Crunch Hype

“For All Mankind: Time Capsule” is a new augmented reality app created by Apple to promote the upcoming second season of “For All Mankind,” which premieres on February 19 on Apple TV+. Even for those of you who aren’t fans of the the show — which tells the story of an alternate history in which […]

Public.com, a social-focused free stock trading service, is nearing the close of a Series D just two months after raising a $65 million Series C, sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The San Francisco-based fintech aims to give people the ability to invest in companies using any amount of money, with a focus on […]

Demetrius Curry has spent the last couple years chasing a dream. His startup, College Cash, allows brands to petition users to create photo and video marketing content highlighting their product or service, with the wrinkle being that content creators are paid by the brands in the form of credits that go directly toward paying down […]

Video collaboration startup Frame.io unveiled a new technology today that it calls Frame.io Camera to Cloud. Michael Cioni, the startup’s global senior vice president of innovation, explained that while consumers expect to instantly upload video footage to the cloud, professional film and TV productions still rely on hard drives. There’s a good reason for that: […]

Unlike impact investing, which is squarely focused on the (external) effects of a business, ESG concerns mostly internal practices and processes.

Analysis of a trove of data extracted from the Chicago Police Department has revealed major differences between how Black and white officers, as well as male and female ones, actually enforce the law. This rare apples-to-apples comparison supports the idea that improving diversity in law enforcement may also improve the quality of policing. Historically hard […]

When Sam Lurye looks at a loading dock he sees both a bottleneck in the world’s supply chain and an opportunity. The opportunity — driven by a tension between the digital and physical infrastructure at warehouse distribution centers and factories today and the push toward autonomy — prompted Lurye to found Kargo, a smart loading […]

A webcam app installed by thousands of users left an exposed database packed with user data on the internet without a password. The Elasticsearch database belonged to Adorcam, an app for viewing and controlling several webcam models including Zeeporte and Umino cameras. Security researcher Justin Paine discovered the data exposure and contacted Adorcam, which secured […]

Typically when we talk about tech and security, the mind naturally jumps to cybersecurity. But equally important, especially for global companies with large, multinational organizations, is physical security — a key function at most medium-to-large enterprises, and yet one that to date, hasn’t really done much to take advantage of recent advances in technology. Enter […]

Just three years after its founding, biotech startup Immunai has raised $60 million in Series A funding, bringing its total raised to over $80 million. Despite its youth, Immunai has already established the largest database in the world for single cell immunity characteristics, and it has already used its machine learning-powered immunity analysts platform to […]

Apps saw record downloads and consumer spending in 2020, globally reaching somewhere around $111 billion to $112 billion, according to various estimates. But a growing part of that spend was subscription payments, a new report from Sensor Tower indicates. Last year, global subscription app revenue from the top 100 subscription apps (excluding games), climbed 34% […]

We spoke to Metromile CEO Dan Preston about what the day meant for his company and learn more the SPAC process for our own enjoyment.

Shell’s plan to roll out 500,000 electric charging station in just four years is the latest sign of an EV charging infrastructure boom that has prompted investors to pour cash into the industry and inspired a few companies to become public companies in search of the capital needed to meet demand. Since the beginning of […]

Maisonette, a four-year-old, New York-based company has aimed from the outset to become a one-stop curated shop for everything a family might need for their young children. That plan appears to be working. Today, the company — which launched with preppy young children’s apparel and has steadily built out categories that include home decor, home […]

The team at Reduct.Video is hoping to dramatically increase the amount of videos created by businesses. The startup’s technology is already used by customers including Intuit, Autodesk, Facebook, Dell, Spotify, Indeed, Superhuman and IDEO. And today, Reduct is announcing that it has raised a $4 million round led by Greylock and South Park Commons, with […]

Treinta, a startup that is part of the Winter 2021 Y Combinator cohort, announced this morning that it has raised north of half a million dollars for its bookkeeping and inventory management software aimed at Latin American small businesses. The capital was raised between a small friends-and-family round, Y Combinator’s investment in Treinta, and another […]

Tillit, a fintech startup that is building something akin to buy now, pay later for B2B purchases , looks set to become Sequoia’s next European investment, TechCrunch has learned. According to multiple sources, the Silicon Valley VC — which recently expanded to Europe with an office in London — is backing a €2.5 million round […]

Workplace injuries and illnesses cost the U.S. upwards of $250 billion each year, according to the Economic Policy Institute. ERA-backed startup Intenseye, a machine learning platform, has raised a $4 million seed round to try to bring that number way down in an economic and efficient way. The round was co-led by Point Nine and […]

People don’t often equate gaming with dating, but maybe they should. As gaming continues to grow in popularity, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, a new startup called 2up is launching to help gamers connect both on and off screen. The app was founded by sibling duo Stephanie and Lincoln Smith, who have been […]

Human Interest, a 401(k) provider for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), announced Thursday that it has tacked on another $55 million to its Series C. The news is notable for a couple of reasons. For one, the San Francisco-based company had already raised $50 million across two tranches in 2020. Secondly, the majority of its […]

TikTok has crafted a number of policies over the years to distance itself from the often-messy political fray, but its users continue to have other agendas in mind. In Russia, a tug-of-war has emerged on the social network. On one side are young people using the app to create videos in support of free speech, […]

With a stated goal of aligning the mortgage industry with consumer interests, Austin-based UpEquity has raised $25 million in equity and debt funding to expand its business. Chief executive Tim Herman started the mortgage lending company to take advantage of what he saw as inefficiencies in the $2 trillion U.S. housing market. Existing financial services […]

Royal Dutch Shell Group, one of the largest publicly traded oil producers in the world, just laid out its plan for how the company will survive in a zero-emission, climate conscious world. It’s a plan that rests on five main pillars that include the massive rollout of electric vehicle charging stations; a greater emphasis on […]

If you’ve ever left a job, chances are you left your 401(k) plan along with it. And, if you’re like many Americans and change jobs every few years or so, you could have multiple 401(k) plans spread out at various companies, doing their own thing. Many of us don’t deal with the hassle of trying […]

Shauntel Garvey and Jennifer Carolan liked edtech before the sector was cool, so the duo co-founded Reach Capital in 2015 with a $53 million debut fund. The San Francisco-based venture firm has since put checks into education startups including Newsela, Sketchy, ClassDojo and Outschool, landing six exits so far. Now, after seeing its portfolio accelerate […]

SuperAnnotate, a NoCode computer vision platform, is partnering with OpenCV, a non-profit organization that has built a large collection of open-source computer vision algorithms. The move means startups and entrepreneurs will be able to build their own AI models and allow cameras to detect objects using machine learning. SuperAnnotate has so far raised $3M to […]

The venture capital scene in Africa has consistently grown, with an influx of capital from local and international investors reaching unprecedented heights in recent years. To understand how much growth has occurred, African startups raised a meagre $400 million in 2015 compared to the $2 billion that came into the continent in 2019, according to […]

Crypto-currency pioneer and early Bitcoin thought-leader Diana Biggs has joined Swiss-based startup Valour, which lets investors easily buy digital assets through their bank or broker. The move is significant with the news that Tesla has bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, thus massively boosting the mainstream markets for crypto assets. Biggs explored the potential for […]

Monzo, the U.K. challenger bank with just shy of 5 million customers, has recruited a new U.S CEO to head up its efforts states-side, TechCrunch has learned. Carol Nelson, who previously spent ten years as CEO of Cascade Bank and prior to that was a long time senior vice president of Bank of America, will […]

Spacelift, a startup that automates the management of cloud infrastructure, has raised $6 million in a Series A funding round led by London’s Blossom Capital. Polish fund Inovo Venture Partners and Hoxton Ventures are also investing. The Polish and US-based startup is taking advantage of the opportunity presented by the increasingly complex cloud world, with […]

Since M-Pesa’s mobile money infrastructure came into play in 2007, there has been a proliferation of fintech services ranging from wallets to savings and loans. With this mobile money ecosystem growing in double-digits year-on-year, a lot of data is being created in the process. But this has left some fragmentation, where one person’s information is […]

India may soon have another fintech unicorn. BharatPe said on Thursday it has raised $108 million in a financing round that valued the New Delhi-based financial services startup at $900 million, up from $425 million last year. Coatue Management led the three-year-old startup’s Series D round. Other six existing institutional investors — Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, […]

Northmill Bank, the Sweden-based challenger that has around 200,000 customers across three European countries, has raised around $30 million in new funding. Leading the round is M2 Asset Management, the Swedish investment company controlled by Rutger Arnhult, and asset management firm Coeli. The injection of cash will be used for continued geographical expansion and to […]

This afternoon Bumble priced its IPO at $43 per share, ahead of its raised IPO range of $37 to $39 per share. Bumble filed to go public in mid-January, and offered up its first price range on February 2. That range, $28 to $30 per share, wound up coming up short. Bumble raised its price […]

Facebook tries to get less political, Oracle’s TikTok acquisition may not be happening and Twitter says Donald Trump is banned forever. This is your Daily Crunch for February 10, 2021. The big story: Facebook tests a News Feed with less politics Facebook announced today that it’s testing changes to the News Feed that would downrank […]

Scalarr, a startup that says it uses machine learning to combat ad fraud, is announcing that it has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. The company was founded by CEO Inna Ushakova and CPO Yuriy Yashunin, who previously led the mobile marketing agency Zenna. Ushakova told me that while at Zenna, they realized that […]

Today, there are a number of website builders aimed at creators who want to point fans to a dedicated landing page from their social media profile. If you’ve spent any time on TikTok or Instagram, you’ve likely come across one of these simplified “link in bio”-style websites — like those hosted by Linktree, for example. […]

The beauty of podcasting is that anyone can do it. It’s a rare medium that’s nearly as easy to make as it is to consume. And as such, no two people do it exactly the same way. There are a wealth of hardware and software solutions open to potential podcasters, so setups run the gamut […]

Deep tech companies have the capability to create new markets with little competition and can replace existing technologies while fundamentally transforming an industry.

Toyota Motor North America said Wednesday it will bring three new electrified vehicles to the U.S. market, as the automaker seeks to win over customers by offering a variety of lower emission and zero-emission cars and SUVs. Two of the new vehicles will be all electric and one will be a plug-in hybrid, the company […]

Since the start of the year, I’ve covered nine M&A deals already, the largest being Citrix buying Wrike for $2.25 billion. But not every deal involves a huge price tag. Today we are going to look at three smaller deals that show there is plenty of activity at the lower-end of the acquisition spectrum. As […]

If you’re wondering why Zynga issued $875 million in convertible notes at the end of 2020, CEO Frank Gibeau said the company was fundraising to build up a “war chest” for more acquisitions. “As you know, we’ve been a consolidator inside of this business for a while, and we’re going to continue to be on […]

Step one: establish your company's immigration policy.

One of the most difficult tasks in the increasingly high-fidelity world of gaming is making realistic-looking people — especially faces. Epic today showed off a new character creation tool in Unreal Engine that lets you make a near-infinite variety of near-photorealistic digital people with far less effort than it might have taken before. MetaHuman Creator […]

Mobile analytics and market data company App Annie launched a new app today that CEO Ted Krantz said is built not for the analyst who’s “immersed in the data,” but rather the executive who needs “a much more elevated, top-down view.” The biggest new piece of the company’s Pulse app is something called the App […]

NASA will provide 1,000 of its employees, including 150 astronauts, with Fitbit devices in a pilot program designed to see if they can help supplement efforts to keep these mission-critical personnel healthy ahead of key space missions. The program will see NASA employees outfitted with a wearable and provided access to a daily check-in app […]

As the second impeachment trial of his presidency unfolds, there’s another bit of bad news for the former president. In a new interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Twitter Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal gave the decisive word on how the company would handle Trump’s Twitter account long term. Responding to a question about what would […]

The European Union’s lead data protection supervisor has recommended that a ban on targeted advertising based on tracking Internet users’ digital activity be included in a major reform of digital services rules which aims to increase operators’ accountability, among other key goals. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), Wojciech Wiewiorówski, made the call for a […]

What we learn today will hopefully bear on other insurtech startups that want liquidity during the current cycle.

Alexa von Tobel has a unique vantage point on the world of startups. She debuted in the tech space with the launch of LearnVest in 2009. The company raised nearly $70 million and sold to Northwestern Mutual in 2015 for an estimated $375 million, according to reports. Since, von Tobel has founded her own venture […]