Startups

Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Devin Coldewey, Margaux MacColl and Anthony Ha are rounding up the week’s startup and venture news, kicking things off with a look at the $400 million raised by Lightmatter, and the importance of fast networking within the fast growing data center industry today — not just in years to come

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week brought us some exciting fundraising news from around the world, and even some exits. But if you are looking for tech IPOs, you will have

Amy Wu, founder of the AI-based mental health app Manifest, has a bold prediction for the next wave of tech. “Separately from the AI trend, I think so many people are seeing this loneliness epidemic that’s happening with Gen Z,” she said. “There is no doubt in my mind that there will be unicorns that

Farewill, a U.K.-based end-of-life services provider that offers online tools for writing wills, organizing probate, and arranging cremation, has been acquired by funeral service provider Dignity in an all-shares deal valuing the startup at £12.9 million ($16.8 million). The deal is a classic case of an established legacy incumbent chasing growth by buying a younger

Navigating the complex decision of when to sell a startup or keep pushing forward is one of the toughest challenges founders face. In an era where IPOs are frequently delayed and acquisition offers arrive earlier, determining the right moment to either cash out or stay independent is increasingly nuanced. We’re excited to welcome three distinguished

According to half a dozen sources, Accel, the global venture firm, is in advanced discussions to lead a funding round of $30 million to $40 million in Truemeds, an Indian online pharmacy that’s focused on providing customers with more affordable generic alternatives to costly branded medications. The talks are currently centered on a proposed valuation

CapWay, a Y Combinator-backed fintech that sought to bring financial services to those in so-called “banking deserts,” has been shut down, according to its founder Sheena Allen.  Allen wrote about it on LinkedIn and confirmed to TechCrunch. “I am proud of the work we were able to accomplish, but honestly disappointed that we couldn’t complete

When Hurricane Helene hit Asheville, North Carolina in September, the city’s police department reached out to public safety drone startup Paladin for help. The startup’s 30-member team jumped into action working nights and through the weekend to assist Asheville’s police department with locating people and dropping off supply. Asheville was a Paladin customer and its team

Meet Storio, a French startup that’s focused on providing smart energy storage for commercial and industrial customers. Founded in 2023, the startup raised a €5 million seed round earlier this year (around $5.5 million at current exchange rates) and has signed its first client. Storio believes solar panels have a bright future. But the company

Amplitude, a publicly traded company that makes digital analytics software, has acquired Command AI, an app user engagement startup formerly known as CommandBar. Most of Command AI’s 30-person, San Francisco-based team will be joining Amplitude. Command AI’s co-founder and CEO James Evans wouldn’t reveal the terms of the deal, but said candidly that an acquisition

Getting payroll right is hard — especially for small businesses with limited resources. The three founders of payroll and benefits startup Gusto all found that out separately, running small businesses of their own, before linking up to try to fix the broken SMB payroll system in 2013. Josh Reeves, a co-founder and current CEO of

In a typical organization, finance is one of the most important functions. Yet teams are often bogged down by manual workflows. According to a survey by Paylocity, an HR software provider, 38% of finance teams spend more than a fourth of their time on manual jobs, like reviewing invoices. Matthieu Hafemeister, an ex-fintech investor at

Peanut, a social networking app for women, is launching a new feature to help users track their pregnancies. The new Peanut Track tool leverages seven years of data from questions asked on the social network and uses AI to anticipate questions that women have during different stages of their pregnancy.  Founded in 2017, Peanut is

Time is ticking! Just two weeks until the doors to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 open. To ensure no one misses this highly anticipated event, we’re offering Expo+ 2-for-1 passes for the final days leading up to Disrupt 2024. Bring a friend, colleague, or family member to Moscone West in San Francisco from October 28-30. Get two

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. It was once again the private market that generated the most funding-related news in the startup world this week, both for companies and for funds. But it

In today’s software ecosystem, open source code has become the backbone of innovation and digital infrastructure, playing a pivotal role in everything from startups to major enterprises. The collaborative nature of open source software has unlocked incredible potential for businesses, allowing rapid development and agility. But with this openness comes a critical dilemma: security vulnerabilities.

As the demand for AI surges, AI vendors are devoting greater bandwidth to data security issues. Not only are they being compelled to comply with emerging data privacy regulations (e.g. the EU Data Act), but they’re finding themselves under the microscope of clients skeptical about how their data is being used and processed. The trouble

TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is only two weeks away, and we want to ensure that students and recent grads don’t miss out on the full Attendee Pass experience — now available at a discounted rate with a Student Pass. We get that finances can be tight for students and recent grads, but we don’t want you

When Swsh launched last year, the social app was initially designed as a poll game (similar to the Most Likely To game), where users can answer five daily questions with their friends. However, the company has completely switched gears, joining a very crowded market — photo album-sharing platforms. These types of apps have existed for

Health and life insurance providers face a rising volume of claims due to chronic disease and aging populations, but their processes lack scalability. AI automation can help, but it takes more tailoring than for other insurance types. Automating property and casualty insurance, for instance, gave rise to public company Guidewire decades ago, but health insurance

As we approach the final stretch before TechCrunch’s biggest event of the year — one of the most highly anticipated tech conferences for startups and VCs alike — let’s take a look at the top five reasons you won’t want to miss Disrupt 2024, set to take place at Moscone West in San Francisco from

Today on Equity, Rebecca Bellan sat down with Zander Brumbaugh, the 22-year-old founder of Gamebeast, a startup that offers Roblox developers tools like A/B testing and LiveOps to modify games without needing to release a new version or interrupt a user’s ongoing game.  Gamebeast recently raised a $3.7 million pre-seed round, led by J2 Ventures

LoanSnap, an AI-powered mortgage startup, has had its license to operate revoked in Connecticut, according to the state’s Banking Commissioner. This occurred after LoanSnap violated a consent order it had entered into with the Department of Banking in May. The department revealed Tuesday that its consumer credit division opened an investigation that found multiple violations

Cloud providers are chasing after AI unicorns, and the latest is Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs. The startup just tapped Google Cloud as its primary compute provider to train AI models, a deal that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But Li’s tenure as chief scientist of AI at Google Cloud wasn’t a factor,

Parents are always looking for ways that playtime can turn into a creative and educational opportunity. But for a lot of parents, engineering playful, educational projects just isn’t in the cards.   KiwiCo, co-founded by Sandra Lin, is a subscription company that provides STEM-based educational toys to help children learn during fun times. Lin joined the

Middle and high schoolers are both the easiest and most difficult audience. If you’re developing a neat little video game, chances are they’re willing to download it right away. But if, like the team behind Revyze, you’re working on a learning app, good luck pitching them. And yet, the French startup has defied the odds

Fledgling fintech startup OpenBB is revealing the next step in its plans to take on the heavyweights of the investment research world. The company is launching a new, free version of a product that will open its arsenal of data and financial tooling to more users. OpenBB is the handiwork of software engineer Didier Lopes,

The future of space is ripe for reinvention, and TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is bringing together two visionaries determined to reshape how we reach and operate in orbit.  Join Kelly Hennig, COO of Stoke Space, and Muhammad “Mo” Shahzad, president and CFO of Relativity Space, on the Space Stage as they explore how emerging technologies, software,

TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, which takes place from October 28-30 at Moscone West in San Francisco, is rapidly approaching. Today we’re thrilled to announce the 200 startups selected to participate in this year’s Startup Battlefield 200 (SB 200) cohort. TechCrunch’s editorial staff read, vetted and debated over thousands of applications. Narrowing the group down to 200

StrictlyVC is hosting its first event inside TechCrunch, and if you’re an investor keen to mingle with your peers, you won’t want to miss this opportunity. The StrictlyVC series — which brings the people and stories dominating the headlines straight to an audience of largely VCs, LPs, founders, and operators — is coming to the