We already suspected that the controversy surrounding the Joe Rogan podcast on Spotify was doing little to actually prompt users to leave the streaming service, based on app store data. Now, Spotify’s first-quarter earnings have confirmed it. Despite losing 1.5 million users in Russia, Spotify’s premium subscribers grew 15% year-over-year in the first quarter to
Shared micromobility company Voi is deploying e-scooters in Oslo, Norway with Drover AI’s computer vision tech that can identify whether a scooter is on the pavement, road or cycle lane in order to help prevent sidewalk riding. As the micromobility industry consolidates around a few key players and cities become more discerning about which operators
This year’s global deceleration of the venture capital market is broad, impacting most startup ecosystems, sectors and stages. If you are building a company in 2022, you should not expect to see the same frenetic interest in your project that you might have enjoyed last year. Things have changed. One element of market evolution in
Instagram is exploring a new feature that lets users pin specific posts to their profile above their photo grid, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The new feature is currently in the testing phase and is showing up for select users on the platform. Users who have access to the feature are seeing a “Pin to
Don’t call it a pivot, exactly — but it’s a fascinating journey, nonetheless. Umaro Foods, which is set to release a seaweed-based bacon replacement, entered the world as Trophic. The firm, which is now technically a subsidiary of the former, was formed to compete for the $100 million Carbon Removal XPrize. The organization managed to
This week at the 2022 NAB Show Streaming Summit, Google launched in general availability Media CDN, a platform for delivering content using the same infrastructure that powers YouTube. With a presence in over 1,300 cities across 200 countries, Google says that Media CDN is designed to — in the company’s words — “automate all facets”
Since the (relatively speaking) easing of the pandemic, pharmacies have come under increasing strain as people clamor for their drugs. This is particularly an issue in he UK where traditional mom-and-pop pharmacies have started to close and larger chains haven’t kept pace with demand. The problems are even leading to incidences of abuse by customers.
The founders of OwnID, Dor Shany and Rooly Eliezerov, previously founded Gigya, a startup that wanted to make it easier to help identify customers. They sold that startup to SAP for $350 million in 2017, but the idea of making it easy to log into websites without friction was always in the back of their
Leslie Feinzaig Contributor More posts by this contributor Three ways VC firms can construct sustainably diverse portfolios If you follow mainstream tech media, you could be forgiven for thinking that venture capital is a founders’ market today after two years of record round sizes and outcomes. There is some truth to this: VC had its
Most founders are not experienced entrepreneurs, which means they tend to repeat the same mistakes as they try to overcome universal challenges. According to Klaviyo co-founder and chief product Ed Hallen, luck was a contributing factor to his marketing automation company’s success. “But it’s also clear that if we had known more upfront, we wouldn’t
Twitter’s co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey is poised to receive a significant payday if Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the social media giant closes, as his Twitter shares would be converted into cash. Dorsey, who has declined to take a salary from the company and instead chose to take a $1.40 annual paycheck,
Exhibiting your early-stage startup at TC Sessions: Mobility 2022 in San Mateo, California on May 18-20 is one of the fastest ways to discover new opportunities and accelerate your growth potential. Hundreds of mobility’s most influential movers, shakers, shippers and unicorn makers will flock to the exhibit floor to see dozens of the latest and
While some surveys show that people prefer to talk to a human as opposed to a chatbot, whether they’re shopping online or dealing with a customer service issue, that hasn’t dissuaded companies from adopting them. A 2019 Salesforce report found that 53% of service organizations expected to use chatbots within 18 months. According to Statista,
If there’s one thing we found out during the pandemic, it is that private jets were one way for the rich and famous to avoid traveling with the potentially infectious plebian classes. This is perhaps why there is still a market for tech companies to enter into this rarefied industry. But more seriously, there are
Google Play is today officially launching its own version of privacy-related “nutrition labels” for apps. The company says it will begin to roll out the new Google Play Data safety section to users on a gradual basis, ahead of the July 20th deadline that requires developers to properly disclose the data their app collects, if
Cannabis companies face unprecedented headwinds. Yet these companies are building businesses in a tough market plagued by myriad challenges, from banking prohibitions to ever-changing regulations. One such startup, Lucid Green, has a solution to a growing labeling problem, and raised a $10 million Series A led by Gron Ventures with participation from Gotham Green Partners.
Paying rent on time can mean the difference between having a place to live, and well, not. Circa believes there is a simpler way to help renters keep a roof over their heads. The Maine-based payment technology company has created a mobile-first platform to enable renters to pay on time, in full, each month. And,
Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter and current Block Head, has weighed on how he feels about Elon Musk buying Twitter. In a tweet thread that starts out with a link to Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place,” Dorsey said that “in principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to
Maintaining source code is one of the toughest challenges that software developers face. In a 2020 survey from Sourcegraph, 51% of developers said that they have more than 100 times the volume of code they had ten years ago while 92% say the pressure to release software faster has increased. The growing responsibilities can lead
Online payment methods can be expensive for merchants, who have to pay between 2% and 8% of every sale to debit and credit card, ewallet and BNPL facilitators. Much of this is often passed to consumers. Fast was a hugely well-funded startup that tried to address this by closed in spectacular fashion just recently. Other
A McKinsey and Co. study suggests that while sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to increase (even triple) its agricultural output and overall contribution to the economy, the sector remains untapped largely due to lack of access to quality farm inputs, up to par infrastructure like warehousing and market. This is in an economy that derives
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. The day is April 25, 2022. We spent most of the day keeping a close eye on Elon, but it seems (pending details and regulatory foibles), the deed is done. The sparky-space-sausage
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Every Monday, Grace and Alex scour the news and record notes on what’s going on to kick off the week. Stocks are down, and cryptos not looking too impressive as the world gears up for a packed
Twitter, the platform that once helped fuel The Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street is now owned by the richest man in the world, and you have to wonder what impact it’s going to have. There are so many open questions about how the company will change under Elon Musk’s leadership. Will he make it
“Feature stores,” with their dreary and opaque moniker, might not sound like the sexiest subject. But they’re an essential part of the AI systems that enterprises — and consumers, for that matter — use every day. That’s why they’re attracting an increasing amount of attention and investment from venture firms, which see the market opportunity
Synthetically generated versions of real people that can be can be programmed to say anything sounds like a scenario from the latest episode of “Black Mirror.” But in fact, production-grade video-based characters based on real people — which can talk about any product or subject at all, in a hyperlifelike manner — are arguably going
A new startup called Skich wants to help mobile users find games to play that better match their interests. To do so, it’s created a game recommendation app that carefully toes the line in order to not bump up against Apple’s App Store rule that prohibits other apps from acting as App Stores themselves. Instead,
When we talk about early-stage startups, we tend to focus on the internals – and understandably so. It’s easiest to home in on the things you can control: developing products, building a team, finding the right investors. All are important and foundational to developing a startup, of course. But as much as we’d like to
Companies that rode COVID-driven demand for their products during the first years of the pandemic are seeing their fortunes come back to Earth. Whether some of the biggest names in the cohort have a next act is becoming an open question. Even more, could it be that companies that fell out of favor due to
The company formerly known as Facebook is about to have an IRL shop. Meta will open the doors to the Meta Store (almost typed the Meat Store, that’s a very different store — really sort of the opposite) on May 9. The company’s debut shopping experience will be located on the Meta Burlingame campus, home