To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PST, subscribe here. Helloooooo from team Daily Crunch! Haje is back from dealing with all sorts of little disasters, and Christine is still going strong. Let’s goooooo. It’s still Black History Month, so for today’s
Byju’s is weighing whether to wind down WhiteHat Jr, a coding platform that it acquired over two years ago at an enterprise value of $300 million, as the edtech group looks to cut expenses and eliminate a business unit that has drawn considerable criticism to the firm. The Bengaluru-headquartered firm, India’s most valuable startup at
Netflix today announced its first deal with the NFL—and no, it’s not live sports. The streamer is getting an exclusive, new docuseries called “Quarterback,” in which fans will get to see behind-the-scenes action from NFL quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota. “Quarterback” will debut on Netflix this summer. It will show not only
Bloomberg’s Sean O’Kane joins Emily Chang to talk about Tesla’s “Cyber Rodeo,” the grand opening event of its newest factory in Austin, Texas – a show packed with production announcements, lots of lighting, car shows, and even some crying.
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: Do I qualify for
Startups hoping to raise a nine-figure round in the future had best temper their ambition; venture funding events worth $100 million or more are going extinct — quickly. A few years back, nine-figure venture funding events were common. So much so that during my Crunchbase News days, we started to call them “supergiant” rounds to
Ahead of Spotify’s upcoming Stream On event, where the company is expected to announce a redesigned home feed and other updates, the company today launched a new AI feature called “DJ” to better personalize the music listening experience for its users. Similar to a radio DJ, Spotify’s DJ feature will deliver a curated selection of
Nasdaq on Friday hosted the New Voices Foundation and Essence Ventures, inviting some of the most prominent Black professionals within the venture and startup space behind the podium to help open the markets. Though this isn’t the first time Nasdaq has honored Black History Month, some who were there commented that “history was made.” And
Finch, a platform that helps companies connect to various HR apps, services and systems, today announced that it raised $40 million in a Series B round co-led by General Catalyst and Menlo Ventures with participation from QED Investors, Altman Capital and PruVen Capital. Co-founder and CEO Jeremy Zhang says the new cash will be put
To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PST, subscribe here. Hello! If you had the day off for President’s Day, we hope it was a peaceful transition into work today. Please send good vibes to Haje as he figures out what to
Tracksuit, a New Zealand-based brand tracking startup, wants to take on traditional market research players by offering a more affordable, accessible brand insights tool. “Market research and brand tracking has been around for a long time, and it usually consists of a consultant coming in on a quarterly or biannual basis with a 100-page slide
I try to keep things fresh, so I was dismayed to realize that I’d used the word “downturn” in two different headlines this morning. Despite the quickening pace of layoffs, there is some good news for SaaS startups: 70% of SMBs plan to increase IT spending in 2023, and the procurement process is getting faster.
There’s a long history of choosing potential profits over doing the right thing Rebecca Szkutak 9 hours If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that VCs let their portfolio companies get away with a lot. No balance sheet? No problem; here’s a $32 billion valuation. No proven product-market fit and your last venture
Green Labs, a South Korean agtech startup that raised $140 million (170 billion won) Series C in January last year, is cutting a significant number of jobs. People familiar with the matter confirmed to TechCrunch earlier rumors by local media outlets that a workforce deduction would happen. Green Labs, which now has over 650 employees,
Caroline Hogan Contributor Many startups are feeling the pressure in today’s uncertain economic climate, but for SaaS companies, the next 12 months could present major opportunities for growth: 70% of small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) globally are reporting higher investments in technology this year, according to Gartner Digital Markets. But businesses are changing where, how
U.K. quantum computing company Quantum Motion has raised £42 million ($50.5 million) in an equity round of funding led by Bosch Ventures (RBVC), with participation from Porsche, the U.K. government’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), and a host of additional investors. Quantum computing, for the uninitiated, builds on principles borrowed from quantum mechanics, with
Strive is an online learning platform that teaches kids to code, but it wants to do more than just that. Developed with an active learning model that lets students take the lead in classes, Strive wants to instill in them a lifelong love of STEM subjects. The Singapore-based startup announced today that it has raised
ARK Invest Director of Investment Tasha Keeney joins Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow to discuss why Tesla’s ability to cut prices is a strategic advantage, and why ARK believes the idea that Tesla has a demand problem is overblown. Follow Bloomberg for business news & analysis, up-to-the-minute market data, features, profiles and more: http://www.bloomberg.com Connect
It’s that time of the year. The French government and the government-backed initiative La French Tech gathered applications, processed the numbers and ranked the 120 top-performing startups in France right now, with a special category for the top 40 ones. The result is two rankings that are based on objective criteria — the Next40 and
Cory Siskind Contributor My company just had its best quarter ever. As its founder and CEO, I am proud to say that I wasn’t there for most of it. I had a good excuse, though: I was on parental leave raising my first child. Since starting this company, I had not taken more than one
Meet Carbon Maps, a new French startup that raised $4.3 million (€4 million) just a few weeks after its inception. The company is building a software-as-a-service platform for the food industry so that they can track the environmental impact of each of their products in their lineup. The platform can be used as a basis
Home fitness had a huge moment at the outset of the pandemic — and understandably so. People were stuck at home, gyms closed and suddenly workout options seemed to dramatically decrease. As with the teleconferencing revolution, plenty of startups were waiting in the wings to pounce on the sudden opportunity. As predicted, when the world
Welcome to The Interchange! If you received this in your inbox, thank you for signing up and your vote of confidence. If you’re reading this as a post on our site, sign up here so you can receive it directly in the future. Every week, I’ll take a look at the hottest fintech news of the previous week.
Startups are essentially machines that build MVPs (minimum viable products) that help answer questions and gradually de-risk the value proposition of the company. The key is that every MVP a company builds needs to be laser focused on answering a very particular question. If it does anything more than that, it’s time and effort wasted.
Hey, TechCrunch besties. After a week in Korea and the Philippines, it’s great to be back in the States — and slightly more tan (i.e., burnt) than before. Massive thanks to Henry, who was forced to step in over the past two weeks thanks to my failing to realize that Korean Air does not offer
Bridge rounds boomed at the end of last year Anna Heim 10 hours Welcome to the TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It’s inspired by the daily TechCrunch+ column where it gets its name. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. Lux Capital partner Josh Wolfe predicted that “dry powder” would prove
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. After tech’s massive exodus of talent, we’re starting to see laid-off talent start companies that are ambitious and aspirational in aim. I’m talking about the
Price parity with traditional foods is one of the main challenges for alternative protein startups. However, the avian flu, a shortage of cage-free eggs and a subsequent rise in prices in late 2022 seems to provide an “in” for alternative egg companies to show they can compete. Egg prices rose from a couple of dollars,
A competitor slide is your opportunity to shine as a founder Haje Jan Kamps 1 day “We don’t have competitors,” some founders say. Or they might downplay how big a threat their competition is, assuming that talking about competition at all will ruin the magic spell they’re trying to cast over investors. But talking about