Crunch Hype

Following the landmark CJEU ‘Schrems II’ ruling in July, which invalidated the four-year-old EU-US Privacy Shield, European data protection regulators have today published 38-pages of guidance for businesses stuck trying to navigate the uncertainty around how to (legally) transfer personal data out of the European Union. The European Data Protection Board’s (EDPB) recommendations focus on measures […]

Amazon today announced a set of new features aimed at making its Alexa devices more useful to aging adults. With the launch of “Care Hub,” an added option in the Alexa mobile app, family members can keep an eye on older parents and loved ones, with their permission, in order to receive general information about […]

We’re just about a month away from TC Sessions: Space 2020, a two-day conference dedicated to bold visionaries with the passion, audacity and technical skills to chart a new course in space. Fun fact: A bold visionary likes a good deal as much as the next one. But timing is everything. The deadline for securing […]

Campuswire was in a fortuitous spot when colleges and universities across the world shut down on short notice because of the threat of coronavirus. Founded by Tade Oyerinde in 2018, Campuswire is a virtual solution for any teacher who wants to digitize their internal classroom communications, from Q&A time to the lecture itself. The strategy, […]

TikTok is testing a new feature that allows users to raise funds for causes and charities they care about directly from their TikTok profiles. Those who are in the test group will find a new option when they click “Edit Profile” directing them to choose a nonprofit from a list of vetted organizations and charities […]

Earnings season is racing past us, with the big ride-hailing companies’ numbers in, all of the Big Five having wrapped their reporting and lots of SaaS numbers in the market. But amidst all the noise, The Exchange has kept an eye on two companies in particular: PayPal and Square. We’re not really concerned with their overall […]

Honda claims it will be the first automaker to mass-produce vehicles with autonomous capabilities that meet SAE Level 3 standards, with plans to begin producing and selling a version of its Honda Legend luxury sedan with fully approved automated driving equipment in Japan from next March. Honda announced the news via press release (via Reuters) […]

Fishtown Analytics, the Philadelphia-based company behind the dbt open-source data engineering tool, today announced that it has raised a $29.5 million Series B round led by Sequoia Captial, with participation from previous investors Andreessen Horowitz and Amplify Partners. The company is building a platform that allows data analysts to more easily create and disseminate organizational […]

Mobile storytelling startup Unrd is making its first move into adapting existing intellectual property — specifically “Ghosted: Love Gone Missing,” an MTV reality series about ghosting (the dating practice, not anything supernatural). Until now, Unrd (pronounced “unread”) has created original crime, horror and romance stories that are told through characters’ phones, through content like text […]

In September, Roku announced the next version of its TV operating system, Roku OS 9.4, would introduce support for Apple’s AirPlay 2 and HomeKit. This morning, the company says these features have now rolled out across a number of its 4K Roku devices, including the Roku Ultra, Roku Streambar, Roku Smart Soundbar, Roku Streaming Stick+, […]

Last week was a busy week, what with an election in Myanmar and all (well, and the United States, I guess). So perhaps you were glued to your TV or smartphone, and missed out on our conversation with Asheem Chandna, a long-time partner at Greylock who has invested in enterprise and cybersecurity startups for nearly […]

Software is eating the world, and that grub can be costly. As the market for enterprise tools and software continues to balloon, organizations are spending more and more on that software across an increasingly complicated and rapidly evolving landscape. That’s where Clearfind comes in. Clearfind was founded (and bootstrapped) by James Layfield and Jocelyn Simons. […]

Palo Alto Networks has been on buying binge for the last couple of years, and today it added to its haul, announcing a deal to acquire Expanse for $800 million in cash and equity awards. The deal breaks down to $670 million in cash and stock and another $130 million in equity awards to Expanse […]

A SPAC discussion is coming to your email inbox, Zoom or board meeting soon; are you prepared to lead this conversation?

Mozart Data founders Peter Fishman and Dan Silberman have been friends for over 20 years, working at various startups, and even launching a hot sauce company together along the way. As technologists, they saw companies building a data stack over and over. They decided to provide one for them and Mozart Data was born. The […]

In a finding that should surprise no one, an audit of how UK political parties are handling voter information has surfaced a damning lack of compliance with data protection rules across the political spectrum — with parties failing to come clean with voters about how individuals are being invisibly profiled and targeted by parties’ digital […]

India’s antitrust watchdog has approved Google’s proposed investment of $4.5 billion in the nation’s largest telecom platform Jio Platforms, it said in a tweet on Wednesday. Google announced in July that it would be investing $4.5 billion for a 7.73% stake in the top Indian telecom network. As part of the deal, Google and Jio […]

SpaceX and NASA have completed the multi-year certification program for the Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft launch system, the first ever human-rated commercial space system to be developed. The final stage in the certification process was the Demo-2 mission that SpaceX launched earlier this year, carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the […]

As the coronavirus pandemic evolved into a genuine threat, offices closed to limit spread and people suddenly had to download Zoom and work from home. In the months since, many offices have remained closed. And with the number of coronavirus cases growing at a rapid clip, it’s not clear when, or even if, offices will […]

At its (virtual) NextGen 2020 event, BMW today announced that the BMW iX, its new all-electric flagship previously known as the iNext, will launch at the end of 2021. Based on BMW’s fifth-generation eDrive technology, the iX will get a new look — and new kidney grille design — but its dimensions will be similar […]

French startup Molotov provides a TV streaming service in France that replaces the traditional set-top box. You can access live TV, subscribe to premium channels, watch content after they air and record content in the cloud. Today, the company is launching a different service, its own ad-supported on-demand streaming service — or AVOD service for […]

This year, more than ever before because of the Covid-19 pandemic, huge droves of workers and consumers have been turning to the internet to communicate, get things done, and entertain themselves. That has created a huge bonanza for cybercriminals, but also companies that are building tools to combat them. In the latest development, an Israel-hatched, […]

European pre-seed and seed-stage VC Seedcamp has reached £78M in the first and final close of its fifth fund, ‘Seedcamp V’, its largest to date. The round was backed by investors including British Patient Capital, Legal & General, TIFF, LGT, Vintage IP, Isomer Capital, OMERS. VC backers include Index, Sequoia, Underscore VC, Northzone, Atomico and […]

Index Ventures, the London and San Francisco-headquartered venture capital firm that primarily invests in Europe and the U.S., has recruited its latest investment partner. Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas, who is currently the COO of London-based fintech GoCardless and was previously the chief product officer of Skyscanner, is joining Index in January, TechCrunch can reveal. For those not […]

India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which oversees programs beamed on television and theatres in the country, will now also regulate policies for streaming platforms and digital news outlets in a move that is widely believed to kickstart an era of more frequent and stricter censorship on what online services air. The new rules (PDF), […]

Heroes, a European e-commerce business operating a similar model to unicorn Thrasio in the U.S. — with a strategy of acquiring and scaling high performing Amazon businesses — has raised $65 million in funding round. The round — a mixture of equity financing and debt — is co-led by 360 Capital and Fuel Ventures, with […]

In a new filing, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance asked the federal appeals court to vacate the United States government order forcing it to sell the app’s American operations. President Donald Trump issued an order in August requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. business by November 12, unless it was granted a 30-day extension by the […]

Ray Holgado, a former employee of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, recently filed a racial discrimination complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Holgado, who is Black, worked at CZI from September 2018 through August 2020. “Despite its social justice rhetoric, CZI is not a welcoming environment for Black employees,” Holgado’s complaint states. […]

In the past several weeks we’ve seen refreshes and product expansions from about every facet of the smart home virtual assistant world. Apple launched the HomePod Mini, Google offered a long-overdue refresh of the Google Home and Amazon found even more speaker shapes to shove Alexa into. Today, we’re getting an addition from a startup […]

Apple announces “One More Thing” before the holiday season, Uber lets you reserve rides 30 days in advance and Spotify makes another podcast acquisition. This is your Daily Crunch for November 10, 2020. The big story: Apple unveils new Macs During an unusually brief and focused “One More Thing” event, Apple announced three new Macs […]

Shares of Lyft are riding high, popping more than 7% in after-hours trading today after the American ride-hailing giant reported its Q3 earnings. Lyft, which competes with Uber for rideshare, reported revenues of $499.7 million in the third-quarter, a 48% drop from the $955.6 million in the same year-ago period. That lackluster result is still […]

There are plenty of e-readers to choose from out there, but never enough for me. I’m always questing for the one that will make me forget that there are others available, and in the Onyx Boox Poke 3, I think I have found it — at least for now. The Chinese e-paper device maker has […]

Apple today announced its first self-developed processor for Mac hardware. Called the M1, the system on a chip (SoC) is based on an Arm architecture rather than an Intel-built platform. This is a massive switch, and as the dust settles from the announcement, details are starting to appear around options for the new MacBook Air, […]

Two U.S. representatives who oversee the FCC have asked the agency to respect the results of the election by abandoning any “partisan, controversial items under consideration.” This likely includes the FCC’s effort to reinterpret Section 230, an important protection for internet platforms, at the Trump administration’s request. In the letter sent to FCC Chairman Ajit […]

Google today announced it’s adding more COVID-related health and safety information to its Google Travel booking service. Starting this week, when users search for hotels and vacation rental properties through Google Travel, they may see new information about COVID-19 safety precautions at the property — like enhanced cleaning procedures that may be in use, for […]

When IBM announced it was spinning out its infrastructure services business last month, it was surely a sign that the company was going all in on hybrid cloud. Today in an interview with Jon Fortt at the CNBC Evolve summit, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna made it clear that his whole focus is going to be […]

Accelerators have become a major force in the startup world, but these teeming masses of potential have been forced, like every other industry, to adopt major changes with the pandemic. Surprisingly, however, they have not just rolled with the punches but seem to be thriving in the new virtual environment. I spoke with the heads […]

Worth $1,985 billion at the close of the show, Apple’s Mac event could not find that last $15 billion in market cap that it needed to crest the $2,000 billion mark, a market cap value more commonly referred to as $2 trillion. Your watchful friends at TechCrunch not only kept tabs on Apple’s new M1 […]

Monday’s news that a COVID-19 vaccine candidate looks to be incredibly effective gave investors reasons to believe in a better future. Perhaps COVID-19 won’t be with us for years, investors appeared to think, but will instead become something that we can bend the curve on sooner than we thought. A strong vaccine would be key […]

Ready for more Apple news? Because it’s time for more Apple news. This morning the company hosted its third event in as many months, where they finally detailed how and why they’ll be shifting Macs to chips designed and built by Apple and showed off the first Macs that’ll make the jump. New MacBook Air, […]

Apple detailed today how its new Apple Silicon Macs would be capable of running a wider range of apps than before, even in the case where an iOS developer hasn’t released a Mac-compatible version of their mobile experience. The company said macOS Big Sur on its new Macs would support universal apps — which include […]

Apple brought back actor John Hodgman for a brief cameo in today’s ARM-based Mac launch event, reprising his role as the dorky “I’m a PC” character, now tasked with poking fun at Intel-based PCs in the face of an Apple silicon future for the company. The short slot aired following the end of Tuesday’s “One […]

In addition to the MacBook Air, Apple also introduced a new Mac Mini. It runs Apple’s first custom chipset specifically designed for Mac computers, the M1. It still features the same familiar design, but it now uses an Arm-based chip. “If you compare a Mac mini to the top-selling desktop in this price range, the […]

Apple’s upcoming desktop and laptop operating system, macOS Big Sur, will be released on November 12, the company announced today. macOS Big Sur — which stays with the company’s California-themed naming scheme — will arrive with a new and refreshed user interface, new features, and performance improvements. Much of the features in iOS 14 are […]

And just like that, we’ve got three new devices sporting Apple’s new proprietary chips. Following its announcement of a new MacBook Air and Mac Mini, the company just upgraded another popular model. The 13-inch MacBook Pro will be one of the first three models to launch with the newly announced M1 chip. During this morning’s […]

It’s official. The first MacBook to sport Apple’s own silicon is here. The perennial favorite thin and light is on the way, featuring the company’s new M1 chip — it’s first desktop CPU built in-house. The system looks to be largely identical to the last several generations of Air, with most of the big changes […]

As expected, Apple today announced its first Arm-based laptops, the MacBook Air, Mac mini and Macbook Pro, and, with that, it also announced its family of Arm-based Apple Silicon chips. When it first announced Apple Silicon, the company didn’t provide a lot of details, but in today’s presentation, we learned quite a bit more. The […]

If you only start learning about VCs when you’re already down the fundraising path, you’ll already be too late.

Apple’s had a packed fall, and today is the day of its third big product reveal event this season. This one is going to be squarely focused on the first Macs with Apple Silicon, the company’s first in-house processors designed for its macOS computers. Apple announced its transition away from Intel chips and to its […]

Apple is organizing its third event in three months. The company today is holding a (virtual) keynote at 10 AM PT (1 PM in New York, 6 PM in London, 7 PM in Paris). And you’ll be able to watch the event right here as the company is streaming it live. Apple has already announced […]