Crunch Hype

Zwift, a 350-person, Long Beach, Calif.-based online fitness platform that immerses cyclists and runners in 3D generated worlds, just raised a hefty $450 million in funding led by the investment firm KKR in exchange for a minority stake in its business. Permira and Specialized Bicycle’s venture capital fund, Zone 5 Ventures, also joined the round […]

Gravity Sketch, the London-based product design and collaboration platform that utilises virtual reality, has raised $3.7 million in funding. The seed round was led by Kindred Capital, with participation from Point Nine Capital and previous investor Forward Partners. It brings the total amount raised by Gravity Sketch to $5.4 million. In addition, the startup previously […]

Over 110 million users in China have signed up for 5G plans, announced president of the China Academy for Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), a think tank under the telecoms watchdog Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at an industry event on Wednesday. That makes China the largest 5G market in terms of user size, […]

It’s always a pleasure to chat with Homage co-founder and chief executive Gillian Tee because of her nuanced take on how technology can help elderly and other vulnerable people. According to the United Nations, the fastest-growing age bracket worldwide is aged 65-years-old and older. At the same time, there is also an acute shortage of […]

Crista Galli Ventures, an early-stage health tech fund in Europe, is officially launching today. The firm offers “patient capital” — with only a single LP (the Danish family office IPQ Capital) — and promises to provide portfolio companies with deep healthcare expertise and the extra runway needed to get over regulatory and efficacy hurdles and […]

Twitter has flagged a post from Indian politician T. Raja Singh for violating its policy days after TechCrunch asked the social giant about the three-year-old questionable tweet. In a video tweet, Singh urged India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and others citizens in the country to move Rohingya Muslim immigrants, including those “who supported terrorism,” out […]

Dropbox CEO and co-founder Drew Houston, appearing at TechCrunch Disrupt today, said that COVID has accelerated a shift to distributed work that we have been talking about for some time, and these new ways of working will not simply go away when the pandemic is over. “When you think more broadly about the effects of […]

Apple unveils new hardware and new subscriptions, Spotify adds virtual event listings and Opendoor is going public via SPAC. This is your Daily Crunch for September 15, 2020. The big story: Apple announces new iPads and Apple Watches Apple had a big hardware event today. And while you should check out our full roundup if […]

Freelance marketplace Fiverr launched a new service today designed to help teams at larger companies manage their work with freelancers. CEO Micha Kaufman told me via email that Fiverr had already begun working with larger clients, but that Fiverr Business is better-designed to meet their needs. “Organizations require tools to manage their team accounts, defining […]

A few weeks ago, Facebook Messenger introduced new rules around message forwarding to limit the spread of misinformation on its platform. Speaking today at TechCrunch Disrupt 2020, Facebook Messenger VP Stan Chudnovsky offered more detail about how Facebook views its role in fighting the spread of misinformation and other harmful content across its messaging platform, […]

In March, famed investment firm Sequoia Capital published the Black Swan Memo, warning founders about the potential business consequences of the coronavirus, which had not yet been labeled a pandemic. “It will take considerable time — perhaps several quarters — before we can be confident that the virus has been contained. It will take even […]

If you listed the trends that have captured the attention of 20 Warsaw-focused investors who replied to our recent surveys, automation/AI, enterprise SaaS, cleantech, health, remote work and the sharing economy would top the list. These VCs said they are seeking opportunities in the “digital twin” space, proptech and expanded blockchain tokenization inside industries. Investors […]

Just three months after LanzaTech announced a spinout aimed at selling sustainable aviation fuel, the company is already preparing for two more. LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren said Tuesday on the Disrupt 2020 virtual stage that the carbon capture technology company is planning to use its core technology to create two other businesses. LanzaTech captures waste […]

Spotify is embracing virtual events. The company today announced the addition of virtual event listings in the Spotify app, which will allow music fans to see when their favorite artists will be playing live — even if only via a livestream. These listings will be available through the “On Tour” section of artist profiles as […]

The healthcare industry, even prior to the current pandemic, has never looked much like other industries when it comes to hiring and career management. That was the impetus behind Incredible Health, a startup founded by medical doctor Iman Abuzeid and Amazon alum Rome Portlock. The platform Incredible Health built is all about connecting nurses with […]

Alex Pall and Drew Taggart are best known as The Chainsmokers, an electronic DJ and production duo whose first three albums have given rise to numerous Billboard chart-topping songs, four Grammy nominations, and one Grammy award, for the song “Don’t Let Me Down.” Soon, they hope they’ll be known as savvy venture investors, too. They […]

Apple announced a ton of new devices and features today at its September hardware event, but no word on its upcoming iPhones. That’s expected later in the month, maybe next. In case you missed Apple’s hour-long keynote, here’s everything that was announced — including some things you might have missed. Apple Watch One of Apple’s […]

Triller had been poised to benefit from a potential TikTok ban in the U.S. Though that may not happen now, given the apparent Oracle deal, the chaos around TikTok has increased the attention given to alternative apps such as Triller. As TikTok users sought out a new home — or at least hedged their bets […]

Let’s galvanize the collective distress COVID-19 has created and use it to pioneer a more efficient model for all.

A startup called Vibe, launching today at TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield, wants to make it easier for businesses to collaborate remotely. Its system, which combines a large interactive digital whiteboard and cloud service, allows users to host remote brainstorming sessions, client presentations, virtual trainings and more. Vibe also works with a large ecosystem of popular […]

Let’s face it, email security is something a lot of people would rather think less about. When you’re not deluged with a daily onslaught of phishing attacks trying to steal your passwords, you’re also expected to dodge the simulated phishing emails sent by your own company all for the sake of checking a compliance box. […]

A young Indian startup that is taking on the country’s antiquated insurance industry with a digital-first product — and which has already received backing from global giant Amazon — today announced a new financing round. Bangalore-based Acko said on Tuesday it has raised $60 million in its Series D financing round. Germany-based Munich Re, one […]

Usually, Apple making a grand entrance to an entrenched market would spell doom for the players there, but when it comes to Apple’s latest digital workout service, it doesn’t look like investors are worried about Fitness+ killing the momentum. Part of that may be that expectations were already priced-in to these stocks. The fitness play […]

Latent AI, a startup that was spun out of SRI International, makes it easier to run AI workloads at the edge by dynamically managing workloads as necessary. Using its proprietary compression and compilation process, Latent AI promises to compress library files by 10x and run them with 5x lower latency than other systems, all while […]

No iPhone 12 announced today, but Apple unveiled a new chip that will power the next generation of its hardware (including that phone whenever it’s launched). The A14 Bionic, which will ship first with the new iPad Air, is going to be Apple’s fastest yet. In the space race that is CPU and GPU improvements, […]

Apple is launching a fitness subscription service called Fitness+, which for a skosh under $80 a year will give users access to workouts and instruction, plus folds in music, delivered through the Apple Watch or iPad. Fitness+ will cost $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year. Apple is offering the first three months free with […]

At Apple’s (virtual) hardware event today, the company announced a significantly redesigned iPad Air with a new look and tiny bezels. In a move portentous for other Apple products, Touch ID has returned — inside the power button on the top of the tablet. For the 10th anniversary of the iPad, the new 4th-generation Air […]

Africa may be a diverse continent overflowing with different cultures, languages and customs, but Tuverl co-founder and CEO Hope Ndhlovu says there is one experience — or industry — that is consistent from South Africa up to Egypt and everywhere in between. Public transportation is the same fragmented, disorganized ecosystem of millions of small-to-medium private […]

In addition to keeping old generation devices at an entry-level price, Apple is introducing a brand new Apple Watch at a cheaper price point. The new Apple Watch SE features the same design as the newly announced Apple Watch Series 6. But it costs $279. “The second thing we're doing to make Apple Watch available […]

Apple’s new Series 6 watch has some exciting new health features. Thanks to a new health sensor that uses both red and infrared light, the Apple Watch Series 6 is able to measure your blood oxygen levels in 15 seconds, the company announced today. The watch will also record background measurements while you sleep. Your […]

As expected, the centerpiece of today’s big hardware event is the latest version of the Series 6. Apple continues to utterly dominate the smartwatch category, with the company currently commanding around 30% of the wearables category. As such, it’s no surprise, really, that the company’s building on what’s worked so far, maintaining a health focus […]

More than half of U.S. companies now plan on making working from home a permanent option, but most of us don’t know what an optimal business machine with remote operations looks like.

Twitter debuted its election hub on Tuesday, introducing a set of tools to help Americans prepare for the most uncertain election in modern U.S. history. The platform will add a new “US Elections” tab in the Explore menu, where the trending tab and other curated topic lists live. That tab will serve as Twitter’s central […]

Apple is holding a keynote today to unveil some new products. This time, the company is switching to a virtual event, which means that you’ll be able to watch the event as the company is streaming it live. The event starts at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. in New York, 6 p.m. in London, 7 […]

As part of the continuing global rollout of LanzaTech’s technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions and turn those emissions into fuel and chemicals, the company is rolling out a new small-scale waste biomass gasifier in India. The new gasifier, which was announced Tuesday on TechCrunch Disrupt’s virtual stage, will be hosted at Mangalore Refinery and […]

Google today announced the Google Meet Series One, a new video conferencing hardware suite for meeting rooms. Built in collaboration with Lenovo, the Series One uses high-end cameras and microphones and then marries them with Google’s AI smarts thanks to using Google’s own Coral M.2 accelerator modules with the company’s Edge TPUs. Previous Google Meet […]

Google-owned navigation app Waze is gaining a number of new product features as well as a partnership with Amazon Music, the company announced at its first major virtual event, Waze On. Among the changes, Waze is gaining personalized recommendations based on a user’s trip history, as well as traffic notifications, ETA improvements, lane suggestions, expanded […]

The European Space Agency (ESA) is doing its part to help protect the Earth from any errant asteroids that may threaten terrestrial life, awarding a €129.4 million ($153 million) contract to an industry consortium led by German space company OHB. The contract covers the “detailed design, manufacturing and testing” of a mission codenamed ‘Hera,’ after […]

The tech industry has become known as a place that is predominantly white and male. Contrary to the misguided popular belief, it’s not a pipeline problem as much as it’s a retention problem. Black Tech Pipeline, aims to debunk that myth and help support Black technologists along their respective journeys. Black Tech Pipeline, founded by […]

ZenHub, the popular project management solution for GitHub users, today announced the launch of its new features for automating hand-offs between teams. The idea behind Automated Workflows, as it is called, is to remove some of the manual busywork of updating multiple boards across teams when a new patch is ready to go to testing, […]

Desktop Metal is one of the most interesting startups to come out of Boston in some time, with a technology designed to “print metal.” That’s a potentially huge expansion for the 3D printing market, where flexible polymers are the norm, a material that limits the kinds of products that these machines can produce. Little surprise […]

Disney has released the first trailer for the second season of The Mandalorian, and it actually provides a lot of plot detail via voice over of a conversation behind main character Mando and someone directing him as to what he should do with The Child (aka Baby Yoda). It sounds like the main action will […]

Robotics generally have seen an increase in interest during the pandemic, so it makes perfect sense that investors are taking a closer look at autonomous drone delivery. That’s good news for Volansi, which just announced a $50 million Series B. The round, led by Icon Ventures, brings the Bay Area-based startup’s total funding up to […]

Viacom-owned streaming service CBS All Access is becoming Paramount+, the company announced this morning. The name change, which will take place next year, aims to better reflect the expanded content lineup that has joined the service following the Viacom-CBS merger in 2019, including content from brands like BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Smithsonian Channel, TV […]

Who needs caffeine after day one of Disrupt 2020? Don’t know about you, but we’re flying high on entrepreneurial euphoria. Are you buckled in and ready to take on day two? Let’s look at just some of the events of the day. You’ve got your work — and fun — cut out for you trying […]

Welcome to Tuesday of TechCrunch Disrupt week. In a few hours, I’m hosting a panel about how startups can reach $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) with the CEOs of Egnyte, GitLab and the President of Kaltura. It’s going to be a jam. Bring your questions! Right now, however, let’s talk about some bigger companies, […]

As medical providers across the world turn to digital delivery of consultations and services, OnCall Health a Toronto-based provider of back-end services for telemedicine is having a moment. The company, which competes with services like Truepill to offer physicians, pharmacies and other potential point of care services a way to consult online, has grown exceptionally […]

Today, Social Capital Hedosophia II, the blank-check company associated with investor Chamath Palihapitiya, announced that it will merge with Opendoor, taking the private real estate startup public in the process. The transaction comes during a wave of market interest in special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, often called blank-check companies. They exist as publicly traded […]

One of the three companies chosen by NASA to create a Human Landing System (HLS) for NASA has completed a key step by building a full-scale test article of its lander for its team and NASA to evaluate and review. The Dynetics HLS is roughly the size of the Apollo Moon lander, but it’s laid […]

Brightseed, the company launched by former Hampton Creek head of research and development, Jim Flatt, to identify the presence of specific nutrients in plants that are believed to boost human health, has raised $27 million in its latest round of funding, the company said. Brightseed will use the financing, in part, to complete clinical studies […]