Crunch Hype

Whole Biome has pulled in $35 million in Series B financing from a list of investing titans, including Sequoia, Khosla, True Ventures, the Mayo Foundation and AME Ventues — just to name a few. The goal? To heal what ails you using microscopic bugs. Medical science has caught on in the last few years about […]

Open source has become the de facto standard for building the software that underpins the complex infrastructure that runs everything from your favorite mobile apps to your company’s barely usable expense tool. Over the course of the last few years, a lot of new software is being deployed on top of Kubernetes, the tool for […]

According to recent numbers from the World Health Organization (WHO), roughly half of people aged 12-35 are at risk for hearing loss. That’s due in no small part to the explosive growth in “personal listening devices” like smartphones. Young people are cranking up the volume on their headphones and could be doing irreparable damage to […]

Air travel accounts for a significant chunk of greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, and the amount of air travel has risen steadily over the past few decades, with emissions from aviation predicted to grow significantly through 2020 and beyond. Electric passenger planes are in the works, but unlikely to replace our workhorse passenger jets […]

Here’s an important reminder to all the shoe-string startups, frugal founders, budget-minded makers and, well, anyone else who loves to save a buck. You have two weeks left to reap the biggest savings on passes to Disrupt San Francisco 2019. We offer passes to suit every budget and, depending on the type of pass you […]

With congressional probes and greater scrutiny from federal regulators on the horizon, Apple has abruptly reversed course on its bans of parental control apps available in its app store. Apple defends its takedown of some apps monitoring screen-time As reported by The New York Times, Apple quietly updated its App Store guidelines to reverse its […]

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 just announced at the 2019 WWDC Keynote The keynote was an epic two-and-a-half hours long, but unlike TC’s […]

Bell Curve founder Julian Shapiro describes his team as talented growth marketers who have a long tail expertise of various channels and who aren’t afraid to play part-time therapists. As an agency, they’re comfortable grounding founder expectations by explaining “No, virality isn’t a dependable growth strategy,” but “Hey, we can come up with a better […]

Self-driving car startup Aurora might be as buzzy as they come. The company raised more than $530 million just a few months ago in a round led by Sequoia Capital and with “significant investment” from Amazon and T. Rowe Price Associates. We’ve learned Aurora isn’t shy about using that capital with two acquisitions in the […]

Last week 4 security companies changed hands. The shopping spree continued this week with CDN company Imperva, announcing it was buying bot mitigation startup Distil Networks. The companies did not share the acquisition price. Imperva CTO Kunal Anand says his company had a narrow bot capability, but was looking to bring a more complete solution […]

Zuora has been known throughout its 12-year history as a company that helps manage subscription-based businesses. Today, at its Subscribed San Francisco customer conference, it announced that it’s adding a new twist to the platform with a new service called the Zuora Central developer platform. The latest offering gives developers a workflow tool to build […]

Space is hard on humans – it’s just not what we’re used to, because it’s very unlike this Earth most of us generally occupy for most of our lives. That’s why researchers do plenty of experimentation to figure out what it’s like for people to live and work in space, like a new experiment underway […]

Spotify Stations, the streaming service’s lightweight listening app offering easy access to curated playlists, has arrived in the U.S. The app has been considered an experiment by Spotify — and by some others, a Pandora copycat, due to its support for instant music playback at launch. The Stations app is designed for those who want […]

Tinder is adding information about sexual orientation and gender identity to its profiles. The company worked with the LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD on changes to its dating app to make it more inclusive. Users who want to edit or add more information about their sexual orientation can now simply edit their profile. When a Tinder […]

Welcome to the robotic bedroom of the future, coming in 2020 to tiny apartments beginning in Hong Kong and Japan, but expanding around the world. IKEA is now selling robotic furniture that can convert from a storage and seating unit into a bed and closet and back again. The new line of furniture, based on […]

Facebook has failed in its last ditch attempt to block a referral by Ireland’s High Court of questions over the legality of EU-US data transfer mechanisms to the region’s top court. Ireland’s Supreme Court unanimously refused its request to appeal the decision Friday, via Reuters. Irish law does not include a provision to appeal against […]

A security lapse at JCrush, a dating app designed for the Jewish community, left a databases open without a password, exposing sensitive user records and private messages to anyone who knew where to look. The site’s backend database had around around 200,000 user records, according to security researchers Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, who shared […]

NASA is celebrating a key step towards its mission to get people back to the Moon: The first large core rocket stage that will power the new Space Launch System being built by contractor Boeing is now four-fifths assembled. Wait – did I just say four-fifths? So like this stage isn’t even complete? No, it’s […]

Luminous Computing, a one-year-old startup, is aiming to build a photonics chip that will handle workloads needed for AI at the speed of light. It’s a moonshot and yet, the young company already has a number of high-profile investors willing to bet on the prospect. The company has raised $9 million in a seed round […]

Bird won’t stop deploying new mobility vehicles and services. Bird has just unveiled the Bird Cruiser, an electric vehicle that is essentially a blend between a bicycle and a moped. The Bird Cruiser can seat up to two people and, depending on the market, the Cruiser will either be pedal-assist or just have a peg. […]

It’s no secret that Mozilla sees privacy as a differentiating feature for its revitalized Firefox browser. Today, the Firefox team is launching one of its broadest set of releases that aim to keep advertisers and others from following you across the web, while also making it harder for Facebook to track you. In addition, the […]

If you’re thinking about starting a technology company, you may want to consider focusing on cybersecurity. Last week was an incredible M&A whirlwind with four security companies getting acquired over just a three-day period: On Tuesday, FireEye bought Verodin, a five-year-old startup that helps measure the effectiveness of your cybersecurity defenses for $250 million. On Wednesday, […]

How much of an obligation should social media platforms be under to hunt down illegal content? An influential advisor to Europe’s top court has taken the view that social media platforms like Facebook can be required to seek out and identify posts that are equivalent to content that an EU court has deemed illegal — […]

Meet Majelan, a French startup that wants to make podcasts more accessible. Behind the scene, Majelan is the startup created by former Radio France CEO Mathieu Gallet and Arthur Perticoz. The app is launching today on iOS and Android in the coming days. Given that Gallet was previously at the head of all French public […]

Just as podcasting hits the mainstream in the west, China, which is also experiencing an audio boom, is seeing restrictions tighten around shows as evidenced by new curbs from Apple. This week, the U.S. tech giant has pulled a handful of Chinese-language podcasts from its Chinese Podcasts store, one of the few remaining channels for […]

As US regulators gear up to launch another antitrust probe of Google’s business, an alternative Android app store is dialling up its long time complaint of anti-competitive behavior against the search and smartphone OS giant. Portugal-based Aptoide is launching a campaign website to press its case and call for Google to “Play Fair” — accusing […]

Jumia held its first post-IPO earnings call and weathered a short-sell assault in May, with Wall Street showing confidence in Pan-African e-commerce company. On the numbers, key takeaways were that Jumia’s Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) — the total amount of goods sold over the period — grew by 58 percent to €240 million. Marketplace revenue […]

CNN’s website is currently blocked in mainland China, after it published a story about today’s 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre as one of its top headlines. The site is usually accessible in China, according to historical data from GreatFire.org. Matt Rivers, a Beijing-based reporter, noted the blocking of the site on Twitter, writing […]

Meet Georges, a French startup that wants to help freelancers, doctors and lawyers when it comes to accounting. With Georges, you can get rid of your accountant altogether and switch to a software-as-a-service product. Alven is leading today’s round with other investors also participating. Automated accounting is an interesting space. For instance, Roger just raised […]

Apple unveiled a range of India-specific features in iOS 13 at WWDC this week as it begins to adapt its software for the world’s second largest internet market. But if you want to see how far an international service can be customized for the Indian market, look to Google Maps. The app, which is used […]

Singapore is keen to exert itself as an epicenter for startups and tech worldwide. But beyond the government-backed startup programs, which include grants, investment checks and more, a key point is simply making it easy for companies to set up shop in the country. Southeast Asia is highly-touted as a growth region for startups, with […]

Tink, the European open banking platform that recently raised €56 million in new funding, is disclosing that PayPal has become a strategic investor. The online payments giant joins a long list of existing backers that includes U.S.-based Insight Venture Partners, Sunstone, SEB, Nordea Ventures and ABN AMRO Digital Impact Fund. Individuals such as Christian Clausen, […]

Apple doled out its 2019 Design Awards at its Worldwide Developer Conference this afternoon, highlighting a range of apps that work as beautifully as they look, the company said. This year, half the award winners were mobile games, which may speak to where much design innovation is today taking place. Other creativity focused and health […]

At last year’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple announced the new app Siri Shortcuts which allows iOS users to create custom voice commands for their apps. Today, the company unveiled a series of updates to its Siri Shortcuts app to improve the experience for users and app developers alike. It also noted the app would now […]

Mercedes-Benz is expanding a pilot subscription service that lets users switch between different luxury models to a third U.S. city a year after launching in Nashville and Philadelphia. The pilot is another example of how automakers are experimenting — with mixed levels of success — with different ways to make money beyond producing and selling […]

Something from the fine print out of today’s WWDC keynote. Sign In With Apple didn’t get a ton of time on-stage today, but it should prove a nice new feature for the company — and for those concerned about handing over sensitive information to third-parties. Turns out it will also be required for app developers […]

Apple only announced one new piece of hardware at its event today, but it was a doozy. After years of promising a refresh for the long-lamented Mac Pro line, the high-end desktop finally got its modular upgrade. To mark the occasion, Apple devoted a considerable amount of space to showcasing the device is various states, […]

Sharing with everyone is passé and more than a little bit scary these days. We want to send photos to friends without posting them publicly. We want to reminisce without being permanently defined by our timelines. And we want the utility of apps without giving away our contact info to developers. The problem is that […]

A little more than a year ago, self-driving software company Aptiv and Lyft launched a pilot project to test a robotaxi service — with human safety drivers still behind the wheel — in Las Vegas during the week of CES. That one-week pilot never ended. And now, the companies say they’ve given more than 50,000 […]

Apple’s TestFlight app testing platform is getting an upgrade. With the new version of Xcode 11 announced this afternoon at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, TestFlight apps will automatically enable user feedback. Now, when a user shares a screenshot from the Testflight app they’re trialing, they will have a new option to share it as beta […]

Apple has been shifting their business strategy over the past couple years to push the revenues earned from top customers higher and higher, but if you thought a $999 starting price for the iPhone XS was bold, Apple announced earlier today that they’re selling the freaking stand for the display of their new Mac Pro […]

Apple is known for fluid, intuitive user interfaces, but none of that matters if you can't click, tap, or drag because you don't have a finger to do so with. For users with disabilities the company is doubling down on voice-based accessibility with the powerful new Voice Control feature on Macs and iOS (and iPadOS) devices.

One of the more opaque segments of Tesla’s business just became a little more transparent. Recent filings show that GM and Fiat Chrysler have bought zero-emissions vehicle credits from Tesla, Bloomberg reported Monday. Tesla’s ZEV credit program isn’t a secret. The company has brought in nearly $2 billion in revenue since 2010 when it started […]

Just a few days ago, Apple bumped up the limit on how big of an app you can download from the App Store while on a cellular connection, increasing it from 150MB to 200MB. As we noted at the time, it’s always seemed a bit silly that there was no way to acknowledge the […]

Mirror, which sells a $1,495 mirror that doubles as an interactive home gym, is raising more VC.

Great Jones, a startup selling pots, pans and even an oven directly to consumers, is introducing a new way to get help in the kitchen. Potline is a free text message service where anyone can ask for recipe ideas, or get advice when things are going wrong in the middle of the cooking process, or […]

Flash, the micro-mobility startup from Delivery Hero and Team Europe founder Lukasz Gadowski, is re-branding today and disclosing that the e-scooter rental service has clocked up 1 million rides in just 4.5 months since launch. This, the company claims, is a milestone passed quicker than any of its competitors, although Voi recently announced that it […]

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule has made its way back from the International Space Station, completing the private launcher’s seventeenth resupply mission for the orbital research facility. Commercial Resupply Services mission 17 (aka CRS-17 if you’re down to acronym) launched on May 4, its first backup window after an initial mission scrub. The Dragon’s cargo for […]

Augmented reality may not be an iOS feature consumers are dying to get their hands on, but Apple’s latest tools are going to make its long-shot dream of AR ubiquity a little bit easier for developers to build. The company delivered some interesting updates to ARKit for the latest version and introduced a new framework […]

Events have increasingly become an important channel in the marketing mix, despite how notoriously “impossible” it is to measure the ROI, or return on investment. When people show up to your event...