Crunch Hype

Deep01, a Taiwanese startup that develops software to help doctors interpret CT brain scans more quickly, announced today that it has raised $2.7 million. The funding was led by PC maker ASUSTek. Deep01’s product has obtained clearance from both Taiwan and the United States’ Food and Drug Administrations, and the company received its first purchase […]

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch’s China Roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world. This week, we have several heavy-hitting rumors swirling around, from Huawei’s chips for cars to Tencent’s potential buyout of its video rival iQiyi. China tech […]

Protests across the U.S. over police violence and systemic racism against Black Americans have sparked gaming companies like Electronic Arts, Epic Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment/PlayStation to publish statements of their support and make donations to relevant advocacy organizations. These are positive actions, but the most impactful thing game companies can do is take action […]

The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive it every Saturday in your inbox. Hi friends and first-time readers. Welcome back to The Station, a newsletter dedicated to all the present and future ways people and packages move from Point A to […]

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019. People are now spending three hours and 40 minutes per […]

Which startups investors are actually first to backing the best companies? If you know this information before fundraising, you can avoid pitching investors who were always going to tell you that you're "too early" anyway.

This one goes out to all the early-stage startup founders. Whether you’re overwhelmed by the state of the world, overworked — or procrastination is simply an intrinsic part of your DNA — it matters not. Here’s reason to smile. We’re giving you an extra week to apply to compete in Startup Battlefield during Disrupt 2020. […]

“Da 5 Bloods,” the new Netflix film co-written and directed by Spike Lee, tells the story of four Black veterans who return to Vietnam decades after the war, in search of hidden gold and the body of their long-dead squad leader. The film seems to straddle several genres, starting out as a drama focused on […]

Over the past few months, COVID-19 has brought much of the fundraising community to a standstill. However, amidst it all India’s hyper0growth telco Reliance Jio Platforms has put its fundraising efforts into full gear. Over the past three months, Jio has raised over $15.5 billion from a cohort of investors that include prominent financial institutions […]

Ford has changed the debut of its 2021 Bronco once again because its planned July 9 reveal falls on the birthday of O.J. Simpson, one of the iconic SUV’s most infamous passengers The automaker tweeted Friday that it has moved the unveiling to July 13. The reveal of the all-new Bronco lineup will now happen […]

Apple today confirmed earlier rumors that it plans to shut down re-opened stores in four states. Impacted locations include six stores in Arizona, two in Florida, another two in North Carolina and one in South Carolina. “Due to current COVID-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these […]

When Nicole Poindexter left the energy efficiency focused startup, Opower a few months after the company’s public offering, she wasn’t sure what would come next. At the time, in 2014, the renewable energy movement in the US still faced considerable opposition. But what Poindexter did see was an opportunity to bring the benefits of renewable […]

Just before 8 a.m. PT Friday, Tesla’s head of human resources sent an email telling U.S. employees they could take the day off to observe Juneteenth, the June 19 holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Moments later, HR head Valerie Capers Workman clarified that employees who chose to take the […]

France’s top court for administrative law has dismissed Google’s appeal against a $57M fine issued by the data watchdog last year for not making it clear enough to Android users how it processes their personal information. The State Council issued the decision today, affirming the data watchdog CNIL’s earlier finding that Google did not provide […]

BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz AG have punted on what was meant to be a long term collaboration to develop next-generation automated driving technology together, less than a year after announcing the agreement. The German automakers called the break up “mutual and amicable” and have each agreed to concentrate on their existing development paths. Those new […]

Early-stage founders, July 21 – 22 is coming up fast and that means it’s time get ready for TC Early Stage — the virtual startup conference designed with you in mind. We’ve packed this two-day event with more than 50 breakout sessions covering topics and issues early-stage startup founders need to succeed — even more […]

The last several months have been full of corporate lip service, as companies have attempted to tailor responses to pressing issues like the COVID-19 pandemic and questions of social justice. Bandcamp, on the other hand, has presented some solid examples of how companies can and should respond during times of crisis. The company has devoted […]

If your venture fund was not one of the ten investors that backed Reliance Jio Platforms in recent weeks, you won’t be able to plough cash into the fast-growing top Indian telecom network for at least a few quarters now as it is no longer scouting for fresh deals. Reliance Jio Platforms, which has raised […]

“Eventbrite is in the unique club that nobody wants to be in,” says CEO and co-founder Julia Hartz. “Which is the first affected and one of the most directly affected businesses of the COVID-19 era.” Hartz, who co-founded the company with her husband Kevin Hartz and Renaud Visage, joined ExtraCrunch Live recently to discuss moving […]

Open up short-form video app TikTok and you’re met with a stream of popular videos, tailored to your own interests. But when your friend launches TikTok on their own phone, they’ll see something different. TikTok calls this main stream of content the “For You” feed because of how it’s personalized to the individual user. But […]

In a brief call today about Basecamp’s Hey email app from the iOS App Store, Apple’s Phil Schiller told me that there would currently be no changes to its rules that would allow the app to continue to be offered. “Sitting here today, there’s not any changes to the rules that we are considering,” Schiller […]

Subscription-based access to mobile gaming content is fueling new services like Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass. Last fall, a startup called GameClub entered the mix, as well, to test the idea that subscriptions could also produce new revenue streams for some of mobile gaming’s greatest hits. At launch, GameClub’s $5 per month subscription service […]

Plume, the Denver-based startup that provides hormone replacement therapies and medical consultations tailored to the trans community, could not be launching at a time when the company’s services are more needed. It’s no hyperbole to say that transgender citizens in the United States are under attack. Whether from government policies that are intended to defund […]

Mapillary, the Swedish startup that wants to take on Google and others in mapping the world via a crowdsourced database of street-level imagery, has been acquired by Facebook, according to the company’s blog. Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. The Mapillary team and project will become part of Facebook’s broader open mapping efforts. Mapillary […]

In light of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and Rayshard Brooks, as well as the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, Juneteenth has quickly made its way onto the radar of tech companies. On June 19, 1865, slaves in Galveston, Texas, became aware of their freedom. This was about two months after […]

The TechCrunch List will publish the most recommended “first check” writers across 22 different categories ranging from D2C & e-commerce brands to space, and everything in between.

The venture capital industry is less transparent today than at any time in recent memory. For all the talk about expanding access and improving its sordid record on diversity, in reality, it has never been harder for founders to figure out who can even write a check to their startups in the first place. When […]

Facebook removed a cluster of incendiary Trump campaign ads Thursday for violating its rules against hate group imagery. The campaign’s ads attacked antifa, the decentralized anti-fascist movement and a frequent target of the president’s ire, with imagery of an upside-down red triangle — a well-documented symbol worn by political prisoners held in Nazi concentration camps. […]

The international games are one of televised sports’ marquee events, and esports companies hope to earn a seat at the grown-up's table.

Twitter tries to make audio tweets a thing, the U.K. backtracks on its contact-tracing app and Apple’s App Store revenue share is at the center of a new controversy. Here’s your Daily Crunch for June 18, 2020. 1. Twitter begins rolling out audio tweets on iOS Twitter is rolling out audio tweets, which do exactly […]

Amazon is ramping up its efforts to tackle counterfeiting on its platform by aiming for the higher end of the fashion market. Today the e-commerce giant announced that it has jointly filed a lawsuit with Italian luxury brand Valentino against Buffalo, New York-based Kaitlyn Pan Group, LLC and New York resident Hao Pan for copying […]

Why is DevSecOps important, and what are the keys to a successful program?

Three years ago almost to the day, Intercom announced that it was bringing former Intuit exec Karen Peacock on board as COO. Today, she got promoted to CEO, effective July 1. Current CEO and company co-founder Eoghan McCabe will become Chairman. As it turns out, these moves aren’t a coincidence. McCabe had been actively thinking […]

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that President Donald Trump’s administration unlawfully ended the federal policy providing temporary legal status for immigrants who came to the country as children. The decision, issued Thursday, called the termination of the Obama-era policy known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals “arbitrary and capricious.” As a result of […]

YouTube today announced a new direct response ad format that will make YouTube video ads more “shoppable” by adding browsable product images underneath the ad to drive traffic directly to brands’ product pages. The introduction of the format comes at a time when advertisers are trying to find new ways to capture consumers’ growing interest […]

A new project called Keen is launching today from Google’s in-house incubator for new ideas, Area 120, to help users track their interests. The app is like a modern rethinking of the Google Alerts service, which allows users to monitor the web for specific content. Except instead of sending emails about new Google Search results, […]

Since many business operations are struggling to find cash and loans to just remain open, new clean technology may be delayed.

Okay, so, first and foremost, this is going to be a weird one. Mostly because it’s 2020 and everything is just weird now and we have to deal with that until the next, weirder thing comes along. But while an online-only World Wide Developer Conference is certainly unprecedented for Apple, there’s some recent online precedent […]

DroneBase, a Los Angeles-based provider of drone pilots for industrial services companies, has raised $7.5 million during the pandemic to double down on its work with renewable energy companies. While chief executive Dan Burton acknowledged that the company was fundraising prior to the pandemic, the industrial lockdown actually accelerated demand for the company’s services. Even […]

BizCapital, an online lender based in Brazil, has raised $12 million from a clutch of investors including the German development finance institution, the corporate venture capital fund of MercadoLibre and existing investors Quona Capital, Monashees, Chromo INvest and 42K Investments. “This latest round reinforces investors’ confidence in BizCapital’s ability to innovate in the Latin American […]

Geek+, a Beijing-based startup that makes warehouse fulfillment robots similar to those of Amazon’s Kiva, said Thursday that it has closed over $200 million in a Series C funding round. That bumps total capital raised by the 5-year-old company to date to nearly $390 million. The new round, completed in two parts, was separately led […]

Back in November of last year, Twitch rolled out a beta build of Twitch Studio — a free, straightforward broadcasting app meant to be the first step for anyone curious about streaming on the service. At launch, it was PC only. Today, however, they’re opening up the beta to Mac users. Twitch is pretty open […]

The alchemy for a successful startup can be hard to parse. Sometimes, it’s who you know. Sometimes it’s where you go to school. And sometimes it’s what you do. In the case of La Haus, a startup that wants to bring U.S. tech-enabled real estate services to the Latin American real estate market, it’s all […]

Hertz, which filed for bankruptcy last month, halted its $500 million stock offering Wednesday after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told the rental company it would review its controversial plan to sell shares that could soon be wiped out completely. Hertz disclosed Monday that it would issue a $500 million stock offering following approval […]

Bird is rolling out a new standalone app, called Bird Maps, in Paris and Tel Aviv that will provide turn-by-turn navigation for riders who want to use bike or micromobility lanes for their entire trip. The app, which will be available on iOS and Android, was created using navigation software from Trailze, an Israeli startup […]

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks has examined the President's Executive Order that attempts to spur FCC action against social media and found it wanting. "There are good reasons for the FCC to stay out of this debate," he said. "The decision is ours alone."

Apple this week is getting publicly dragged for digging in its heels over its right to take a cut of subscription-based transactions that flow through its App Store. Almost unbelievably, it’s doing so in the middle of antitrust investigations both in the EU and the U.S. — the latter which CEO Tim Cook may decide to […]

A memo obtained by The Athletic details the NBA’s plans to play out the remainder of the 2019-2020 season, beginning at the end of June. It’s a fairly detailed return to action for the league, including some notable tidbits, like, “It is critical that every player understand that he has the right to choose not […]

As the world awakens to the many ways that people of color are systematically discriminated against, companies whose future depends on their ability to address their own role in this entrenched societal issue are taking some action. For its part, following weeks of protests around the U.S. and world to defeat racism, Alphabet just announced […]

In another up for technology shares, software companies saw their values reach new heights today. The day’s trading comes after a sell-off last week eased some of technology companies’ rebounds from their COVID-19 lows; stocks in tech companies have more than made up for their early-year declines in mid-2020, with the Nasdaq reaching 10,000 points […]