Tech Nation is trailing in second place in the race to remain the U.K.’s government-backed “startup champion” after the latter put the £12 million contract out to tender, according to TechCrunch’s sources. First in line at this point in time — in a decision which is due in December — is banking giant Barclays. Tech
HBO’s “The Last of Us” is the latest TV series adapted from a video game that aims to bring more gamers to the streaming service. Today, the first full trailer of “The Last of Us” was released, giving fans of the best-selling franchise a look at the new show, set to premiere on HBO and
The more coupon codes we can find for online shopping the better, but Harry Dixon, Rory Garton-Smith and Elliot Rampono thought something was missing: the ability to house all of the various savings we receive in one place. “Marketing channels have become saturated and everyone is trying to figure out their own channels,” CEO Dixon,
Funding sources for tech startups in Ukraine have gone off a cliff this year, with investors (and their LPs) wary of taking on the risk of backing potentially promising ideas and people who have stayed in the country amid the sustained, persistent and increasingly ugly onslaught from Russia. But just as there are glimmers that
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
Disperse, a U.K.-based construction tech company that offers an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform to help project managers track work and capture data from building sites, has raised $16 million in funding. Founded out of London in 2015, Disperse effectively creates a digital version of an entire construction site, including visual snapshots that track the progress
Happy Sunday, fellow startup nerds. Today we’re talking about risk in the gambling sense of the word. You see, there’s a way for unicorns to avoid painful dilution when they next raise capital, and it appears that a good number of the world’s billion-dollar startups are taking the wager. But new data indicates that the
Given the political climate and Peter Thiel’s political views, it initially seemed ironic that Thiel Capital chose now as the ideal time to back 28, a self-described “femtech” company that offers fitness and wellness recommendations based on the phases of one’s menstrual cycle. Then, you start to do the math. Thiel is known for having
Nibiru, a new crypto derivatives protocol co-founded by Tribe Capital GP Arjun Sethi, has raised $7.5 million in seed funding at a valuation of $100 million, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Tribe Capital, Republic Capital and Kraken invested in the seed round, a source said, requesting anonymity as the information is not
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Coming to hang with us at Disrupt, where Equity is kicking off the entire event? Use code “EQUITY” to save 15% on your tickets. Hell yeah, and see you there! Alex, Natasha and Mary Ann jumped on
French startup Bump has signed a multiyear financing partnership with DIF Capital Partners in order to roll out more charging stations for electric vehicles and double down on growth in general. It is an equity and quasi-equity $180 million deal that will be progressively unlocked from 2022 to 2030. Yesterday, ZePlug also announced a significant
The growing market for sales tools has given rise to a curious cottage industry: DevOps startups specifically targeting the software used in sales and marketing functions. (Here, “DevOps,” refers to tools that automate processes between software development and IT teams.) It’s become a blossoming sector all its own, with vendors selling DevOps platforms for software
Welcome back to Found, the podcast where we get the stories behind the startups. After graduating college, co-founders Amar Shah and Sonia Nigam were bored with their first ”real jobs,” so through trial and error they came up with the idea to develop an API that processes donations, called Change. They talk with Darrell and
Companies are facing hundreds of millions of dollars in fines these days for failing to comply with data protection and data privacy rules, and that’s driving wave of organizations, and their users, to get more serious about data protection. One of the byproducts of that has been the emergence of new technology to meet that increase
Logitech is unveiling a brand new device today that is both intriguing and easy to understand. The Logitech G Cloud is a handheld console that focuses primarily on cloud gaming services, such as Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now. While Logitech is better known for its computer peripherals, webcams and gaming accessories, the company
“You had one job” might be funny when a birthday cake decoration goes wrong, but if we’re talking about executives who don’t show up for board meetings, the stakes are much higher. “Disengaged or dysfunctional boards aren’t just bad for CEOs and LPs; they’re bad for everyone,” writes Matt Blumberg, co-founder and CEO of Bolster,
Byju’s has cleared all its dues to Blackstone by paying $234 million it owed the global investment giant for the $1 billion acquisition of Aakash, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch, addressing one of the criticisms levelled against the Indian edtech giant in recent months. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, valued at $22 billion, had
U.K. residents travelling to Norway or Iceland will soon have their mobile roaming fees capped, representing part of a recent trade agreement between the countries. The U.K. signed a free trade agreement last July with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, a triumvirate of markets notable for the fact that they are not members of the European
In recent years there has been a flurry of startup activity aimed at commercializing blood glucose biosensors — aka, wearable tech that was originally developed for diabetes management. These continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) transmit near real-time data on glucose levels, providing instant feedback (via a companion mobile app) on how the body metabolizes different foods
‘No amount of salespeople or engineers can save you in the long run if your customers don’t love your product’ Anna Heim 15 hours When founders are laying off staff and cutting costs to face the downturn, it may seem like odd timing to tell startups to take their product as seriously as ever. In
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 Friday, and that means… Actually, we don’t even really know what that means anymore, other than that we’re going to sit in the sunshine and bask in the very last few
The U.K. government has announced plans to make it easier for telecoms operators to access telegraph poles on private land, representing part of a broader push to bring high-speed broadband to all corners of the country. The announcement was made as part of the U.K.’s so-called “mini budget,” which was partly set up to address
Market share analyses aren’t an exact science, exactly. Different firms take different factors into account, though more often than not, the numbers more or less line up among the bigger players. We discussed these figures in our recent review of the Apple Watch Series 8, noting that the line had captured roughly one-third of the
John Zic Contributor John Zic is a partner and founding team member at EQUIAM. He spends most of his time wrestling with fragmented and imperfect private market data in a never-ending effort to derive market-beating investment signals. Shachi Shah Contributor Shachi Shah is director of business operations at EQUIAM. She is passionate about leading design,
Joanna McFarland got the idea for HopSkipDrive in 2014 because she needed a solution to a problem that many working parents like herself face: How do you consistently get your kids where they need to be on time? The idea was sparked at a birthday party she attended with one of her children. The topic
Days ahead of the Italian general election, the country’s privacy watchdog has sent Facebook’s parent (Meta) an urgent request for information, asking the social media giant to clarify measures it’s taking around Sunday’s election. The risk of election interference via social media continues to be a major concern for regulators after years of rising awareness
Google announced a new Chromecast with HD streaming support today that costs just $30 and has a remote control with it. The company is launching the Chromecast with Google TV (HD) — yes, that’s the official name — in 19 countries, including the U.S. This comes two years after Google launched a $49 Chromecast with
A cloud kitchen — also known as a ghost kitchen or a shared kitchen — offers restaurant owners and food entrepreneurs a commercial kitchen space at a reduced cost for food delivery and takeout. This trend has been circling around the restaurant industry. More food entrepreneurs are turning to cloud kitchens to reduce their operation
Serial Kenyan tech entrepreneur Mike Macharia has spent the last two decades helping enterprises like East Africa’s biggest telco Safaricom to create infrastructure that bolsters their growth. His firm, Seven Seas Technologies, has previously worked with governments too — having been involved in the initial implementation of the decentralized service delivery hubs – Huduma Centres,
Hadean, a U.K.-based distributed, spatial computing startup that’s setting out to build the infrastructure for the burgeoning metaverse, has closed a $30 million seres A round of funding from a high-profile cast of investors including Epic Games and Tencent. Founded out of London in 2015, Hadean started out with a broad mission to put “supercomputer