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
I’ve been let go from more startups than anyone else I know. Yes, that is a weird thing to boast about. Last month, nearly 100,000 tech workers lost jobs, and it felt like a great disturbance in the Force. These are real people grappling with real uncertainty: Should they move? How long will their savings
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. Okay, NOW it’s Friday. Got any fun plans for the long weekend? Haje is moving house (ugh), and Christine is browsing GIFs of puppies until her battery runs out. Probably. Most people
Traeger’s latest pellet smoker brings welcomed innovations to a new price point. The company just unveiled its latest Ironwood design, which offers a handful of features that debuted on the more expensive Timberline product line a few months ago. As a longtime Traeger smoker owner, I’m excited about these updates as they make using the
Sep.22 — Amazon.com Inc. launched a “Prime Bike” on Tuesday, a bid to compete with an array of at-home exercise bikes that have become popular in the pandemic, such as those offered by Peloton Interactive Inc. Scarlet Fu reports on “Bloomberg Markets.”
The onramps into Silicon Valley often include access: to a smart mentor, a well-connected venture capitalist, or even a rocket ship of a startup. But an emerging class of founders is reminding the ecosystem how collapse can be an activator, as well. Laid-off talent is flocking to build startups within all sectors, from climate to
Achieving product-market fit (PMF) arguably ranks as both the No. 1 strategic objective and the biggest challenge for early-stage founders. Hitting this critical milestone tells you — and any investors you hope to attract — that there’s consistent, enthusiastic demand for your product. Everyone defines PMF differently, and that fact alone makes finding yours a
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This week, Natasha Mascarenhas, Mary Ann Azevedo and Rebecca Szkutak got on the mic to talk startups, pet peeves and focaccia. What else did you expect? Here’s what we got into: Descope landed a $53 million (!)
Indian startup Ultrahuman has made a name for itself since 2019 by building out a subscription fitness platform which offers a range of workout and wellness-related content, integrating with third party wearables like the Apple Watch. In 2021 it expanded into offering medical grade sensing hardware which monitors real-time blood glucose — spinning up a
Season 3 of “Ted Lasso” officially has a premiere date at Apple TV+. The streaming service announced that the popular sports comedy will return on March 15. New episodes will be released weekly following the premiere. The third season of the Emmy-winning series will consist of 12 episodes and the finale will be released on
Web3 gaming company Unagi today announced a €4.7 million ($5 million) seed round of funding, as the French startup prepares to expand its NFT fantasy sports platform beyond football (“soccer”) and into the basketball realm. Unagi, which doesn’t yet have its own website, was founded out of Paris by Charlie Guillemot, son of Ubisoft co-founder
Africa’s largest innovation hub Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), is launching a $15 million accelerator program, dubbed The Edtech Fellowship Program, to back and support 72 startups across Nigeria and Kenya over the next three years, TechCrunch has learned. According to a statement shared by the firm, the accelerator program will support and amplify the impact of
After a decade of keeping its North American charging network closed to outsiders, Tesla appears poised to allow other electric vehicles to use its Superchargers. The White House announced on Wednesday that the company would open 7,500 chargers — including 3,500 250 kW stalls along highways — to any EV with the combined charging system
Autonomous aircraft have long been thought of as having the most potential, though not in the realm of glitzy people-carrying drones so much as the more sedate world of cargo. It’s here where the economic savings could be most significant. Large, long-range drones built specifically for cargo have the potential to be faster, cheaper and
Following the major integration of Showtime into Paramount+ two weeks ago, Paramount reported its quarterly earnings this morning, announcing that Paramount+ gained 9.9 million subscribers in Q4 to bring the total to 56 million subs, up from 46 million in the previous quarter. This means Paramount+ has more customers than Hulu, which recently reported 48
Bloomberg’s Ed Ludlow brings the latest headlines around tech cost cuts and executive reshuffling: Apple’s first people officer, Microsoft’s expense report crackdown, and Deliveroo’s staff cuts. ——– Like this video? Subscribe to Bloomberg Technology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrM7B7SL_g1edFOnmj-SDKg Watch the latest full episodes of “Bloomberg Technology” with Emily Chang here: Get the latest in tech from
Transcelestial is on a mission to make the internet more accessible by building a network of shoebox-sized devices that send lasers to one another, creating a fiber-like network. Today, the Singaporean-based startup announced it has raised $10 million, with the goal of expanding its wireless laser communications system in Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore
‘The buzz and momentum for these companies is unlike anything I’ve seen before’ Mary Ann Azevedo 9 hours With so many fintechs laying off staff, it can be easy to assume that the entire industry is in distress. But that’s not the case. In fact, some companies are finding opportunity in the masses of layoffs.
No matter how you slice it, buildings are serious climate change drivers. Every component of the so-called built environment — from off-site materials production and construction to electricity and maintenance — comes at a steep environmental cost. The sector is responsible for nearly 40% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions globally, according to the International Energy
French startup Brigad just raised a new $30 million funding round (€28 million) as well as more than $5 million in debt. The company operates a marketplace for restaurants, caterers, private clinics, retirement homes and hospitals so that they can find freelancers for short-term missions. Balderton Capital is leading the round, with Wendel Group, Serena
Apple TV+ released the first trailer for its — shall we say, block-busting — movie “Tetris,” based on the origin story of the popular puzzle video game. The movie will first premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival in March. Apple will then release it worldwide on the streaming service on March 31. Starring
Last year’s tech-wide reckoning continues. In 2023, layoffs have yet again cost tens of thousands of tech workers their jobs; this time, the workforce reductions have been driven by the biggest names in tech like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo and Zoom. Startups, too, have announced cuts across all sectors, from crypto to enterprise SaaS. The