Crunch Hype

After mounting pressure from the U.K. tech startup ecosystem, and much debate, the British government today unveiled plans for a new “Future Fund” designed to ensure high-growth companies — namely, startups — across the U.K. receive enough investment to remain viable during the coronavirus crisis. Initially, the U.K. government is pledging a total of £250 […]

Hey everybody, welcome back to Week in Review. The world of COVID-19 is our new reality, so I’ll continue to include links to some positive updates on research, but I’ll be shifting back the focus to covering tech’s movers and shakers of the week. If you’re reading this on the TechCrunch site, you can get […]

It’s scary, living with a killer virus that has completely upended our lives for who knows how long. It’s very easy to feel helpless in the face of it all, to throw up one’s hands. Don’t do this, says Marc Andreessen in thoughtful new essay published today to the site of his venture firm, Andreessen […]

We are beset on all sides, daily if not hourly, by COVID-19 data, hypotheses, speculation, and crackpot conspiracy theories. Even if armed with a mathematical mind, and some kind of grounding in critical thinking, how are we supposed to make sense of it all? Assuming you even want to make sense of the chaos; assuming […]

Helena Price Hambrecht and Woody Hambrecht always had plans for Haus, their direct-to-consumer low-alcoholic drink, to land white-label partnerships with local restaurants. But when coronavirus spread across the country and hurt thousands of local restaurants, the Haus founders saw an opportunity to fast forward on that product plan and at the same time give back. […]

Welcome to a look back at the past week in security and what it means for you. Each week we’ll look at the big news of the week and why it matters. What will the world look like after the coronavirus pandemic subsides? Some of us are now in our fifth week of sheltering in […]

Forget the calendar invite. Just jump into a conversation. That’s the idea powering a fresh batch of social startups poised to take advantage of our cleared schedules amidst quarantine. But they could also change the way we work and socialize long after COVID-19 by bringing the free-flowing, ad-hoc communication of parties and open office plans […]

Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have teamed up to launch their first product together since leaving the Facebook mothership. Rt.live is an up-to-date tracker of how fast COVID-19 is spreading in each state. “Rt” measures the average number of people who become infected by an infectious person. The higher above the number 1, […]

Cognizant, one of the largest tech and consulting companies in the Fortune 500, has confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attack. Details remain slim besides a brief statement on its site, confirming the incident. “Cognizant can confirm that a security incident involving our internal systems, and causing service disruptions for some of our clients, […]

Cities around the world have become home this decade to distributed tech teams and homegrown startup successes. Each of these additional layers of experience and specialization help to make each local community stronger, like what began happening in Silicon Valley many decades ago. Now layoffs are striking deep into these fragile, complex ecosystems. Yes, companies […]

We discussed our initial impressions of “Devs” on an episode of the Original Content podcast a few weeks ago, shortly after the show launched on FX/Hulu. At the time, we observed that even the show made time for bits of Silicon Valley satire, the mood was mostly one of mystery and dread. Now that we know […]

This week we continue our look at how the coronavirus outbreak is impacting the world of mobile apps. Also, Google changed its Play Store guidelines, TikTok launched parental controls and more.

One of the best tools we have to slow the spread of the coronavirus is, as you have no doubt heard by now, contact tracing. But what exactly is contact tracing, who does it and how, and do you need to worry about it? In short, contact tracing helps prevent the spread of a virus […]

Here’s a nice thing. It’s not revolutionary or life-changing, but it’s nice. And right now we can all use a little bit of nice. Earlier this month, Samsung announced an addition to its line of “eco-packing” that will turn TV boxes in a wide variety of different “furniture.” I use furniture in quotes here because […]

The diagnostics startup Curative has received an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for its novel test to determine COVID-19 infection. The company says that its tests have already been used by the City of Los Angeles since late March and have tested over 53,000 city residents. Curative’s tests use an oral-fluid […]

Chinese investors, who have poured about $6 billion into Indian startups in the last two years, will be subjected to tougher scrutiny for their future investments in the world’s second largest internet market. India amended its foreign direct investment policy on Saturday to require all neighboring nations with which it shares a boundary to seek […]

Crowdfunding platform for startups Republic has acquired crowdfunding platform for games Fig, joining forces to help creators get their ideas off the ground. Users of each service will be happy to know they’ll continue as-is for the foreseeable future. The model of publicly accessible micro-equity has proven an effective one, and both platforms have recent […]

Before the COVID-19 pandemic shook up the world and reshaped the economy, Boston was quietly setting records. According to new venture data compiled by TechCrunch, the region set what was at least a local maximum in venture capital raised in the space of a single quarter in Q1 2020. But while Boston’s startup market announced […]

The Mendel Air Sensor app is the first app I open every morning. Before Reddit, before Gmail, before NYT. I roll over, grab my phone and check my plants. I don’t know if there’s a higher honor I can bestow on an app. The Mendel Air Sensor is a game-changer for indoor growers. It offers […]

Another startup has turned to downsizing and fund raising to help weather the uncertainty around the economy amid the global coronavirus health pandemic. People.ai, a predictive sales startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Iconiq, Lightspeed and other investors and last year valued at around $500 million, has laid off around 30 people, working out to about […]

Ventilators assembled by GM and Ventec Life Systems were delivered to hospitals Thursday night with more making their way to facilities today and through the weekend, the first in a 30,000-unit order with the U.S. government. The deliveries, which went to hospitals in Chicago and Olympia Fields, Ill., are a milestone for the two companies […]

If you have ever attended (or tuned into) one of Monzo’s many community events, you are likely familiar with the work of Simon Balmain. An early employee of the challenger bank, he has played a long-term role in helping to build Monzo’s customer support and community efforts and was often seen emceeing events. Now TechCrunch […]

A few months ago, the idea of a hand-washing app would have seemed trivial, at best. We’re all adults here, right? We’ve been washing our hands our entire lives. But things change. It’s mid-April and we’re afraid to go outside and engage with other humans — and thorough hand-washing is one of very few tools […]

Bradley Tusk has carved a unique path in the VC investment landscape: A longtime political and communications operative, he has built a track record for Tusk Ventures by going after highly regulated industries, rather than shying away from them. Whether it is ride-hailing, sports betting, cannabis or myriad other regulated sectors, Tusk takes the approach […]

Does working from home have to mean sitting in a chatroom all day or always being available for a video call? Real-time chat and video platforms are great for building camaraderie and maintaining a sense of connection with remote teams, but when you need to focus for a few hours, it can be tough to […]

A coalition of EU scientists and technologists that’s developing what’s billed as a “privacy-preserving” standard for Bluetooth-based proximity tracking, as a proxy for COVID-19 infection risk, wants Apple and Google to make changes to an API they’re developing for the same overarching purpose. The Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT) uncloaked on April 1, calling for […]

Stripe raises new funding, Uber acknowledges financial uncertainty and a controversial facial recognition startup accidentally exposes its source code. Here’s your Daily Crunch for April 17, 2020. 1. Stripe raises $600M at $36B valuation in Series G extension, says it has $2B on its balance sheet The economy may be contracting as a result of […]

Apple has done a good job closing the gap between Spotify and its own music streaming service. But the former still maintains some advantages, a list that until recently included a robust web interface. As a Spotify user myself, I find myself frequently using the browser interface on different devices. Apple’s been working on its […]

Would you pay with a “Google Card?” TechCrunch has obtained imagery that shows Google is developing its own physical and virtual debit cards. The Google card and associated checking account will allow users to buy things with a card, mobile phone or online. It connects to a Google app with new features that let users […]

NASA and SpaceX have set a specific date and time target for their historic first astronaut launch aboard a private spacecraft from U.S. soil, with a planned date of May 27 and a target liftoff time of 4:32 PM EDT (1:32 PM PDT) from Kennedy Space Center, at SpaceX’s Launch Complex 39A (LC-39). The mission […]

Airbnb has ended its contracts with contingent workers early and postponed summer internships, Protocol reports. Contractors at Airbnb serve as property inspectors, home consultants and more. Contractors will reportedly receive no less than two weeks’ pay after receiving notice from their temp agencies. Airbnb will also reportedly delay hiring undergraduate students until next year. TechCrunch […]

The Europas Awards for European Tech Startups is doing what everyone in tech has done before: pivoting! Given the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be ‘going virtual’ on an amazing new platform, to be unveiled. (OK, but not VR – just yet!). A percentage of proceeds from the event will be donated to charities across Europe […]

Vox Media is making a number of cutbacks in response to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to Vox itself, the digital media company owns properties including Curbed, Eater, Recode, SB Nation and The Verge — and it acquired New York Magazine last year. In a staff memo obtained by TechCrunch (and […]

Yesterday news broke that Robinhood is on the hunt for new capital at a roughly flat valuation, and the round is more reasonable than you think.

One of the largest COVID-19 vaccine trials currently underway will have over 500 volunteers actively testing its solution by the middle of next month. Researchers at the University of Oxford have already secured that number of participants, including a representative sample of people between the ages of 18 to 55, for a large-scale randomized clinical […]

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week the Key Three were back with Danny Crichton, Natasha Mascarenhas, and Alex Wilhelm taking on the news while Chris Gates kept everything perfect. Alex apologizes for the math error you’ll hear, naturally. 36 divided by four, […]

Codementor, an online education platform for software developers, is launching Code Against COVID-19 to match volunteers with software projects to fight the pandemic. The initiative, which Codementor is not making money from, wants to connect coders with universities, non-profits, local government agencies and other organizations. Some of the programs Code Against COVID-19 is currently working […]

A demonstration mission of Northrop Grumman’s first-ever Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-1) has proven successful, extending the life of an Intelsat satellite by five years. The mission involved Northrop’s MEV docking with Intelsat’s IS-901 satellite in orbit on February 25, after which it altered the orbit of the Intelsat spacecraft to bury it more operating time. […]

As a lot of us continue to stay indoors, Facebook has become a go-to platform for many people to check in with their friends, family and neighbors during the current coronavirus pandemic. Today, to give us another way of showing support and presence in its apps, the company said it would add a new reaction […]

As India scrambles to keep its citizens safe from the coronavirus, local ride-hailing giant Ola has stepped up to help. The Indian firm has made its technology platform — which is capable of, among other things, conducting real-time tracking and navigation and managing crowds — available to the federal and state governments at no cost. […]

Schools have been closed for the past month in France. That’s why French startup Molotov is leveraging its over-the-top TV service to offer content for children of all ages. In particular, the company has partnered with SchoolMouv, a company that offers videos, exercises and more. Dubbed “Molotov for School”, the new section lets you find […]

In the US, Robinhood has led the charge in upending the stock investing model through its mobile-first, minimal-step, commission free trading platform. Now, a startup out of Germany built on a similar premise is announcing a big round of funding from some top investors to continue its growth. Trade Republic — which lets people buy and […]

That NASA intends to collect a sample from Mars and return it to Earth is well known — they’ve said so many times. But how would they go about scooping up soil from the surface of a distant planet and getting it back here? With a plan that sounds straight out of sci-fi. Described by […]

Uber is walking back its annual guidance for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Update: This article was corrected to reflect that the guidance was for 2020, not an update that would include the fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA profitability target. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said earlier this year that the company planned to make an […]

Food-delivery platforms are on the front lines during the coronavirus crisis, with major spikes in demand as communities are confined at home, likely with more time to cook than usual. And while some restaurants have opted to shut down, others have turned to takeout as a lifeline. Yet physical contact between suppliers, couriers and customers […]

On-demand mobility, when done successfully, strikes a balance between demand and supply while providing reliable service and making a profit. It’s a sweet spot that can be difficult, if not impossible, to find. Autofleet, a startup that develops fleet optimization software to redirect underused vehicles into ride-hailing and delivery services, wants to solve that mission […]

We’re excited to announce that Extra Crunch membership is now available for readers in Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa. You can sign up here. Extra Crunch is a membership program from TechCrunch that features market analysis, weekly investor surveys and how-tos and interviews on growth, fundraising, monetization and other work topics. Members can save […]

Whenever a platform breaks out, companies emerge to seize on its reach by building their services or products atop it. It happened with Facebook and Twitter and Slack. Now, it’s happening with Zoom, the video conferencing company that took the world by storm earlier this year as the coronavirus sent people around the globe indoors […]

Nearly 60% of the over 700,000 jobs lost in the first wave of pandemic layoffs were jobs held by women, according to data from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. But women in search of a new job often have different requirements for employers, compared with their male counterparts. Beyond the usual concerns around hours, […]

The government must mobilize to combat this invisible enemy, but we must also have parameters for how data is protected and used.