Crunch Hype

The latest budget iPhone arrived this month to largely positive reviews. The next flagship, on the other hand, may have to wait. The COVID-19 pandemic is having all manner of knock-on effects on the global economy, and the supply chain is certainly not immune. The Wall Street Journal this morning is reporting that the iPhone […]

Back in 2018 Templafy — which had come up with a way for enterprises to more easily make templates out of standard documents (yes, it’s a thing) — raised an additional $15 million from existing investors as an extension of its earlier Series B round taking it to $40.2 million raised. The company integrates with enterprise infrastructure to […]

Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke to the Financial Times (via Fast Company) about how the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has shifted “almost entirely” to working on addressing COVID-19, in the interest of making the post impact possible in the ongoing effort to contain and combat the global coronavirus pandemic. Gates told […]

The good news for you is that the temporary policy will not impact your prospects for getting a green card. Your employer will still be able to submit a green-card petition on your behalf including PERM and the I-140.

Brave, a maker of a pro-privacy browser, has lodged complaints with the European Commission against 27 EU Member States for under resourcing their national data protection watchdogs. It’s asking the European Union’s executive body to launch an infringement procedure against Member State governments, and even refer them to the bloc’s top court, the European Court […]

At the end of March, a coalition of grassroots UK tech initiatives came together to coordinate the key groups of tech industry people supporting the UK’s response to the coronavirus. The Code4Covid.org initiative came out of a milieu of other projects such as Covidmutualaid.org and Covid Tech Support, but it was the CoronavirusTechHandbook (CTH), an initiative […]

Thanks to smartphones and their downsized keyboards, autocomplete has become a nearly ubiquitous feature of how we write these days. To save us precious seconds composing and (at least in my fat-thumbed case) correcting words, our keyboards now prompt us with suggestions of what we’re trying to write to get the job done a little […]

Germany has U-turned on building a centralized COVID-19 contacts tracing app — and will instead adopt a decentralized architecture, Reuters reported Sunday, citing a joint statement by chancellery minister Helge Braun and health minister Jens Spahn. In Europe in recent weeks, a battle has raged between different groups backing centralized vs decentralized infrastructure for apps […]

Several French VC firms want to remain available to support the tech ecosystem at large during the lockdown with virtual office hours. If you’re a startup and you’re currently struggling, chances are you’re having a lot of discussions with your investors. But if you’ve only raised from business angels who don’t necessarily have a lot […]

More personnel moves at Atomico. The European VC firm, founded by Skype’s Niklas Zennström, has recruited Sasha Astafyeva as its new consumer-focused partner, and former-Googler Terese Hougaard as principal. Sasha Astafyeva (pictured left) previously spent three years as a principal at Felix Capital. In her new role as partner, she’ll be leading “sourcing, due diligence, […]

Being a supply chain merchant often means cobbling together different ways of keeping in touch with buyers, including emails, text messages and paper invoices. Tinvio wants to simplify the process with a communication and commerce platform designed especially for managing orders. The Singapore-based startup announced today that it has raised $5.5 million in seed funding, […]

A new Nigerian fintech venture, Okra, has racked up a unique mix of accomplishments in less than a year. The Lagos based API developer created a product that generates revenues from both payment startups and established financial institutions. Okra has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding from TLcom Capital — a $71 million Africa focused […]

WhatsApp’s bid on cutting virality of messages circulating on its platform by introducing an additional limit earlier this month has already started to pay off. The Facebook -owned service said on Monday that spread of “highly forwarded” messages sent on WhatsApp had dropped by 70% globally in weeks after introducing a new restriction earlier this […]

French startup Shine is adding a new option today. If you think there’s a chance that a client is not going to pay your next invoice, you can insure that invoice to avoid any bad surprise. Shine is building a challenger bank for freelancers and small companies. It lets you send and receive money in […]

BuyMed, a Vietnamese startup that wants to fix Southeast Asia’s complex pharmaceutical distribution networks, announced today it has raised $2.5 million in pre-Series A funding. Investors include Sequoia Capital India’s Surge early-stage accelerator program, and Genesia Ventures. Returning investor Cocoon Capital also participated. Founded in 2018, BuyMed operates Thuocsi.vn, a pharmaceutical distribution platform in Vietnam. […]

JioMart, an e-commerce venture run by India’s most valued firm, is testing an “ordering system” on WhatsApp, teasing the first peek at the collaboration between Facebook and Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio Platforms. Users in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan, three sub-urban areas of Mumbai, can now use JioMart’s WhatsApp business account for grocery shopping. […]

Icebreaker.vc, the Finnish venture capital firm that backs “pre-founders” and pre-seed to seed-stage startups, has launched a second fund, with a first close of €50 million. That’s already significantly larger than Icebreaker’s first fund (which closed at €20 million) and reflects the VC’s geographical expansion. In addition to Finland, where Icebreaker claims to be the […]

Intended or not — I assume it wasn't — Magic Leap became a $2.6 billion bait-and-switch, the consequences of which are now all too apparent.

If you’re one of the 12.3 million people who watched Travis Scott perform on Fortnite this past week, you’ll agree: The sky’s the limit right now when it comes to cheering people up. One kid, per our commenters, said Scott’s performance was better than Star Wars. The popular multiplayer game Fortnite, owned by Epic Games, […]

“I didn’t know what the term ‘freight forwarder’ meant until a year into starting the business.” Considering his shipping logistics startup Flexport was last valued at $3.2 billion, that quote from my first interview with CEO and founder Ryan Petersen back in 2016 seems even more surprising now. But it also hints at why he’s […]

Security startups to the rescue. As we continue to ride out the pandemic, security experts are closely monitoring the surge of coronavirus-related cyber threats. Just this week, Google’s Threat Analysis Group, its elite threat hunting unit, says that while the overall number of threats remains largely the same, opportunistic hackers are retooling their efforts to […]

The Netflix crime drama “Ozark” might not be exactly what you think of when you hear the phrase “high octane.” While there are a few big explosions, there are far more scenes of people talking urgently to each other while filmed in muted tones. A more apt description might be “high pulse rate.” Once you […]

[Editor’s note: Want to get this free weekly recap of TechCrunch news that startups can use by email? Subscribe here.] Multiple liquidation preferences, full-ratchet anti-dilution clauses and pay-to-play provisions are some of the words that still haunt startup founders who survived downturns in decades past. So far in this downturn, though, investors seem to be sparing the […]

Mark Mills Contributor Share on Twitter Mark Mills is the author of the book, “Digital Cathedrals: The Information Infrastructure Era,” and is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a Faculty Fellow at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering, and a partner in Cottonwood Venture Partners, an energy-tech venture fund. An epic number of citizens […]

We continue to look at how the coronavirus outbreak is impacting mobile apps, including details about Apple and Google's contact tracing API, and more.

Brent Leary joins the Gang as we blend streaming, Zoomcasting and sheltering from the storm.

If we continue to view the USPS as simply a balance sheet and optimize for profitability in a vacuum, we ultimately stand to lose far more than we gain.

To: Hans (Mr. Vestberg? Boss?) RE: An Epic opportunity We wanted to jot down this memo to pitch a deal that could remake Verizon’s fortunes in the media business. Every major carrier and internet provider has staked out a huge piece of real estate in the entertainment world with the exception of Verizon (the parent […]

For pre-seed startups, precarious times are baseline until they secure their first customer, first hire and first check. But no matter how built-in turbulence might be for a pre-seed founder, we’re entering a period where stresses are amplified and outlooks are unpredictable. In light of the new market conditions, a harder fundraising market and slower […]

If we want more informed discussions about tech’s behavior, and we want the people who make choices to enter these crises prepared to think ethically, we need to start training people who work in tech to think ethically.

Matt Ocko, co-founder of venture firm Data Collective (DCVC), was among a small group of VCs viewed as alarmists when they began tweeting about the coronavirus’s imminent appearance in the U.S. back in January. In retrospect, those individuals were prescient, so we spoke with Ocko last week about why he was so certain the U.S. […]

The coronavirus has decimated the travel industry, and Airbnb, the home rental company that appeared unstoppable not so long ago, has not been spared. While the headlines have focused on the measures it’s taking to stockpile cash to offset its losses, behind the scenes, the nearly 12-year-old company has been busily redesigning its products. These […]

Divergent, the Los Angeles-based startup aiming to revolutionize vehicle manufacturing, has cut about one-third of its staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended startups and major corporations alike. The company, which employed about 160 people, laid off 57 workers, according to documents filed with the California Employment Development Department. Founder and CEO Kevin Czinger […]

Today marks the conclusion of a years-long saga that started when John Oliver did a segment on Net Neutrality that was so popular that it brought the FCC’s comment system to its knees. Two years later it is finally near addressing all the issues brought up in an investigation from the General Accountability Office. The […]

I’m incredibly thankful that we were able to submit and receive approval days before this unfortunate event, but many small businesses weren't as fortunate.

Kara Carmichael has been an Instacart shopper for years in Orlando, Fla. It’s how she’s been able to support her family, she told TechCrunch. But she says she has noticed an increase in third-party bot activity that has made shopping “nearly impossible.” Despite the high demand for Instacart amid the COVID-19 pandemic, shoppers like Carmichael […]

In his two decades at Apple, Imran Chaudhri worked on many of the company’s most iconic product lines, including the iPhone, iPad and Mac. The designer left the company in 2017 (landing on Microsoft’s HoloLens team two weeks back), but today he’s offering up some fun insight into Apple Watch’s beginnings on the wearable’s fifth […]

In a small suburb of Melbourne, two entrepreneurs are developing a technology that could mean big changes for the packaging industry. Stuart Gordon and Mark Appleford are the co-founders of Varden, a company that has developed a process to take the waste material from sugarcane and convert it into a paper-like packaging product with the […]

While still being leveraged, social media influencers are facing reduced marketing budgets as brands transition to advanced TV advertising options.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a new warning about the known side effects of hydroxychrloroquine and chloroquine, two antimalarial drugs (also used in the treatment of chronic rheumatoid arthritis and lupus), on the same day that a group of researchers published a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association […]

Apple and Google have provided a number of updates about the technical details of their joint contact tracing system, which they’re now exclusively referring to as an “exposure notification” technology, since the companies say this is a better way to describe what they’re offering. The system is just one part of a contact tracing system, […]

AT&T is getting a new boss, the first piece of Apple and Google’s COVID-19 contact tracing program should be available soon and Snap is looking to raise more debt. Here’s your Daily Crunch for April 24, 2020. 1. Randall Stephenson to step down as AT&T chief, succeeded by COO John Stankey A big changing of […]

A big changing of the guard is underway at one of the world’s biggest and iconic names in telecoms and media: AT&T today announced that Randall Stephenson will be stepping down as the chairman and CEO of the telco, and he will be replaced by John Stankey, currently the COO. The change is effective on […]

The idea of an in-game Travis Scott concert might seem a little silly — particularly if, like me, you’re not really a Fortnite player. Yes, the popular multiplayer game has hosted other promotional events for movies and music. But even if all this COVID-19 imposed isolation has left you hungry for live performances, why not […]

Nintendo today confirmed earlier reports of account breaches dating back over the past few weeks. The gaming giant issued an update (via Nintendo Japan) noting that around 160,000 Nintendo Accounts were impacted, which found multiple being used to purchase digital items without the owner’s consent. Along with the purchasing powers, the offending parties may have […]

What counted as good for SaaS startups, pre-COVID-19?

India has emerged as one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the last decade, reporting growth each quarter even as handset shipments slowed or declined elsewhere globally. But the world’s second largest smartphone is beginning to feel the coronavirus heat, too. The Indian smartphone market grew by a modest 4% year-over-year in the quarter […]

Billionaire. Entrepreneur. Investor. Shark. Mark Cuban is one of tech’s best-known entrepreneurs, so we are amped to have him join us for an upcoming Extra Crunch Live, our virtual speaker series that connects the brightest minds in tech directly with our Extra Crunch audience. Starting out as a salesman for one of Dallas’s earliest PC […]

Angling for a slice of the multi-billion dollar Medicare Advantage market with a pitch to integrate holistic medical practitioners into its network of service providers has netted Clever Care Health Plan some big backers and a huge market opportunity, the company says. The company has raised $23 million in a new round of funding from […]

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week we had a choice of all sorts of news, but as we cut the show together as a group Danny pushed all the funding rounds up. So, when Alex and Natasha jumped into the show […]