive parts of your technology environment. Rather than giving everyone access to these resources (or conversely, no one), you should be able to apply permissions granularly. But it is challenging without the right tools. Common Fate, an Australian startup from a couple of

Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested by The Royal Bahamas Police Force following reports that the United States filed criminal charges against the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and is likely to request his extradition. The Office of the Attorney General of the Bahamas issued a statement today, which was reported by BNO

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. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Of course, we are referring to that time of year when all the startup chaos continues apace, and we are just hanging on for

Nimantha Siriwardana Contributor Nimantha Siriwardana is the co-founder and CTO of Metacask, the marketplace for spirits-backed NFTs. Nim has over 20 years of experience in delivering technology solutions and previously worked for Goldman Sachs and Source Capital AG. There’s no way for blockchain-based businesses, financial service providers or banks to bypass Know Your Customer (KYC)

Canada’s venture market isn’t immune from the global market downturn, but unlike the U.S. — where everything seems increasingly bleak — there are quite a few bright spots in Canada’s ecosystem this year. Data from the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) found that C$7.2 billion ($5.28 billion) was invested across 520 deals

Welcome to Startups Weekly, a nuanced take on this week’s startup news and trends by Senior Reporter and Equity co-host Natasha Mascarenhas. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. Outschool laid off a quarter of staff, or 43 people, earlier this week, according to an e-mail obtained by TechCrunch. The edtech company, last valued

Hello and welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. We are nearly at the end of the year, so your friendly, local podcast crew is trying to make sense of just what happened in 2022. We started the year on a venture

The team at DocSend discovered that more and more successful slide decks have something in common: a very good summary slide. In this article, we will look at a bunch of great examples culled from my TechCrunch Pitch Deck Teardown series and detail what needs to go on the slide. Why you need a summary