Crunch Hype

Almost every company has a talent problem. It’s hard to find good employees, and once you do, to keep them happy. Today, Beamery announced a fully integrated platform to help solve that problem. Company co-founder and CEO Abakar Saidov says that while drawing and retaining talent can provide organizations with a key strategic advantage, there […]

San Francisco-based robotics startup Simbe just announced a $26 million Series A. The round was led by Venrock and features Future Shape, Valo Ventures and Activant Capital. The company is one of several looking to automate the process of providing retail inventory. Simbe says the funding will go toward growing its headcount, exploring new markets […]

Trucks and other large commercial vehicles are the biggest whales on the road today — are they also, by virtue of that size, some of the most dangerous and inefficient if they are driven badly. Today, a startup that has built a platform aimed at improving both of those areas has raised a large round […]

Cooking may be under sustained attack by a wave of on-demand food delivery startups, with names that can double as gluttonous calls to action (oh hey Just Eat!), but that hasn’t stopped London-based startup ckbk from pushing in the opposite direction — with a digital service that offers on-demand access to high quality recipes licensed […]

Spotify today took another step in its efforts to build out services for artists to help diversify itself away from a business model predicated on paying music streaming royalties to labels: it has acquired SoundBetter, a music production marketplace for artists, producers, and musicians to connect on specific projects; and for people who are looking to […]

Storyblocks, the subscription-based stock audio, imagery and video service formerly known as Videoblocks, today announced the launch of its new Member Library Partner Program. The company has also shuttered its pay-per-download marketplace and is now fully invested in its all-inclusive subscription program. The reason for this move, the company says, it to better align its […]

Apple Card’s rewards program, Daily Cash, is expanding today with the addition of Walgreens. The retailer joins Uber and Uber Eats to become the latest merchant to offer 3% Daily Cash to Apple Card customers who use Apple Pay at checkout. This includes purchases made in both Walgreens and Duane Reade retail stores, as well […]

UK MPs have called for the government to regulate the games industry’s use of loot boxes under current gambling legislation — urging a blanket ban on the sale of loot boxes to players who are children. Kids should instead be able to earn in-game credits to unlock look boxes, MPs have suggested in a recommendation […]

French startup Zyl has raised $1 million (€1 million) in a round led by OneRagtime. The company has developed an app that uses artificial intelligence to find the most interesting photos and videos in your photo library. Now that smartphones have been around for a while, many people have thousands of unsorted photos on their […]

At the Cloud Foundry Summit in The Hague, IBM today showcased its Cloud Foundry Enterprise Environment on Red Hat’s OpenShift container platform. For the longest time, the open-source Cloud Foundry Platform-as-a-Service ecosystem and Red Hat’s Kubernetes-centric OpenShift were mostly seen as competitors, with both tools vying for enterprise customers who want to modernize their application […]

French startup Akeneo has raised a $46 million Series C round led by Summit Partners, with existing investors Alven, Partech, Salesforce Ventures and Stephan Dietrich also participating. The company develops a popular product information management (PIM) service to manage all information about products in your stores, online and in paper catalogs. Akeneo started as a […]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised a more powerful powertrain option in future Model S, Model X and the next-generation Roadster sports car that will push acceleration and speed beyond the current high bar known as Ludicrous mode. Musk tweeted Wednesday evening “the only thing beyond Ludicrous is Plaid,” a teaser to a higher performing vehicle […]

Walmart is expanding its brand-new “Delivery Unlimited” grocery delivery membership program to more stores across the U.S., with plans to reach over 50% of the country by year-end. The new program allows regular grocery delivery customers to pay either an annual fee of $98 or $12.95 on a monthly basis instead of paying the usual […]

It could just be a better job offer, but WeWork’s top communications executive, Jennifer Skyler, has announced to her contacts that she is leaving the co-working giant to become the chief corporate affairs officer at American Express later this fall. Skyler joined WeWork four years ago as its first communications hire, after spending three years […]

Backed by over $200 million in VC funding, Kobalt is changing the way the music industry does business and putting more money into musicians’ pockets in the process. In Part I of this series, I walked through the company’s founding story and its overall structure. There are two core theses that Kobalt bet on: 1) […]

Mark Hurd, one of two CEOs leading the database software giant Oracle, is taking a leave of absence owing to health reasons, he told employees in a letter today. Oracle has not specified what Hurd’s health issue is or how long he is expected to be away. Hurd joined Oracle nine years ago, after spending […]

At its big press event yesterday, Apple announced that its TV+ streaming service would cost $4.99 per month and a launch date on November 1. But it’s supposed to be available in more than 100 countries, so what does that pricing look like outside the United States? The Streamable has rounded up TV+ pricing in […]

The BBC and Quibi are partnering to make a new daily international news show for millennials. The two companies said that the new programming, which will be featured as part of Quibi’s “Daily Essentials” programming, will be filmed in the Beeb’s central London headquarters five days a week and each segment will be five minutes […]

In light of gig worker protections bill AB-5 passing in the California State Senate last night, and amendments to AB-5 passing in the Assembly this morning, Uber has made it clear it plans to do whatever it takes to keep its drivers independent contractors. “We will continue to advocate for a compromise agreement,” Uber Chief […]

Neighborhood Goods, the direct to consumer department store hawking brands like Rothy’s, Dollar Shave Club, Buck Mason, Draper James and Stadium Goods, has new cash to expand its storefront for e-commerce juggernauts. The company has raised $11 million in a new round of financing led by Global Founders Capital, with participation from previous investors Forerunner […]

Oh, be still my heart. It’s not The Office reunion special/season/complete series everyone wants, but it’ll do for now: Jenna Fischer (Pam) and Angela Kinsey (… Angela) are setting up to release a podcast together. Called “Office Ladies” (though I hope “Party Planning Committee” was at least in the running), they’re going to rewatch the […]

Sex, despite being one of the most fundamental human experiences, is still one of those businesses that some advertisers reject, banks are hesitant to financially support and some investors don’t want to fund. Given how sex is such a huge part of our lives, it’s no surprise founders are looking to capitalize on the space. […]

In little more than three weeks, San Francisco will be all aglow with TechCrunch’s Disrupt SF (October 2-4) at the Moscone Center. If you’re a part of the startup scene, or plan to be, there is a long list of reasons why you should join the event. (And there is a pass priced for most […]

Water is not uncommon to find in our galaxy in ice or gaseous form, but liquid water is quite rare — and liquid and gaseous water on an Earth-like exoplanet? That's never been observed... until now. Astronomers spotted this celestial unicorn, called K2-18 b, using the venerable Hubble space telescope.

Brexit looks set to further sink the already battered reputation of tracking cookies after a Buzzfeed report yesterday revealed what appears to be a plan by the UK’s minority government to use official government websites to harvest personal data on UK citizens for targeting purposes. According to leaked government documents obtained by the news site, […]

The Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration are readying tough new requirements on e-cigarettes — including a potential ban on flavorings for vaping products. The FDA compliance policy would mean that all non-tobacco flavored e-cigarettes would have to be cleared by the FDA before they could be sold. The […]

Shortly after Apple's iPhone 11 event yesterday, the company posted a drastically condensed "supercut" of everything they announced. Taking the two hour event and boiling it down to a little over two minutes, they still manage to cover just about everything — from new iPads, to new Watches, to new iPhones. And they tucked a little Easter egg in there, while they were at it!

It’s no secret that the HomePod’s software updates have been a bit sluggish, which made it all the more alarming that the device was barely touched on in yesterday’s Apple event. Well, even as pre-launch promises are still getting ironed out, by the fall Apple says that its home smart speaker will be gaining new […]

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Here’s everything Apple announced today at the iPhone 11 event The biggest announcement was a new lineup of iPhones, including the […]

Annual Extra Crunch members get 100,000 Brex Rewards points upon credit card signup We’re excited to announce an addition to the Extra Crunch community perks. Starting today, annual Extra Crunch members can get 100,000 Brex Rewards points after signing up for a Brex corporate credit card. This offer is worth about $1,000 in credit card […]

Brexit has taken over discourse in the UK and beyond. In the UK alone. The impact of Brexit has already rippled through industries all over the world. The UK’s technology sector is no exception...

For a very long time, the venture industry was stubbornly resistant to change. The same people sat back in their chairs on Sand Hill Road while nervous founders made the rounds, hoping one of these firms would champion their cause. No longer. Since roughly the advent of Y Combinator, the landscape has seemed to shift […]

AirDrop, Apple’s proximity-based, built-in file sharing feature and home to teen meme exchanges, is getting an upgrade with the new iPhones. At Apple’s iPhone press event on Tuesday, the company introduced the iPhone 11 line of devices, which include a new Apple -designed U1 chip that uses Ultra Wideband technology for spatial awareness. This will […]

Here’s something the hermetically sealed iPhone can’t do: Score a perfect 10 for repairability. Smartphone startup and social enterprise Fairphone’s latest repairable-by-design smartphone has done just that, getting 10/10 in an iFixit Teardown vs scores of just 6/10 for recent iPhone models. The Fairphone 3, which was released in Europe last week with an RRP […]

Google’s failed online shopping service Google Express is closing in a few weeks, as its features will be merged into a revamped version of Google Shopping, Google says in an email sent to its customers this week. The company had already announced its plans to shutter the Google Express brand, as part of a wider […]

“I’m so tired of talking about Kubernetes . I want to talk about something else,” joked Kubernetes co-founder and VP of R&D at VMware Craig McLuckie during a keynote interview at this week’s Cloud Foundry Summit in The Hague. “I feel like that 80s band that had like one hit song — Cherry Pie.” He doesn’t […]

Explorium, a data discovery platform for machine learning models, received a couple of unannounced funding rounds over the last year — a $3.6 million seed round last September and a $15.5 million Series A round in March. Today, it made both of these rounds public. The seed round was led by Emerge with participation of […]

Web feature developers are being warned to step up attention to privacy and security as they design contributions. Writing in a blog post about “evolving threats” to Internet users’ privacy and security, the W3C standards body’s technical architecture group (TAG) and Privacy Interest Group (PING) set out a series of revisions to the W3C’s Security […]

Kenshō wants to become a holistic health "medical journal" with input from credible natural healthcare providers.

There are a lot of open source databases out there, and ScyllaDB, a NoSQL variety, is looking to differentiate itself by attracting none other than Amazon users. Today, it announced a DynamoDB migration tool to help Amazon customers move to its product. It’s a bold move, but Scylla, which has a free open source product […]

Relativity Space, the startup developing manufacturing technologies for entirely 3D printed rockets and space equipment, has signed its latest paying customer, the orbital transportation startup, Momentus. Relativity’s Terran 1 rocket will carry Momentus’ small and medium-sized satellite payloads on its rocket and Momentus will then move those satellites into geosynchronous orbit using its own in-space […]

Bux, the Amsterdam-based fintech that wants to make investing more accessible, is launching its fee-free trading app today. Dubbed “BUX Zero,” the new offering is available first to users in the Netherlands who previously signed up to the wait-list. Further European launches are to follow, with Germany and Austria up next. The BUX Zero app […]

Nigerian fintech startup Kuda — a digital-only retail bank — has raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding. The Lagos and London-based company recently launched the beta version of its online mobile finance platform. Kuda also received its banking license from the Nigerian Central Bank, giving it a distinction compared to other fintech startups. “Kuda is […]

Assembly Bill 5, the gig worker bill opposed by the likes of Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, has passed in the California State Senate. This comes shortly after California Governor Gavin Newsom officially put his support behind AB 5 in an op-ed. AB5 would ensure gig economy workers are entitled to minimum wage, workers’ compensation and […]

SpaceX is taking the steps necessary to begin test flying the orbital-class version of its Starship spacecraft, with new documents filed by the company (via Teslarati) with the FCC seeking necessary permissions for it to communicate with the prototype while it’s in flight. The company filed documents with the U.S. regulatory agency this week in […]

The U.K.-based vegetarian frozen food company Strong Roots has picked up $18.3 million in funding from the private equity firm, Goode Partners, as it looks to expand its U.S. presence and build out its technological capabilities. Advised by global mid-market investment bank, Alantra, Strong Roots has a presence in the U.S. in retailers including Target, […]

Concept vehicles are a staple of the auto show circuit. And while most will never end up as a production vehicle, they can provide insight into an automaker and clues to where it’s headed. Over at Audi, designers and engineers might have had a distant planet in mind. Or at least an expanse of wilderness. […]

Razer’s efforts to build a game-centric smartphone haven’t exactly caught the world on fire just yet. Still, mobile gaming is a huge business poised to get even bigger, with services from big names like Apple and Google waiting in the wings. Seeing as how accessories have long been the company’s bread and butter, products like […]

When it comes to big business, the numbers rarely lie. The total number of seed deals, funds raised and dollars invested in seed deals were all down in the 2015-2018 time frame.

No matter how much polish and Apple magic the company put on today’s big event, there was one unshakable truth that colored the goings-on: phones just aren’t selling like they used to. And unlike other industry-wide trends, Apple isn’t immune. The large-scale slowdown of smartphone sales has had an undeniable impact on the company’s bottom […]