Crunch Hype

“Selling Sunset” is the kind reality TV show that doesn’t bother with things like sympathetic or relatable characters. The Netflix series recently released its third season — which, like the seasons before it, follows the efforts of the largely female staff at a Los Angeles brokerage to sell high-end real estate. As we explain on […]

Few topics garner cheers and groans quite as quickly as the no-code software explosion. While investors seem uniformly bullish on toolsets that streamline and automate processes that once required a decent amount of technical know-how, not everyone seems to think that the product class is much of a new phenomenon. On one hand, basic tools […]

Feeling like you should better understand special purpose acquisition vehicles – or SPACs — than you do? You aren’t alone. It isn’t like you’re totally clueless, right? You’re probably aware that Paul Ryan now has a SPAC, as does baseball executive Billy Beane and Silicon Valley stalwart Kevin Hartz. You likely know, too, that brash […]

Adding a new employee to a team tends to involve more than saying “You’re hired!” and tossing them into the company Slack. You’ve got to get them trained, ship them any hardware they might need, get them set up on all of your internal tools and check in regularly to make sure everything is going […]

We dive into Palantir’s finances, Apple fires back against Epic Games and Lambda School raises funding. This is your Daily Crunch for August 21, 2020. The big story: Palantir docs show $579M net loss Danny Crichton got a hold of the confidential S-1 filing for secretive data analytics company Palantir and has been unpacking the […]

We are continuing to make progress through Palantir’s leaked S-1 filing, which TechCrunch attained a copy of recently. We have covered the company’s financials this morning, and this afternoon we talked about the company’s customer concentration. Now I want to talk a bit about its ownership and stock valuation. First, let’s talk about ownership. Having […]

We are still walking through Palantir’s leaked S-1, which as of the time of this writing, hasn’t yet been filed and published by the SEC. This morning, we discussed some of Palantir’s financials, including its revenues, margins, and net losses. Leaked S-1 screenshots show Palantir losing $579M in 2019 The company’s customer base — and […]

Welcome back to Human Capital, where we unpack the latest in diversity, equity and inclusion, and labor issues in the tech industry. In this week’s edition, we’re looking at the latest in Uber and Lyft’s court battle to keep their drivers classified as independent contractors, Pinterest’s well-timed announcement of a Black board member, overall board […]

Rocket Lab has made a remarkable recovery after losing a payload during a mission failure on July 4 — just eight weeks later, the company has set a launch window for its next dedicated commercial mission that spans 12 days beginning August 27 at 3:05 PM local New Zealand time. At the end of July, […]

Apple has filed legal documents opposing Epic’s attempt to have itself reinstated in the iOS App Store, after having been kicked out last week for flouting its rules. Apple characterizes the entire thing as a “carefully orchestrated, multi-faceted campaign” aimed at circumventing — perhaps permanently — the 30% cut it demands for the privilege of […]

Learning to understand the mentality of an LP and building trust with investors is just the beginning.

So you’re looking for a storage unit to put some stuff in for a few months. Maybe you’re moving and your new place isn’t ready yet — or maybe you’re just looking to declutter and want to tuck some stuff away for a while and see if you’re really ready to part with it. As […]

It has been nearly a decade since Anu Duggal, founding partner of Female Founders Fund, started raising money to invest in women-led startups. In 2020, the investor says her thesis — that there will be a generation of successful venture-backed businesses built by women — is one you can’t avoid. “You can’t argue with that […]

Once upon a time, Box’s Aaron Levie was just a guy with an idea for a company: 15 years ago as a USC student, he conceived of a way to simply store and share files online. It may be hard to recall, but back then, the world was awash with thumb drives and moving files […]

This morning, we published exclusive, leaked details about Palantir’s much anticipated S-1 filing, including the company’s revenues, margins, operating loss and government/commercial contract breakdown. Leaked S-1 screenshots show Palantir losing $579M in 2019 One aspect that we didn’t cover much though was the actual process the company intends to use to float its shares on […]

In discussions of ethically dubious social networks, Facebook is the usual reference choice. But spare a thought for subscribers of InterNations, a Munich-based social networking community for expats, who have found themselves unable to obtain refunds for full-year payments charged in the middle of the coronavirus crisis. InterNations has operated an expat networking experience since […]

Could SaaS securitization be a future model of debt for startups?

Disrupt 2020 is a few weeks away and we’re looking for founders to submit their pitch decks. In the Pitch Deck Teardown, top venture capitalists and entrepreneurs will evaluate and suggest fixes for Disrupt 2020 attendees’ pitch decks. First impressions are everything, and pitch decks are often the first glimpse of companies by investors and business […]

Palantir filed an S-1 confidentially to the SEC in early July, but we have so far been waiting for the final document to be published for weeks now with nary a murmur. Now, thanks to some leaked screenshots to TechCrunch from a Palantir shareholder, we might have some top-line numbers. Full-year revenues and losses In […]

It was the Australian bush fire that finally did it. For 12 years Adam Hearne had worked at companies that represented some of the world’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. First at Rio Tinto, one of the largest industrial miners, and then at Amazon, where he handled inbound delivery operations across the EU, Hearne […]

Less than a month after the Israeli medical imaging startup Nanox raised $59 million in funding and said it was close to going public, the company has now bitten the bullet. Today the company announced that it raised $165.2 million in an initial public offering. And after its shares were priced at $18 for its debut on […]

This week Airbnb announced that it has privately filed to go public, putting the famous unicorn on a path to a quick IPO if it wants. The recent move matches reporting indicating that the home-sharing upstart could yet go public in 2020 despite the collapse of the travel industry. The Exchange explores startups, markets and […]

An effort by TikTok users to troll President Trump’s official campaign app with thousands of 1-star reviews appears to have had an impact — if not the impact the pranksters had wanted. In July, Bloomberg reported TikTok activists were flocking to the Official Trump 2020 app on the U.S. App Store to fill it with […]

During the COVID-19 pandemic supply chains have suddenly become hot. Who knew that would ever happen? The race to secure PPE, ventilators, minor things like food, was and still is, an enormous issue. But perhaps, predictably, the world of ‘supply chain software’ could use some updating. Most of the platforms are deployed ‘empty’ and require […]

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast (now on Twitter!), where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. What happens when the entire podcast crew is a bit tired from, you know, everything, and does its very best? This episode, apparently. A big thanks to Chris Gates for helping us trim the fat […]

In the world of technology, online learning has been one of the bigger beneficiaries of the last several months, with people staying home and away from their normal routines because of the coronavirus pandemic and using that time to expand their knowledge, or more critically, figure out what to do next if they want to change […]

Facebook is considering expanding the types of data its users are able to port directly to alternative platforms. In comments on portability sent to US regulators ahead of an FTC hearing on the topic next month, Facebook says it intends to expand the scope of its data portability offerings “in the coming months”. It also offers […]

The technological decoupling between the U.S. and China has been a boon to Chinese firms from chipmakers for smartphones and electric vehicles through to software that are the backbones of millions of businesses’ daily operations. Chinese companies might have established a firm grip on internet services for consumers, but many fundamental technologies undergirding hardware and […]

More than 150 e-commerce and delivery companies globally use an Indian logistics startup’s service to work out the optimum way to ship items to their customers. That startup, Noida-based FarEye, said today it has raised an additional $13 million to close its Series D financing round at $37.5 million. FarEye first unveiled its Series D […]

Exo, a developer of new diagnostic hardware for the medical industry, has raised $40 million in a new round of funding as investors continue to back new companies that are reducing the cost and complexity of medical devices. Cost, portability, image quality and the inability to image dense body compositions have all limited the impact […]

A new report disputing the validity of Triller’s recently announced download figures led Triller to respond with the threat of a lawsuit. Triller, a newly litigious TikTok rival that could potentially benefit from a TikTok ban in the U.S., has been pushing to capitalize on the recent turn of events regarding its chief competitor. Earlier […]

There was a mixed reaction among the TechCrunch staff when Sony’s WH-1000XM4 were announced the other week. There was excitement among those looking for new headphones and disappointment for those who’d recently purchased a different pair. The product’s predecessor are pretty universally regarded as some of the best over-ear headphones you can get for the […]

Uber and Lyft may not be pausing operations in California after all, Google releases new emergency alert tools and Airbnb bans all parties. This is your Daily Crunch for August 20, 2020. The big story: Uber and Lyft win legal victory Earlier today, Lyft announced that it would suspend operations in California tonight as a […]

Startup founders, brace yourself for a phenomenal opportunity. TechCrunch, in partnership with cela, will host eleven — count ‘em eleven — accelerators in Digital Startup Alley at Disrupt 2020. It gets better: they’re accepting applications for their upcoming virtual accelerator programs, and this is your chance to interview with them. Do you want in on […]

The mobility sector has been abuzz with activity in the past decade, from the rise of ride hailing and the sudden explosion of shared electric scooters and bikes to the pursuit to commercialize moonshots like automated vehicles and flying cars. At the center of this evolving industry are the investors, who are tapped into a […]

Arcadia, the company that gives homeowners and renters a way to offset their carbon footprints through renewable energy credits and clean power developments, is now pitching its services to businesses as an employee benefit. Companies can offset their employees carbon footprints or subsidize their power bills using Arcadia’s services, the company said. It’s a response […]

Between the IPO buzz and a raft of new federal contracts for COVID-19 work, it’s been a year of big moves for Palantir. Now, the company is making a more literal one: decamping from its Palo Alto headquarters to Denver, Colorado. The decision to relocate its Palo Alto headquarters, first reported by the Denver Business […]

A California appeals court judge has granted Uber and Lyft’s emergency stay. This means the preliminary injunction that sought to force companies to reclassify their drivers as employees will not go into effect this Friday. The court is now reviewing Uber and Lyft’s appeal to overturn the trial court’s ruling. Oral arguments in the case […]

The U.S. market has no real frontrunner poised to claim TikTok’s throne if the app is banned in the country. According to Trump’s executive order, TikTok’s owner ByteDance has to divest of TikTok’s U.S. operations or the app will be banned from the U.S. market on November 12. A number of companies have considered the […]

Eric Hippeau is the founding partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures, whose portfolio companies include the likes of Axios, BuzzFeed, Casper, Warby Parker, Allbirds, DocSend, Fundera, Everlane, Giphy, Genius and the recently acquired fitness company Mirror. It would not be an overstatement to say that Hippeau is well-positioned to discuss startups across a wide spectrum of […]

When Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella introduced Saqib Shaikh on stage at BUILD in 2016, he was obviously moved by the engineer’s “passion and empathy,” which Nadella said, “is going to change the world.” That assessment was on the mark because Shaikh went on to co-found the mobile app Seeing AI, which is a showcase for […]

Valued at over $60 billion and used by millions each day for work and staying in touch with friends and family, the COVID-19 pandemic has helped make Zoom one of the most popular and relevant enterprise applications. On one level, its surge to the top can be summed up in three words: “It just works.” […]

There are a number of tech companies that either directly work with law enforcement agencies, or supply their tech to them. Amazon’s doorbell camera company Ring has partnered with more than 1,300 police departments and Amazon Web Services sells its product to U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement. Meanwhile, Google sells its G Suite tools to […]

Although the media industry is currently in the midst of a long-overdue reckoning over diversity, representation and racism, Morgan DeBaun and Angie Nwandu have been building a more diverse digital media landscape for years. And we’re excited to welcome them to Disrupt 2020 this September. DeBaun co-founded Blavity, a digital media company focused on Black […]

One of President Trump’s former top political advisors was arrested in connection with a crowdfunding scheme to build a U.S. border wall, according to charges unsealed by federal prosecutors Thursday. Steve Bannon is one of four individuals named in the indictment who now face charges for conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit […]

You’d be hard pressed to hang out with a designer and not hear the name Figma . The company behind the largely browser-based design tool has made a huge splash in the past few years, building a massive war chest with more than $130 million from investors like A16Z, Sequoia, Greylock, Kleiner Perkins and Index. […]

Volkswagen has started series production of the ID.4, an all-electric SUV and the first under the automaker’s new ID label to be headed to the United States. Series production of the ID.4 kicked off Thursday at the company’s Zwickau factory in Germany ahead of the vehicle’s world premiere that is scheduled for September. The ID.4 […]

Lyft is planning to suspend its ridesharing operations in California beginning tonight at 11:59 pm PT, unless it receives a stay from the Court of Appeals today. “We don’t want to suspend operations,” Lyft wrote in a blog post. “We are going to keep up the fight for a benefits model that works for all […]

Startups are rebounding. Venture capitalists are open for business. And during the pandemic, the pace of dealmaking has not slowed down. But how is this new era of uncertainty impacting underrepresented founders? Has startup-land become more inclusive, or do warm intros still dictate who gets a meeting and the way a deal closes? To talk […]

Apple is well known for picking up smaller startups on the hush-hush to augment its business, and today news leaked out about the latest of these… nearly two years after the fact. Sometime between 2018 and 2019, the iPhone giant reportedly acquired and shut down Camerai, an augmented reality and computer vision company based out […]