Facebook’s rebranded parent, Meta, has become the next tech giant to be confirmed as subject to a special competition abuse control regime in Germany, following a 2021 update to its digital competition rules that are focused on large digital companies which are considered to be of “paramount significance for competition across markets”, as the law
To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PT, subscribe here. Friday, May 6, is here. The only thing important about that is the “Friday” part – and we are eager and curious to see what this weekend has in store for us,
When we last checked in with AI-powered captioning service Ava, they had just raised a seed round and it was six months into a pandemic that would reshape how we all work together. Eighteen months later they have investors banging on their door following huge growth, and aim to keep showing the tech industry how
A federal judge in California dismissed Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter Friday, dimming at least one avenue the former president and prolific tweeter might have used to get back to his platform of choice. Trump’s argument that the social media company and its then-chief executive Jack Dorsey violated his right to free speech failed to
Here is some news that is both straightforward and still a long time out but nevertheless important: by the end of 2023, GitHub will require all users who contribute code on the platform to enable one or more forms of two-factor authentication (2FA). And that’s pretty much it for the news. Today, the Microsoft-owned company
The food delivery business, and tech companies leading the charge, were hot commodities at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic as people stayed indoors and turned to apps to fill their bellies with pre-made meals. Now with that trend cooling off, those companies are feeling the chill. In the latest development, big changes and drama
The market for startup investment has changed. From the hottest year in startup venture capital history to a period of pessimism, how did we get to where we are today? The following digest of TechCrunch coverage looks to answer that question. We start with a historical run of stories beginning last December, threading through the
Since the pandemic began, the percentage of American workers who have quit their jobs has reached a 20-year high. A Pew Research poll gathered their top three reasons: Not making enough money No opportunities for advancement Tired of unfair/disrespectful treatment Companies no longer compete on the basis of salary and benefits. Prospective hires are explicitly
Meta recently said it would prioritize original content in its algorithms. Now, it’s going to pay for it. To help fend off the TikTok threat, Meta announced this week it now dole additional bonuses to Reels creators who are publishing original content on Facebook. The company warned that this change to payouts could see some
We’re less than two weeks away from kicking off TC Sessions: Mobility 2022. Our first in-person mobility event since 2019 — holy cats! — takes place on May 18-19 in San Mateo, California, followed by an online event on May 20. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with hundreds of your peers and hear about,
Codenotary, the company behind the immutable immudb open source database and a software supply chain security service built on top of it, today announced that it is also adding a full-stack Kubernetes and VMware vSphere monitoring service for operations and DevOps teams on top of that. Basically, while the company’s previous offering — Codenotary Cloud
Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek said on Friday that he’s pouring $50 million into the music streaming service, driving its stock price up by more than 3% to a high of $108.98 per share during regular trading hours. The momentary rise, however, is a blip on the radar for Spotify, which has taken a beating this
The pace at which venture capitalists are deploying funding across the globe slowed yet again in April. Venture capital dollar volume, as tracked by Crunchbase News in a new report, peaked in November 2021. Since that apogee, the value of venture investments has ticked lower in most months before dropping another $5 billion from March
Alex Wilhelm Contributor Alex Wilhelm is the editor-in-chief of Crunchbase News and co-host of Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast. More posts by this contributor As Dropbox heads into earnings, it desperately needs a win Here’s how far startup valuations fell in Q1 2022 The leading story in technology-land this morning is the multi-billion dollar exit
Facebook is shutting down its podcast service on June 3 barely a year after its launch. The social media giant told TechCrunch that it’s also going to discontinue its short-form audio Soundbites feature and its Audio hub in the coming weeks. Facebook will also integrate its Live Audio Rooms offering, which is its Clubhouse clone,
Tomorrow Farms is fueling a sustainable food train with ingredients to turn the pantry and refrigerator staples we know now into foods that are better for us and kinder to animals and the planet. The company is poised to launch its first product later this month — co-founder and CEO Ben Berman was mum about
Just over a year after launching a dedicated unit focused on digital markets inside the national competition watchdog, the UK government has put some meat on the bones of what this new Big Tech regulator will focus on — including confirming it will have the ability to levy fines of up to 10% of global
The NFT ecosystem continues to chug along, but the vast majority of volume is still moving through the centralized halls of NFT marketplace OpenSea, leaving crypto VCs eager to find new channels. Katie Haun’s new firm, Haun Ventures, has led its first deal in NFT startup Zora Labs. The $50 million funding round values the
Former investment banker Khaled Jalanbo was working with emerging artists when he encountered an entrepreneur who pointed out the similarities between working with artists and startup founders. “When you get picked up by a good institution or a good leader, or represented by a good gallery, all of a sudden there’s more demand for people
Twitter is rolling out a number of new features for its live audio Spaces product this week. The social media giant is giving hosts and co-hosts on iOS and Android access to analytics about their Spaces. For example, hosts and co-hosts can now get information about how many total live listeners tuned in to the
Google and SAP have partnered around a number of different projects over the years and Google Cloud, just like its competitors, is a strategic cloud partner for RISE with SAP, the German enterprise software company’s program to help its customers move to the cloud. Today, the two companies announced a rather substantial expansion of their
Digital therapeutics plus pills? Iceland’s Sidekick Health has developed a gamified digital care platform that’s designed to support healthcare outcomes by applying personalized behavioral lifestyle nudges, including alongside clinical treatments like drugs, to augment, extend and support patient care for a range of chronic diseases and conditions from cancer to cardiovascular health, diabetes and arthritis
Before you open the doors for due diligence: Is your financial house in order? Bill Petty 8 hours Bill Petty Contributor Bill Petty is a partner at Tercera. He is responsible for sourcing, executing and monitoring investments in third-wave services businesses. Are you a founder looking to raise capital? If so, before you open the
As startups look for corporate suitors, we predict a record 3,000 M&As in Q2 Alex Wilhelm Anna Heim 11 hours The startup exit market has seen better days. Heck, the startup market has seen better days. After a turbulent and ultimately aggressive 2020 in venture capital terms, startups rolled into 2021 more than hot. Last
Microsoft is throwing its weight behind Epic Games in the fight against Apple — and bringing Fortnite back to iOS in the process. The company announced Thursday that it had partnered with Epic to make Fortnite available on Apple devices through its game streaming service, Xbox Cloud Gaming. Fortnite is back, but you still won’t
For the better part of a decade, VC firms and growth equity funds have plowed nearly $42 billion into battery technology startups across almost 1,700 deals, according to an analysis by PitchBook and TechCrunch. What’s more, about 75% of the investments in that period happened in the last two years alone. Venture capital firms aren’t
Logseq founder Tienson Qin takes a lot of notes about his work. He also likes to draw together with his six-year-old daughter on an iPad, and he found that the notes tool he had been using for years doesn’t run on the tablet. So like all enterprising engineers, he decided to build a new tool
French startup Alan has raised a new €183 million funding round ($193 million at today’s exchange rate). The company sells its own health insurance products and has expanded to other medical products and services. In other words, Alan wants to build a healthcare super app and a one-stop shop for all your questions and needs
It used to be getting from prototyping to manufacturing meant long, expensive trips to places like Shenzhen and a whole lot of trial and error. Fictiv was founded back in 2013 to address some of the biggest pain points of bringing products to market. The San Francisco startup runs what it calls a Digital Manufacturing
The medical world has come a long way from the traditional, centralized way of conducting clinical trials, but there’s still a lot of modernization left to do. Curebase provides the infrastructure — physical and digital — for distributed clinical trials, and will be doubling down on its success with a new $40 million funding round.